Intermittent permissions error in Word 365 for Mac

Anonymous
2019-04-24T18:11:45+00:00

I'm finding I'm getting an intermittent permissions error in Word 365 (16.24) on MacOS Mojave (10.14.4).

I'll generally be able to open and save documents for a couple of hours - then, I'll get an error telling me I don't have the required permissions to open the document(s) I'm trying to access. I can't save the current document I'm working on either. These are all documents that I have created - on the same Mac using Word 365 (usually within the last few days or weeks)

A restart helps with the issue - but only postpones it for another couple of hours. Plus I don't want to have to keep restarting!!

When I try to open a file I get the following popup:

After selecting to grant access I then get:

Then, after choosing the correct file and selecting 'grant access', I get:

Any help would be appreciated! I can obviously post more info if required.

Thank you.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-06-10T22:25:48+00:00

    Hi Gloria,

    Ok so this same issue is happening to me. I complete dumped WORD and reinstalled. It worked great for a day and the same issue popped up - Permission error. Now it is compelte randow as some Word docs open and others do not. This is definaltey a WORD app issue and MS needs to create a pathc for this. Can you tell me what MS is doing on there end? 

    BTW - I can open the file when I use another application like pages but WORD is probematic and very frustrating

    Hi SteKelly,

    Let us know if you need further after you check the steps.

    Best Regards,

    Gloria

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-06-12T17:15:58+00:00

    Same problem here. Using Word 365 under OSX High Sierra. Very intermittent but constantly happens. I find myself restarting Word every hour, very frustrating!! I was hoping that with recent updates the problem would get fixed... guess not.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-06-13T17:37:04+00:00

    I have seen this issue on multiple computers running Office 16.25. I have tried resetting user permissions, clearing font cache, reinstalling office. OSX is running 10.14.5. When they get the error if they close Word and re-open the file it works fine. The issue comes back though and it happens with many different files in different locations. Even when the error is present the file can be opened in other applications so it is not an osx permissions issue. It appears to be an issue only with Word.

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-06-14T17:02:50+00:00

    I manage about four dozen Macs and we are having widespread occurrences of this issue. It's not every computer, but it is many of them. The issue comes and goes, but can always be fixed by restarting word or excel. However, if someone has several documents open, none of them can be saved. This is resulting in lost work, or really weird workarounds to email documents to themselves. It is a major headache for us.

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-06-14T17:09:12+00:00

    we have tried uninstalling/reinstalling. we have tried lots of other commands to clear various caches and key. this problem keeps coming back. I believe it's a bug with the way office interacts with macOS sandboxing that only MS (or Apple) can fix. Is there anything that can be done to get this issue more attention?

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