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Excel spreadsheet and word documents on Mac (Sequoia) open, but sheets appear blank

EmC 0 Reputation points
2025-12-04T11:12:24.52+00:00

Recently updated to macOS Sequoia 15.7.2.

Running Microsoft Excel (and Word) for Mac Version 16.16.27 (201012).

If I open a spreadsheet or document, all I can see are white pages. The data is there, I can click the spacebar and preview the document, I can open in Apple Numbers. Sometimes a Word doc will open, but bits of info will be missing.

Help! I have used Microsoft for years and don't want to change products.

I have ensured these documents are set to open by default in Microsoft Excel or Word. They are not corrupted. It seems to be a mismatch with the OSX update?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For business | MacOS
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  1. Michelle-N 9,260 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator
    2025-12-04T12:53:28.08+00:00

    Hi @EmC

    Thank you for posting your question in Microsoft Q&A. 

    Based on the information you described, I understand that after updating to macOS Sequoia 15.7.2, your Excel spreadsheets and Word documents are opening as blank white pages, even though the data is clearly there.

    To help me analyze this compatibility issue better, could you please answer a few questions?

    -Could you please let me know specifically what Office license you are currently using (e.g., Office 2016, Office 2019, or Microsoft 365 Subscription)? If possible, please take a screenshot of the "About Microsoft Word" window showing the license type and send it to me via Private Message.

    -Could you please try opening these files on Office for the Web?

    -If you are trying to open files stored on OneDrive, please try downloading them to your local hard drive first, and then open the local copy to see if the blank page issue persists.

    Please let me know the results of the tests above.

    Note: Please follow the steps in our documentation to enable e-mail notifications if you want to receive the related email notification for this thread. 

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  2. EmC 0 Reputation points
    2025-12-09T00:37:54.26+00:00

    Just wanted to post a public thank you to Michelle who has been assisting via private message.

    Also, to share for anyone else who may be experiencing this issue, where I ended up:

    1. I upgraded OSX to Sequioa.
    2. Excel and Word document data appeared in preview mode, and data appeared if opened in Mac programs Pages/Numbers, but if opened in Microsoft the pages were blank, or data would appear then get glitchy and disappear.
    3. The next day (after shutting down / restart) Microsoft docs were mostly working ok again (sometimes glitchy, but I was able to access data and add data).
    4. I have been advised that my Microsoft Office 2016 software for mac OSX (purchased 2018) is no longer supported by Microsoft as at October 2025.
    5. Currently, the supported options for my iMac include Office 2021, Office 2024, Microsoft 365 subscription, and the subscription is what has been recommended moving forward.

    Thank you.

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