The server application, source file, or item cannot be found. Make sure the application is properly installed, and that it has not been deleted, moved, renamed, or blocked by policy

Question

Hello,

We are a small company with 10 Dell computers networked with a local server/domain. The computers use Windows 10 and have M365 accounts. We have an invoice template in 2016 Word with an embedded Excel spreadsheet. Some of the computers can open and modify the Excel spreadsheet while others cannot open it and receive the following message: "The server application, source file, or item cannot be found. Make sure the application is properly installed, and that it has not been deleted, moved, renamed, or blocked by policy". Can anyone provide any guidance why some can access and some cannot?

Thank you,

Dave Daniels

Answer 1

Hi DaveDanielsPE,

As per your description, I tested with the document (Embedded document) on the latest version of Current Channel i.e., 2107 (Build 14228.20250) same as yours and I can open the embedded Word documents without any issue

May I request a screenshot of Microsoft 365 Product Information. To get this screenshot, open any Office app, such as Word or Excel on your system, click File>Account, capture the screenshot of all the information mentioned under Product Information. (Note*: please remove any sensitive information from the screenshot such as email address or full name etc.).*

May I know, does the problem still occur if you start Word in Safe Mode by holding down the CTRL key while starting it until asked to confirm that you want to start it in that mode?

Please make sure Office applications on your affected computer are fully updated.

If everything fails, please do an Office Online Repair. For steps, see Repair an Office application.

Further, to test this, please consider creating a new user account (for the test purpose) on your Windows computer. And check if you can open the embedded documents on the new user profile. Sometimes, a user's specific information may be corrupted, therefore, the embedded file is not opening as expected. In new user account, Word 365 will run from scratch and will help us determine if the issue is with the user profile.

Please check the following article to know how to create a new user account:Create a local user or administrator account in Windows 10

I appreciate your understanding and stay safe!!

Best Regards

Waqas Muhammad

Answer 2

Hi DaveDanielsPE,

Feel free to post back if you need further assistance.

Best Regards,

Waqas Muhammad