For a few weeks, we have been noticing some rendering issues in Word documents in the Print Layout view on all the computers in our company:
- Either the second page does not render (though is present, both content-wise and also indicated with the scrollbar), it is simply not displayed,
- or neither one of the pages is rendered.
Issue found in:
- Word 365, versions 2109 (build 14430.20234) and newer, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions
- Microsoft 365 Apps for Businesses
- Windows 10 (20H2) Windows 11 (21H1) and Windows Server 2016 (1607)
Findings so far:
- We experience the issues in documents with 2 pages.
- We experience the issues when Word is maximized.
- We experience the issues in all 2-paged documents stemming from a template file (which has not been changed in the last 5 years).
- Word versions older than the version 2109 (build 14430.20234; Current channel) work just fine. We have tried the following versions:
| Release date | Version | Channel | Result |
| Dec 3rd | 2111; 14701.20226 | Current | Render issues |
| Oct 12th | 2109; 14430.20298 | Current | Render issues |
| Oct 12th | 2102; 13801.21004 | Semi-Annual Enterprise | No issue |
| Oct 6th | 2109; 14430.20276 | Current | Render issues |
| Sep 28th | 2109; 14430.20234 | Current | Render issues |
| Sep 14th | 2108; 14326.20404 | Current | No issue |
| Aug 25th | 2108; 14326.20238 | Current | No issue |
- I could reproduce the issue on my private computer at home (not connected to the company network), using my university account (Microsoft 365 for Enterprises).
- When Word is in windowed mode, the pages render fine (not in Windows 11).
- In some cases, none of the pages are rendered and in other cases only the second page is not rendered – we couldn't figure out what this depends on.
- If only the second page is not rendered, zooming out messes up the whole rendering of the document.
- If only the second page is not rendered, making any sort of change to the document (typing a letter, changing a color, ... forcing a re-render basically) makes the content reappear.
- Switching to a different view (Read Mode / Web Layout) and back makes the content reappear.
- Zooming to over 130% (or more, the value also seems to depend on the resolution of the screen?) makes the content reappear.
- The contents of the page exist (according to word count, page count and navigation panel), they are just not rendered (see screenshots).
- The issues might be related to having custom styles defined and used in the document. By custom styles I mean having some redefined headings (padding, tab stops, etc.).
- We tried to recreate the file from scratch, it worked on Windows 11, but broke on Windows 10. The styles have not been changed for the last 5 years and have never caused any issues before. I'd like to put extra emphasis on the issues happening only if the document has 2 pages.
- Compatibility mode does not change anything.
- Setting different printers as the active printer does not change anything.
Resources:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10lzUMQ8Rd7Qmdg23kvSlcPspc5K4MS-k?usp=sharing
GD23283-3 and GD23283-7 are attempts to rebuild the template (3 works on all computers, 7 doesn't work on any), STANDARD is the old template file and the remaining files are just to showcase the issue.
