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

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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 !

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-11-26T01:24:04+00:00

    Hi,

    If it helps, I have had reports of it happening in excel (xlsx) as well. Haven't heard anything about powerpoint.

    Thanks,

    Jeff

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-11-26T01:48:01+00:00

    Hi All,

    Thanks for the information. Now we know that the issue can happen to Word and Excel files. 

    Can we say the issue only happens to Office files? Can any non-Office files be affected?

    Regards,

    Rena

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-11-26T02:33:26+00:00

    I've seen anecdotal evidence of similar things over the years with a variety of apps and software brands (Microsoft, Adobe, Vectorworks, etc). I had always attributed it to Apple deciding to roll out its own "flavor" of smb a few years back. Again, nothing concrete and nothing I would bore a Microsoft board with. Most have mostly been resolved at this point.

    This is the first time I've seen such a rash of cases following a software update though. As an aside, a number of our users have not updated to 16.31 yet and they seem to be ok. I issued a defaults write com.microsoft.autoupdate2 HowToCheck Manual on client machines before anyone else could, so it's limited to a few people at this point.

    It's entirely possible the issue exists for pptx as well; we just don't use that nearly as much.

    I stumbled on Anarvey's posts while googling the problem and (sorry) I was kind of thrilled I wasn't alone.

    Thanks,

    Jeff

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  4. Anonymous
    2019-11-26T02:48:10+00:00

    Hi All,

    Sorry for the inconvenience the issue causes. And we appreciate the information you provided. We are in the progress to involve more resource to check this problem. Here I will first write a summary of the problem and any new updates will be post back here in this summary.

    Issue Descriptions:

    ==========

    Office files saved to Mac OS server can be occasionally invisible.

    Environment:

    =========

    macOS server version 10.12/10.13

    Office 16.31

    Troubleshooting:

    ====================

    1.      The issue can affect not only Word documents but also Excel files, it may also affect other Office files.

    2.      The issue first occurred after updating Office to 16.31. Users who hasn’t updated to this version seem do not have the issue.

    Workaround:

    ====================

    Run script below. But the script will only fix new saved files, it will not help for existing saved files.

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

    Latest Information:

    =========

    We have no reproduce environment so far, but we are involving more resource to check the problem. This may take several days to get response. We would suggest you click the smiley face in the Office app to in-app feedback to report the issue directly at the same time. Any updates will be post back here.

    Really appreciate your effort and understanding,

    Rena

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