- Some users said they couldn’t save Word documents, which seems to happen most often with Windows 2010, 2013, and 2016.
- Since this is how many people solved the problem for today, we recommend starting Word in Safe Mode.
- You should turn off a certain feature and see if the problem still happens.
- If you can’t save Word files, check to see if your antivirus is preventing you from doing so.
Microsoft Word is probably one of the best-known text editors, but many users have said that they can’t save Word documents on their PC.
This is a pretty bothersome problem, but we’ll show you how to fix it right and quickly today.
Before you try any of the steps below, it’s best to restart your computer because the app needs to be reloaded.
What kind of documents can I create with Microsoft Word?
Word is a word processor that makes it easy to create, edit, save, and print text documents.
Letters, memorandums, forms, employee performance evaluations (like those in Appendix A), proposals, reports, security surveys (like those in Appendix B), general security checklists, security manuals, books, or articles are some of the other types of documents that should be mentioned.
In other words, you can make and change any kind of text document in Microsoft Word, no matter how long it is or what its main purpose is.
Because of this, we strongly suggest you use it whenever you need to.
How To Fix: “Word cannot save or create this file” Error In Windows 11/10
Method 1. Start Word in Safe Mode
1. First, quit Word completely.
2. Now, you have to look for the Word shortcut. To do this, press the Windows key, type Word, then right-click on the first result and select Open file location.
3. Find the Word shortcut, hold down the CTRL key, and double-click Word.
4. You’ll be asked to confirm that you really want to start Word in Safe Mode.
If you can’t save a Word document, the problem might be with one of the add-ins. Word comes with a number of add-ins by default, and these add-ins can sometimes cause problems.
Users say to start Word in “Safe Mode” to fix the problem. This is pretty easy to do. Here are the steps you need to take:
After you do that, Word should start up in Safe Mode, where none of the add-ins are turned on. Check if the problem is still there once Word starts.
If the problem doesn’t happen in Safe Mode, it’s likely that your add-ins are to blame.
You can fix that by finding the bad add-ins and turning them off. This is easy to do, and you can do it by doing the following:
1. Launch your Word, go to File.
2. Go to Options.
3. Now, go to the left pane and click on Add-ins. Next to Manage COM Add-ins, click the Go… button.
4. Find the problematic add-ins and turn them off. Usually, the problem is caused by the Send to Bluetooth Add-in, but it can be caused by other things as well.
5. After you turn off the problem add-ins, check to see if the problem is still there.
Method 2. Rename Normal.dotm template
1. Press Windows + R, then type %appdata%. Click OK.
2. Go to the Microsoft.
3. Now, navigate to Templates.
4. You should see the Normal.dotm file there. Change the file’s name to “OldNormal.dotm.”
Users say that your template file can sometimes be the cause of the problem. If the default template file is broken or corrupted, you won’t be able to save Word documents on your PC.
But it’s easy to make a new template file on your own. This is easy to do, and you can do it by doing the following:
After you do that, Word will be forced to make a new file with the new default template. Once you make a new template file, the problem should go away for good.
Many people said that this method worked for them, so you should give it a try.
Method 3. Disable autocapitalization feature
1. Open Word.
2. Click File from the top left corner of the window.
3. Select Option.
4. If it’s hidden, choose More… and then Options.
5. Now, on the left side of the window, click on Proofing. Then, on the right side of the window, click on the AutoCorrect Options… button.
6. Make sure that the boxes next to the first four options are not checked.
7. Once you’re done, click OK.
This problem can sometimes be caused by parts of Microsoft Word that come with it. This can happen in Microsoft Word when the autocapitalization feature is turned on.
If you can’t save Word files on your PC, you might want to turn off the autocapitalization feature completely.
Check to see if the problem is still there after you’ve done that. This is just a workaround, but it might work for you, so feel free to try it.
Method 4. Check your antivirus software
Your antivirus software might stop you from making changes to some files. To fix the problem, you should check your antivirus settings and turn off some features, especially Folder Access and Folder Security.
If turning off these features doesn’t fix the problem, you could try turning off your antivirus completely. If that doesn’t work, try turning off your antivirus and see if that makes a difference.
Expert Tip: Some PC problems are hard to fix, especially when repositories are broken or Windows files are missing. If you can’t get rid of an error, your system may be broken in some way. We suggest installing Restoro, a tool that will check your computer and tell you what’s wrong.
