How to fix: "Something went wrong" error when you try to start an Office app

Applies To: Excel 2016 Word 2016 Outlook 2016 PowerPoint 2016 OneNote 2016Office 2016 Excel 2013 Word 2013 Outlook 2013 PowerPoint 2013 OneNote 2013Publisher 2013 Access 2013 Visio 2013 Office for business Office 365 AdminOffice 365 Small Business Office 365 Small Business Admin Office 2013 Click2Run

When trying to start an Office app, you might get this error. Here are some things you can try to fix the problem. We’ve listed the most common solutions first, so try them in order.

Restart your device

Wait a few minutes, restart your device, sign back in, and restart your app.

Repair Office from the Control Panel

How you get to the repair tool depends on your operating system.

For Windows 10

1. Right-click the Start button  (lower-left corner), and select Control Panel pop-up menu.

   

2. From Category view, under Programs, select Uninstall a program.

3. Right-click the Office product you want to repair, and select Change.

   NOTE: If you have a suite such as Office 365 Home or Office Home and Student 2013 or 2016, search for the suite name, even if it's just a particular application you want to repair such as Word or Excel. If you have a standalone application such as Word or Excel, search for the application name.

4. From the How would you like to repair your Office Programs screen, select Online Repair to ensure everything gets fixed, and then select Repair. You can select Quick Repair which runs faster but only detects and then replaces corrupted files. Online Repair does an uninstall and complete repair but takes longer.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete.

 

 For Windows 8 and Windows 8.1

 

1. Right-click the Start button  (lower-left corner), and select Control Panel from the pop-up menu.

   

2. From Category view, under Programs, select Uninstall a program.

3. Right-click the Office product you want to repair, and select the Change button.

   NOTE: If you have a suite such as Office 365 Home or Office Home and Student 2013 or 2016, search for the suite name, even if it's just a particular application you want to repair such as Word or Excel. If you have a standalone application such as Word or Excel, search for the application name.

4. From the How would you like to repair your Office Programs screen, select Online Repair to ensure everything gets fixed, and then select Repair.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete.

For Windows 7 or Vista

1. Click the Start button  (lower left corner), click Control Panel from the menu list, and then click Programs and Features.

2. From Category view, under Programs, select Uninstall a program.

3. Click the Office product you want to repair, and then click Change.

4. From the How would you like to repair your Office Programs screen, select Online Repair to ensure everything gets fixed, and then select Repair.

5. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete.

 

Uninstall and reinstall Office

Uninstall Office using easy fix

1. Click this easy fix button below to uninstall Office.

   EASY FIX DOWNLOAD

2. For the remaining steps showing how to save and use the easy fix, select your browser from the options below:

   
   
   CHROME

   1. In the lower-lower left corner select the o15CTRRemove file and from the drop down, select Show in folder.

      

      Double-click the download, o15CTRRemove to run the easy fix tool.

   2. The Uninstall Microsoft Office wizard launches. Select Next and follow the prompts.

   3. When you see the Uninstallation successful screen, follow the prompt to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. Select Next.

   4. After restarting your computer, you can try installing Office again.

   INTERNET EXPLORER or MICROSOFT EDGE
   
   

    

   1. At the bottom of the browser window, select Open to open the O15CTRRemove.diagcab file.

      

      If the file doesn’t open automatically, choose Save > Open Folder, and then double-click the file (it should start with "O15CTRRemove") to run the easy fix tool.

   2. The Uninstall Microsoft Office wizard launches. Select Next and follow the prompts.

   3. When you see the Uninstallation successful screen, follow the prompt to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. Select Next.

   4. After restarting your computer, you can try installing Office again.

    FIREFOX
   
   

   1. Select Save File, and then OK.

      

      In the upper-right browser window, select Show all downloads. In the Library, select Downloads > O15CTRRemove.diagcab, and then select the folder icon. Double-click theO15CTRRemove.diagcab.

   2. The Uninstall Microsoft Office wizard launches. Select Next and follow the prompts.

   3. When you see the Uninstallation successful screen, follow the prompt to restart your computer for the changes to take effect. Select Next.

   4. After restarting your computer, you can try installing Office again.

   
   

Reinstall Office

To reinstall Office, follow the steps in Download and install or reinstall Office on your PC or Mac