Office 2021 not working

A current Microsoft 365 service degradation may affect cloud-backed documents, but Word or Excel failing to launch—or failing with files stored locally—indicates a local Office problem rather than the outage.^1^

Determine whether the outage is involved

1. Check the Microsoft service health status.
2. If the document is in OneDrive or SharePoint, copy one file to your Desktop and try opening that local copy.
3. Start Word or Excel directly from the Start menu or Applications folder, then try creating a blank document.

Interpret the result:

• The applications open and local files work, but cloud files do not: wait for the listed Microsoft 365 incident to be resolved.
• Word and Excel do not start, or local files also fail: continue with the applicable local repair below.
• The applications open and File > Open works, but double-clicking a document fails: repair the file associations.

For business or school accounts, an administrator can see tenant-specific details at Microsoft 365 admin center > Health > Service health.^2^

If Office 2021 is on Windows

1. Press Windows+R, enter winword /safe, and select OK.
2. Repeat with excel /safe.

If an application opens in Safe Mode, disable its add-ins:

1. Go to File > Options > Add-ins.
2. At Manage, select COM Add-ins > Go.
3. Clear the add-ins, restart normally, and re-enable them individually to identify the conflicting one.

If Safe Mode does not work, repair the entire Office installation:

1. Right-click Start and select Installed apps.
2. Find Microsoft Office 2021, select its three-dot menu, and choose Modify.
3. Select Online Repair > Repair and complete the prompts.

Microsoft documents Safe Mode, add-in isolation, repair, and reinstall as the applicable sequence for Office 2021 applications that stop working.^3^

If only double-clicking files fails

Run Quick Repair first. If that does not fix it:

1. Open Control Panel > Programs > Default Programs.
2. Select Set a default for a file type or link type.
3. Associate .doc and .docx with Word, and .xls and .xlsx with Excel.

You can also open the application first and use File > Open as a temporary workaround.^4^

If Office 2021 is on a Mac

A recent issue has affected some Office 2021 for Mac installations after an Office update. In that specific case, the accepted resolution is to completely uninstall Office, restart the Mac, install Office version 16.114 or 16.113, and activate it with the Microsoft account associated with the Office 2021 purchase.^5^

Use that rollback only when:

• This is Office 2021 for Mac.
• The failure began immediately after a recent Office update.
• The apps are disabled, nonfunctional, or unable to edit despite a valid perpetual license.

Uninstalling removes the applications, so ensure the Office 2021 purchase is visible in the associated Microsoft account before proceeding.

If only one particular document fails

In Word or Excel, select File > Open > Browse, select the file, choose the arrow beside Open, and then select Open and Repair. This is intended for an individual damaged file, not when every document and both applications fail.^6^

References

1. Microsoft service health status
2. How to check Microsoft 365 service health
3. I get a "stopped working" error when I start Office applications on my PC | Microsoft Support
4. Double-clicking an Office file fails to open it in the correct Office program | Microsoft Support
5. Microsoft Word is disabled - Microsoft Q&A
6. Open a document after a file corruption error | Microsoft Support