If there are writing or formatting problems on Word, let’s see how to restore it to its basic settings
Microsoft Word can be customized from top to bottom to meet the needs of its user. Unfortunately, not all changes made to Word are successful; if we exaggerate with the changes we risk end up with an unusable Wordespecially if the changes concern the application of new or new print layouts paragraph styles.
Luckily, it’s possible restore Word’s default settingsreturning the program with all the basic options assigned by Microsoft, so that we can start again without our changes.
READ ALSO -> Word settings to change to save time
1) Reset from Settings
The simplest recovery to carry out is available by pressing WIN+I on our PC keyboard and, after opening the settings, all we have to do is take us to the path App -> App installatepress on Microsoft 365 (Office) and scroll until you find the button Restoreso as to start restoring Office apps.
If this button did not solve the problem we can also use the button Reset present immediately below, starting an even more incisive recovery procedure.
2) Restore from installation file
If we use the Retail version of Office or one of the earlier Office versions the recovery procedure is slightly different, since we will use the installer to restore Office.
To proceed we look for the Control Panel in the Start menu, click on the item Uninstall a programwe select Microsoft Office in the list, we press on Change installationwe select Restore and then press on Continues.
On versions based on Click To Run a window will open How do you want to restore Office applications?; in this case we press on Online Restore -> Restore and we press on the item Quick recovery to start restoring the installed copy of Office.
3) Restore from registry
If we wanted instead Reset Word settings onlywithout losing the customized settings of the other programs present in the Office suite, we will necessarily have to act from the system configuration registry, but not before having created a restore point o one registry backup.
To proceed with this advanced procedure, press WIN+R on the keyboard, we type regedit and, in the new window, let’s go to the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Word
In the folder Word we delete the subfolders Data, Options e Wizardsclose the editor and restart the PC.
Upon rebooting, we start Word and wait for the reconstruction of the missing files, which will effectively restore Word to its default settings.
4) Completely uninstall Office
If none of the previous procedures have solved the problem it is worth launching the official Office uninstallerremove any remaining Office from your PC and start over.
After downloading the uninstaller, launch it and follow the procedure, selecting the version to uninstall (or uninstalling all versions of Office) and restarting your computer when necessary.
At the next reboot we download a new copy of Office by accessing the Office.com site and logging in with the Microsoft account that has the license to use orMicrosoft 365 subscription.
Alternatively we can also insert the Office installation disk (if we have the physical copy and a DVD drive) or download the trial version of Office 2021 Professional Plus in IMG format, usable on Windows with the help of a virtual device.
Conclusions
Microsoft Word can be repaired in various ways, using the recovery procedures provided for the entire Office suite or using the registry-based procedure (very effective in most cases).
For more serious cases it is worth it completely uninstall Office from your PC and proceed with a clean installation of the suite, also using the IMG image provided in the appropriate link.
To learn more we can read our guides on how to download Microsoft Office legally come on how to repair Office if it crashes.