17 Sep Microsoft Word is Opening All My Files

Posted at 12:25h in Support by

The Problem

“Microsoft Word is opening every single Word document I have ever created on my Mac one after the other and I can’t stop it. I am opening Microsoft Word from my dock in Mac OSX. Word is opening and then it opens every single Word document I have ever created”

The Solution

If Word opens a small group of recently used documents
Go to the following location

Apple Menu –> System Preferences –> General

Depending on your MacOS (Operating System) version, do one of the following…

Uncheck the Restore windows when quitting and re-opening apps box.
or
Checked the Close windows when quitting an application box.

If Word is trying to open all your saved documents
Click on the Finder icon at the left hand end of your Dock
Go to the Apple Menu
Select Force Quit…
Select Microsoft Word
Click Force Quit

Make sure you are still in Finder
Hold down the option (sometimes labelled as alt) key and select the Go Menu.
From the Go menu select Library
Now navigate to Saved Application State –> com.microsoft.word.savedstate
Locate the file data.data and move it to the trash.
Restart Microsoft Word …….

You should find that your problem is resolved.

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Matthew Goddard
matt@logosystems.co.uk
14 Comments
  • Wendy
    Posted at 12:25h, 19 July Reply

    Thanks so much! My computer was crashing as it tried to open hundreds of files. Your solution worked like a charm.

  • Suki Sherwood
    Posted at 12:57h, 03 September Reply

    Thank you! This saved my weekend of work!

  • Lowri
    Posted at 22:19h, 11 May Reply

    Awesome! Worked perfectly – thank you so much 😉

    • Matthew Goddard
      Posted at 09:48h, 12 May Reply

      Our pleasure. Glad it helped.

  • Karen
    Posted at 11:51h, 09 June Reply

    Fabulous – really appreciate how easy this was. Thank You!

    • Matthew Goddard
      Posted at 17:43h, 29 June Reply

      Thanks for the feedback Karen. Glad it helped.

  • Roshan Perera
    Posted at 12:31h, 07 June Reply

    Brilliant Matthew. worked right away. Thank you so much.
    Roshan Perera

    • Matthew Goddard
      Posted at 18:23h, 08 June Reply

      My Pleasure Roshan.

  • Josie
    Posted at 19:04h, 22 June Reply

    Hi, I had exactly the same issue with my 2014 macbook pro – first time it ha ever missed a beat in 7 years! Your advice worked perfectly, now no issues with word. Cheers!

  • Sara
    Posted at 18:37h, 04 October Reply

    Had to go down the data.data file rabbit hole and do the full monty. I was a bit wary about delving into something that might have disastrous results but it worked great. Thank you. How do you know all this stuff 🙂

  • Zdena Rumreich
    Posted at 06:18h, 03 November Reply

    Unfortunately, this has not worked for me. I have tried it a few times.

  • Teresa Griffith
    Posted at 01:07h, 16 November Reply

    THANK YOU!

  • Harry Sideborn
    Posted at 17:14h, 11 June Reply

    Thanks you so much!!!! I have been suffering with this problem for 2 years. What a relief. Your instructions are very clear and detailed. I had to reread them a few times in order to do it the right way and it worked. I can’t believe it.

  • john ross
    Posted at 02:04h, 01 November Reply

    What I don’t get (or like) is that every time a “glitch” is found in an MS application they either blame some other program that’s not theirs or force their users to jump through hoops to get back to a normal operational environment instead of confessing that they screwed up and fix the problem themselves. Heck NO! They make “you” fix “their” screw up!

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