The OLE feature is extremely useful when you need to interact/communicate with other applications like Excel using Word. Moreover, you may insert an object and import data from other apps with it.
However, you can encounter the“Word Is Waiting for an Ole Action to Finish” error message because of the same feature.
Generally, the error occurs when you try to open/import data from other applications but get stuck waiting for the other app to receive the data in Word. Likewise, a corrupt add-in can also lead to this issue.
Sometimes, a simple restart of the Word app or the system resolves the issue. But in most cases, you need to apply several fixes to resolve the error message.
Nonetheless, you may go through various solutions in this article to eliminate the error message.
Why are you seeing “Word Is Waiting for an OLE Action to Finish”?
There are several factors that lead to the above error message. Here are the most common ones.
How to Fix “Word Is Waiting for an OLE Action to Finish”?
Before moving on to the fixes, try all the three options in the above error message;Switch To,Retry, andCancel. See if the error goes away.
But if the error persists, you may go through the following fixes.
Open Word in Safe Mode
Opening Word in safe mode runs the app with the most basic configuration and without the third-party add-ins. Also, you may run it in caseWord fails to open or crashes.
To open Word in safe mode,
Close the Conflicting Applications
Since this error arises while Word interacts with other applications, you can close them to resolve your issues.
For instance, if you were working with Mathtype, close its window. You can use the Alt +Tab keyboard shortcut to view open apps on your system.
But, in case you don’t find the open apps, you may directly close them using the task manager as follows.
For a Mac system, use the shortcut keyOption+Command+Escand select the apps you want to quit.
Remove the Add-In(s)
Add-ins are productive for various purposes and can assist you in performing a particular task easily. However, it can also cause the above error message as it can get corrupt and starts to interfere with the Word app.
So, you have toremove the problematic add-infrom the Word app for it to work as expected. On the other hand, you can later re-add all the other ones.
Repair the Office App
You can repair the Word app to resolve common Word issues and error messages. However, you need to repair the whole Microsoft Office package.
Nonetheless, here’s how you can do it.
Update the Word App
An outdated Word app contains several unresolved bugs and issues. Hence, it can result in such issues. Hence, update it to the latest version to avoid the error message.
On Mac
Reinstall the App
If you didn’t succeed with the above fixes, you’re able to reinstall the application to remove all the previous app data and its configurations. However, unlike on Mac, you cannot uninstall the Word app separately on Windows. You will need to uninstall the whole Office package.
On Windows
If you experience any issues while uninstalling, you may use the MicrosoftOffice Uninstall support tool. However, choose the correct Office version you are using on its prompt.
After uninstalling, you can download the Office package (including Word) from itsofficial site. First, sign in with your associated Microsoft account and install it from there.
For Mac, open theMicrosoft Office installer.pkgor similar from the downloads folder and install it on your system.
Finally, launch the Word app and check if it’s working as expected.
