Office installations include a built-in repair tool, and that’s the first place to turn when things go awry. The absolute worst case requires running a cleanup tool on the current Office installation, followed by a clean install of a new copy of Office. That has never failed in my experience, any time I’ve had to go that far. The steps to access the repair tool vary depending on your operating system.

Repairing Microsoft Office

Does anyone have any idea how this can be done? Instructions for repairing all seem to rely on them actually showing up as installed. Comments violating those rules will be removed. Comments that don't add value will be removed, including off-topic or content-free comments, or comments that look even a little bit like spam. All comments containing links and certain keywords will be moderated before publication.

Recover data from a corrupted workbook

If you’re not sure, the Installed Apps list we started with is a good place to look. If you’re coming from section 2, grab the download link for what Microsoft calls the "uninstall support tool" in its Support pages. Its filename is SetupProd_Offscrub.exe, so I’ve gotten in the habit of calling it "OffScrub" myself.

steps to repair Microsoft Office

If you have to go this far during actual Office repairs, my condolences. You’re probably feeling pretty frustrated by now. We’re going to download and run a tool that completely obliterates your current Office installation. Then you’ll download and install a fresh, new installation from the Microsoft Office download page. This process seldom takes more than one or two minutes.

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One of your Microsoft Office applications starts acting weird or stops responding. Find solutions to common problems or get help from a support agent.

• You’ll see a dialog box like the one shown in Figure 9 open up and ask you to confirm installation.
• When complete, a checkmark appears next to the Rest button.
• Find solutions to common problems or get help from a support agent.
• After the list of installed apps populates (it can take some time, depending on how much you have installed), scroll down and look for Microsoft 365 (Office).

Start in Settings

Even on my 2012 vintage test machine, it was done in under a minute (on a healthy Office installation, I cheerfully confess). When the process Microsoft Office repair solutions completes, the "Done repairing" window appears, as shown in Figure 6. Once you’ve clicked Change, you may see a User Account Control window asking for permission to run the repair program. Click Yes, and the built-in Office repair window appears. The Quick Repair option, as shown in Figure 2, is selected by default.



You’ll then need to re-download and reinstall Microsoft Office. When complete, a checkmark appears next to the Rest button. Unzip to a folder of your choosing, then run the file named SaraSetup.exe to install the program.

Like many programs, Microsoft Office’s tools can be extended by third-party add-ons. You can try uninstalling or disabling any you’re aware of. Exactly how you do this will depend on the specific add-on.

A progress bar appears and shows progress while the repair happens. Once done, a checkbox will be added to the repair button. With a backup copy of your workbook, you'll always have access to your data if your workbook is deleted accidentally or if it becomes corrupted. Choose one of the following methods to help recover your data. You can also try third-party software solutions to try to recover workbook. This takes you to the same screen shown in Figure 11 above, so you can keep going from here.

You’ll see a dialog box like the one shown in Figure 9 open up and ask you to confirm installation. If you have any Office applications open, you’ll be asked to close them before the repairs can complete. On my test machine, for example, I had Outlook open. This provoked the request shown in Figure 4 (where, of course, I clicked Continue to close Outlook so repairs could work through to completion). A window opens to ask you if you’re ready to commence repairs.