Sean Wallbridge
I’ve had this situation happen a few times and I don’t notice it right away, but in my case the cause was the same each time (Bootcamp for Windows – yes, I’m currently running Windows on a MAC) but I’ve seen this occur without Bootcamp as well.
The Problem
Whenever you try to edit text within a piece of Office Smart Art, the application will crash, like so:
Error: Microsoft Word (PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook) has stopped working
The Solution
This post online helped me narrow down the issue but it didn’t come up until I was just about ready to stop Googling, so perhaps my blog post will help others find it quicker (perhaps because it only references PowerPoint but frankly this could affect any of Word, Excel, PowerPoint or OneNote): http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-powerpoint/why-does-my-microsoft-powerpoint-2010-crash-when-i/a82c1171-6470-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5
So, the issue is typically that you don’t have a keyboard layout assigned. How does that happen you ask? Well, for the most part it shouldn’t, but Bootcamp doesn’t play by the rules…
Here’s what you do:
- In one of your Office Applications (in my case Word), choose File, Options, Language
- You’ll probably find that your keyboard layout is ‘Not Enabled’. Click on the link for Not Enabled
![SNAGHTML39cfe983[4]](/wp-content/uploads/brainlitter/2011/10/SNAGHTML39cfe9834.png "SNAGHTML39cfe983[4]")
- Assign a Layout (in my case I went with US English), bad Canadian, bad, eh?
- Verify it is listed as enabled
The Result
YES SIR It worked for me…THANKS!
Awesome, This totally worked for me. Thanks very much! Oh… And I picked Canadian for the both of us! 😉
Perfect!! Thanks
Great Fix! Thanks!
so easy. problem solved. thanks a lot!
This lead us down the right path. I had to go into the Control Panel – Regional Setting – and change the keyboard to a US keyboard NOT the US Apple keyboard. After making that change I haven’t had a crash.
Sorry here are important details I didn’t mention. It was Office 2007 on a Mac running Bootcamp.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! Success and great instructions.
Guys this didn’t work at all…I am using a Mac with Yosemite 10.10.5 and SmartArt keeps crashing on Word 2011 (Version 14.6.4)…Under ‘File’ there aren’t any ‘Options’ …Please advise, thanks
Hi there. Unfortunately for this blog post, I was referring to the PC version (And a long time ago ;). The older versions of Word for MAC were very different from the PC Version. Office 2016 for MAC is the first version to truly be very closely aligned to the PC version. Check it out, it’s awesome. Even better with an Office 365 Subscription.