Word 2007 Crashing?

Recently I cleaned up my development laptop and installed a fresh copy of Microsoft Vista Ultimate, fresh copy of Microsoft Office 2007 Ultimate, and everything was running fantastic!  Then I started with the third party applications I use on a regular basis (SnagIt, Camtasia, PhotoShop, Flash).

Next thing I knew, Word was crashing all the time.  And when I say crashing, I mean it.  Every time I would click the "x" and try and get out of Word 2007, it would hang and crash.  Worse yet, any document I opened, the scroll bar would not work, and the mouse would not be able to move  the cursor and highlight text.  Brutal!

I tried going to my Word Options, in hope I could disable some add-ins, however at this point I discovered that my mouse was rendered pretty much useless, and could not click on the add-on's section to do anything.  Tabbing also seemed futile.

After re-installing Office three times, I stumbled across an article on the Microsoft knowledge base to fix this very common problem.

1. Close Word 2007
2. Load the Registry Editor (Type: RegEdit in the run and search box).
3. Navigate to the key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Data
4. Rename the "Data" Key to "DataBackup".
5. Close Registry and Load Word 2007!
6. Do the happy dance!

This should resolve the problem!  This problem is due to a corrupted key.

Comments

[To1ne]

Whow, I didn't remember I saw Word closing properly.
Real big thx for this tip!!

[Tony]

Thanks! I've been having this issue for a long time! It was driving me insane! the fix you outline works perfectly!

[Chris]

Thanks - this saved me a lot of headaches!

[ConnMan]

I've been pulling my hair out with intermittent errors of Word 2007 freezing on me. Just tried this technique. Hope it works!

[Miguel Carrasco]

Glad this worked for all of you!

Miguel Carrasco

[April Smith]

Thank you SOOOO much! I had tried uninstalling and reinstalling to no avail. I use Word so often (my novel and for my business) that I thought I would have to format my computer! This has saved me so much time and works like a charm :)

[chilotech]

Outstanding solution. Thanks a lot

[Pam]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It worked! Thank you SOOOO much!

[Donna]

Thank you!!! I was just about to throw my laptop out the window.

[Ken]

I got back from Best Buy where I purchased my laptop and Office 2007. I explained to the Geek Squad that the scroll bar for Word 2007 freezes and that I reinstalled office (didn't do anything) and also did a system restore to bring the computer settings back to a former point in time, this worked temporarily and then I would have the same problem again. I was about to try another system restore when I came across your post and after implementing the suggestions my Word 2007 is working. The Geek Squad solution was to give me a new computer which would mean reinstalling all the programs from disk not to mention finding the programs again that I downloaded over the internet. Thanks a bunch!!! I'm still in awe of the time you saved me....

[lol Ken]

lol.
Ken, i have a story for you. The geek squad have MINIMAL qualifications for software troubleshooting. I know this because i used to WORK in a future shop repair depot. Around there the amount of false rumors and ill-educated guesses is absolutely hideous. I've heard stories from them about how "Limewire opens up holes in your computer so others can load viruses etc". That's a load of BULL. Those problems were FIXED TWO YEARS AGO and they STILL didn't know! Their only qualifications are following directions outlined in the manuals of your products, and then A+, which is basically another word for "i can install windows and hardware!" That's ALL. Seriously, your better off trusting this article! Anyways, my shouts for great ideas like this!

[Peter Knight]

Thanks Miguel. A frustrating problem is now fixed. Pity I couldn't find this simple solution on the Microsoft website!

[a]

thank you! this was driving me insane! installing updates...repairing word...nothing worked! this was super simple.

[UPSlifer]

Hours...then this page. Seconds....you da man!

[Cornell Pearcy]

Thanks so much for posting this solution. I spent hours trying to fix this problem including reinstalling, attempting to repair with the install disk, and downloading Office updates. Your solution fixed the problem and yes I am doing the "happy dance".

Upon reflection as to when this problem began, it did occur when I installed SnagIt a few weeks ago. Thanks again!

[Josh]

Wow, THANK YOU for posting this. My computer did an auto-update last night and restarted and suddenly Word was screwing up all over the place, even during a client presentation. This worked like a charm.

[Jayson]

Yes, thank you for this tip. I have been cussing at Microsoft for a few hours now and was thinking I was going to have to uninstall everything and reinstall all my email accounts, etc.

This saved me big time.

[Brian]

Thank you for posting this solution.
I too was getting this exact error for the past 2 days.
I am doing the Happy Dance now!!!

[Steven]

Thankyou so much after multiple uninstall and reinstalls, Dr Watson, etc etc.. you give me a 30 sec fix - awesome!!!!!!!! (insert happy dance here)