Unable to open SharePoint o365 Word and Excel files in desktop app.

Question

I am using Windows 10 20H2 and Edge web browser. When I go to one of my SharePoint sites and click on a word document it will open in the browser online mode and I can edit the document. I then proceed to click on Open in App. I get a prompt asking if I would like to open using word. Click open and receive the prompt below. When you click on open it just opens another tab and you end of in a endless loop and the file never opens in work or excel. Strange thing is PowerPoint works. I have cleared Credential manager, I have logged out of office 365, I have performed a full office repair, I have tried re-associating the file extension to be the path of the exe. Not working. Any ideas and assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Hi Jeremy,

Thank you for querying in this forum.

From your description, it seems that you tried opening Word documents and Excel files from one SharePoint site, however, you encountered an alert message when you clicked Open in App. And PowerPoint file work fine.

At the same time, you have also tried clearing Credential manager, signing out 365, repairing Office, however, the same problem still persists.

May I know if my understanding is right? If so, for the situation you encountered, we do understand the inconvenience caused and apologize for it. And we have tested it on our side and we cannot reproduce the same situation as yours.

For your situation, we’d suggest you use another browser to check if the same problem will occur.

At the same time, to narrow down this issue and better understand your situation, could you provide the information below?

1. May I know if the files in the other SharePoint sites have the same problem?
2. May I know if the other colleagues have the same problem?
3. We’d suggest you open Word > File > Open and select the file from SharePoint site to check if you can open them successfully.

Your understanding and patience will be highly appreciated. I hope that you are keeping safe and well!

Best Regards,

Sukie

Answer 2

Sukie, thank you for your response. Yes you have the correct understanding of the issue.

1. May I know if the files in the other SharePoint sites have the same problem?
   Yes file on other SharePoint sites are having the same problem
2. May I know if the other colleagues have the same problem?
   I have reports of one other colleague that is having the same problem.
3. We’d suggest you open Word > File > Open and select the file from SharePoint site to check if you can open them successfully
   I am able to open the file through word as suggested with no issues. Only issue is via the browser. I have tried chrome and chrome downloads the file first which is not the functionality we want.

Answer 3

Hi Jeremy,

We appreciate that you posted back and confirmed the scenario with us. We also appreciate that you spent your precious time doing those tests.

And we have read your description, it seems that the other SharePoint sites have the same problem. And the other colleague has the same problem. But if you open the file from Office applications, it works fine.

If my understanding is right, given the situation you encountered, we do understand the inconvenience caused and apologize for it. Since we cannot reproduce the same situation, and you and your colleague have the same problem, this issue may be related to your tenant and may need to be checked from background. The best way to troubleshoot the issue is to report the issue to the related Team. So we suggest you contact the administrators in your organizations and open a support ticket in the Office 365 admin center via the steps in the article for further help. The support team there has the correct escalation channel for this case. This is also the most efficient way in handling this kind of issue.  

Thank you for your patience so far.

Best Regards,

Sukie