Microsoft Word crashes after Catalina upgrade on iMac Pro

Karl’s solution did not work for me (I don’t use WordRake), but he gave me the right idea. I uninstalled the Mendeley plugin and now all works as before.

It appears that these older, not-updated plug-ins to MS Word are the culprit. Hunt yours down and eliminate all traces of them and you will be back in operation!

Thanks Karl! ! !

The current release of Office 365 is at v16.31. That release and its predecessor (16.30) are critical to any form of compatiblity with Catalina 10.15.1. Update to Catalina 10.15.1, and also update your Office 365 version, if you really are still at Office 365 v16.13, and that version was not a transliteration of numbers.

I had a similar issue as well. When I started up word, it opened the template gallery and everything seemed to work but as soon as I created a new file, Word would crash. The culprit for me turned out to be under: Tools/Templates and Add-Ins/LinkCreation.dotm. After I followed the path it presented in the Add-in's window and threw out the linkCreation.dotm file in the User library, Word stopped crashing and all was good. If helpful, I also found out that linkCreation.dotm is a part of the Acrobat DC app. Still running tests but so far so good. I hope this info helps someone.

Word is at 16.29.1. Your version 16.13 is woefully out of date, even my High Sierra and Mojave standards. AutoUpdate.

Hi, I had the same issue with office 365 and work 16.31 and since downgrading to 16.29 the issue is gone. You can get the download here - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac?redirectSourcePath=%252fen-us%252farticle%252fUpdate-history-for-Office-2016-for-Mac-700cab62-0d67-4f23-947b-3686cb1a8eb7

Sure. You have to delete exiting word, restart your mac and than go here: https://support.office.com/en-us/article/how-to-go-back-to-office-2016-for-mac-15-xx-versions-from-16-xx-e88ed6c8-6fb4-40a1-9540-529000d3d20f and download the Word (or whatever Office package is crashing your mac) in this post (see section "Install the latest 15.xx version of Office for Mac 2016"

) .

Here the direct link to the 15.xx Word package: https://officecdn-microsoft-com.akamaized.net/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/OfficeMac/Microsoft_Word_15.41.17120500_Updater.pkg

Just make sure not to update your word again once it is installed. You will recognise the old Word by the old Icon and in the "About Word" section. It should say Version 15.41

Just tried this!

fantastic find!

uninstalled onedrive (applications, drag onedrive icon to trashcan).

tried to make computer crash,

(yes, catalina would crash when trying to copy.paste or insert in word)

after several minutes and crazy things with copy, paste, the mac is still up and not crashing!

than you so much!

I’ll go out on a limb and predict you have a notebook with one or more external monitors connected.

i’ve found that I can successfully edit Word documents when I disconnect all external monitors and use only the notebook screen.

any time I try to edit while a monitor is connected to either display port or hdmi - macos will crash hard.

my workaround to actually get work done was to use my tiny screen.

good luck,

k

BTW, WordRake now has a Catalina-compatible version available on their website. They also gave me a new license key which included an extra 14 days which I appreciated.

I had a similar problem and after a lot of trail and error, decided to delete Microsoft One Drive. That solved my problem. Good luck

Soon to learn if this will resolve my issue, it allegedly has helped many with post upgrade issues related to Cataline / Office.

(reset nvram and pram)

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/update-to-catalina-10151-makes-word-worse/ff7c969b-9a20-43db-aa08-2781b78ba83d

Hello,

I've had the same problem, only MS Word would not work, and would get stalled at "Verifying Microsoft Word" stage. After reading this post, though not suggesting any success, was too ready for uninstalling / reinstalling MS Office and / or Catalina. But I wanted to have go a few times before i decide to take that step.

I was booting MS word each time / or most times from the dock and after failing I used to "Force Quit" MS Word. I decided to force start it from the Launchpad ( this is all crude logic and don't ask to reason ) and each time it failed at the "Verifying Microsoft Word" stage I didn't "Force Quit" but kept on launching it from Launchpad. I was successful in getting it beyond "Verifying Microsoft Word" stage but it followed by an error message. But this made me resolve to have a go few more times and see as nothing else was working. I had a go at it the same way from Launchpad and it now is working since last 30 minutes, I have also shutdown and resttarted MS Word. I'm not saying something may not go wrong but this was such a big achievement and had to share it, as I spent good 6 hours fighting it, talking with Apple Support and tried contacting Microsoft Support ( who had shut shops for the day !!??)

Thanks, cheers

For me the external monitor or one drive has not solved the issue. I just updated to 16.31 Word and it still crashes - now back to the old version 16.29 which has no issues form what I see so far...

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-office-for-mac?redirectSourcePath=%252fen-us%252farticle%252fUpdate-history-for-Office-2016-for-Mac-700cab62-0d67-4f23-947b-3686cb1a8eb7

Same here... I just downgraded Word to 15.xx and a Word File which used to Black-Screen-Crash my MacBookPro (2015) seems to be stable now.... let's wait and hope

I just got off a two hour phone call with Microsoft tech-support. It's a long story, but basically they (Level 1 and Level 2 reps) tried installing it a couple of times, once doing a complete manual uninstall. Nothing worked. 

The Level 2 rep elevated my call to the "offline engineering team," and said I will get a call from them within the next three days and followed up with an email.

The rep said it's a known issue but they only have a few reports so far. I told him I'd seen lots of reports on these discussion boards and he said it's important for people to send them into Microsoft so this gets elevated.

I'll keep you all informed of what I hear and learn.