Word and Word documents won't open properly

Windows 10 Version 1903(OS build 18362.900
Hello everyone - my first time here :)
I have Microsoft Office365 legitimately shared with me (via a link) from my son-in-law who has a subscription. I've had it on my PC for about 7 weeks and only been using Word which has been working fine.
However, about 3 days ago I couldn't open any of my documents or Word itself - at least, not properly. For example, what happens is when I click on a document or the Word program itself, the normal icon pops up in the taskbar, and hovering the cursor over that, the usual small window pops up just above the icon - that's all. Clicking on it will not open it.
I've tried various things but nothing works. I've run the 'repair' from the uninstall or change feature via Control Panel using both Quick Repair and Online Repair several times - also uninstalled Office and reinstalled 3 or 4 times. Many restarts and I've run virus and malware scans - nothing found.
The other programs in Office all open OK - though I'm not currently using any of them. It's just Word that won't open. I should point out that I can open a Word document in Libre, thankfully I still have that.
I don't know what else to do, so I'm hoping someone might come up with the answer. Any help will be gratefully received. Thank you :)

Caledon Ken said:

Hi jayvee04

Long shot.

Open Task Manager. If Word is running under "Apps" right click and End Task.


Then look down through the "Background processes". Look for Microsoft Word. If found right click and End task. There maybe several. End Task them all.

You can also try starting Word with no add-ins.

Right click Start, click "Run", in box that appears type

winword.exe /a

and hit enter.

Thank you Ken. I followed your advice, but unfortunately, it didn't solve the problem. Also when I typed in 'winword.exe/a' all that came up was "Windows cannot find 'winword.exe/a' ...etc." ...But thinking about it, that's not surprising as I obtained Office 365 from a link emailed to me by my son-in-law (who shared his subscription with me). And I don't think that left an exe file on my PC. I just had to click on the link and the program downloaded and installed. Don't know if that information helps or is relevant.

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AndreTen said:

Could be that Word window is opened outside the screen limits..

To check it, open just one Word document and one other app (like explorer) then right click on Taskbar and select "cascade windows". This should bring it onto the desktop

Thank you Andre. I tried that but the document did not appear with the other windows. It's all very odd. Hmm!

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Try3 said:

Just to add to Ken's post, several months ago there were several user reports in TenForums about problems opening Word and they did indeed turn out to be caused by Word's failure to close properly [leaving additional entries in Task manager as Ken suggested].
I seem to recall that the problems were said to have originated from a faulty Office update.

If you search for open Word or similar, you'll probably find some of those threads.
Advanced Search - TenForums

Denis

Thank you for that tip. I'll give it a go :)

Not sure, but I think I have found the answer to the problem. I did a 'print screen' to record the troubleshooting report (was going to post here), but when I looked at (in PicPick) it showed the Word document that was 'invisible' to me! This didn't make sense, then I noticed the grey bar at the bottom of the PicPick image was rather long (that didn't make sense either) so I scrolled along the bar and the report plus another window came into view. ....Got me thinking! I have a second monitor that I seldom use and I switched it on and there was my invisible Word document. Now I have to figure out why Word will only open on my second monitor. Maybe a setting somewhere been changed somehow.
Too late tonight to deal with that so will see what I can do tomorrow. At least, for the time being I can use Word on the second monitor.
I'll report back if I can work it out. Meanwhile, thank you all for your kind help :)

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Caledon Ken said:

Winword.exe /a

There is a space between exe and the /a

Did you open task manager and end all occurrences of Microsoft word?

Only just seen your post Ken (after I'd posted my update) - but thank you. And yes I did open task manager and ended any Word occurrences. And no, I didn't realize there was a space where you say. However, you may have already seen my update where I've explained that I think I've solved the problem ...with just one little thing to sort out tomorrow.
Thank you so much for the help you've given me.

Try3 said:

Use WinKey+Left/Right arrow keys to move the Word window onto the monitor in use. It will then open on that monitor in the future.

Denis

Thank you very much for that useful tip. I've made a note of it for future reference