Word not opening

Try these steps in order:

1. If the issue is with a specific document, in Word select File > Open > Browse, select the file, select the arrow next to Open, and then select Open and Repair.
2. If Word says the document is locked for editing by another user, first confirm nobody else has it open on the network. If nobody has it open:
   • Close all Word windows.
   • Press Ctrl+Alt+Delete > Task Manager.
   • On the Processes tab, end every Winword.exe process.
   • Open File Explorer and go to the folder that contains the document.
   • Delete the owner file that starts with ~$ and matches the document name.
   • Start Word and open the document again.
3. If the file may be damaged, do not open it from Recent. Use File > Open > Browse and try Open and Repair from the Open dialog.
4. If the document was opened from an external source in Outlook and Word or Excel shows an error about opening the file, start the Windows Firewall service:
   • Press Windows key + R
   • Type services.msc and select OK
   • In Services, right-click Windows Firewall and select Start
5. If Word itself is not opening and the built-in Repair Now option did not help, restart the PC and run an Online Repair for Office from Windows Settings. This reinstalls Office, so verify the Office installation is associated with the Microsoft account before starting.

If the problem is only on one document, focus on Open and Repair and the ~$ owner file steps. If Word will not start at all, focus on Online Repair.

• Open a document after a file corruption error | Microsoft Support
• "The document is locked for editing by another user" error message when you try to open a document in Word | Microsoft Support
• Cannot open Word documents or Excel spreadsheets from an external source in Outlook
• word is not opening - Microsoft Q&A
• Word not opening - Microsoft Q&A