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Microsoft Office applications (including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, ...) come equipped with the Safe Mode feature, supporting users when Office applications are not functioning correctly. Here's how to open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Safe Mode.
What is Safe Mode in Office?
When you open Office in Safe Mode, the application won't load any add-ons or extensions, and there won't be any toolbar or custom command bars. Any automatically opened recovery documents won't launch in Safe Mode. AutoCorrect and many other features also remain inactive.
If Office applications crash every time you open them, it could be due to a faulty add-on or issues related to customization. Safe Mode prevents the loading of features that might cause disruptions.
Safe Mode Office differs from Safe Mode Windows. In Safe Mode Windows, your entire Windows operating system restarts without third-party drivers and startup software, which could be the cause of errors and issues.
Safe Mode Office follows a similar concept but is tailored exclusively for Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
Entering Safe Mode on your system isn't too challenging for users. If you're unfamiliar with how to access Safe Mode on your computer, check out the detailed guide on Mytour for step-by-step instructions.
Using shortcut keys to open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Safe Mode
To open any Office application (Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) in Safe Mode, simply press and hold the Ctrl key while launching the program's shortcut.
For example, to open Word in Safe Mode, locate the Word shortcut on the Start Menu, Taskbar, or desktop.
Press and hold the Ctrl key while clicking the mouse on the Word shortcut if it's on the Start Menu or Taskbar. Alternatively, press and hold the Ctrl key while double-clicking the mouse on the Word shortcut if it's on the desktop.
On the screen, you'll receive a prompt asking if you want to open the application in Safe Mode: “You’re holding down the CTRL key. Do you want to start [Application] in Safe Mode?”.
When the notification dialog appears, you can release the Ctrl key. Click OK to open the application in Safe Mode.
Using commands to open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Safe Mode
You can also open Office applications (Word, Excel, and PowerPoint) in Safe Mode using commands.
To do this, first, press the Windows + R key combination to open the Run dialog, then enter one of the following commands:
- For Word: winword /safe
- For Excel: excel /safe
- For PowerPoint: powerpnt /safe
- For Outlook: outlook /safe
- For Publisher: mspub /safe
- For Visio: visio /safe
Then press Enter or click OK to open the application in Safe Mode.
If you frequently need to open Office applications in Safe Mode, you can create a new Office application shortcut on the desktop and add /safe to the end of the Target field in the application shortcut window. Use that shortcut to open your application in Safe Mode.
Exiting Safe Mode
To exit Safe Mode, simply close the Office application and reopen it normally.
If Office applications function well in Safe Mode but encounter issues in normal mode, the cause might be an add-in. You can view these add-ins on Office 2016 by selecting File =>Options => Add-ins.
In such cases, you may need to uninstall, reinstall, or update one or more add-ins in Office.
If Office still hangs in Safe Mode, it's possible that the Office files are corrupted or damaged. In this situation, you can uninstall, then download and reinstall Office on your computer.
Here, Mytour has introduced two methods to open Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in Safe Mode—using shortcuts and commands. If you have any queries or questions, feel free to leave your comments below the article!
While using the Office tool, users may encounter cases of opening corrupted data files, especially in Excel. Fixing Excel file errors is quite straightforward, but not everyone, especially newcomers, is aware of the process. Through our previously shared article on fixing Excel file errors, readers can easily recover corrupted Excel files that are unreadable.
Additionally, in the Word tool, numbering pages in Word is quite simple, but many users are unaware of this basic skill. If you face difficulties, you can refer back to the previously shared article on numbering Word pages to refresh your knowledge.
