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Word launching from desktop alias, but not opening document.

Anonymous
2017-10-24T20:08:23+00:00

Hello all.

I have just recently upgraded from Office for Mac 2011 to Office 2016 on a 365 subscription.

Like many people, I assume, I have several aliases for frequently used Word documents on my desktop, and it has always been my habit to double-click these aliases in order to launch Word and open the document in question. This always happened flawlessly with Office 2011.

But since I installed Office 2016 I can often double click one of these aliases and, although Word 'launches', the document itself isn't opened.

What happens when I double-click the alias is that my Word dock icon begins bouncing as it should do, and after a little while it stops bouncing and the black dot appears below it. The menu bar at the top of my screen is now the Word menu bar, and to all intents and purposes Word is launched and running, but there is no open Word window. I just have my desktop background with no open document window on it at all.

I would say that this happens about 25% of the times that I double-click a Word desktop alias. (It isn't a particular alias, because it has happened with several different aliases.) The remaining 75% of the times Word behaves normally and the document appears to be worked on.

I am running Office 2016 on a 2010 MacBook Pro under macOS 10.13 High Sierra.

Is this a known bug, or does it seem that something might be awry somewhere please?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-12-11T15:32:21+00:00

    Hi Yoga.

    I'm afraid that my patience has run out over this problem, and so I will be uninstalling Office 2016, cancelling my 365 subscription and reverting back to Office 2011, which seems still to work for me perfectly well, and opens documents as it should do. (In fact, the sole advantage of Word 2016 over 2011 was that 2016 scrolled a lot more smoothly than 2011 does.)

    I find it difficult to justify £8.00 every month just for slightly smoother scrolling, to be honest, and with the added disadvantage in 2016 of it not opening documents properly, dropping it really has become a 'no brainer'.

    If the error reporting file that I uploaded does reveal what the problem is, and a fix is made available, please feel free to email me, and I will reconsider.

    Cheers,

    Rob.

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-10-26T20:19:28+00:00

    Thanks for replying Jim.

    Yes, I do have version 15.39 (171010) installed currently, and a check for macOS updates via the Apple logo > About this Mac >Software update reveals no updates currently available. Likewise there are no Office updates available for me when I search for those from the Help menu within Word. So everything seems up to date.

    Further to my original post, this behaviour isn't limited to desktop aliases. I have had the same problem occur when I have double-clicked on actual Word files within Finder windows.

    As I say above, when it happens I can open the documents eventually by simply repeating my initial action of double-clicking, but it's that initial action that is so frustrating because of the 'is it opening or not?' waiting period...

    Incidentally, when Word launches in this way and doesn't show a document, and I then click on the Word dock icon that now has a dot underneath it, a blank document window opens rather than the one that is supposed to be open.

    Double-clicking aliases and files always worked fine on Word 2011, so I think it is something 2016 related.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-10-26T20:05:57+00:00

    Thanks for replying, Philip.

    I've had a look at your advice, but I'm falling at the first hurdle I'm afraid... What is the Template viewer? And where do I find it?

    I have scoured the tool bar tabs, the menu bar and Word preferences, but I still haven't spotted any Template viewer. I guess it is 'turned off' but I have no recollection of turning it off.

    I can certainly get the documents in question to open by using File > Open recent... from the menu bar, though. Indeed, if I double-click the alias icon again on my desktop, when Word is running but there's no document window, the document will appear... eventually, perhaps after a couple of goes.

    But the thing is that it wastes time waiting for it to open as it should do, (at the first double-click), because I'm not certain that it isn't going to open until I've waited a good few seconds of course. It's really annoying.

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  3. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2017-10-26T16:55:25+00:00

    I can't say that I've ever seen a report like this.

    Please go to the Word menu and choose About Word. You should have version 15.39. If you have an older version, please install updates and then test again.

    Make sure your Mac has a working internet connection before checking for updates. Install Mac OS X updates followed by Office updates.

    Install Mac OS X updates first:

    To get Mac OS updates, go to the App store on your dock, and then click the Updates button to reveal available updates.

    Then Install Office Updates

    To get the update:

    1. Open any Office application:
    2. Make sure your Mac has a working internet connection
    3. Go to the Help menu and choose Check for Updates
    4. Let AutoUpdate check for and install updates
    5. Restart your Mac

    Booting in Safe Mode can fix file system errors. Give that a try, if installing updates doesn't fix the problem

    Use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac - Apple Support

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  4. Anonymous
    2017-10-25T01:56:01+00:00
    • From the Template viewer, click on Recent.

    • then this will open (this is just a partial screenshot:

    • Choose the desired file from the list.

    Or

    • If the Template viewer has been turned off.
    • Go to File menu and click on Recent.
    • A list of recent files will appear.
    • Choose from the list.

    _________

    Disclaimer:

    The questions, discussions, opinions, replies & answers I create, are solely mine and mine alone and do not reflect upon my position as a Community Moderator.

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