Forum Discussion
User Microsoft 365 Apps Freeze when Trying to Save
To isolate the culprit, try doing these in controlled steps. Document which step “breaks” or “works”.
Test
Purpose
What to Observe / What Next
Open Office in Safe Mode (hold Ctrl while launching Word/Excel)
To disable all add-ins / customizations
If saving works (no freeze), it strongly implicates add-ins or extensions. Microsoft Learn+2Microsoft Learn+2
Disable all COM / VSTO / Excel / Word add-ins
Even if Safe Mode helps, you’ll need to find the offender
Under File → Options → Add-ins, disable COM add-ins first, then Excel/Word add-ins. Test Save / Save As. Microsoft Learn+2SoftwareKeep+2
Perform a Clean Boot / minimal startup
Removes interference from third-party services or shell extensions
If freezing goes away, you can re-enable services incrementally to find the culprit Microsoft Learn
Test saving to a completely local folder (not OneDrive-synced folder)
To see if the cloud / sync side is involved
If Save works locally but not in OneDrive, that local vs cloud boundary is critical
Use a different user profile on the same machine
To isolate whether it’s user-specific settings
If a freshly created user account does not have the issue, then the old profile has something problematic (e.g. registry settings, Office config)
Disable AV / security real-time scanning temporarily
To test whether the antivirus is interfering with file operations
If the freeze disappears when AV is off, this is a major clue
Use ProcMon / File Monitor / Process Explorer
To see what process is hanging or blocking the save
E.g. capture events during Save/Save As and see which DLLs or hooks are involved
Capture Office / Fiddler / diagnostic logs
Microsoft support often asks for logs when Office freezing / stuck on OLE / Save issues
Use Office’s diagnostic logging and Fiddler (if saving to cloud endpoints) to see where the delay stalls
My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!
Hope this will help you.
To isolate the culprit, try doing these in controlled steps. Document which step “breaks” or “works”.
Test | Purpose | What to Observe / What Next |
Open Office in Safe Mode (hold Ctrl while launching Word/Excel) | To disable all add-ins / customizations | If saving works (no freeze), it strongly implicates add-ins or extensions. Microsoft Learn+2Microsoft Learn+2 |
Disable all COM / VSTO / Excel / Word add-ins | Even if Safe Mode helps, you’ll need to find the offender | Under File → Options → Add-ins, disable COM add-ins first, then Excel/Word add-ins. Test Save / Save As. Microsoft Learn+2SoftwareKeep+2 |
Perform a Clean Boot / minimal startup | Removes interference from third-party services or shell extensions | If freezing goes away, you can re-enable services incrementally to find the culprit Microsoft Learn |
Test saving to a completely local folder (not OneDrive-synced folder) | To see if the cloud / sync side is involved | If Save works locally but not in OneDrive, that local vs cloud boundary is critical |
Use a different user profile on the same machine | To isolate whether it’s user-specific settings | If a freshly created user account does not have the issue, then the old profile has something problematic (e.g. registry settings, Office config) |
Disable AV / security real-time scanning temporarily | To test whether the antivirus is interfering with file operations | If the freeze disappears when AV is off, this is a major clue |
Use ProcMon / File Monitor / Process Explorer | To see what process is hanging or blocking the save | E.g. capture events during Save/Save As and see which DLLs or hooks are involved |
Capture Office / Fiddler / diagnostic logs | Microsoft support often asks for logs when Office freezing / stuck on OLE / Save issues | Use Office’s diagnostic logging and Fiddler (if saving to cloud endpoints) to see where the delay stalls |
My answers are voluntary and without guarantee!
Hope this will help you.