How to fix Word and PowerPoint 2016 not allowing the Insert Picture function to work with Bing

Question

Unable to insert picture in PowerPoint 2016 and Word 2016 from Online sources. It appears the Bing image server will not connect properly, thus preventing the image dialog box to load correctly. The error message is attached as an image below.

This is a fully licensed and activated version of Office 2016. Functionality stopped on October 24, 2023.

I tried online repair, SARA tool, uninstall and reinstall and problem persists. A similar laptop using same account information does allow insert into PowerPoint from Bing. Also, I can use Microsoft 365 to insert from Bing.

I do understand that support for 2016 and 2019 Office is ending. However, a much more informative error message, such as BUY A NEW VERSION, this one is TOO OLD! would be more appreciated and less frustrating than searching for four hours to finally find an obscure reference on the Microsoft site.PowerPoint Error.png

Answer 1

Sorry, I can't reproduce this in PowerPoint 2016 2309 (Build 16827.20130 Click-to-Run). Bing image search is working as expected. Microsoft hasn't shut down the servers for Office 2016.

There have been reports of Microsoft servers becoming unavailable on individual installations of Office, but I've never seen a definitive solution for this.

Answer 2

Hi @William Cellich,

This feature also works normally in my Word and PowerPoint 2016. One possible solution is to check if there are any firewall or antivirus settings that are blocking the connection to the Bing image server. You may need to whitelist the Bing image server in your firewall or antivirus settings to allow the connection.

Another possible solution is to try clearing the cache for Office applications. To do this, close all Office applications, then press Windows key + R to open the Run dialog box. Type %localappdata%\Microsoft\Office\16.0 and press Enter. This will open the Office folder in File Explorer. Delete the contents of the OfficeFileCache folder and the OfficeC2RClient folder. Then, restart your computer and try inserting an image from Bing again.

If the issue still persists, I suggest you open a ticket with Microsoft support.

---

If the answer is helpful, please click "Accept Answer" and kindly upvote it. If you have extra questions about this answer, please click "Comment".

Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread.

Answer 3

I'm not seeing any such problem in PowerPoint 2016 here. It may be a problem with your installation, your internet connection or a local Microsoft server.