Known issues with office and windows 10

Last updated: February 2020

Note:  Microsoft 365 apps and services will not support Internet Explorer 11 starting August 17, 2021. Learn more. Please note that Internet Explorer 11 will remain a supported browser. Internet Explorer 11 is a component of the Windows operating system and follows the Lifecycle Policy for the product on which it is installed. 

We're working to fix the issues that may come up when using Office with Windows 10. In the meantime, please use the following workarounds to fix the problems.

Need more help? If these workarounds don't resolve your problem, use the options at the bottom of this page for support.

Common issues

Issue	Solution
Office documents open slower after Windows 10 Fall Creators Update	In Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the active Antivirus product can dynamically scan Office documents via the Antivirus API for Office when you open them. This helps the active Antivirus product to detect malicious documents that obfuscate malicious content by employing techniques like document encryption. This scanning occurs with all versions of Office documents and could result in a delay of up to 1 second per document. Microsoft is investigating this issue and will post an update here once the issue is resolved. For more information on this new behavior, see Introduction to the Antivirus API Reference for Office.
Windows screen is flickering or flashing after logging in	You might see a flickering screen if you're running Microsoft 365, or Office 2016 build 16.0.7668.2066, which was released to a small group of customers between 1/25 and 1/30. As of 1/31, Microsoft 365 or Office 2016 build 16.0.7668.2074 is available and contains a fix. To resolve this issue, please update Office to the newest version. Since the screen is flashing, you will need to do this using a command line. Please see this article for step by step instructions: Windows screen is flickering or flashing after logging in.
You can't find Office applications after Windows 10 upgrade	Windows 10 doesn't pin the Office apps to the Start menu or the Taskbar by default, but there are a few ways to find and open Office applications from the Start screen and taskbar in Windows 10. For more information, see Can't find Office applications in Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7?.
How to upgrade to Windows 10 on new devices that include Microsoft 365	If you just purchased a new device that includes Microsoft 365, we recommend installing Office before upgrading to Windows 10.
You can't print after upgrading to Windows 10	You may need to install new drivers for your printer. Also try running the printing troubleshooter to fix the issue. For more information, see Fix printer problems.
You need help with licensing or product activation	See this article for more information: Unlicensed Product errors in Office.
After upgrading to Windows 10, Office apps display very large or very small on your monitor, or you have blurry text in your Office applications.	For more information and resolution, see Office apps appear the wrong size or blurry on external monitors.

Error messages

Issue	Solution
You get an error when opening Office 2013 documents after upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10, such as Word experienced an error trying to open the file or This file is corrupt and cannot be opened.	To resolve this issue, start one of your Office 2013 applications, like Word, and then select File > Account > Update Options > Update Now to install the latest updates. For more information, see Errors opening Office files after upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10.

Outlook issues

Issue	Solution
After installing the Windows 10 Anniversary update, dragging emails to the file system or between folders does not work. The issue affects all supported versions of Outlook 2010, 2013, and 2016. It may also happen with Mozilla Thunderbird.	Our engineering teams have investigated this issue, and are planning to release a fix in the near future. We'll post back here when we have more information.
After installing Windows 10, Business Contact Manager (BCM) may crash due to chart control issues during .Net registration.	BCM depends on the .NET framework for some of its features. See Business Contact Manager crashes after upgrading to Windows 10 for more information and resolution.
When you click a hyperlink to a Web page in Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2007, you're prompted to specify Internet Explorer 11 as default browser.	For more information and resolution, see You are prompted to specify Internet Explorer when you click a link in Outlook 2010 or Outlook 2007.

Let us know how we can help

If these workarounds don't resolve your problem, do one of the following: To leave us a comment, click the No box in the Was this information helpful? section below, and type your comment. To talk to a support representative, click the Contact us button below. To get help from the Office community, click Ask the community below. To get more information about general Windows 10 Help and troubleshooting, see: Need help with Windows 10?.