MACOS: There was a problem with Microsoft Excel and we apologize for the inconvenience. Microsoft Excel will attempt to recover your work.

Melanie Leon 0 Reputation points
2025-10-23T03:43:40.9166667+00:00

Excel has been throwing this message for months. The app opens for a second, throws this message, and then crashes once I click OK. There's no opportunity to use any of the tabs at the top of Excel. It does this when I'm trying to open a document and also when I'm just simply trying to start Excel. So, it's not document-related.

I'm on MacOS Sequoia version 15.6.1

Help would be appreciated. I've

  • Tried closing all third-party apps that might be affecting Excel.
  • Turned off OneDrive to see if there was a sync error, but it didn't help.
  • Restarted my computer
  • Deleted the Excel app and re-downloaded it from the App store.

Screenshot 2025-10-22 at 9.25.10 pm

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | MacOS

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  1. Diana Mariz 11,390 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-10-23T04:43:29.1766667+00:00

    Hello Melanie,

    Please uninstall again Excel then I'll guide you on how to proceed with deleting Excel components.

    Go to hidden library by going to "go menubar" > press and hold "option" key to show library > go to containers > look for microsoft Excel folder and delete it.

    Once done, use this version of office to download and install, note once installed, it will ask for the update but do not update it yet, just check first if you can open Excel successfully, if yes, then you now proceed with updating it: https://officecdn.microsoft.com/pr/C1297A47-86C4-4C1F-97FA-950631F94777/MacAutoupdate/Microsoft_365_and_Office_16.101.25091314_Installer.pkg

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  2. Diana Mariz 11,390 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-10-24T15:09:02.04+00:00

    Hi Melanie,

    Thank you for your update, it might be that there are corrupted office components that still overrides to the newly installed office, with that said, please follow the steps on this link: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/uninstall-office-for-mac-eefa1199-5b58-43af-8a3d-b73dc1a8cae3 that will guide you on how to not just uninstall but also remove all the office components for a fresh office install.

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