Word 16.31 turning server files invisible

Anonymous
2019-11-20T17:12:10+00:00

Microsoft Word 16.31 for macOS seems to be turning server files invisible.

This has been observed in mulitple locations with multiple Macs (macOS 10.13.16 and 10.14.6) saving to macOS Server 10.12.

The file's UNIX chflags bit is turned to "hidden" and to make it visible we have to find the file using "ls -la" and then "sudo chflags nohidden file/path.docx?" to fix the file and make it visible again.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2019-11-24T15:20:28+00:00

With help from Adam Berti or Berti Group we have found that this script can fix a folder or share's invisible word documents:

find basedir/ -name '*.docx' -exec chflags nohidden {} ;

Where "basedir/" is the full path to a server share (including the trailing slash)

Adding -print will list what is happening.

find basedir/ -name '*.docx' -exec chflags nohidden {} ; -print

But it would be far more helpful if Microsoft would just fix Word 16.31 !

Was this answer helpful?

8 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

42 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2020-02-26T04:48:33+00:00

    We are also facing this issue. We are running server 10.11, the issue is hard to reproduce as it appears to happen at random. 

    It is affecting approximately 5 users, with Office for mac version 16.31 and above. The latest version here is 16.34 and the issue is still present. The affected users are on OSX 10.14.5 - 10.15.3. 

    This issue occurs using both AFP and SMB protocols. An update to fix this would be appreciated - it is frustrating to run a script on our file server to mitigate this issue!

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2020-01-30T14:57:13+00:00

    having the same issue/behaviour on macos servers running 10.14.6 or 10.15.2 (could not test it with 10.15.3 yet, but i suppose, the server system is not causing the trouble). clients are any macos 10.13.6, 10.14.6, 10.15.x.

    there is no issue with the latest mac office 2016, but with mac office 2019 16.31 or later.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2020-01-29T22:48:00+00:00

    We're still seeing the issue (last incident was yesterday - Jan 28th 2020) even after updating to 16.33 (on Jan 14th 2020). OS X Server 10.11 with SMB and AFP enabled. Client is on macOS 10.14.6.

    Was this answer helpful?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2020-01-23T16:35:46+00:00

    Out of curiosity -- was this limited to a problem with Server 10.12?  Or any version of macOS Server?

    We're seeing it on 10.11 server.

    That being said, the user who was experiencing the problem notes that with the January release of Word for Mac, she no longer experiences the problem.

    Please be advised that she may also have changed her protocol from SMB to AFP as a troubleshooting step.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments