The server application, source file, or item cannot be found - Office 2016

Question

I am using Office 2016 Professional version on Windows 10. I always got the caption error when I tried to open embedded Excel objects in documents (can be Word or Powerpoint document through Word 2016 or Powerpoint 2016). Those Excel objects are created by previous version of Office, e.g. Office 2013 / 2010.

I have searched the Internet for this problem and tried to register ole32.dll but it still didn't work. The only work around now is to change the file extension to zip, so that I can open the embedded Excel directly by finding out the embedded file(s). 

Any idea how the problem can be fixed? Fyi, I have tried to uninstall and re-install Office as well but it didn't help.

Answer 1

Hi Ricky,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Office Community.

Let me assist you with Excel issue.

Do you find this issue with a particular Excel document or with all the documents which contains document embedded?

You may repair Office 2016 using the following link and verify the status.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/repair-or-remove-office-2010-HA010357402.aspx

Hope this information helps. Please post to us if you need any further assistance with Office.

Thank you.

Answer 2

The problem is not on particular file but all the documents which contains embedded Excel objects. I have tried in both Word 2016 and Powerpoint 2016 (with different Excel objects attached) - same problem occurred. Please note that those Excel objects were NOT created by Excel 2016 (since most of my colleagues are still running Office 2010 or 2013).

I have tried to repair, and even re-install (uninstall first) Office but problem still exists.

Thanks.

Answer 3

Hi Ricky,

Thank you for posting your query in Microsoft Office Community.

Let me assist you with Excel issue.

Do you find this issue with a particular Excel document or with all the documents which contains document embedded?

You may repair Office 2016 using the following link and verify the status.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/repair-or-remove-office-2010-HA010357402.aspx

Hope this information helps. Please post to us if you need any further assistance with Office.

Thank you.

I receive the same issue when embedding excel into word. The only difference is both excel and word are 2016 versions.

I have tried the following steps to resolve the issue with no success. 

1. Repair office
2. Remove office completely then reinstall
3.  Removed add-ins.  

Only way it will work for me is saving the word document as a .doc instead of .docx

What would be the next step to follow after doing what you recommended ?

Answer 4

Hello Sagnik Chakraborty

I have tried the following steps to resolve the issue with no success. 

1. Repair office
2. Remove office completely then reinstall
3.  Removed add-ins. 

but the issue is still same

Answer 5

Can we have an update in regards to the message reported please. 

This is occurring after upgrading from Microsoft Office 2013 to 2016. 

Changing the file from .docx to .doc does not generate the message but this is not a suitable solution.