This page lists examples of the types of issue that Office-Reset can resolve.

Activation Errors

An activation error usually occurs if there's an issue contacting the Office Licensing Service. In most cases, you can try again and resolve the problem. However, there are scenarios where the app appears to get stuck in a loop and it's necessary to remove any existing cached credentials that may still be lingering on the device.

For these cases, you can run Office-Reset and choose 'Reset License and Sign-In'

App Launch Errors

If you see an error message the moment you attempt to launch an Office app, you may have a very old version of Office installed, or something went wrong with the last update.

For these issues, run Office-Reset and choose to 'Reset' the app that is producing the error

It's also possible that a third-party add-in has made a change to your default template, and this causes the app to show an error message whenever launched.

Hangs and Crashes

If an application hangs, the pointer changes to a pinwheel (aka spinning beachball). If the hang lasts for more than 2 minutes there's a good chance that the app is stuck indefinitely, and your only real choice is to perform a Force Quit.

You might also see the Microsoft Error Reporting dialog if the app terminates itself because of an internal error. These can occur for different reasons, but it's always a good idea to check that you have the latest updates installed. Secondly, a third-party add-in may be causing an incompatibility with Office.

For any of these issues, run Office-Reset and choose to 'Reset' the app that is producing the error

Missing Functionality

Sometimes, it's the absence of functionality that causes an issue. In the examples below, we see that all of the usual templates are missing from the gallery, and there are no cloud storage providers present. You may also be missing functionality if the installed build of Office is more than 90 days old.

For this category of issue choose to 'Reset' the app that is producing the error. If you're seeing the error in all apps, the best course is a factory reset.