MacOS - Office Run-time error: "53"

The error below sometimes can occur in rare cases when opening a Microsoft Office program for MacOS on an Apple computer. Usually when this occurs user reports having to force-close the program. 

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Should this occur, here are the steps that can be taken to resolve it:

  • Open up a Finder window, then from the top bar, select Go > Go to Folder.


     
  • Enter in ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office and then double-click the first result to open the folder.


     
  • Make sure you are able to temporarily see hidden files by toggling the setting to view them. You can do this by pressing Shift + ⌘ Command + . (period key). You should see a folder called User Content that you will want to open next.
    ** It's possible that the folder could be named something like User Content.localized, etc, but it should be very close in name.


     
  • From within the User Content folder, navigate to the Startup folder, then Word (or Excel, etc).
  • In the folder there should be some files with names similar to linkCreation.dotm. Delete any of these files.
  • Toggle hidden files off with Shift + ⌘ Command + . (period key) and close the Finder window.
  • Try to open up the Office program that was giving you the error previously and see if it is now functioning correctly.

Details

Article ID: 153476
Created
Mon 1/30/23 9:15 AM
Modified
Mon 1/30/23 9:15 AM