Unable to save files in Word 2016 for Mac on OS X El Cap

Anonymous
2016-02-18T19:08:46+00:00

Hi folks,

I'm running into a situation affecting some but not all Macs at our office. We recently updated to Office 2016 (via Offiec365), and are running into problems with Word in particular. 

What's happening is that after opening or creating a new document and making changes, typing ⌘-S to save does not do anything, and the Save and Save As options are grayed out in the menu. Closing the window or quitting Word will trigger the "Do you want to save..." dialog, which then appears to allow you to save the document, but the document that is actually saved is completely blank. 

Has anyone encountered this also? It's affecting a couple of iMacs and a MacBook Pro, but some iMacs and laptops are not experiencing the same problem.

Thanks,

Tom

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2017-02-13T23:50:13+00:00

I had this issue persistently last year but it seems fixed now with latest releases all round. I suggest running Microsoft Autoupdate, and doing manually every few days too. Also join the optional Office Insider program to get latest fixes.

My system:

Word for Mac 15.32 (170201)

MacBoook Pro (2016), 10.12.3

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-02-13T23:35:16+00:00

    I am having the exact same problem that Tom RuBane posted on February 28, 2016.

    I am using Word for Mac v-15.30. My Mac is a 27" iMac mid 2010 running Mac OS-X 10.11.6.

    I can make the problem go away for a while if I restart my Mac. I haven't paid attention to how long this works but it seems to be for several days or even weeks.

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  2. Jim G 134.1K Reputation points MVP
    2016-11-18T16:00:35+00:00

    15.27 isn't the current update. You can update to 15.28 by following these instructions:

    Make sure your Mac has a working internet connection before checking for updates. Install Mac OS X updates followed by Office updates.

    Mac OS X updates:

    To get Mac OS updates, go to the App store on your dock, and then click the Updates button to reveal available updates.

    Office Updates

    To get the update:

    1. Open any Office application:
    2. Make sure your Mac has a working internet connection
    3. Go to the Help menu and choose Check for Updates
    4. Let AutoUpdate check for and install updates
    5. Restart your Mac

    If updating to 15.28 fixes the problem, please reply.

    If updating to 15.28 does not fix the problem, please reply and I will suggest more troubleshooting steps.

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  3. Anonymous
    2016-11-17T04:08:51+00:00

    Still happening on 15.27 and El Capitan. Definitely expect saving functionality to work and expect to have a Microsoft PM to read this and prioritize accordingly, i.e. fix it asap, 4 pages of comments on how save doesn't work on Word 2016.

    Work arounds include "sharing" document to email, however if you are tracking changes it will won't save the review comments, and will replace with [initials].

    Another workaround is to print the document and use the mac menu to save as pdf, this will save the comments in the .pdf file

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  4. John Korchok 236.2K Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2016-10-19T21:34:37+00:00

    This problem plagues some users and others never experience it (like me). Do you still have the same issue when saving to your user folder (Users/YourUserName/Documents)?

    As L_Davis mentioned, you can also create a new user account, log into it and see if you can run Word with fewer problems. If you can, it indicates your user profile has some degree of corruption. You should then consider transferring your user information to the new profile. Here is a page from Apple Communities about how to do this: How do I move all my files from one User Profile (account) into another?

    Finally, you can try completely uninstalling following these directions: Troubleshoot Office 2016 for Mac issues by completely uninstalling before you reinstall to uninstall Office, then reinstall. If it's any consolation, I've done this half a dozen times in the last year with Office 2016 for Mac.

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