Yesterday, Microsoft released updates to its Office suite of apps on the iPhone and iPad, including Word and Excel. (Version 1.14.) Looking forward to some new features, I updated my apps. Unfortunately, after updating the apps, Word and Excel started crashing upon launch. Hopefully, some of you did not have this problem and were able to apply the updates successfully. I’m writing today with some tips for those of you who had the same problem that I had, but not just for that audience; these same tips should help you any time that you have a problem after updating any other app in iOS.
[UPDATE 10/14/15: Last night, Microsoft released Version 1.14.1 of its Office apps for iOS. It appears to me that this update fixes this specific problem, although Microsoft’s release notes do not disclose what is different between 1.14 and 1.14.1. If you have not yet installed 1.14, you should be safe to install 1.14.1.]
The problem
The specific problem here occurred right after I updated the app and launched it for the first time. At first all seemed fine. I saw some introductory screens and scrolled through them. After those screens, I tapped a button to start using the app. From that point on, one of two things would happen. Most of the time, the app would just immediately crash after launching. Other times, right after launch the app would tell me “Updating…” but would just hang and do nothing at all.
I experienced the same problem with the Microsoft Excel app after it was updated. And the problem occurred on both my iPhone 6s and my iPad Air 2.
Solutions
Here are the steps that I try when something like this happens to me when updating an app.
First, of course, you can try to launch the app again. Always worth a try.
Second, force quit the app. You do this by double-pressing on the Home Button so that you can see your active apps, and then swipe up on the preview screen for the app in question. Then try to launch the app again. This often fixes problems for me, but it didn’t work yesterday for Word or Excel.
Third, force quit the app again and restart your iPhone or iPad. Then launch the app right after your device has restarted. I’ve had this work in the past, but again, it didn’t work yesterday.
Fourth, delete the app and reinstall it. To delete an app put your finger on the app icon for a few seconds until the icons start to jiggle. Then tap the X in the top left corner to delete the app. Then download the app again from the App Store. You won’t be charged again for an app that you already paid for.
That fourth step is what Microsoft Support recommended that I try. And it did work to a certain extent when I tried it on my iPhone; the freshly downloaded version of the app launched with no problem, and I still had access to all files stored in cloud services such as Dropbox or Microsoft OneDrive. The problem, however, was that I lost all of the Word documents that had been stored locally on my iPhone. That wasn’t really a problem for me on my iPhone because I store very few documents in Word on my iPhone and none of them are the only copy of the file; I use the app on my iPhone mostly to read and revise Word documents attached to an email.
However, my iPad was a different story. I had some documents saved locally on my iPad that I didn’t want to lose. All of them existed in some form in some other location, but it would be a pain to track them down again. Fortunately, there is a way to recover files in an iPhone or iPad app even if the app itself won’t launch. Simply use a USB cable to attach your device to a computer with iTunes, then in the iTunes program on your computer tap on the icon for the device, then tap on Apps in the sidebar. The top part of iTunes will say “Apps” and contains a list of apps on the left and each of your iOS screens on the right. Scroll down below that to a section called File Sharing. You’ll see another set of apps on the left, and if you click on an app, on the right you will see a list of documents locally saved in that app.
You can access those documents using drag-and-drop on your computer. So I created a folder on my desktop called Word Docs, then selected all of the Word documents listed in iTunes and dragged them to that folder. That created a copy of all of the documents in Word on my iPad and added them to that folder on my Mac. I then deleted the app on my iPad and reinstalled it. It worked great upon reinstall but contained no locally-saved apps. Then I connected to iTunes again, went to that same File Sharing section, and dragged all of the documents from that folder on my computer’s desktop to the Word app on my iPad. It only took a second or two for the files to be copied over, and I could even see them showing up on the screen of Word on my iPad as I did so. I did the same thing for the Excel app, and I was back in business.
Fortunately, most apps that I use on my iPhone and iPad are very stable even when frequently updated. But every once in a while, there is a bug. Hopefully these tips will come in handy if you see something like this on your own device — whether it be this recent update to Word and Excel or some other app. And if you have your own tips to share for dealing with app problems after an update, I’d love it if you posted a comment to share with me and others.
