For everyone else, though, you'll need to use Microsoft's automated tool to see whether it can fix the issue or manually try some troubleshooting methods outlined in a support document.

Microsoft’s Inbox Repair tool can solve certain problems with your Outlook file. Find out how you can fix issues that may arise from a corrupt personal folder file.

To resolve the 'Word cannot open the existing file (Normal.dotm)' error, reset the Normal.dotm file, use Open and Repair, and disable add-ins.

Several troubleshooting steps will be need to perform to fix Microsoft word not responding on Windows. The word processing program Microsoft Word was created by Microsoft.