Diagnose and repair crashing Office programs by using Office Diagnostics

Microsoft Office Diagnostics in the Microsoft Office system is a series of diagnostic tests that can help you discover why your computer is crashing (closing abnormally). The diagnostic tests can solve some problems directly and might identify ways that you can solve other problems.

Important Diagnostic information that is gathered from your computer is compiled and kept on your computer. When Office Diagnostics determines that the data might be useful to help diagnose and fix a problem, the system asks whether you want to send the information to Microsoft. Also, after the tests are completed, you are prompted to visit a Web page to get advice based the results of the tests. Any information that you share with Microsoft is completely anonymous, and absolutely no information is personally identifiable as being yours. To learn more about information confidentiality, see the Privacy Statement.In this article

What do the individual diagnostic tests do?

How do I run Office Diagnostics?

What do the individual diagnostic tests do?

When you run Office Diagnostics, you generally are running all of the tests. However, in some cases, some tests are not run - for example, if you are running a server version of Microsoft Windows or if an administrator has disabled some of the tests.

The Office Diagnostics are:

• Setup Diagnostic This test checks for corruption in the files and registry settings in your Microsoft Office system installation. Files and settings can be corrupted by malicious viruses or by hardware that is faulty or incorrectly configured.

  The following are some important facts about this test:

  • This test might take 15 minutes or longer to run.
  • This test might not run effectively if you are logged onto the system using Terminal Services or Remote Desktop.
  • While running the test, in some uncommon situations, you might be prompted to insert the Microsoft Office installation disc. Make sure you have access to the disc or network share from which you installed Office.

  Note In earlier versions of Office, this feature was called Detect and Repair.

• Disk Diagnostic This test looks for evidence of problems with your hard disk. Specifically this test checks for errors logged by the following:
• • The Windows system event log.
  • The Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology (SMART) feature of your hard disk. SMART is a feature that some disk drive manufacturers provide to give users advance notice of potential hard disk failure.
• Memory Diagnostic This test verifies the integrity of your computer's random access memory (RAM).

  Note This test is disabled by default on server versions of Windows.

• Update Diagnostic This test checks whether your computer is up to date with installed free service packs from Microsoft. Service packs are designed to make Office more stable. If your installation of Office is missing one or more service packs, it is important to install them as soon as possible. (Updates are available at Downloads on Microsoft Office Online. Under Office Update, click Check for Updates.) This test is run only if you enable it.

  How do I enable the Update Diagnostic test?

  To enable the Update Diagnostic test, do the following in one of these Microsoft Office system programs:

  • Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Access

    1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Program Name Options, where Program Name is the name of the program you are in, for example, Word Options.
    2. Click Trust Center, click Advanced Trust Center Settings, and then click Privacy Options.
    3. Select the Download a file periodically that helps determine system problems check box.
    4. Wait about a week to allow the file to be downloaded, and then run Microsoft Office Diagnostics again.

  • Visio, Outlook, Publisher, or InfoPath

    1. On the Tools menu, click Trust Center, and then click Privacy Options.
    2. Select the Download a file periodically that helps determine system problems check box.
    3. Wait about a week to allow the file to be downloaded, and then run Microsoft Office Diagnostics again.
• Compatibility Diagnostic This test identifies conflicting versions of Microsoft Office Outlook that might be installed on your computer. Two different versions of Outlook cannot be installed on the same computer without causing instability.
• Check for known solutions This test reviews the data on crashes of the Office release that have recently occurred on your system. The test then connects to a server to look for any solutions that might be available for the problems that caused these crashes.

How do I run Office Diagnostics?

Before running Office Diagnostics, and to ensure all the tests can run successfully, we recommend that you do the following:

• Plan to run the tests during a time when you can stop using your system. In particular, you should avoid using the system while the Memory Diagnostic is running.
• Close as many running programs as you can.

Do the following in these Microsoft Office system programs:

Access, Excel, PowerPoint, or Word

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Program Name Options, where Program Name is the name of the program you are in, for example, Word Options.
2. Click Resources.
3. Click Diagnose, click Continue, and then click Start Diagnostics.

InfoPath, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher, Project, SharePoint Designer, or Visio

1. On the Help menu, click Office Diagnostics.
2. Click Continue, and then click Start Diagnostics.

How do I run Office Diagnostics if I can't run an Office program?

If necessary, you can run Office Diagnostics from the Start menu.

• In Microsoft Windows, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Microsoft Office, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Diagnostics.