MS Confirms: Latest Win10 Update Wipes out MS Word

Microsoft has confirmed the latest Windows 10 update has messed up Word 2016 for some users. Fixing the mistake is possible but somewhat complicated.

The problem comes with the latest cumulative update to the system, known as Windows 10 Cumulative Update KB3124200, released December 17, 2015. The component update that's causing the problem accidentally renames a file during the update, which then causes macros, autotext entries, and styles to no longer load.

Autocomplete Among The Messed-Up Features

The file in question (normal.dotm) stores all the template information for Microsoft Word 2016, including customizations that users make such as macros and styles. Even more casual users may notice they lose the custom dictionary which powers the autocomplete feature and adjusts to take account of the user's most commonly typed words.

Unfortunately when Word 2016 opens and can't find the template file -- such as in this case when it's been renamed -- it automatically creates a new copy of the file. This starts everything from scratch, meaning all customization goes missing.

Although some users of earlier editions of Word have reported problems, Microsoft has only officially confirmed it for Word 2016.

Microsoft Publishes 11-Step Fix

For users who have already come across the problem, Microsoft is recommending a series of steps to recover a previous copy of the template and thus reinstate most (though possibly not all) of their customizations.

The complete set of steps is at the Microsoft website in knowledge base article 3129969. The short version is that it involves renaming the new "Normal.dotm" to something else, then finding the most recent backup copy of the file and renaming that as "Normal.dotm" before restarting Word. (Source: microsoft.com)

For users who haven't yet applied the update, such as those people who have their system set to manually approve them before installation, it's possible to make a backup of the template file just in case. Bill Snyder at CIO has the details of how to do this. (Source: cio.com)

What's Your Opinion?

Has your copy of Word been screwed up by the update? If so, are you running Word 2016 or an earlier version? Do you think Microsoft's explanation of how to fix it is sufficient?