After working perfectly for months, Word 2016 no longer displays documents properly. At first, it was the draft view that failed to function. Now, only the reading pane functions, i.e. I can't edit my documents.


I've re-installed office 216, but it didn't help.

Have you tried repairing the Office installation (via Windows Control Panel > Programs > Programs & Features > Microsoft Office (version) > Change > Repair)?

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Yes, I tried twice to repair Word. Each time an error message appeared rapidly and then Office disinstalled itself automatically. That's why I said above that I re-installed Office twice.
Might that error message be the cause of this malfunction of Word that prevents me (sporadically) from updating documents? I could try to get a screenshot of it as it flashes rapidly, but then what should I do with it? Mention it on this forum?

In that case, there appears to be something fairly seriously wrong with your system. You might try going though the complete uninstall process (see https://support.office.com/en-us/art...c-2fdf5dbf61d8), then reinstalling. If that doesn't work, you may need to use System Restore to restore you system to a date before the problems started occurring.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Re: complete uninstall and restore.
When the problem first appeared, a Microsoft technician took over my PC and did a complete uninstall, e.g. I lost all my Outlook accounts.
I just did a System Restore, but the earliest date proposed was after the appearance of the Word problem (no draft view).
After the restore:
- I still don't have a Word draft view,
- When starting to use my PC, I received the error message: "Communication with service tray failed. Tray cannot start."
- I lost text that I had added to a Word document yesterday.

In that case, it's starting to sound like a complete system rebuild will be required. That means reinstalling Windows - which will wipe out all applications and data - then reinstalling your apps and, finally, restoring your data. Make sure you back-up all your data and settings first. Windows 'Backup and Restore' (see https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/...ack-up-restore) should be able to do that - and the restoration - for you.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

o.k. Thanks fo bearing with me through this thread. I appreciate your help. I don't see any othr solution either. I'll just have to limp along for a while until I have the time necessary for a complete re-build.

Is there a way to do a PC to PC transfer of data and apps. If so, could that permit 1.) transfer, 2.) new Windows, 3.) transfer back?

No, you can't simply transfer the data & apps to another PC, then transfer them back again. You might be able to do it with the data, but you certainly couldn't do it with the apps, since they'll all use the Windows Registry and the last thing you'd want to do after reinstalling Windows is to reload what might be a corrupt registry. You also wouldn't want to reload any corrupt app files. In any event, transferring the data is likely to be less comprehensive than creating and restoring a backup - and slower.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

o.k. I'll just have to plan the operation carefully:

- printing out logins and passwords, product keys and Outlook addresses

- making a complete list of the programs

- printing out the 70 or so icons on my desktop.

Thanks again for all your help. Bye

Outlook addresses & emails, Word documents, etc. will be preserved by Windows 'Backup and Restore'.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Bye,

lisaby = basil xxxxxxy