This helped me How to Close a Dialog Box in Microsoft Word Explore this Article methods 1 Using the Keyboard to Find a Dialog Box 2 Disabling an Add-in 3 Disabling Protected View Other Sections Related Articles References Written by Nicole Levine, MFA
Last Updated: September 6, 2019 Tested
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This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA. Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions. The wikiHow Tech Team also followed the article's instructions and verified that they work. This article has been viewed 33,463 times.
This wikiHow teaches you how to resolve a Microsoft Word error that says Word can't perform a certain action due to an open dialog box. This type of error is usually due to a bad Word add-in or extra-strong security settings.
Steps
Method 1 Method 1 of 3:
Using the Keyboard to Find a Dialog Box
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Method 2 Method 2 of 3:
Disabling an Add-in
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Close Word if it's open.
Press ⊞ Win+R to open the Run box.
Type Winword /safe and press ↵ Enter.
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Remove the check mark from the first add-in. Only remove the check mark from one add-in, as each must be tested separately.
Click OK.
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If you no longer see an error, the add-in you disabled was likely the culprit.
If you still see the error, the add-in you disabled was not the problem.
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Method 3 Method 3 of 3:
Disabling Protected View
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Don't try this method unless you're sure the document you're trying to open is secure.
Disabling Protected View may open your computer up to viruses, so use this method at your own risk.
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Be sure to re-enable Protected View when you're finished.
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Written by: Nicole Levine, MFA wikiHow Technology Writer This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Nicole Levine, MFA. Nicole Levine is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. She has more than 20 years of experience creating technical documentation and leading support teams at major web hosting and software companies. Nicole also holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Portland State University and teaches composition, fiction-writing, and zine-making at various institutions. This article has been viewed 33,463 times. How helpful is this? Co-authors: 2Updated: September 6, 2019 Views: 33,463
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