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Microsoft Office Safe Mode allows you to safely use an Office or Office family program that has encountered certain startup problems. When a problem is detected at startup, Office either fixes the problem or isolates it, allowing the program to start successfully.

Automated safe mode

During startup, Office checks for problems such as an add-in or extension that won't start, or a corrupted resource, file, registry, or template. A message is displayed the next time the program is started, identifying the problem and asking if you want to disable the part of the program that has a problem.

A list of disabled items is accessible through the Disabled Items dialog box (About Microsoft <program>, Help menu). You can use this dialog box to enable the listed items. Enabling some items may require you to reload or reinstall an add-in program or reopen a file. Enabling an item does not necessarily fix the root problem; an item that you enable may be placed back on the disabled list the next time you start the program.

User-initiated safe mode

You can open any Office or Office family program in Office Safe Mode by pressing CTRL while you start the program or by using the /safe option when you start the program from the command line.

The following restrictions apply when you open a program in user-initiated Office Safe Mode. (Some items listed below do not apply to all Office or Office family programs.)

• No templates (template: A file or files that contain the structure and tools for shaping such elements as the style and page layout of finished files. For example, Word templates can shape a single document, and FrontPage templates can shape an entire Web site.) can be saved.
• In Microsoft FrontPage, the last used Web site is not opened.
• The Office Assistant is not automatically displayed.
• Toolbar or command bar customizations are not loaded and customizations cannot be saved.
• The AutoCorrect list is not loaded and changes are not saved.
• Recovered documents are not automatically opened.
• Smart tags (smart tags: Data recognized and labeled as a particular type. For example, a person's name or the name of a recent Microsoft Outlook e-mail message recipient is a type of data that can be recognized and labeled with a smart tag.) are not loaded and new tags cannot be saved.
• All command line options are ignored except "/a" and "/n".
• Files cannot be saved to the Alternate Startup Directory.
• Preferences cannot be saved.
• Additional features and programs will not automatically load.
• Documents with restricted permission cannot be created or opened.