This step-by-step article describes how to use the Microsoft Office Application Recovery tool. This tool provides you with a way to potentially recover data from an Office program that stops responding (hangs). If an Office program stops responding during your work session, you are no longer forced to terminate the program in Windows Task Manager and therefore lose any unsaved data.

How to Use the Microsoft Office Application Recovery Tool

When an Office program stops responding, you can start the Application Recovery tool.

To do this, click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Application Recovery.

When the Office Application Recovery tool starts, the Microsoft Office Application Recovery dialog box displays a list of the Office programs that are currently running. Along with the name of the program is its current status, as reported by Task Manager.

Note Only one instance of a program is listed, even if multiple instances of it are running.

The Microsoft Office Application Recovery dialog box also contains the following three buttons. These buttons are explained in this article:

• Recover Application
• End Application
• Cancel

The Recover Application Button

When you click Recover Application, this action essentially forces the selected Office program to fail and then restart. By failing, the program's recovery features can begin to recover any unsaved data. After these recovery procedures are complete, the Application Error Reporting tool gives you the opportunity to report the problem. When the Application Error Reporting tool starts, you receive the following error message, where program is an Office program:

The End Application Button

When you click End Application, this action forces the selected program to fail without performing any recovery procedures. Control is given to the Application Error Reporting tool, which gives you the opportunity to report the problem.

The Cancel Button

When you click Cancel, this action closes the Microsoft Office Application Recovery dialog box, and no action is taken with the program that is not responding. The Application Error Reporting dialog box is not displayed.

For additional information about how to read Office Application Error Reporting signatures, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: For additional information about Office Application Recovery, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: