Has the ordinary startup of Office apps resulted in an error message requesting that you start in Safe mode? This error is most commonly found in Microsoft Office apps such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook. The complete error message presented to the user when you open any Office application is as follows: “Word Couldn’t start last time. Safe mode could help you troubleshoot the problem, but some features might not be available in this mode. Do you want to start in safe mode?”
Plugins and damaged folders in Office applications are the most common causes of this problem. In this post, you’ll find various troubleshooting solutions that have been utilized by a number of people to resolve the error message “Word, Excel, or Powerpoint couldn’t start last time” when using Office apps.
Table of Contents
Fix 1 – Changes in the Registry
1. Press and hold the Windows and R keys at the same time to bring up the Run dialog.
2. To launch the Registry Editor, type regedit and click OK.
3. Open the Registry and go to the following location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office
4. Depending on the version of Office being used, different keys can be found at the above area. Open the one that corresponds to your Office version.
Office 2003 –> 11.0
Office 2007 –> 12.0
Office 2010 –> 14.0
Office 2013 –> 15.0
Office 365, Office 2019 or Office 2016 –> 16.0
5. We’ll unlock the 16.0 key because we have Office 365.
6. Select the key Open Find under 16.0, then go to Common.
7. If you don’t have Open Find, right-click Common and choose New –> Key from the context menu.
8. Give the key the name “Open Find.”
9. Right-click on the empty space on the right side and select New –> DWORD (32-bit) Value after selecting the key Open Find.
10. Type EnableShellDataCaching into the new DWORD and hit Enter.
11. Right-click on EnableShellDataCaching and select Modify…
12. In the Value Data column, type 1. Select the OK button.
13. Close the Registry Editor window. Restart your computer.
14. Restart Word and see if the error that it couldn’t start the last time has been fixed.
Fix 2 – Repair Office Application
Corrupted MS Office files can cause this problem in all Office applications, and you can fix it by replacing the corrupted files with new copies.
1. To launch the Run dialog box, press Windows key + R.
2. In the Control Panel, type appwiz.cpl to launch Programs & Features.
3. In the list of programs, look for your MS Office suite installation.
4. To start Microsoft Office Repair Utility, select your Office suite and click the Change option. If UAC prompts you, select Yes.
5. There are two options in the repair window that appears: Quick Repair and Online Repair.
6. To begin the procedure, select Quick Repair and then click the Repair option.
7. In the Ready to Start a Quick Repair window, select Repair.
8. When the repair is finished, restart your computer. Open Word and see if the problem has been repaired.
Whether the error continues after Quick Repair, try Online Repair and see if it fixes the problem following a system restart.
Fix 3 – Disable Add-ins in Safe Mode
Disabling add-ins and relaunching the app in regular mode has reportedly helped some users resolve the issue.
1. If you select Yes in the error window that occurs, the Office application will open in safe mode.
2. If you selected No, type winword /safe into the Run (Windows + R) box to start Word in safe mode.
3. Select File from the File Menu.
4. On the left-hand side, select Options.
5. Select the Add-ins option in the Options box.
6. On the right side, towards the bottom, you’ll notice Manage: Select COM Add-in from the dropdown box. Next to it, click the Go button.
7. To disable all of the add-ins in the list, uncheck them all.
8. Close the application and reopen it in regular mode to see if the problem has been resolved.
Fix 4 – Delete files in Application Startup Path
Some users have reported in Microsoft forum comments that deleting files and folders from the Office application’s launch path has helped them eliminate the problem.
1. Open Run by pressing the Windows key + R.
2. Based on the MS Office application for which you wish to delete files, type the following.
%appdata%\Microsoft\Excel
%appdata%\Microsoft\Word
%appdata%\Microsoft\PowerPoint
3. For Word and PowerPoint, the startup folder is called Startup, while for Excel, it’s called XLSTART.
4. Confirm that the official application has been closed. To begin, open the folder.
5. Press Ctrl + A to select all the files, then Shift + Delete to completely remove the folder’s contents.
6. Restart the application to see if the error has been resolved.
You can check out the live illustration of above steps in this video:
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
We hope the tips above assisted you in successfully opening Word, Excel, and Powerpoint with Windows 10. Please leave a comment and tell us which fix worked for you.