Link to home
Start Free TrialLog in
Avatar of Jim
JimFlag for United States of America

asked on

Word 2016 (32-Bit) - Hangs when attempting to select an existing list for Mailings

Monthly, I do a mail merge from an existing Access database to create and print envelopes.  This month, it suddenly did not work.  I'd select Mailings... Select Recipients... Use an Existing List... and it then hangs with a spinning whirligig until I do an "End Task".  Normally, it would pull up a directory listing for selecting the database I'd like to use.  I did a quick repair and an online repair.  Neither worked.  So I did an uninstall of Office.  When selecting the download for re-installation, I elected the 64-Bit version of Office 2016.  After install, my mail merge now worked perfectly; exactly as it had in the past.  I soon determined, however, that an old accounting app that runs under Access didn't like the 64-Bit version.  So another uninstall, re-install of the 32-Bit Office 2016 and the accounting app again works.  Unfortunately, the issue with the mail merge hang has returned.  

As an "Oh, by the way... I did attempt to recreate the mail merge master doc and a new list.  It, too, hangs when I then try to use it again and select "Use an Existing List".
I'm not sure where/what to do next to work towards resolving this issue and am seeking your help.

Thanks!!

Jim
Avatar of Tuan
Tuan

Open a new word document
Click on "File"
"Options"
look on left pane, click "Add-Ins"
at the bottom you see "Manage"
select "COM Add-ins" from drop down (the default option i think)
Click the "Go..." button

Try unchecking everything in here except for the one add-in you need.  If it works, then you know it was one of these add-ins causing the problem.
Avatar of Jim

ASKER

Prior to the first uninstall, I checked the COM Add-ins.  Three were listed and only two were checked - Acrobat PDFMaker Office COM Addin and ShareSync Office Plugin (a cloud file sync service).  I deselected both but the problem continued to persist.  Both were also active when the 64-Bit version of Office was installed... and the mail merge function worked perfectly then (in fact, I did all my envelopes prior to uninstalling x64 Office).

Thank you for taking time to respond.

Jim
Did you try to disable hardware graphics acceleration?
User generated image
Avatar of Jim

ASKER

I had not previously disabled hardware graphics acceleration... but did after your comment.  It did not change the situation.  But in watching it "hang" and opening Task Manager so I could End Task, I noted something that has happened that I'd not yet reported.  Sometimes, when selecting Task Manager during a Word hang, Task Manager also does a "not responding".  If I click upper-right corner red Xs, eventually I get the option to Close the Application.  When using this to close Word, the following message appears -

User generated image
Have you tried to run word in safe mode?

Open run and type

Winword.exe /safe
SOLUTION
Avatar of Tuan
Tuan

Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of Jim

ASKER

I had previously opened Word in Safe mode by holding the CTRL key down while clicking on Word's icon.  Once in Safe Mode, Mailings was greyed out and not accessible.

I followed your instructions for the registry edit and deleted the Word 15 options key.  It made no change.  I then restored that entry from the export saved to the Desktop.  I then reopened the registry editor and did the same thing for Word 16.  Again, it made no change.

I was hopeful that the registry items would have a positive affect... especially considering that whatever is causing this issue was a holdover after the uninstall of Office 2016 x32... but was not evident in the install of Office 2016 x64.

Again, I appreciate your continued efforts.

Jim
Avatar of Jackie Man
MS Word version?

Office 365?
Avatar of Jim

ASKER

User generated image
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
Link to home
membership
This solution is only available to members.
To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.
Start Free Trial
Avatar of Jim

ASKER

Jackie Man,

Version 1703 and Malwarebytes is indeed the combination that I'm using.  Following the link that you provided, I noted a solution that had me disable Word as a protected application (see screen shot, below).  With that accomplished, I went back into Word and was able to perform the mail merge operation successfully... exactly as I had so many times in the past.

Thank you for your time and talent.  It is much appreciated!

Jim

User generated image
Glad to know your feedback.

I learnt a lot from your question too.

If you have no further question, please close this question. Thanks!
Avatar of Jim

ASKER

Tuan Massey - Thank you for taking the time to help work through my problem.  Although your suggestions did not solve my issue, I did learn from them (and may well find them useful in the future).

Jackie Man - Thank you for zeroing in on exactly what my issue might be.  I had already spent a considerable amount of time on it before asking here.  I am pleased to now have that behind me.

My thanks to you both!

Jim