Microsoft Word Error: Cannot Open File after trying to save a Word document as PDF

Question

Hello,
Currently getting a random error in my company that just started recently.

While in Word Office 365 ProPlus, we have a Word document that we want to save as a PDF.

We do this by either selecting Save a Copy or Export then hit the Create PDF button, but either way we go to save the file as a PDF and then check the checkbox that states Open File after publishing.

The dialog box is as follows:

Word will successfully save the file as a PDF, but then we get an error popup from Microsoft Word stating Could not Open File as shown:

The file saves as a PDF correctly, and can be opened through Windows Explorer in Adobe Acrobat successfully with no problems.
We have tried Optimizing Standard size, and Minimum size, but that hasn't done much.
I have tried changing the default app from Adobe to Edge, and to Firefox, and then back to Adobe, but each time we get that error message.

Wondering if anyone else has seen this and knows the fix?

Its not a default file type issue, as again the document opens fine from Explorer and all the file types are associated correctly through all normal conventions.

It seems to be something in Word that isn't opening correctly from what I can tell. And is effecting multiple users in our company.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

For some reason, Word can't find the default PDF viewer. I seem to recall that I have seen this once, immediately after uninstalling a PDF viewer which I had installed for testing purposes.

I was able to fix the problem by setting Adobe Reader as the default program for PDFs in Windows, but it seems you have already tried that.

Reinstalling Windows seems overkill for this problem, although it is annoying,

Answer 2

I cannot replicate the issue here with Adobe Acrobat set as the default application for opening PDF files.

Answer 3

Hi,

May I know whether there are any updates to your question? If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

Tin

Answer 4

So far the only update is now we have more users with the exact same error.

We've tried numerous things - we save the file locally, we save the file in our OneDrive setups, we try to save as with minimal size PDF publishing, we try to save with standard publishing settings, we've tried with Adobe as the default PDF, we've tried EDGE as the default PDF.
The only thing we haven't done so far is tried completely formatting and reinstalling Windows on the computer yet, that is going to be our next trial.

But so far, same issue - Word comes up with that error message. The PDF is created fine, there are no missing pieces, and the conversion is just about perfect - Word just will not open after it creates it for some reason.

Not sure if its an update that has failed or a new security restriction (although we did test on a VM with no security restrictions and it still caused the same).

Answer 5

Hi RyanPresbrey：

Please check if there are any updates of Office. You can update your Office applications in the following ways: Open Word -> File -> Account ->Update Options ->Update Now.

If your Office has been updated to the latest version, you can also try the following methods:

1. Repairing Office from the Control Panel:

Go to Control Panel -> Programs -> right-click on Office applications’ icon -> Change -> Online Repair.

1. Opening Office apps in safe mode to check whether there is an add-in or extension that may be causing a problem on startup.

If the problem persists, please provide the screenshot of your Word Version.

Hope this will help you.

Tin