Word Cannot Do This Because a Dialog Box Is Open: Top Fixes

When you create a new Word document or open an existing document, you may receive the error message "Word cannot do this because there is a dialog box open". If you encounter this problem, don't worry. This article will provide some effective ways to solve this problem.

I'm using Microsoft Office 2016. When opening any Word document, a dialog box appears with the message "Word cannot do this because there is a dialog box open. Please close the dialog box to continue". The Word file can only be opened after I click the OK button.

The full name of this error is "Word cannot do this because there is a dialog box open. Please close the dialog box to continue". If you encounter the same error as the above users, you can try the following methods to troubleshoot.

How to fix the "Word cannot do this because there is a dialog box open" error in Windows 10

Method 1: Use the Alt Tab key combination to close the dialog box

The error message "Word cannot do this because there is a dialog box open" means that there is an open dialog box that needs to be closed before other actions can be performed. You can use the Alt Tab shortcut key to find and close the open dialog box.

Step 1: When you see the error message "Word cannot do this because there is a dialog box open", click OK.

Step 2: Press the Alt Tab key combination repeatedly to find the dialog box that opens.

Step 3: Select the correct button to close the open dialog box according to the actual situation.

Method 2: End Microsoft Word task

If you cannot find the dialog box that opens in Word, you can use Task Manager to end the Microsoft Word task and restart Word.

Step 1: Right-click the Windows logo key to open Task Manager .

Step 2: Locate and select Microsoft Word , and then click End Task .

Step 3: Restart Word and check if the problem is resolved.

Method 3: Disable protected view

According to network information, disabling protected views is also a way to resolve the error "Word cannot do this because there is a dialog box open".

Step 1: Open the Word document and go to File > Options > Trust Center .

Step 2: Click Trust Center Settings .

Step 3: Under the Protected View tab, uncheck the listed options and click OK .

Method 4: Disable all Word add-ins

Some Word add-ins can also cause a "Word cannot do this because there is a dialog box open" error. Therefore, you can try to disable all add-ins in Word by following the steps below.

Step 1: Open the Word document and click File > Options > Add-ins .

Step 2: In the Management section at the bottom, select the COM add-in and click Go .

Step 3: Deselect all add-ins and click OK .

Method 5: Rename the Normal.dotm file

The last method is to rename the Normal.dotm file. To avoid errors, you need to follow the steps below to do it correctly.

Notice:

Step 1: Press Windows E key combination to open File Explorer.

Step 2: Type the following in the address bar and press Enter .

C:\Users\"Username"\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates (Remember to replace "username" with your actual username).

Step 3: Find the Normal.dotm file and change its name to Normal.dog .

Step 4: Restart Word to check if the error message is resolved.

Recover deleted/lost Word documents

If your Word documents are lost due to system crashes or accidental deletion, you can use the professional data recovery software – MiniTool Power Data Recovery to recover them. This tool supports scanning and displaying various files, including pictures, videos, audio, documents, etc., and helps you recover 1GB of data for free.

You can download and try it. For detailed steps to use it, you can refer to this article: How to restore Office (Word, Excel, PPT, PST) files for free.

Summarize

After reading this article, I believe you already know how to close the dialog box in Word. Welcome to share in the comment section below which method solves your problem.

For more information about Microsoft Word, you can visit the MiniTool News Center.

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