Why am I getting an message saying word has an error issue, would you like to repair now?

A file in Word or Office may have become damaged.

Happens often after Windows updates, crashes, or incomplete installs. Third-party add-ins can sometimes crash Word or trigger errors.

Add-ins like Grammarly, citation managers, or older macros can cause issues. Word stores default styles and settings in the Normal.dotm file.

If this file is corrupted, Word may behave strangely or prompt repair messages.