Windows 10: Windows 10 File Explorer opens a phantom Word 2016 when trying to preview a .doc file

I am running Windows 10 Enterprise on a Dell 7480 laptop with 8GB memory.


When I have 'File Explorer' open and click on a .PDF file the preview pane shows the file without any issues, however when I scroll or click to/on a Word document the laptop fan goes hyperactive and in task manager Microsoft Word shows 39% CPU & 44% memory but the word document does NOT show in the preview pane. Also when I try to 'END TASK' I get 3 dialogue boxes saying that 'cannot close' out of temp environment space.


I have tried to increasing the environment space which made no difference and checked property settings with other user laptops to make sure they are the same again to no avail.


I have run both the Quick and Full repair on Office and I have totally removed and reinstalled Office in case there was a problem with the Office application. All of this had no effect!


I have found a temporary work around by deselecting Preview and selecting 'Details Pane' which shows the information however this is not what the user requires as he needs the preview as the user works on multiple documents daily so it makes it annoying to keep opening/closing each document for review.


I have Office 365 Professional installed.


I do not really want to ZAP and rebuild the users laptop as he has some specialist software installed which together with all the other S/W applications the user has will take me a full day to do but If I cannot find a solution this may be the only thing to do BUT it may not be a solution in the end.


Any help/advice greatly appreciated

:)

 

Windows Explorer crashes when trying to preview Word (.docx) files

Here goes:

• I open Windows Explorer
• The preview button is engaged
• I preview all types of files no problem including Office 365 Excel, Adobe .pdf, Word 97-2003 .DOC, jpg, gif, tif, etc.
• I try to preview Word .docx files and Windows Explorer freezes. Have to go into task manager and restart.

I hope someone knows how to fix this. It's a very useful feature, but frustrating if you can't use it. Thanks!

 

Windows 10 File Explorer Preview Pane Word Doc fix

I had the same problem. I went searching for an answer too, and found this.

To enable the Preview pane, open File Explorer and follow these steps:

• In the File Explorer window, click the View tab. The View tab is shown.
• In the Panes section, click the Preview Pane button. The Preview pane is added to the right side of the File Explorer window.
• Select several files one by one.

I was in Word when I opened File Explorer then the View tab. I only had to click the Preview Pane button. A separate column appeared in my list of word files and then I was able to previes all the the docx files. I checked and it seems to work across
files, so once the Preview Pane **** selected it was selected for all the directory files.

You've probably already tried this, but I didn't see where you said you were in Word when you clicked the Preview Pane button.

I've spent the last few years with Win10 and Word 365 and I feel like I've gone backwards. I knew the commands very well, even being able to do some pretty sophisticated design work in Word. Now, I feel like a beginner all over again. I really wish that
MS hadn't screwed so heavily with the commands. To me, I know they're there, but now their location is hidden. Scheese!

 

Windows 10 File Explorer Preview Pane Word Doc fix

Hmmm; Well, This works displaying a Thumbnail (TN) for NEW Word docs on the desktop, but not for re-saving an existing doc to the desktop or in a folder.

It DID work a few times creating a new Word doc in a folder ... which was exciting.

But for some reason after I tried re-saving an existing doc as a TN, neither it or a new Word doc will show in Preview Pane in a folder. They will still show as a TN on desktop, but not in a folder.

And of course this does not resolve the issue for all my existing Word docs in various folders (Unless I would open all, re-save as Thumbnail, and it worked in folders ... which now it does not).

Again: For some reason Preview Pane does not work on only Word docs.

Does File Explorer, or some other component, need to be somehow 'Fixed' or re-installed?

Tx! Al