When composing a new Word document, I typed about 300 words and then attempted to type a certain name. The name appeared in bold, in a font size larger than the one I had been using, and immediately everything preceding this text disappeared without trace. All that remained of the file was this one name. I then opened a backup file, and attempted to type the same name. However, the same thing happened and the entire backup file disappeared. The computer is running Windows XP with Office 2002.

From the description it sounds like one of three Word features could be causing difficulties: the AutoCorrect feature, a Word add-in, or a Word macro which has been configured so when the name is typed all text in the document is deleted except for this word. This is very strange behaviour, which I have not seen before. It stands to reason this is not the proper behaviour of Microsoft Word, so we need to resolve the issue. First, we will explore the possibility the AutoCorrect feature has become configured to modify the document when the name is typed. In Word, go to the ‘Insert’ menu > ‘AutoText’ > ‘AutoText’. In the window that appears, click the ‘AutoCorrect’ tab. On this tab you will see a list containing all the AutoCorrect entries. This list denotes the AutoCorrect configuration - when text matching the ‘Replace’ value is typed in the document, this will automatically be replaced with the text in the ‘With’ column. While this should only replace the text, it is possible that some special instruments may also be contained in the replacement text which causes all the text in the document to be lost. So, look through the list of entries to see whether there is an entry for the name. Should an entry for this text be found, delete the entry.

If there is no AutoCorrect entry for the name, the next possible cause of the issue is a Word add-in or macro. The problem could be caused by a Word add-in which has installed itself within Word for a particular purpose. Another possible cause is a macro, which are automated scripts which run particular instructions when executed. To test whether this is the problem, we can start Word without loading any add-ins or macros, to check whether the problem persists. We will first try loading Word without any add-ins to see whether this resolves the issue. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and type ‘winword /a’ (without the quotes) and click OK. Once Word starts, you will need to manually create a new document (as the normal blank document template will not automatically load). Once you have created a new document, check whether the problem persists. Should the problem not continue, it seems a Word add-in is causing the problem. We now need to determine which add-in is causing the problem. Close Word, and then restart Word normally. Go to the ‘Tools’ menu > ‘Templates and Add-Ins’. In the window that appears, click the ‘Templates’ tab. Under the ‘Global templates and add-ins’ heading, you should see a list of all add-ins which have been installed into Word. Untick all the add-ins, so they are all disabled. Click OK to close the window, and then restart Word. Check if the problem persists. If not, the problem was related to one of these add-ins. In this case, go back into the Templates and Add-Ins window and enable the add-ins one at a time, each time restarting Word. Using this method, you should be able to track down which add-in is causing the problem.

Should disabling add-ins not resolve the issue, we next need to consider whether a macro is causing the problem. So, we can try starting Word without loading any macros. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and type ‘winword /m’ and click OK. This will load Word without starting any ‘AutoExec’ macros, which are macros that automatically load on startup. Once Word has started, check if the problem persists. Should the problem not continue, it seems a macro loading on startup is causing the problem. In this case, go to the ‘Tools’ menu > ‘Macro’ > ‘Macros’. Delete any macros with the name ‘AutoExec’ in the list of macros. Be aware, although unlikely, you may have multiple macros with this name (or a similar name, such as AutoExec1, AutoExec2). Only one of these macros may be causing the problem. Therefore, you may wish to click the ‘Edit’ button to view the purpose of each macro, possibly allowing you to determine which macro may be causing the problem. This will display the programming source code for the macro, which may be difficult to understand unless you have a programming background. However, hopefully there should be comments explaining the purpose of each macro.

Should disabling the AutoExec macros not resolve the issue, it could still be caused by another macro, but one that isn’t loading on startup. Go back to the ‘Tools’ menu > ‘Macro’ > ‘Macros’ and look through the list of macros. To determine which macro is causing the problem you may need to view the contents, by selecting the macro and clicking the ‘Edit’ button. You could always just delete all the macros, as macros generally do not come standard with Word and are normally installed by either the user or third-party programs. Just be aware this could cause problems down the line with any applications which originally installed such macros.