cannot save files after installing office 2024

Hi, Tammy Ip

Welcome to Microsoft Q&A forum.

Sorry for this frustrating experience regarding your Office being unable to save. Here are some workarounds you can try to resolve the issue:

Fix activation/read‑only mode (common right after install)

Office for Mac enters view‑only mode when not activated, which blocks saves and “Save As”.

• Open Word ▸ Help ▸ Sign In (or Word ▸ Activate Office).
• Sign in with the account that owns Office 2024 (the exact email used to redeem the product key).
• After sign‑in, go to Word ▸ About Word → confirm licensed (not “unlicensed product”).
• Restart the app (quit Word/Excel/PowerPoint with ⌘Q, then reopen).
• Try saving again to Desktop. If activation fails or shows the wrong account, we can clean credentials:
  • Quit all Office apps.
  • Open Keychain Access → search for “Office”, “ADAL”, “Accounts” → right‑click and Delete those items.
  • Reopen Word → sign in again → activate.

Grant macOS permissions to Office apps and remove “read‑only” blocks

macOS can silently block file writes until you allow “Files and Folders” or Full Disk Access.

• System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Files and Folders
  • Ensure Word, Excel, PowerPoint each have access toggled On.
• System Settings ▸ Privacy & Security ▸ Full Disk Access
  • Temporarily add Word, Excel, PowerPoint (click + and select from Applications).
  • Re‑try saving. If it works, you can remove FDA later; keep Files & Folders on.
• Check the destination folder:
  • Right‑click the folder (e.g., Documents) ▸ Get Info ▸ Sharing & Permissions
  • Your user should be Read & Write. If not, click the lock → authenticate → set Read & Write.
• Clear app sandbox permissions (harmless reset):
  • System Settings ▸ General ▸ Storage ▸ Applications → remove any duplicate Office entries; or simply reboot the Mac once to refresh TCC permissions.

If the issue is with OneDrive or iCloud Drive

Cloud folders can block saves due to sync state, name restrictions, or “file is open elsewhere”.

OneDrive

• Pause OneDrive (OneDrive cloud icon ▸ Pause syncing 2 hours) → save locally to Desktop.
  • If this works, resume sync and Move the file into OneDrive after saving.
• In OneDrive Settings ▸ Sync and Backup:
  • Turn Off “Use Office apps to sync Office files that I open” (co‑authoring) temporarily.
  • Ensure your OneDrive path isn’t in Personal Vault or a read‑only location.
• Validate file/folder names:
  • Avoid characters like * : < > ? / \ | " # % and trailing spaces/periods.
• If OneDrive shows “item has same name” or “file in use”:
  • Quit the Office app fully (⌘Q), wait 10 seconds, then try again.
  • Rename the file slightly (e.g., add -v2) and save.

iCloud Drive

• System Settings ▸ Apple ID ▸ iCloud ▸ iCloud Drive → ensure enabled.
• If “Desktop & Documents” syncing is on, try saving to /Users//Downloads or Desktop first; then move the file into an iCloud folder once stable.

Repair the Office install & update

Fresh installations sometimes need the Microsoft AutoUpdate pass.

• Open Word → Help ▸ Check for Updates (Microsoft AutoUpdate).
• Set Advanced ▸ Include Insider builds Off; install all available updates.
• If updates don’t resolve it:
  • Quit Office apps.
  • Finder ▸ Applications → launch Microsoft Office License Removal (if present) to reset licensing, then reopen Word and activate again.
  • Or cleanly reinstall: drag Word/Excel/PowerPoint to Trash, empty Trash, reboot, reinstall Office 2024 from your original installer or Microsoft account page, then activate.

Still blocked? Try a clean profile and safe mode checks

• Create a new macOS user (System Settings ▸ Users & Groups ▸ Add User). Log into it and try saving in Word/Excel.
  • If saving works there, the issue is in your original profile’s permissions or keychain—we can focus on cleaning those.
• Safe Mode: Restart while holding Shift, log in, open Word, save to Desktop.
  • If it works in Safe Mode, some third‑party utility is interfering (antivirus, “file guard”, backup agent).

Hope this helps. Feel free to get back if you need further assistance.

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Hi Tammy Ip,

Thanks for reaching out. This issue can happen after installing Office 2024 on macOS, especially on newer systems.

First, check if Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have Full Disk Access. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Full Disk Access, then add each Office app if they’re not already listed.

Second, try clearing the Office cache. In Finder, press Command + Shift + G, type ~/Library/Containers, and press Enter. Open folders like com.microsoft.Word, com.microsoft.Excel, and com.microsoft.Powerpoint, then go to Data > Library > Caches and delete the contents.

Third, make sure both macOS and Office 2024 are fully updated, as recent patches have addressed save-related issues.

Lastly, if you're trying to save to OneDrive or iCloud, try saving locally to your Documents or Desktop folder instead, as cloud sync issues can sometimes block saving.

Just to clarify are you seeing any error messages when trying to save? That could help narrow things down further.

If this helps, please mark the answer as accepted so others can find it too.

Best,
Carl

Hi Tammy Ip

It has been a while and I am writing to see how things are going with this issue.

Have you had a chance to check the replies provided?

Any update would be appreciated.