Forum Discussion
Word can't open some files after Update to MS 365
Cheers,
I just changed Word from the students-version to MS 365 on my MacBook M1 (macOS: Sonoma 14.1.1). Did a fresh install and used the MS License removal tool. Now unfortunately I can't open most (but not all) of my old Documents. "Word experienced an error trying to open the file".
Opening it with the recover function works perfectly. But if I try to save the recovered file on my desktop (or in any other place) the file popups for just a second but disappears immediately. The same error occurs, when I copy the contents of the recovered document in a new Document. Maybe a problem with formatting?
I can open the faulty files in MS 365 online, but when I download the files again, nothing changed.
If I open the files in Pages and transfer the content in a new Word document, I can save the file without any problems, but don't have my formation.
A fellow study buddy who hasn't done the update yet, can still open the files perfectly.
Since the documents are my whole preparation for my final state exam, work of nearly a year so far, I am thankful for all suggestions to fix this issue.
Best Regards Jonathan
p.s.: since English is not my first language, if something doesn't makes sense, I'm happy to clarify.
1. Verify that Microsoft 365 is native to Apple Silicon
Open Finder > Applications, right-click Microsoft Word, and select Show Profile.
Check that “Use Rosetta” is not checked. If checked, uncheck and restart Word (make sure ARM native version is installed).
To reset document permissions on a Sonoma system
Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Documents & Folders.
Verify that Microsoft Word has full disk access to the desktop, downloads folder, etc.
Addendum: Sonoma's sandbox is more restrictive and requires manual authorization.
Disable iCloud Drive Sync Conflicts
2. Temporarily disable iCloud synchronization test: Go to System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud and disable iCloud Drive.
Try to save the file in Word to the desktop and see if it succeeds.
If successful, you need to troubleshoot the iCloud synchronization path conflict (file path is occupied).
3. Use Terminal to repair file system permissions
Open Terminal and type:
bash
sudo chmod -R 755 ~/Documents
sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/Documents
In Word Recovery Mode, press Cmd+A to select all the text and change the font temporarily to the system default font (e.g. San Francisco).
Save and check whether it is normal, if successful, then the original document used M1 incompatible with the old fonts.
Completely uninstall the old version of Office
4. Download the official Microsoft uninstallation tool **Microsoft Office Removal Tool**.
Run it and select “Remove All Office Licenses”, reboot and download the ARM native installer from the official website.
Create a temporary local user test environment
Go to System Settings > Users & Groups and create a new temporary administrator account.
Log in to the new account and run Word to try to open the document. If successful, the original account configuration is corrupted and you need to migrate the data.
