Member Avatar for blueeyesuk

I'm having exactly the same problem! I have a brand new imac (OS 10.5.2) and brand new office 2008 but everytime i try to open the drawing toolbar it freezes and i have to force quit. It doesnt freeze for anything else. The same thing happened on my last mac with an older version of word.... surely this cant be something that has never worked?!? I've looked for all the updates but there isnt any for my version yet. Does everyone have this problem or have i been very unlucky and got exactly the same problem twice? Help... I wanna do some drawings!!!!

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by sophieharris

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This thread documents a common hang in older Mac builds of Word when the drawing toolbar is opened. Several members (, , ) report that resetting per-user Word settings fixed it, and suggested a practical toolbar workaround. Below are focused, safe checks and additional options that complement those posts without repeating the exact file names already mentioned.

First, isolate whether the problem is user-specific or system-wide. Create a fresh macOS user account and launch Word there. If the drawing tools work in the new account, the cause lives in your user files (preferences, templates or add-ins). If it still hangs, test the Mac in Safe Boot (hold Shift while starting up) to rule out third-party fonts or system caches.

Second, check for document- or template-level corruption. Try a brand new blank document; if drawing works there, copy your content into the new file rather than continuing to use the old one. Also rename the global Word template so Word must recreate a fresh one; that often clears template-related hangs while preserving documents.

Third, look at fonts and add-ins. Use Font Book to validate and remove duplicate or suspicious fonts, and temporarily disable non-Apple fonts. Also disable any third-party Word add-ins or custom startup items and retest.

If those steps fail, back up any custom settings, do a clean uninstall/reinstall of Office, and apply the official updates for your Office build. As a low-effort workaround while troubleshooting, use a custom toolbar populated with the drawing commands you need (as suggested). Always make backups before moving or deleting files so you can restore settings if needed.

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All 11 Replies

Member Avatar for John A

Seeing that you've described your problem completely, and the other thread was nearly 3 years old, I've moved your question into a separate thread.

Member Avatar for stcdir

I'm having exactly the same problem! I have a brand new imac (OS 10.5.2) and brand new office 2008 but everytime i try to open the drawing toolbar it freezes and i have to force quit. It doesnt freeze for anything else. The same thing happened on my last mac with an older version of word.... surely this cant be something that has never worked?!? I've looked for all the updates but there isnt any for my version yet. Does everyone have this problem or have i been very unlucky and got exactly the same problem twice? Help... I wanna do some drawings!!!!

The solution is to go into your Library and in the Preferences folder delete the Preference file for Word. Apparently when you install Office 2008, Word retains preferences from previous version(s) of Office and when you try to open the drawing toolbar the previous preference file corrupts the program.

I had the same annoying problem and deleting the preference file resolved it immediately.

Member Avatar for sharkfin

Thank god for you guys, deleting the preferences file for Word has solved this irritating quirk instantly. Many thanks Andrew

Member Avatar for AdeleC

"The solution is to go into your Library and in the Preferences folder delete the Preference file for Word. Apparently when you install Office 2008, Word retains preferences from previous version(s) of Office and when you try to open the drawing toolbar the previous preference file corrupts the program."

OK. I was so happy to see this. I had this problem in 2004 and had used 2008 for a while, but it just started acting up.

I jumped on this, but when I got in the Library, I was leery about which to delete:

com.microsoft.Word.plist
com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist
(both have 'Kind" as OOPlistDocumentType)
or
Microsoft Word with "Kind" as Microsoft Graph Preference
???
Thanks

Member Avatar for melinzar

Having problems with MS 2004 Word freezing up when I try to use the drawing toolbar. Looked in Preference folder located in Library, but there was nothing in there for MS Word or MS at all. Is there somewhere else I need to look or even an document address you can give me to Search. Really need this to be fixed.

Thank you!

Member Avatar for Sue Wiggins

Hi

Could somebody please tell me where the Library is and where the Preferences Folder is?

I too have the same problem where word freezes up every time I click on the drawing toolbar in Word. I am using OS X and have Office for Mac 2008.

Thanks

Sue

Member Avatar for Sue Wiggins

Hi

I found Library and Preferences and deleted com.microsoft.Word.plist

This worked immediately.

Thanks so much.

Sue

Member Avatar for jadonagh

I have the same problem of freezing but can't find the preferences named above.

Member Avatar for oakmontoz

Here's another, though not elegant, solution.
Create your own custom toolbar and fill it with the drawing commands (or other commands) that you actually use often.
A related solution is to simply put those drawing commands on another toolbar (for example, my "Standard" toolbar actually anything but!)

Member Avatar for Tawn

I had this same problem. This solution worked for me. Make sure you go into the library from your user account folder! That is the only way to find these files.

Procedure
1) Quit all Office applications.
2) Navigate to your ~/Library/Preferences/ folder and drag the file(s) listed below to your desktop.
3) Be sure to start from your UserName folder— ~ is shorthand for your user account.
4)Relaunch Word. The file(s) will be recreated when you do so.

If all is well, trash the old file(s). In the case of the Word Preferences/Settings file, you will have to reset some preferences (and, for versions earlier than Word 2008, the AutoCorrect settings).
If this doesn't help, quit Word again, trash the new files and drag the original files back to where they belong. If using Word 2008, look for leftover preferences from earlier versions (see below).

Note: ~ indicates your user home account.
In Word 2008:
~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Word.plist
~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.plist
~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/Office Font Cache (12) [See Font Problems: A Special Case below.]

Member Avatar for sophieharris

yeah oakmontor is right.

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