A family of Microsoft presentation graphics products that offer tools for creating presentations and adding graphic effects like multimedia objects and special effects with text.
Run a full repair of the Microsoft 365 or Office installation, using Online Repair for Click-to-Run installations or Repair for MSI-based installations.
1. Repair Office
- Close Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
- Open the repair settings:
- Windows 11: Right-click Start → Installed apps.
- Windows 10: Right-click Start → Apps and Features.
- Find Microsoft 365 or Microsoft Office.
- Select the three dots or select the product, and then choose Modify.
- Use the option shown:
- If the window says How would you like to repair your Office Programs?, select Online Repair → Repair. This is the Click-to-Run installation type.
- If the Change your installation window appears instead, select Repair → Continue. This is an MSI-based installation.
- Complete the repair, restart Windows if requested, and test all three applications.
The repair applies to the entire Office suite, even when initiated for only one application.^1^
2. If repair does not work, test add-ins
Start each application in Office Safe Mode:
- Press Windows key + R.
- Enter one command at a time:
- Word:
winword /safe - Excel:
excel /safe - PowerPoint:
powerpnt /safe
- Word:
- If an application opens in Safe Mode, select File → Options → Add-ins.
- At the bottom, select COM Add-ins from Manage, and then select Go.
- Clear one add-in, select OK, close the application, and launch it normally.
- Repeat with the next add-in until the application opens normally. Leave the problematic add-in disabled or obtain an updated version from its publisher.
If an application cannot start in Safe Mode, add-ins are unlikely to be the problem; proceed to reinstalling Office.^2^
3. If both steps fail, uninstall and reinstall Office
Before uninstalling, confirm that the Microsoft account associated with Office shows the correct subscription or licence at Microsoft account Services.^3^
Then:
- On the affected PC, open the Microsoft Office uninstall troubleshooter.
- Select Open when prompted to open Get Help.
- Complete the prompts and restart Windows.
- Reinstall Office using the associated Microsoft account or your installation licence.
Uninstalling Office removes the applications but does not remove documents, spreadsheets, or presentations created with them.^4^
The uninstall troubleshooter requires Windows 10 or later and currently cannot uninstall Office 2024. If you have Office 2024, uninstall it through Settings → Apps → Installed apps instead.^5^
References
- [Windows 11](https://support.microsoft.com/office/lifecycle/repair-an-office-application)
- I get a "stopped working" error when I start Office applications on my PC | Microsoft Support
- All microsoft office applications Excel, Word, Outlook, Etc. open with error and cannot be used - Microsoft Q&A
- Error 0xC0000142 when you start an Office application | Microsoft Support
- "Something went wrong" error when you try to start a Microsoft 365 app