“Word has encountered a problem” Pasting from Paint to Word/Outlook

When you paste an image from the modern Paint app in Windows 11 to Microsoft Word or Microsoft Outlook, the following error may occur:

Word has encountered a problem.

paint paste to word or outlook error - encountered a problem

The error message is the same when you paste the copied image (from Paint) into Outlook.

paint paste to word or outlook error - encountered a problem

However, the image may get pasted from the Clipboard after you dismiss the dialog by clicking Ok.

Cause

The above error occurs due to a missing Ole32.dll registry value. For some reason, the modern Paint app doesn’t create the registry value during installation. This causes Word or Outlook to return an error when attempting to paste the item as an OLE item (that’s how Paint stores images on the Clipboard).

This is not a problem generated by Microsoft Office. Also, Windows 10 doesn’t have this issue, as it comes with the classic Paint app, and the OS creates the entries by default. Unless the missing registry key is created, restoring the classic Paint app on Windows 11 also doesn’t resolve the issue.



Solution

To resolve the error “Word has encountered a problem” when pasting images from Paint, follow these steps:

Create the MS Paint Ole32.dll Registry key

  1. Start the Registry Editor (regedit.exe).
  2. Navigate to the following key:
    HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{D3E34B21-9D75-101A-8C3D-00AA001A1652}
  3. Create a subkey named “InProcHandler32
  4. Select InProcHandler32 and set its (default) value data to “ole32.dll
    paint paste to word or outlook error - encountered a problem
  5. If you’re using Office 32-bit, make the same changes under this key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{D3E34B21-9D75-101A-8C3D-00AA001A1652}
  6. Exit the Registry Editor.

REG file to automate/deploy the above setting:

Download word-paste-ole-fix.zip, unzip, and run “word-paste-ole-fix.reg“.

Contents of the REG file (FYI)
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{D3E34B21-9D75-101A-8C3D-00AA001A1652}\InProcHandler32]
@="ole32.dll"

;For Office 32-bit running on Windows 11 (which is 64-bit)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Classes\CLSID\{D3E34B21-9D75-101A-8C3D-00AA001A1652}\InProcHandler32]
@="ole32.dll"

If you want to reverse the changes, run the undo.reg file.

That fixes the Office apps error when pasting images from MS Paint.


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Ramesh Srinivasan is passionate about Microsoft technologies and he has been a consecutive ten-time recipient of the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award in the Windows Shell/Desktop Experience category, from 2003 to 2012. He loves to troubleshoot and write about Windows. Ramesh founded Winhelponline.com in 2005.

9 thoughts on ““Word has encountered a problem” Pasting from Paint to Word/Outlook”

  1. Hello Ramesh. I believe I am up to doing this although I don’t have all that much experience working this level of programming. I have learned to do it right the first time or be prepare for trouble beyond my skills. My system is running the 64 bit version of Windows 11. I would like to do your fix and I would also like to get classic Paint back (I use Paint a lot and don’t care for modern Paint much). Two questions: would I ‘put on’ classic Paint before completing your fix, or put it on after your fix? And how/where will I find classic Paint. I know I had it after the upgrade to Windows 11 originally but it seems to me it was over-ridden by modern paint when I did one of the updates so often called for. I already want to thank you because this bug is really driving me crazy but I just need a little more advice to do it right. Thank you.

    Reply
  2. This works great, but it introduces a new problem.
    When you double-click the image in Word it opens Paint.
    It there a setting to prevent that?

    Reply

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