If this is a case of a single 32000 page document causing Word to choke, I would consider the problem solved. Don't edit a file that big.
No Office allows and has never allowed so many pages, not even when it is plain text. So it is quite pointless to discuss anything. The problem is not in Office but at all in one another thing.
But see, that's the problem. I would've thought so myself, but in the past, Word has worked just fine despite this. I could spend a few weeks or so on it, no problem, and then all of a sudden, poof, it happens. I'm going to see if cutting it back down underneath said limit will fare better. Would be funny in a way if that was the case all along, I will get back to you once I've cut it down. Indeed, it's all plain text. No pictures, etc. And that's just it. I don't know what the other thing is. My Windows is up to date. I have no malware, viruses, etc. AV (Win Defender) is not picking up anything. I reset my PC. I used KMS_VL_ALL and it did its job in a few seconds. I did not touch anything to do with the registry or system files. Never have. I guess it's not too problematic if I can still type and save, but it would be nice to not have the cut/copy/paste disabled.
Plain text would be about 5000 bytes per full page. If 32 megabytes of text is really the limit, the do then do the math. You may get around 600 pages before you hit the limit.