macros disappearing - Word 2019 for Mac

Thanks for your suggestion, but the only version of Word I have in Time  Machine is the one I purchased from Microsoft 8 days ago.  I suspect that that's 16.28, but I don't have any way of checking that, since I cancelled my purchase.  In any case I had the same problem with a version of Word I purchased last October.  Since the problem has persisted for over 10 months, it seems unlikely that 16.29 is going to be any better, and, as you can see in the messages in this thread, a Microsoft Agent is working on the problem.

Thanks for the courtesy of your update.

FYI when I had this problem with Word in the 2019 Home and Student Version of Office Suite last October I was able to connect with Microsoft tech support and they told me that they'd work on it.  A few days after that my computer began shutting down with no reason, and after working with Apple on it for several days, I mentioned that I had recently installed a Word update that wasn't functioning properly and wondered whether that could have anything to do with the shutdowns.  

In response Apple helped me partition my hard drive so that I had, in effect a new hard drive without Word on it.  With the new compartment I had no shutdowns, but then when I called Microsoft to tell them what had happened, I was asked to install the Office Suite on the new compartment to see whether it was in fact the source of the shutdowns.  When I did, I began getting shutdowns again and removed Office Suite from the new compartment.  Removing the app didn't solve the problem.  I had to engage, with Apple's help, in a laborious process of going into Library and removing all Office Suite files which were scattered among various folders in Library.  I mention this in case it bears some relationship to the macros problem, i.e. in case creating macros activates code that shuts the computer down.  Whether that's possible, I have no idea.  I don't know much about computer technology, but I assume this isn't a problem that just occurs by downloading Office Suite, since if it did, Microsoft would probably know about it at this point, but if it only occurs after you create macros and you experience shutdowns now, I thought you ought to know about it.  

As you may have noticed on this conversation yesterday, I got a reply from a volunteer named Jim Gordon, suggesting I go back to Word 16.27 in Time Machine.  I doubt that I have it in Time Machine.  The only version I have was the one I downloaded last Friday, August 16, which I assume was the latest version.  If it wasn't, then presumably it was 16.27.  I can't check it because I cancelled my purchase when I encountered the macros problem with my new version, and I didn't want to risk the shutdown problem.

Hi

You can revert to 16.27 by restoring Microsoft Word.app from Time Machine. Before doing so, go to the Help menu in Word and choose Check for Updates and set AutoUpdate to manual so that it doesn't put 16.28 right back after you revert to 16.27.

You might consider going newer instead of older. You can get version 16.29 if you join the Office Insider program and choose the Insider Fast track. Insider Fast builds get the fixes being tested first.

Office Insiders

Dear Richard_1931，

Thanks for your updates.

As the issue can be reproduced at our side, I need some time to involve more resources to investigate it further. I’ll keep you updated as soon as possible.

Best Regards,

Cliff

Thanks, Clark.  I appreciate your reply and your willingness to investigate further.  

I'm aware of the Recent feature, and this helps, but it is more time-consuming than using a macro--I have to open the More Recent list and scan down the list of files--and, more important, often the file I want to open hasn't been opened recently.  

One person at Microsoft I spoke to said that the problem might be with my computer.  It's a new iMac I bought last September.  That seems improbable to me, but I'm not an expert.  One of these days, I'll try opening the more recent version of Word on my MacBook and see what happens, if Microsoft will let me use it on two devices, and it won't displace the older version of Office Suite, which is no longer supported but works, that I have on my MacBook, a very important question.

When you say you can repro the macro on your computer, the question is how long that lasts.  I can reproduce macros immediately after I create them, but within a few minutes to up to a day or so after, when I try to use them I get that error message I included in one of my messages to the community.  In case it isn't accessible to you, here it is again: "Error '5174': Sorry we can't find your file.  Was it moved, renamed, or deleted?"  Once with the version of Word I purchased last week, as opposed to the Office Suite I purchased last October, I got an error 5941 that said "The requested number of collections does not exist", and once a couple of days ago when my computer shut down as the result of a power failure, the three macros I'd created for test purposes, disappeared.  They were no longer listed in the macros feature.

Best, **** Greene