Office Apps Freezing

How to Fix Microsoft Word Freezing When Typing Emojis in Comments

Partner Editor Oct 7, 2026 869 views

Question details

Microsoft Word becomes unresponsive and freezes specifically when a user types a colon followed by a parenthesis to make a sad face in a document comment.

How to Fix Microsoft Word Freezing When Typing Emojis in Comments

Product: Microsoft Word
Device & OS: not provided
Scenario: Adding a comment to a document and typing text characters that are typically converted into an emoji.
Observed behavior: The application freezes when typing the specific character combination ' :(' inside a comment, even though typing the exact same characters in the main document text works normally.

Before you start

Before attempting to change system settings, manually save your current document progress and verify if you have any pending Microsoft Office updates available.

Solution 1Recommended

Disable Emoji Replacement in AutoCorrect Options

Turn off the automatic conversion of punctuation into emojis to prevent the Word commenting pane from hanging.

The freezing issue is often triggered by a software bug involving Word's AutoCorrect behavior when it attempts to replace character combinations (like a colon and parenthesis) with an emoji or a Wingdings character specifically inside the comment formatting pane.

Open Word Options

Click on 'File' in the top left corner of Microsoft Word, then select 'Options' at the bottom of the menu.

Access Proofing Settings

In the Word Options dialog box, click on 'Proofing' in the left-hand pane, then click the 'AutoCorrect Options...' button.

Modify Text Replacement

In the AutoCorrect tab, scroll through the replacement list to find the ' :(' entry and delete it, or uncheck the 'Replace text as you type' box entirely to stop all automatic conversions.

Apply and Restart

Click 'OK' to save your changes, then restart Microsoft Word and attempt to type the characters in a comment again.

Disable Emoji Replacement in AutoCorrect Options

Workaround for Keep AutoCorrect: If you want to keep AutoCorrect enabled, you can temporarily avoid the freeze by typing the characters with a space between them, or by typing the comment in Notepad and pasting it into Word.

Solution 2

Update Microsoft Word to the Latest Version

Install the latest Microsoft Office updates to patch known bugs related to AutoCorrect, spell checking, and comment formatting.

Free Microsoft Office alternative

Use WPS Office for Stable Document Editing and Commenting

If Microsoft Word continues to freeze or crash due to AutoCorrect bugs in comments, consider switching to WPS Office. It provides a lightweight, highly compatible alternative that handles document editing, reviewing, and commenting smoothly without unexpected performance drops.

1. Download and Install: Visit the official WPS Office website to download and install the free suite.
2. Open Your Document: Launch WPS Writer and open your existing Word document to continue your work.
3. Add Comments Smoothly: Navigate to the Review tab, select New Comment, and type your text and emojis without worrying about application freezes.

Completely free and lightweight office suiteHighly compatible with Microsoft Word (.docx) formatsStable performance when adding comments, emojis, and reviewsFamiliar user interface for a seamless and quick transition

microsoft office alternative - wps office

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does Word freeze only in comments and not the main document?

Comments in Microsoft Word use a different formatting rendering engine than the main document body. When the AutoCorrect feature attempts to swap punctuation characters for an emoji inside this restricted formatting pane, a background software conflict can occur, causing the application to hang.

Can I disable AutoCorrect exclusively for document comments?

No, Microsoft Word's AutoCorrect and spell checking settings apply globally across the entire document. If you turn off 'Replace text as you type', it will be disabled in the main text, headers, footers, and comments simultaneously.

Will Microsoft fix this specific emoji freezing bug?

Microsoft frequently patches formatting and AutoCorrect bugs in newer Microsoft 365 updates. If you are experiencing this on an older version of Office, upgrading to the latest version or reporting the exact steps to Microsoft Support will increase the likelihood of a permanent patch.

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