SO the 4th step works if you save the files before. Is there a way to recover files on an ipad if you delete the microsoft app and reinstall?
Thank you so much for posting this about how to recover the iPad docs! It works and saved me from a work catastrophe today!
I have the same issues. It seems that MicroSoft did not take much care in this release or doesn’t care about inconvenience to end users.
Interesting but where is the USB port on an older iPad also will MS offer a new update soon to fix this?
Unfortunately, once you delete the app from your iPhone/iPad, I believe it also deletes all locally saved files associated with that app. If you don’t have a backup of those files someplace else, you are out of luck. Ugh.
-Jeff
When I say “USB” I mean the white cable that came with your iPad. For an older iPad it is the USB to 30-pin cord. Use that to connect to your computer running iTunes.
As for what Microsoft will do next to fix this problem, I don’t know, but I certainly hope that they address it quickly now that I can see that many others have had the same problem.
-Jeff
Same problem met here and hope Microsoft could fix it ASAP, really frustrated by the crash when launching word, excel and PowerPoint. I have tried the first three to recover but no positive sign, I really do not want to try the 4th way cause a lot of files stored locally on IPAD.
Thanks for your post. I’m having the same problem with Excel crashing as soon as I try to open it on my iPad (and phone). I tried the reboot, etc. and then tried to reinstall. But it won’t install! It looks like it’s trying to install but then comes up with ‘update’. I click on the update but it spins for a couple of seconds and comes back with ‘update’ again. The Excel does not show on my iPad so I guess that’s why it won’t update. Any suggestions?
Thank you very much indeed, dear sir – I have experienced precisely the same difficulty, at about the same time, and am much obliged for your most precise, clear and highly timely advice, which, by dint of following step-by-step, has enabled me to circumvent the problem. Very helpful indeed – much obliged.
Diana, I have two suggestions for if an app won’t install. Maybe one will work for you.
(1) Restart your iPhone/iPad and try again.
(2) Download the app on your computer in iTunes, then sync the iPhone/iPad with the computer and try to get it installed that way.
-Jeff
Thank you so much for this Jeff! I’m currently less than three weeks out from my university finals and I thought I’d lost all of my course summaries. Your post saved my bacon!
This really saved me, thank you so much. Had i not been able to recover my dokuments again i would have had so much extra work, again thanks.
I just downloaded versions 1.14.1 of both programs and the crashing problem appears to have been solved (on my iPad mini at least).
For the record, I was able to access all of my files on Excel, but not Word.
I’m glad to see someone else confirm that this latest update seems to fix the bug.
-Jeff
There is an update now that has fixed the issue
Hi, unaware of this problem, and having not used my iPad in a while, I downloaded the software update – to 1.14.1 (151013). I went to use Word and Excel today: nothing happened when I pressed on the icons. I restarted the iPad. Nothing. Has anyone come across this issue with version 1.14.1? Any suggestions? Thanks!
OMG! Thank you so much! You saved me! I was so scared to delete the app and download it, and thank God, because after doing some research, I found out that many people lost their files. I have two books I have been working on that were locked in that app, and your article helped me unlock and save them! This is a true blessing. Thank you so much!
My problem started with 1.14.1 which rendered all my iPhone worksheets inaccessable and unrecoverable. I Spent 3.5 frustrating hours getting bounced from one Microsoft rep to another. First – Microsoft’s automated phone system could not find any iPhone Excel support. When I actually reached people most of them either didn’t know that there was an iOS Excel or knew nothing about new releases or lost worksheet problems. Several times I was told to try a different phone number, often one that had not helped previously and was no more help the next time. There are things to like about this app, but it is flaky and I found Support abysmal.
I tried what you said but now it shows it in the cloud and I cannot get it to open.
Hello, I had the same problem!!!
Thank you so much for posting this about how to recover the iPad docs! It works great!
JC, I have tried several times to correct this error by using your fourth step solution. Everything loads fine but when I click on “Recent” in the side bar it immediately starts upgrading and stalls there. I am new to this app so I do not have a library of documents that I am afraid of losing, any suggestions?