Co-author file sync failure

Question

(On a Mac)

When working on a shared Teams file locally in Word client on device, will every once and awhile stop syncing, and can't force it to sync. Just sits as "Saving" until force close. When go back in to open from Teams - the local version will open again instead of the shared Teams / server based version. Can confirm because if open as well in Teams client or through browser, will see that my most recent changes are not there.

What can I do to force the local version back down from server? I'm find to replicate changes, but need to get rid of local version first.

Answer 1

Hi Geoffrey,

We apologize for the late reply!

Greetings! Thank you for posting back in Microsoft forum with the requested information.

This error message normally appears when your file cannot be saved to the server because your edits can’t be merged with changes from others. This typically happens when one of the users does something that is not yet supported in Excel's new Co-Authoring feature.

1. From your side, I can see that you have the latest version of Office for Mac. So, version is not your problem. Are the other co-authors using the same version of Office? are their Office apps updated? please ensure both the users are using the same Microsoft 365 version to co-author.
2. Also, this kind of issue will happen if you are in a bad network environment, for instance: You were working with others on this file, but as the network is not good, the sync between your file and cloud might be paused. And that will result into version conflict between your local copy and the file in the cloud. You can save your current file which has this issue to your local desktop and go to OneDrive for web. Find the same file there, open it in Word for web. Check the difference between this file and your local copy. If you want the local copy to be retained. Just go to OneDrive and upload this Word file again, replace the current one.

I don't typically sync Teams files locally, so wherever this file is saving is somewhere I don't know where to access. What I'd like to be able to do is at least know where it is so I can go in and delete the local version,

1. Please check this article for your reference: File storage in Teams (microsoft.com).
2. Or if you mean where this file saves on your Local device? If so,

Open Spotlight. Spotlight is a search function that allows you to locate all saved data on your computer. You can open Spotlight one of two ways:

• Press command+space.
• Click on the magnifying glass at the top-right corner of your screen.

Type in a file name. As you type it into the search bar, Spotlight will autocomplete with the name of a file that matches what you're searching.

Type in text from the file. If you're not sure what a file is called but remember a word or phrase contained in the file itself, you can type that in. A list of the files containing your search term will appear in the results list.

Search for a file by location. In the left-hand sidebar in your Finder, you'll see a list of locations on your computer where files are saved. 

Once again, we apologize for the inconvenience. Thanks for your kind understanding, cooperation and patience. Good luck and stay safe!

Sincerely,

Edwine | Microsoft Community Moderator

Answer 2

Thanks for the reply!

1. May I know if all shared files in Microsoft Teams have the same problem? - No, it happens sporadically during multi-authoring, likely triggered by a conflicting change that it can't recover from, so it will turn off Autosave and then when you try to push for a Save it will just hang and never go through. At which point you end up having to do a Save As to a different file name. But when you try to re-open the co-author doc that others are still using, it still opens a local version that will have the same issues, still showing work you had done that never saved to server. If you try to turn auto-save on this message will appear, but no way to resolve:
2. Do you edit the document via Word application on Mac? If so, could you provide the version of your Word? You can go to Word > About Microsoft Word and provide the screenshot of it. -
3. Are you using Microsoft Teams on your Mac? If you try to use Teams in the browser to edit the shared document, do you see the same issue? This will help understand if the problem is with Teams App itself on your Mac. - This is the critical part - I can be staring at the same file, open twice, once in desktop client and once in Teams App or Word/Teams Online, and they will have different versions of the same file. Teams/Online version will show co-authoring in real time, desktop version will look like everything is fine except changes aren't saving or making it to shared folder.
4. Does the problem happen to only Word files or also Excel files? - I don't co-author enough in Excel to know, it can also happen with PowerPoint as well for sure

Worth noting as well that I don't typically sync Teams files locally, so wherever this file is saving is somewhere I don't know where to access. What I'd like to be able to do is at least know where it is so I can go in and delete the local version, thereby when I re-open from Teams it has no choice but to pull down the latest version from the server - at which point I can manually migrate my work, but at least be back into the same file. Right now I am forced to have everyone move to a V2 because I have no way to get back into the original document in a way that allows me to save my work.

Answer 3

Dear Geoffrey Flynn,

Greetings! Thank you for posting to Microsoft Community.

I carefully went through your question and I request for your cooperation so that we can resolve this situation together.

Before sharing any suggestions with you, please provide the information below to help us provide proper suggestions:

1. May I know if all shared files in Microsoft Teams have the same problem?
2. Do you edit the document via Word application on Mac? If so, could you provide the version of your Word? You can go to Word > About Microsoft Word and provide the screenshot of it.
3. Are you using Microsoft Teams on your Mac? If you try to use Teams in the browser to edit the shared document, do you see the same issue? This will help understand if the problem is with Teams App itself on your Mac.
4. Does the problem happen to only Word files or also Excel files?

Kindly understand that the initial reply may not provide a solution, but we can work together to solve a problem.

Apologies for the inconvenience. Thank you for your cooperation. We look forward to your reply.

Sincerely,

Edwine | Microsoft Community Moderator