Office 365 apps are closing randomly on MacOS

[Michael1240]

Hi,

is anyone currently experiencing issues with all MS Office 365 apps (Outlook, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote, Word) in the way that they close all at once, randomly, and you are probably losing work due to the unexpected shutdown.

I got a new MacBook Pro with M3 Max with Sonoma 14.5 recently, and after using it for a few hours, it seems that sporadically, all O365 apps mentioned above that are open at the moment are closing all at once, randomly, without any error message, without any prior notice or any user interaction. ALL other applications except Office are working fine, also OneDrive and MS Teams stay open without any issues. After using the MacBook for a few days, it seems that it's maybe more likely to happen when the Mac is going to standby / lid closed and is woken up afterwards?

Steps I already tried without any change of the behavior, each also including a complete reboot of the machine, in the following order.

• Updating Office with the MS AutoUpdater application
• Simple uninstall of MS Office applications
• Reinstallation by using a clean new O365 download
• Manual uninstallation using https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/uninstall-office-for-mac-eefa1199-5b58-43af-8a3d-b73dc1a8...
• Clean reinstallation after complete manual uninstallation
• After uninstalling again, I tried to install it manually with deselection of the MS Defender which is included in the O365 installer package (Defender is already installed by default on the Mac).
• Renaming the MacBooks hostname from XXX-MBP-ABC123DEF to XXXMBPABC123DEF and renaming the SSD name from Macintosh HD to MacintoshHD. 
• Complete wipe of the MacBook with my IT department and reinstall / setup of the machine, followed by starting auto updater and updating everything to the latest version.

None of these steps is working, and Office keeps shutting down / crashing without any prior notice at random times, most likely after a sleep. It is enough to just open up some office applications and leave the Mac alone, after return you will find the Mac with all office applications closed (except Teams and Onedrive as mentioned above).

Furthermore, I already set the network availability during sleep within my energy saving settings:

• Wake for network access from "Only on Power adapter" to "Always" 

Does anyone have any further ideas for analysis or a solution?

On my private MBP with M1 Pro and Sonoma 14.5 there are no issues at all.

Thank you!!!

[#2]

@Michael1240 am watching this as we are experiencing exactly the same on a new Mac. We are going to open a support ticket with MS. 

[#3]

If your Office 365 apps are closing randomly on macOS, it can be frustrating and disruptive. Here are some steps to troubleshoot and resolve the issue:

Troubleshooting Steps

1. Update Office 365 Apps

   • Open any Office 365 app (e.g., Word, Excel).
   • Go to Help > Check for Updates and install any available updates.
   • Alternatively, you can use the Microsoft AutoUpdate tool to keep your Office apps updated.

2. Update macOS

   • Ensure your macOS is up to date. Go to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Software Update and install any available updates.

3. Restart Your Mac

   • Sometimes a simple restart can resolve temporary issues. Restart your Mac and check if the problem persists.

4. Reset Office Apps Preferences

   • Close all Office apps.
   • Open Finder and navigate to ~/Library/Preferences/.
   • Look for files named com.microsoft.Office.plist or similar (there may be several, one for each app) and move them to the Trash. This will reset the app preferences.

5. Check for Conflicting Software

   • Some third-party applications or extensions may conflict with Office apps. Try disabling or uninstalling any recently added software or extensions to see if the issue resolves.

6. Run the Microsoft Office Repair Tool

   • Open the Applications folder and find your Office 365 app (e.g., Word).
   • Hold down the Option key and click on the app. Select Run Diagnostics and follow the prompts to repair the app.

7. Reinstall Office 365 Apps

   • Uninstall the Office 365 apps by dragging them to the Trash.
   • Empty the Trash and restart your Mac.
   • Reinstall the Office 365 apps from the Microsoft Office website.

8. Check for Disk Errors

   • Open the Disk Utility app (found in Applications > Utilities).
   • Select your startup disk and click on First Aid to check and repair any disk errors.

9. Contact Microsoft Support

   • If the issue persists, contact Microsoft Support for further assistance. They may have additional troubleshooting steps or be aware of specific issues affecting Office 365 on macOS.

By following these steps, you should be able to identify and resolve the issue of Office 365 apps closing randomly on macOS.

[#4]

Copying and pasting a response from an AI search is not helpful. If you read the entire post you will see that the device has had a complete wipe and build. Our device the same.

[#5]

@Michael1240 

Copy the exact same "experience"!
No crash log is generated. Apps close at the same time (had Excel and OneNote close at the same time). Teams stays open...

Besides randomly closing the apps are also lagging from time to time. No scrolling or data entry possible for like 20s, then jumps back to life, catches up with all the interaction and sometimes freezes again...

[#6]

PSH, are you running an M3 chip?

[#7]

Does anyone else run the Zoom app and plugin for outlook?

[#8]

We are running M3 chip and Sonoma 14.5 and are experiencing the same thing

[#9]

@Jakemoen1383 same exact thing here. Hopefully there is a resolution soon.

[#10]

@Sysadmin100M3 max!

[#11]

In terms of plugins I can say that we don’t have any except Teams plugin and I have a license of Copilot.

[#12]

Would also be interesting what the common factors are.

MBP 2023
M3 Max
Sonoma 14.5
FileVault Encryption enforced by policy?
MS Defender enforced by policy?

I will urge our IT dept to also open a support ticket at Microsoft as I am finished with trying things without proper error logging available.

[#13]

MBP 2024
M3 Pro
Sonoma 14.5
No MS Defender - SentinelOne

[#14]

@Michael1240 Same issue here.

MBP 2024 M3 Max

48 GB Memory

Watchguard Pro Virus/Threats

This machine was given to me new as I started a new position in mid-May. Has been consistent since I got it.

[#15]

Exact same here...

[#16]

Same issue here with a couple new devices. All are MacBook Air (15-inch, M3, 2024). Reinstalls of just the apps and the OS have been done and still the problem persists.

[#17]

@Michael1240 

We are experiencing the same issue with two MacBook Air 2019 running latest Sonoma update ( was also crashing running the latest Ventura OS for one of the users before he updated to Sonoma.) 

So no this is not only affecting newer Mac models.

For us this issue started maybe mid last week.

I tought we we're alone on having this weird issue, since there wasen't really any forums posts or know issues adressed until i found this post.

[#18]

@Michael1240 I have a user who I switched from an M1 Macbook Air with no issue to a M1 Pro 16 inch and now is having the issues with the apps crashing all at once.  I have done all of the steps mentioned by Microsoft before seeing this thread and still crashing.  Guess I am opening a ticket tomorrow.

[#19]

@Michael1240 

Yup we have the same issue here with a brand new 2024 M3 Macbook Pro running Sonoma 14.5. So far only one user has reported issues with all Office apps crashing at the same time. This all started mid last week. We've tried repairs and reinstalls, but nothing has worked.

[#20]

So as I got my new MBP exactly Wednesday last week and experienced the issues right away and some of you are reporting the first occurrence in your orgs around that time we might find out which updates have been provided by MS maybe right before or around last week.
If someone knows how to rollback to previous versions it might be worth a shot but any application could be the culprit. Otherwise we might need further logging by MS via one of those support tickets.