File upload fails on all products

Question

Excel and Word are not allowing me to save changes. Says Upload Failed. It askes me to sign in but then says I am not connected to the internet and cannot sign in - even though I am. Email is also not allowing me to attach a file.

Answer 1

Hi, I'm John!

This can sometimes happen if Office apps cannot properly reach Microsoft services, even if your internet appears to be working.

For example, things like a network issue, VPN, proxy, firewall, or unstable connection can cause Office to think it is offline.

To help narrow down the issue:

1. Are you able to open websites normally in your browser on that computer?
2. Are you connected to a VPN or company network?
3. Are the files saved to OneDrive/SharePoint, or just to your local PC?
4. If you try saving the file locally (Desktop or Documents), does it work?

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Do you have a VPN enabled? If so, try disabling it temporarily and see if that makes a difference. You can check by going to Settings > Network & Internet > VPN or looking for a VPN app running in the background.

In the meantime, if you haven’t already already:

Forget and reconnect to your Wi-Fi network:

• Go to Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi > Manage known networks.
• Find your current Wi-Fi network and click "Forget" next to it.
• Restart your main router/modem, then reconnect to the Wi-Fi and enter the password again.

Flush the DNS cache:

• Press Start and search for CMD.
• Right-click on Command Prompt and select “Run as administrator”.
• In the Command Prompt, type the following commands one by one, pressing Enter after each and wait:

ipconfig /flushdns

ipconfig /release

ipconfig /renew

netsh winsock reset

• Restart your PC and check if the issue persists.

Enable IPv4:

• Press Windows + R key to open Run dialog.
• Type this and press Enter: ncpa.cpl
• Right-click on your current Wi-Fi connection and select Properties.
• Double click Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)
• Under "Use the following DNS server automatically," use these values: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4
• Click OK to save and restart your PC and connection.

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If the issue persists, please provide more details by answering my questions.

Click "Add comment" below to let me know.

Regards,

John J.D.

Answer 2

The symptoms match OneDrive/Office upload and permission issues combined with a sign‑in problem.

Try these steps in order:

1. Confirm the account used in Office vs OneDrive
   1. In Word or Excel, go to File > Account.
   2. Under User Information, note the email address shown.
   3. Open the OneDrive sync client (cloud icon in the taskbar), and check which account is signed in.
   4. If they are different, select Switch Account in Word/Excel and sign in with the same account that OneDrive uses. This resolves the "UPLOAD BLOCKED"/"Upload Failed" error when the app account has no permission to upload to that OneDrive.
2. Fix "Upload Failed" / "Upload blocked" when saving
   1. If the yellow bar shows Upload Failed or UPLOAD BLOCKED, save a local copy immediately (e.g., File > Save As to Desktop) so no work is lost.
   2. After aligning the account as above, reopen the file from the OneDrive location and save again.
   3. If the file was deleted or moved while being edited, save a copy when prompted. If it was deleted by mistake, restore it from the appropriate recycle bin:
      • SharePoint/Teams library recycle bin: see the guidance in “restore the file from the recycle bin of the site”.
      • OneDrive recycle bin: see the guidance in “restore from the OneDrive where it was deleted from”.
3. Check permissions to the OneDrive/SharePoint location
   1. If saving still fails with a permissions or upload error, the account may only have read‑only access or no upload rights.
   2. For OneDrive for work or school or SharePoint libraries, contact the administrator and ask for Edit permission (or higher). Certain file types (aspx, master, xap, swf, jar, asmx, ascx, xsf, htc) require Add and Customize permission.
4. Resolve the “not connected to the internet” sign‑in prompt
   1. Since the browser and other apps are online but Office says it is offline, sign out and back in:
      • In Word/Excel: File > Account > Sign out for all accounts, then close the app.
      • Reopen Word/Excel, go to File > Account > Sign in, and sign in with the correct work/school or personal account that owns the subscription and OneDrive.
   2. If OneDrive sync client is also having trouble, clear old credentials as described in the OneDrive upload‑blocked article (for example, deleting PreSignInSettingsConfig.json on Windows or the “OneDrive Cached Credential” in Keychain on Mac), then restart OneDrive and sign in again.
5. Email cannot attach files
   1. If email is Outlook and the issue occurs when attaching directly from OneDrive/Office, it is usually the same account/permission problem.
   2. After fixing the Office/OneDrive sign‑in and permissions, try again:
      • Save the document successfully to OneDrive or a local folder.
      • In Outlook, attach the file from that location.
6. If the problem persists
   1. Repair or reinstall OneDrive as described in the OneDrive troubleshooting article; this does not delete files from the cloud.
   2. If using OneDrive for work or school, verify with the admin that the account is active and licensed, and that OneDrive is enabled.

These steps address:

• Upload failures caused by conflicting or incorrect accounts between Office apps and OneDrive.
• Permission issues that block uploads.
• Files that were deleted or moved while being edited.

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References:

• "UPLOAD BLOCKED" error when you save OneDrive-synced files in Microsoft 365 apps
• Permissions needed to upload files in OneDrive for work or school
• Fix problems uploading files on the OneDrive website
• Troubleshoot common coauthoring errors
• I got an "Upload failed" or "Couldn't save automatically" error while editing an Office file