Endless save loop in Microsoft Word

It's a Word bug. It sometimes manifests itself when working with formulas and affects versions 2007 and 2010, possibly newer ones too.

To avoid re-typing formulas or saving in compatibility mode (which converts formulas to images):

  1. Install a clipboard manager (Ditto Portable is a good one and you don't have to actually install it, it's a self-extracting archive).
  2. Switch to Word, press Ctrl+A to select everything and copy it.
  3. Use clipboard manager to export clipboard to a file. Clipboard should be preserved anyway, but do it just in case.
  4. Close all instances of Word. Copying everything to a new instance will work, but you need a full Word restart first. It may throw some errors when closing the last window, ignore them. Kill it with Task Manager if needed.
  5. Open Word and paste your document. If it's not in the clipboard anymore, import it with clipboard manager first.
  6. Saving as docx should now work.

Answer from comments in OP:

I retyped all the formulas in a new document, and now it saves without issues.


I finally fixed this by simply following the "Open and Repair" feature in MS Office 2013 (probably in 2010 as well). Check it out - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/893672. This told me my errors (text box and a shape).

Afterwards I put my 2010/13 styles back on while in 2013, saved, and everything took. I hope this helps.