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Verifying Word at application launch

Anonymous
2019-10-29T14:46:09+00:00

Split from this thread about general compatibility of Office with Catalina

It is not accurate to say that Office 2016 is compatible with Catalina. Apple blogs report the contrary. My experience is to the contrary. I installed Catalina thinking it was "ready to roll." I have a late 2012 iMac. Apple says Catalina is compatible. I also have fully updated version of Office 2016 on the mac, version 16.16.15. Following the installation of Catalina, the Office apps each detour into a "verifying Word, etc.," when launch is attempted. The verification process takes a long time -- several minutes per application. Sometimes the apps do not launch after 'verification,' and a "Force Quit" must be performed. Other times, they open only after at least two rounds of 'verification.' Other users report the same problem. If you can avoid it, DO NOT install Catalina until Apple reports that "the coast is clear." It is not worth the aggravation. In my case, the workaround is to turn on file sharing in the mac, access documents with a Microsoft Surface laptop, and use those documents in the MICROSOFT version of Office. "PDF" files are another matter. Adobe Acrobat does not work at all in Catalina, so I've opted for PDF Studio Pro, which seems very easy to use, as powerful as Acrobat for what I do and costs less than a third of Acrobat, without a subscription.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2019-10-29T14:55:10+00:00

    Hi again, Mmandig

    Thinking about the "verifying" issue, since this is a problem that did not exist before upgrading to Catalina, it would seem that there is a bug in Catalina that needs to be addressed.

    Could you provide a link to an Apple discussion that you think would be best to refer users in this forum to?

    Since it appears this is a Mac OS bug, my hunch is all Microsoft can do about it is put in a request to Apple to have it fixed.

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  2. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2019-10-29T14:50:11+00:00

    Hi Mmandig,

    I split your reply off for a couple reasons. Your reply discusses a specific issue, not the general case. Your issue deserves its own thread, especially because it is the first report of this problem that I've encountered here in the forum.

    I do agree with you wholeheartedly that Apple did not make it clear that upgrading to Catalina is a major update with major consequences to applications and how your Mac will work. The current release is pretty raw. It will probably be at least a couple versions before all the major kinks are worked out.

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  3. Anonymous
    2019-10-29T12:48:09+00:00

    > ... I have a late 2012iMac.   

    > ...  I installed Catalina (2019)

    Hi.  I don't know your setup, but mine works just fine.

    May I ask when you last did a "Clean Install" of the operating system?

    An Apple Clean install is so easy to do that I highly recommend it whenever there is a new system.   My "guess" from what I read here is that many people update without doing a clean install.

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