Word 16.31 turning server files invisible

Responses are inline...

1. After running this script, will the affected Word document be occasionally invisible?

It appears to occur while saving existing documents. New documents don't seem to have this problem.

2. If the issue still happens by chance, as we don't have a macOS server environment, we would like to suggest you join Office for Mac Insider Fast to get a newer version of Office to check if the problem persists.

I have not tested, but it's very likely that any Mac sharing files via SMB would be affected. I'm not about to use a beta version with users in production.

3. When did this issue occur? Like it happens after you updated Office or after updating the macOS server.

Updating Office only.

4. Are other Office applications such as Excel and PowerPoint affected?

I cannot speak to this.

Appreciate your understanding.

Best regards,

Madoc 

Hi Anarvey,

Thanks for sharing the workaround with us that benefit other members.

Regarding this issue, there're some points I'd like to confirm with you:

1. After running this script, will the affected Word document be occasionally invisible?

2. If the issue still happens by chance, as we don't have a macOS server environment, we would like to suggest you join Office for Mac Insider Fast to get a newer version of Office to check if the problem persists.
3. When did this issue occur? Like it happens after you updated Office or after updating the macOS server.

4. Are other Office applications such as Excel and PowerPoint affected?

Appreciate your understanding.

Best regards,

Madoc

Hi,

I"m so glad I'm not alone. We are having this issue too. Files vanish sometimes when user Saves. Additionally, Office's supposedly hidden temp folder/files are visible. User sees them appear then vanish. 

Occasionally, users will save files and they will seem to vanish. They turn invisible but keep their names. When a user calls to tell me his file disappeared, I have him press shift-cmd-period to show hidden files. If he reports that it's there but "gray" then I know what to do.

The current workaround is to open a new email in outlook, then drag the "hidden" file into it as an attachment. Then drag the file back out of outlook to save the attachment. The final file has [1] appended to it if saved in the same location as the original. I have the user then delete the original and rename the new, removing the "[1]". 

Light years from ideal with an office full of people trying to get work done and meet deadlines, but it is what it is I suppose until it's fixed.

Clients are MacOS 10.13 or 10.14, latest minor release on all. Server is MacOS 10.12 (RAID 1+0).

Office version is 16.31.

Thanks,

Jeff

Hi Anarvey,

Sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused you.

To troubleshoot this issue, firstly, I would like to suggest starting your Mac in Safe Mode and open Word from there to isolate issues, then check if the issue persists. Because when starting your operating system by using a normal startup, several applications and services start automatically and then run in the background. These programs include basic system processes, antivirus software, system utilities, and other software. These applications and services can sometimes cause interference when you run Office for Mac. You can refer to this article for more details.

Besides, we’d like to collect some information to further check the scenario:

1. Is this a problem with all Word documents? Or some specific documents?
2. When did this problem occur? For example, after upgrading Office to 16.31.
3. Are other Office applications such as Excel and PowerPoint affected?

Best regards,

Madoc