OOS Word Online edit mode errors

Question

Hi,

We have several words documents which can be renderend in Word online readonly mode. However when trying to open edit mode in browser we encounter 2 problems:

1. Using 'IF' fields where the 'then' or 'else' expression contains linebreaks. Ex. This will work: - { IF "a"="b" "c" "d" * MERGEFORMAT } This will not work: - { IF "a"="b" "c" "d e" * MERGEFORMAT } The error i see in ULS: - GetCells returning unsuccessful. [StatusCode: InvalidFieldStructure] [IsOdtFile: False] This issue does not occur when opening Word in the client, when saving from client the problem still persists in the browser.
2. Invalid borders open xml content in the document. In the document we have the following: <w:tblBorders>
   <w:top w:val="nil" />
   <w:start w:val="nil" />
   <w:bottom w:val="nil" />
   <w:end w:val="nil" />
   </w:tblBorders> Which does not seem to render in word online. Error in OOS ULS: [Type: System.InvalidOperationException] System.InvalidOperationException: Error in implicit conversion. Can not convert null object.
   at DocumentFormat.OpenXml.UInt64Value.op_Implicit(UInt64Value xmlAttribute)
   at Microsoft.Office.Web.WordEditor.Transform.TableCellContentTransform.SetBorderValues(BorderType border, BorderPropertyHolder borderPropertyHolder,
   Boolean isFromTable)
   at Microsoft.Office.Web.WordEditor.Transform.TableCellContentTransform.SetTableBordersToCell(TableBorders tableBorders) However when using the following it works:

               <w:tblBorders>
               <w:top w:val="nil" w:sz="0" w:space="0" w:color="auto" />
               <w:start w:val="nil" w:sz="0" w:space="0" w:color="auto" />
               <w:bottom w:val="nil" w:sz="0" w:space="0" w:color="auto" />
               <w:end w:val="nil" w:sz="0" w:space="0" w:color="auto" />
           </w:tblBorders>
   

   It seems that the word online editor has issues when 'sz' or 'space' is not defined?

We use OOS version 16.0.10340.20006

Has anyone else had these issues, are there fixes available?

Thanks

Answer 1

Your version of Office Online Server is quite out of date, but unless you see patch notes between Jan 2019 and now that resolve this specific issue, I would do two things:

1) Patch to October 2020 first.
2) Open a support ticket with Microsoft.

OOS (nor Word on the web for M365) doesn't have perfect Word doc compatibility. Reporting these issues through a support case might lead to a resolution if it hasn't already been resolved by a previous patch.