Mac, word suddenly can't save files, but other apps not a problem

[tangey]

So, let me prefix this with "I know nothing about Macs", but this has come to me apparently because I know about computers !

The boss has an macbook that he's had for quite some time. Out of the blue, word is unable to save any docs to the desktop or indeed any folder. It comes up with some "permissions error". Open an existing file, try saving it with "save is", and it fails. Same if you open a new file. Excel still works perfectly fine, as does the note/notepad app. Other than word, he hasn't noticed any other issues. It sounds to me that WORD has lost write permission to the hard drive. But I don't know if this is a thing, or how to change it if it is.

I looked online and saw some stuff about fonts, but that didn't help.

His MacOS is Sierra 10.12.6. Word is 15.30, same version as Excel. I tried to to check for OS updates, but after it downloaded an update it bugged out with some error, I'm guessing the OS is too old for update.

Anyone come across this word issue before ?

 

[visibleman]

Out of interest what model and year is the MacBook?
Have you got the exact version (and build) of the Microsoft Office install?
And i'm guessing there's ample storage on the drive?

With Word, you can try and save to a freshly formatted external drive to see if it is a permission issue (with the system drive). And/or start Word in 'safe mode' (iirc, fully quit office apps, press control key whilst launching Word) and seeing if you can write to files in 'safe mode'.

But if you've got the installer/licence for MS Office, and it's >= Office 2016, then i would use Office-Reset to remove the current installation, reboot, reinstall and see what the situation is then.
Alternatively you can use the AppCleaner app to remove the individual Office apps but, you will ideally need to trawl through the users '~/Library/' directory to clean up left behind (temp/container/cache) files.

It's odd that it appears to be only Word that is affected. But the fact 'SoftwareUpdate' isn't installing an OS update, it'll only list compatible updates (for the Mac hardware), then i would argue there is potentially a bigger underlying issue, perhaps due to permissions but who knows, rather than something specific to Microsoft Office/Word.

If i saw this at work, and considering 'softwareupdate', then i would backup any (critical) data and then, 'Nuke and Pave' to the latest (for the hardware) MacOS.

 

[tangey]

Thanks for the response, I only see the owner of the mac every now and then. I'll get the model/year when I next can.

I'm guessing that as word & excel report 15.3, that it is office16 ?

 

[visibleman]

I'm guessing that as word & excel report 15.3, that it is office16 ?

Unless it's Microsoft 365 then from what i remember, 15.30 retail was 'Office 2016 for Mac'. Worth seeing if it's fully up-to-date as from what i remember the last/latest version was 16.16.something before it EOL'd at the end of 2020.

If you have the licence key and installer then a re-install, again, use office reset as it'll clean up licencing and a lot of the crud, wouldn't be a bad shout. Similar worth testing an external drive just in case it is permissions or a drive storage issue.

Edit - Quick Google, '16.16.27 (20101200)' released in Oct 2020 seems to have been the last version for 'Office 2016 for Mac' before EOL/moving to Office 2019 - https://web.archive.org/web/2022012...s/officeupdates/release-notes-office-2016-mac