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Lion with Word 2011

els76uk
Aspirant

Lion with Word 2011

I bought a new version of Office 2011 earlier today, because, after upgrading to Lion, I was getting an error in Word 2008 reading:

"There has been a network or file permission error. The network connection may be lost"


when trying to save a file to the NAS. Excel worked fine. I thought that Word 2011 would fix the problem; however, it made it worse, as opening any file direct off the NAS just made Word crash instantly. Again, Excel works fine still.

I'm using RAIDiator 4.1.8-T5 [1.00a043] with ReadyNAS Duo [X-RAID] and accessing the files using SMB.

I've given up on Word 2011, and gone back to 2008, but it would be nice to be able to use the most up to date software. I spoke to Microsoft at length, who told me it was a problem with the NAS, as I can open files from other external disks and my own HD.

Anyone know if there's a way to fix this?
Message 1 of 17
els76uk
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

I got this reply from my post on the Microsoft support forum:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2011-macword/word-2011-crashes-on-file-open-fr...

All three vendors [netgear, apple, microsoft] are to blame, and none of them will step up and own this...

The Netgear ReadyNAS is a well-known problem child, but it's not the only one that does this.

The OS X transport layer has changed, and will no longer correctly handle file locking: but from what I can tell, Apple has yet to issue anything on this.

And Microsoft Word has a unique way of "streaming" files to disk that stresses the transport in ways that the other applications don't.


I tried changing to AFP, but when I do that, I can't view any files on my NAS - it's just completely blank.
Message 2 of 17
Chewbacca
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

I was able to open a word file off the nas mounted via SMB with Word 2011

Does it happen with a newly saved file?


Logged in via smb are you logged in as guest or as a user?
Message 3 of 17
els76uk
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

Hi - yes, it happens as soon as I attempt to open any file

I tried logging in both as guest and as a user; neither worked.
Message 4 of 17
Chewbacca
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

Is this a file you created in Word 2008?

I created a file in Word 2011 and was able to save to the has via smb.

I was also able to open it with Word 2001.

Can you try a new file?
Message 5 of 17
els76uk
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

Okay - so I created a new file in Word 2011. First, I tried to save to the server - I got a message saying "the network connection has been lost".

I saved to desktop then dragged to the server; as last time, Word crashes immediately I try to open the file. I can open it fine from the desktop.

Interestingly, when logged in as a guest using smb, microsoft error reporting also crashes; when using CIFS, or when using smb logged in as a user, it doesn't.
Message 6 of 17
els76uk
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

another reply from the microsoft forum, which may help get to the bottom of it in terms of understanding what the problem actually is:

http://answers.microsoft.com/thread/117a90e6-8235-4508-95db-5936746b45fc

Well, I don't work for Microsoft, so I can't tell you what they are planning.

However, I would think that it is very likely that this will not be fixed in this version. Maybe in 2014, but given the size of the change involved, don't hold me to that.

The file streaming protocol that Word uses is very fundamental to the way the product works: you would need a huge re-design to change the file access method.

My understanding is that this was working fine until Apple changed the network layer transport 🙂

If you want to contact Microsoft, use Help>Send Feedback in any of the Office applications. The person who gets that will add your comments to the bug they have open on this.
Message 7 of 17
Chewbacca
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

Im not able to reproduce it here. Do you have the Office 2011 Updates installed? The latest updates should be 14.1.2

I created a new file using Word 2011 and saved it to my NAS via SMB.

I closed out of Word 2011 and went directly to my NAS via SMB and double clicked on the document and Word 2011 opened up with no issue.

I am using Lion 10.7 with a Duo running 4.1.18 T5 I have tried this on 2 different mac's running lion.

Are you trying this to one share? Can you try a new share?
Message 8 of 17
els76uk
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

yes, just to one share.

i tried creating a new share, but when i do that, the folder listing in finder for that new share is totally blank.i tried finding a solution to that, but can't 😞
Message 9 of 17
Chewbacca
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

The new share you created has default access?
Message 10 of 17
els76uk
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

okay, I'm sorry. i wasn't thinking straight; of course the new share is blank, it's a new share! i was thinking of new user.

i created a new share and word 2011 works fine with it, both opening and saving.

But here's a thing: when I drag a file from the finder from my original share onto Word 2011, it doesn't crash. I can't use the file > open dialog box; and I still can't save to the server. (get "there has been a network or file permission error. the network connection may be lost.")
Message 11 of 17
Chewbacca
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

What are the share settings for that share that you are having issues with? Have you tried to use the advanced settings to reset the settings on the files in that share?
Message 12 of 17
alexofindy
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

What is the share name?

There is a serious bug in Word 2011 for Mac such that it will not save to a share whose name contains the string "file" (without the quotes). Thus, Word 2011 for Mac cannot save to a share named "fileserver" or "file" or "myfiles". The error message is exactly the one the OP mentions in the initial post of this thread. The bug only affects Word 2011, it does not affect Excel 2011, Powerpoint 2011, or Word for Mac 2008. It occurs with both SMB and AFP access to shares. It occurs regardless of which Mac OS is being used (to the best of my knowledge). It has nothing to do with the readynas, it will occur using any network file server, including a Windows-based server. The latest patches to Word 2011 from MS do not fix the bug. The bug has nothing to do with permissions.

You can search on the MS Word for Mac forum for my screen name (alexofindy), but there is not much more information there.
Message 13 of 17
els76uk
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

thanks alexofindy, that's really helpful. i'll try renaming the server and see if that fixes it.
Message 14 of 17
els76uk
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

sorted! thank you alexofindy! maybe i should have gone the traditional sysadmin route of giving file servers kooky names, like star wars or loony toons characters, and would never have had this problem in the first place 🙂
Message 15 of 17
ncollingridge
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

Funnily enough I do not have any problem with saving files from Word 2011 to our main share which is named "SharedFiles". The share is hosted on a Mac Mini running MacOSX Server 10.6.8. Furthermore I have not had this problem with any version of Word 2011 or of MacOS X Server.
Message 16 of 17
alexofindy
Aspirant

Re: Lion with Word 2011

Hmmm. Well, I admit that on further testing it looks like my previous post was an oversimplification. The key variable does seem to be the share name, but it's not as simple as the name containing the string "files". I find that "fileserver" (which it the name that gave me problems) and "files" won't work, but "SharedFiles" and "Sharedfiles" work fine (this with SMB). If you feel like "wasting" a bit more time ncollingridge, try creating a share named "fileserver" and see if that works with Word 2011 on your setup.
Message 17 of 17
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