Click here to get the file and start fixing it.
If you have Windows 10 and remove your third-party antivirus, you should still be protected by Windows Defender, so don’t worry about your safety.
Many users had problems with Trusteer Rapport and Endpoint Protection software, but this problem can also be caused by other antivirus tools.
If getting rid of the antivirus fixes the problem, this might be a good time to think about getting a different one. There are a lot of great antivirus programs out there.
So, you should think about getting an antivirus that protects your PC but doesn’t stop you from running certain programs.
See more: Best Antivirus For Windows 10/11
Don’t forget that a lot of problems can happen because the Windows 10 Firewall and some parts of the antivirus you have may be at odds with each other.
In this case, you need to turn off the firewall for a while so it doesn’t mess up your system or any of its parts, like your antivirus.
Check to see if the problem is still there after you turned it off. If that doesn’t work, try turning off your antivirus and then saving your Word document.
Method 5. Disable Controlled Folder Access
1. Press Windows + I to open Settings.
2. Go to Update & Security.
3. Click Windows Security from the menu on the left, then select to Open Windows Security from the right pane.
4. Go to Virus & threat protection.
5. After that, click Virus & threat protection settings.
6. Go to Controlled folder access section, select Manage Controlled folder access option.
7. Disable the Controlled folder access feature.
As we’ve already said, your antivirus software can sometimes mess up Word. If you can’t save Word files on your computer, it could be because of Windows Defender.
There is a folder protection feature built into Windows Defender. If this feature is turned on, you won’t be able to save files in certain directories.
To fix this problem, you should turn off this feature completely. It’s easy to do this, and you can do it by following the steps above.
Method 6. Check the save location
Users say that sometimes this problem happens because of where you save. Users say that Microsoft Word doesn’t work well with long file paths. You might run into this problem if you save your document in a path that is between 180 and 255 characters long.
To fix the problem, you should try saving in a different path, one that is closer to the root directory, and see if that works. Also, make sure that the file path doesn’t have any special characters.
It looks like Word has trouble with special characters like apostrophes and other similar things, so don’t put them in the file path or file name. If these changes are made, the problem should be solved.
Method 7. Remove the Word Data registry key
1. Press Windows Key + R then type regedit and press OK to open the Registry Editor.
2. Go to the following path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office16.0\Word\Data
3. Keep in mind that this key might be a little different depending on which version of Office you’re using.
4. Right-click the Data key and click Export from the menu.
5. Choose the desired location, type backup as the File name and click the Save button.
6. Right-click the Data key and click Delete from the menu.
7. When the menu asking for confirmation comes up, click the “Yes” button
Users have said that if you can’t save Word documents on your PC, the problem might be with your registry.
This problem can be caused by your registry, and to fix it, you just need to take out one key from it. Follow the steps above to do that.
After that, start Word again and see if the problem is still there. If the problem is still there, run the backup.reg file you made in Step 4 to put the registry back to how it was before the problem started.
Method 8. Recreate the document
If you can’t save Word documents on your PC, it could be because of how certain formulas are set up. Many Word users use different formulas, and sometimes these formulas can cause different problems to happen.
To fix the problem, make sure to select all of the text in your document and copy it to the clipboard.
Now, open a new document and restart Word. If you copy what’s in the clipboard and paste it into the new document, you should be able to save it.
What Word document related issues can I encounter?
You may not be able to save a Word document sometimes. This can be a problem, and while we’re on the subject of Word problems, here are some others that users have reported:
- Can’t save Word document 2016, 2013, 2010: – This problem can happen in just about every version of Word. Your template file could be the cause of the problem, so make sure to make a new one and see if that fixes the problem.
- Microsoft Word 2016 won’t save documents: – This problem could be caused by the add-ins you have. Start Word in Safe Mode and turn off all add-ins to fix the problem.
- Unable to save Word document read-only, permission error: – This problem could be caused by your registry. To fix the problem, you just need to remove some keys and see if that fixes it.
- Not able to save Word document to Desktop: – When saving Word documents, you might run into problems with permissions from time to time. Most of the time, your antivirus is to blame, so check its settings or turn it off.
As you can see, there are many things that can stop you from saving Word documents, but we hope that one of our solutions will help you fix the problem.
You can also check out Microsoft’s official page to learn more about Word.
If you have any more questions about this topic, please ask them in the section below.
