Forum Discussion
Word 2021 crashes when you try and use table properties
I'm using Word 2021 on Windows 11 with Language ID="en-gb" (because I'm in the UK). Brand new document. I insert a table. I then right click on the table and select Table->Properties. Word crashes every time. I've repaired and re-installed and it makes no difference. Is anyone else seeing this issue? Has anyone got a solution?
I've included a video below showing it happening.
Hey, I faced the same issue and was so agitated by it. This is what I tried.
File ---> Account ---> Update Options (Dropdown next to Office Updates) ---> Update Now
It took a while to search and update. Make sure all open files are saved as it asks to close them all. After the update, the issue has been resolved for me. Table properties and more colours are both working fine now.
I hope this helps.
38 Replies
Hey, I faced the same issue and was so agitated by it. This is what I tried.
File ---> Account ---> Update Options (Dropdown next to Office Updates) ---> Update Now
It took a while to search and update. Make sure all open files are saved as it asks to close them all. After the update, the issue has been resolved for me. Table properties and more colours are both working fine now.
I hope this helps.
- cwowens updates are a bit of mess...Windows Updates from settings, Microsoft Store Updates and Office Updates all appear to operate entirely independently then there are third party Anti Virus updates and PC manufacturer updates. All five really need to be merged into a central service.
- surabee well spotted. I've just done the same and all my Office 2021 problems have gone away! It must have happened recently as I've been checking that quite regularly. Great news!
- Sadly no solution that I've found so far. It's quite difficult convincing people at Microsoft that there is a problem or getting them to acknowledge they are looking into it. Perhaps you can report the issue yourself using the feedback button. The more UK people who report the problem the more chance it'll get fixed.
I have exactly the same issue, i also get exactly the same crash if i hightlight text and attempt to change its colour from the font colour drop-down and select "more colours" - it also crashes in excel and powerpoint doing the same font colour change, so it seems like its something to do with the common features.... i havent tried installing the 32bit version to see if that fixes it, it will be my next try. frustrating and so many common things stopped working after upgrading from office 2019
cwowens well spotted...I also get the crash with the "more colours" in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
- If anyone's still interest I've managed to fix this for us!
When creating the deployment xml file (we use config.office.com), I didn't have any additional languages chosen. I recreated the deployment xml but with the only difference being that this time the 'Match Operating System' option was ticked for additional languages and it now works perfectly on Win 10, Office 2021 64 bit (haven't tried with Win 11). Hi arj-2021-UK ,
I am facing the same problem. I recently upgraded to Windows 11 and using Office 365. There are many issues/ glitches which i am suddenly facing:
1. Word crashing as soon as Table Properties are opened.
2. Outlook indexing (search) not working properly
etc.
Please let me know in case you find a solution to the same.
I had this problem on a PC which had the 32-bit version of Office installed. I uninstalled that, replaced it with the 64-bit version of Office, and this made things work for me.
Hello David McKenzie ,
Thanks for your response. I am already at 64 Bit configuration. However, as my work was suffering and could not afford to lose time, I rolled back to Windows 10. Now atleast I am at peace for now 🙂
- Just to add my two-pence worth I also have this problem, as does every deployed instance of Office 2021 in our school.
Steps that produce the crash so far are:
Accessing Table Properties;
Accessing Outlook Signatures;
Changing font colours and click 'More colours'.
Windows 10 Education, Office 2021 (also en-gb).- I really hope Microsoft will fix this problem soon. It leaves a large number of Office 2021 features unusable. It looks as though it's connected with en-gb language settings.
- Yep, definitely connected to en-gb. Are you using 32 bit or 64 bit? I only ask since we're testing with the 64 bit and having these issues, haven't tried 32 bit yet.
Please note I've edited my original post to include a snippet of video showing the problem.
Is this Word for Windows? When Word crashes unexpectedly, the first thing to check is the printer driver. Make sure that some printer is explicitly set as the default in Windows. Any printer will do. If you don't have a physical printer that you are using with your computer, make sure that the built-in Microsoft Print to PDF driver is the Windows default (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-set-a-default-printer-in-windows-10-e10cf8b8-e596-b102-bf84-c41022b5036f).
Yes, Word 2021 for Windows running on Windows 11. I tried manually setting the default printer (it was originally using "allow Windows to manage my default printer") it did not help. I then changed from my physical printer (HP Officejet Pro 8600) to the Microsoft Print to PDF "printer" but that didn't help either. It's not happening when I try to print, it happens when I attempt to view the Table Properties (either from right click or from menu bar button). The Table Properties dialog box is briefly displayed but then Word crashes and restarts.
I've edited my original post to include a short video showing the problem.Word has a history of crashing whenever the program can't communicate properly with a printer. Symptoms aren't necessarily triggered by actually creating a printout. In fact, accessing Page Setup or font settings are common situations when you observe a problem.
In this case, testing with different printer drivers apparently didn't make a difference.
Personally, I'm running Office 2021 on Windows 10 and I'm not seeing any crashes. The problem could be between Word and Windows 11, I suppose. Have you tried updating the video driver for your system?
Are the other Office programs working properly? No crashing there?
You can always report the issue to Microsoft, via File > Feedback in Word.
Milkatronare you using Language ID="en-gb" out of interest? I'm finding other issues with Outlook 2021...it crashes when I click on the "Signatures..." button in Mail settings. I found this article https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/outlook-freezes-when-selecting-the-signature-button-c70b36c2-66ca-401c-ab45-f29a46495d02 which suggests this problem happens only if you are using en-gb. I just wondered if our problem with tables is connected to the language being used?
Milkatron it's kind of reassuring that someone else has the problem. I thought I was going mad. It seems such a basic task that shouldn't be crashing Word.
I should also have mentioned that I get the problem even when starting Word in safe mode (hold Ctrl when starting Word).
Also, If I insert a bitmap into a blank document (say a screen grab) and right click and select "Size and Position" I get a "Word has encountered a problem" messagebox. Do you get this too?
