Excel cannot authenticate to SharePoint Online

Question

excel 2013 cannot authenticate to sharepoint online for a particular user when they try to open a file. after the user has entered their email address and password, the login prompt appears again (continuous loop).

the user has no trouble accessing the required excel files on the sharepoint site, editing and saving them using excel online. therefore the permissions on the sharepoint site appear to be ok.

user has the sharepoint site connected as a service:


Answer 1

Hi TechAJ,

You can ask this user follow the options below to check the outcome:

1. Reactivate the Office applications. Open Excel>File>Account>Switch Account>Enter the same work/school account as the previous one.
2. Remove the service and re-add it.
3. Clean Windows credentials. Open Control Panel>search for Credential Manager>Remove both those Web Credentials and Windows Credentials. 

For narrowing down this issue, I'd like to confirm the following things:

1.How does this user open the Excel file from the site, he opens the file via clicking File>Open>choose a site>choose a file or download the file for editing?

2.If this user firstly downloads this file and then open it or open some local Excel files, will he encounter the same issue?

3.Is he an external user or an internal user for this site?

4.Can't he open a specific Excel file or all the Excel files in this site?

5.Do any other users in his tenant have this issue? 

6.The screenshots for "the login prompt appears again (continuous loop)". To post a picture, click Use rich formatting>Insert/Edit Media in the thread page. We appreciate if he can provide us with the screenshots of the steps about how he opens the Excel file.

7.Has this issue occurred before for this user?

Best regards,

Tim

Answer 2

Hi TechAJ,

Can this user open the files from the specific site now? If not, please post back with the information mentioned in my last post at your convenience.

Best regards,

Tim