How to start Office for Windows applications in Office Safe Mode. Use one of these methods to start an Office application in Office Safe Mode on a Windows PC: Find the shortcut icon for your Office application. Press and hold the CTRL key and double-click the application shortcut.

Follow the steps for your installation type. Repair broken Office app installations.

How to start Office for Windows applications in Office Safe Mode. Use one of these methods to start an Office application in Office Safe Mode on a Windows PC: Find the shortcut icon for your Office application. Press and hold the CTRL key and double-click the application shortcut.

To help you resolve this, try the solutions below. We've listed the most common solutions first so try the steps in the order they're listed. Make sure Office is updated to Version 2102 (Build 13801.20808) or later. If you're not setup for automatic updates do the following:

Learn how to uninstall Office from a PC using the Control Panel or with the uninstall support tool.

Learn how to download and install apps you need from your Microsoft 365 business subscription.

Here are some scenarios where a file opens read-only and some steps you can take to change that. Some antivirus programs may protect you from potentially unsafe files by opening them read-only. You may need to check with your antivirus provider to learn how to adjust these settings.

Starts Word and opens a read-only copy of a document that is stored on a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services site. The site must be on a computer that is running Word 2007 or later or Windows SharePoint Services 2.0 or later. Note: If the document is checked out to you, the /h switch has no effect. Word opens the file so that you can edit it.

Learn how to update Microsoft Office on PC and troubleshooting tips for installing Office updates.

Learn how to get older apps or programs to run on Windows 10 or Windows 11 by adjusting compatibility settings.