How to Get Microsoft Word Back When It Disappears From Your Computer

Last week I discovered an annoying Microsoft "feature" on my laptop. After a long holiday and a few Windows updates, Microsoft Word was gone. I could not find the application anywhere and my computer was unwilling to open any *.docx files. A quick Google search showed that I am not alone. But how do I get Word back?

I have an Office 365 subscription and on the web page you can manage your installations is a download button. I installed office one more time and still could not found Word.

This time I tried the Office application, selected the Word icon, and double-clicked a document. Now Word appeared and I could pin it to the taskbar. And with that Word was back in the Start menu as well:

I hate surprises like that because they always pop up when you have another important task to do. With all the telemetry data Microsoft gathers, it should be possible not to remove the most used Office application on a computer. Unfortunately, this seems not to be the case and we need to jump through hoops to get Word back. I hope you find a faster way to recover your missing Office applications.