Office freezes due to error "There was a problem connecting to the server "XXXXX". (server name varies)"

Question

Split from this thread.

I use Excel daily, currently version 16.28 (19081202).  Today it started randomly freezing (spinning beach ball) for 30 to 60 seconds, always ending with the error dialog "There was a problem connecting to the server "XXXXX".  (server name varies)  This occurs while I am working ONLY with local files.  I believe that I have determined that Excel is attempting to access files which are in the "Open Recent" menu and which are on a currently inaccessible server.

The behavior is triggered at these times:

a) About 15 seconds after opening the application, without opening any documents or taking any actions

b) By attempting to open the "Open Recent" submenu

c) Sometimes by attempting to open the "File" menu, but not always

The behavior can be avoided by these actions:

1. Connecting to the server(s) appearing in the error dialogs

OR

2. Using File> Open Recent> More… to remove non-local files from the "Recent" list.

I have had some success with (2), I now have a server file that appears in the "Open Recent" submenu but which does NOT appear in the "Recent" list, so that I cannot remove it.

Any solutions or workarounds?  Is anyone else experiencing this?

I have the exact same issue and downgraded back to 16.27 using my time machine. I am awaiting fix from MS.  I have tried eliminating all server references in Finder but to no avail.  Its the recent file system that keeps the server reference from my work server and I was travelling. I may try confirming this week but it is no use if you travel allot.  Lucky I had access to my time-machine to downgrade.  Wasted allot of my time last week.

Answer 1

Hi All,

We are aware of this issue. To benefit all community members to see the latest updates of this issue more easily, I will post a summary here:

Scenario:

==========

As long as there’s any file names of the files stored in server showing up in the recent file list, Office apps will freeze and get error message that Office can't be launched due to error "There was a problem connecting to the server "XXXXX". (server name varies)"

Environment

=========

Since Office for mac 16.28

Issue is happening with multiple apps. PowerPoint/Word/Excel

Issue is happening with multiple servers with different server names.

Workaround:

=========

1.       Removing those file names from the recent list

2.       Connecting server with credentials

3.       Reverting back to 16.27

Assessment

=========

It has been confirmed by other members that updating to 16.29 can get rid of this issue.

Besides, I would like to share another issue solution that you may encounter after using 16.29. 

If you install directly the 16.29 version, you may find the recent list doesn't work. 

For this case, we have found the solution to get rid of that from other thread. That is:

1. Remove 16.29 version.
2. Install the 16.28 version back first.
3. Check for updates to update manually from 16.28 to 16.29.

Other members have confirmed that will work for them.

Regards,

Rena

[Updated by Rena Yu MSFT, 07:13 AM Sep 15, 2019(UTC)]

Answer 2

All,

We were unable to reconnect to our server(drive failure) and Word/Excel wouldn't open for long enough to remove the recent files. Rolling back wasn't an option for us either.

I found the most helpful solution here:

https://www.tech-otaku.com/mac/removing-entries-microsoft-office-apps-recent-files-lists-macos/

The only downside, is it removes everything in your recent/pinned/shared-with-me lists.

Answer 3

To clarify, deleting ~/Library/com.microsoft.XXX will resolve the problem temporarily, but not because the file is corrupted.  That file records the list of recently accessed files.  Deleting the file clears the list, and therefore stops the application from trying to access them.  However, as soon as you open a file on a server, and then disconnect from that server, the problem will reappear.

Answer 4

Hi John,

Sorry for the inconvenience caused to you Glad to hear that the old version (16.27) didn’t shows the same issue as Office for Mac 16.28 did. If you also want to use some features from 16.28 version. You can also download from this link and keep both 16.27 and 16.28 on your Mac. Before you install 16.28 version, you need to rename 16.27 version into a different name by right click. Then you can successfully install 16.28 version without overlapping.

You may try following methods to see whether the issue would be fixed.

1: Enter Mac Safe Mode to isolate the issue caused by the other programs on your Mac.

2: Temporary remove Office Add-Ins if you use any. Sometimes, Add-ins would cause some unexpected issue when you are using Office.

3: Create a new user profile to determine whether the issue is caused by profile corruption.

In addition, you may can also try the solution from Qing Tang in this main thread to delete Excel and PowerPoint Preference file and cache file since the issue may be caused by these files’ corruption.

• com.microsoft.Powerpoint
• com.microsoft.Excel

We will also keep monitoring this issue in Office for Mac 16.28. If there is any updates, we will inform you in the first time.

Best regards,

Dihao

Answer 5

Split from this thread.

Also I had the same issue with PowerPoint but not Word.....this could be pure luck as Word may not have the server reference in "recents".