MacOS15 / Sequoia - problems with Microsoft files

I find a way to solve definitely.

The problem is related to Launch Service database corruption managed by lsregister

I followed some old instructions found by google search for Sierra that works also on Sequoia

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain u -domain s -domain l -v

Also you can try to delete the quicklook cache with this command within the terminal: 

qlmanage -r

After executing those commands I lost some icons and the screen background, but after a restart everything has been restored, XLS and DOCX files are now correctly associated and quicklook works perfectly.

Have a nice day ;)

I only open Word documents in a current release of Microsoft Office, LibreOffice, or Pages. The latter only opens them read-only so not a threat. I don't let Canva, Viber, Skype, or any other application not specifically designed to touch Word documents corrupt them. I have no issue opening a wide range of Word .docx documents in macOS Sequoia (released) in any application designed to open them including Word v16.89.1.

As I have mentioned to others, it sounds to me as though the Launch Services database is messed up which is what determines the application to open a document based on its extension. I would pick one of those Word .docx documents and perform a Finder Get Info on it. On that panel, choose MS Word in the Open With section, and then click through the Change All… button. That part is key.

Next, to be on the safe side, I would open that .docx in the current version of LibreOffice Writer and then resave it as a Word 2010 - 365 .docx document. Wait until the next paragraph before attempting to open that updated .docx. Note: On that LO download page, they offer both macOS (Intel) or macOS (Apple (Silicon). I use the latter on my M2 Mini Pro.

Next, boot into Safe Boot mode which will automatically clear caches and rebuild the Launch Services database. Then reboot normally. When you next right-click on a Word .docx document in the Finder, the top choice should be MS Word, Pages, or LibreOffice depending on what you have installed.

The workaround that worked for me, go to the file with *.docx extension and "right click" to select "Get Info".

From the "Get Info" screen, go to where it says "Open With:", make sure you select "Microsoft Word" and then select "Change All...". This will associate all "*.docx" files back to "Microsoft Word", and no more issues when clicking from the Finder window.

Similarly, do the same for *.xlsx extensions and Microsoft Excel.

Hope this helps everyone. Apple and MS still need to provide an update that fixes this by default on the next update.

This action actually worked for all my Microsoft products. As stated above - highlight a MS word file - go to file - "get info" - open with - click the down arrow where you see MS Word in the box- change to "other" - then select MS Word from the list - then click the "Change All" - you will see this message -

"Are you sure you want to change all your Microsoft Word documents to open with the application “Microsoft Word”?

Click Continue. Then you are done. This should fix all your MS word doc, except in the recent or pinned list for Word, Excel or Power Point.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Everything is back in order for me after:

• update to Sequoia 15.0.1
• deleting all old apps on the Mac which were not anymore compatible/updatable (but kept over the various updates of the OS)
• updating my connected mobile phones to iOS 18.0.1
• deleting some Apps on the phones I was not using (old/not updatable or also like Skype and some other social networks not useful).
• using Onyx tool on the MAC to clean the caches and launch services. I had to do it several times to get back first the icons for the docx Word files and its Preview and, after another Onyx session, I got back the xlsx Excel icons and preview.

finally ! (at least for the Office tools, I still need to check if there are not other side effects).

:-)

same issues and was unable to export .doc files to .pdf. ElCaptain's workaround appears to have fixed my issues.

The workaround that worked for me, go to the file with *.docx extension and "right click" to select "Get Info".

From the "Get Info" screen, go to where it says "Open With:", make sure you select "Microsoft Word" and then select "Change All...". This will associate all "*.docx" files back to "Microsoft Word", and no more issues when clicking from the Finder window.

Similarly, do the same for *.xlsx extensions and Microsoft Excel.

Hope this helps everyone. Apple and MS still need to provide an update that fixes this by default on the next update.

I had previously reported that I managed to resolve the problems with Microsoft 365 by making various tweaks on in Settings. Everything worked - albeit I have found both my Macbook Pro M3 Max and my i9 Macbook Pro had been a bit slow to boot, or load things since the upgrade to Sequoia.

I have just seen an update 15.01 from Apple and I have now applied to the i9. I can confirm that my Word can open docx files without throwing a tantrum. Excel can open xlsx files.

Pdfs are opening fine.

And my Word doc can be saved as pdfs.

Now I have to update my M3 Max...please, please, please work!

I can't tell from this long thread if there's a consensus as to how to fix the problem. In my case, I was fine until i loaded 15.0.1 and then all these issues arose. I've reinstalled Word with a different 365 account, still fails.

But I can open everything just fine in a different User account (at least so far, knock on wood), so it doesn't seem to be a problem inherent in the app or Sequoia, no?

I've just about finished setting up the new user account to emulate what I had got used to in the original account, although it was a royal pain. But I would love to be able to go back.

So if someone could tell me what is actually working, I would appreciate it. Thanks!

Having boot into safe mode as suggested on both my M3 Max and the i9, Word now seems to work as suggested.

When you look in Finder, and you look at Kind, it doesn’t say Word doc or docx (the latter didn’t open) but now says Office Strict Open XML word processing document.

whatever that means?

> In my case, I updated to macOS 15.0 and the 3 Microsoft Office apps disappeared from the Applications folder.

...

• TActually, they disappeared on my MacBookPro M1 but they did not disappear on my iMac (Intel processor) although both are now on MacOS 15.0.
• I went to the Microsoft 365 subscription page using my MacBook Pro, downloaded and installed the apps.
• The problem is solved

I have the same problem, affects Word and Excel files but not PowerPoint. You can force them to open by right-clicking and them choosing "open with -> other". You will have to select "all apps" in the pop-up, also, tick the "always open with" check box.

Icons still remain generic, and previewing the document (with space bar) doesn't work, so still annoying.

Apple and/or MS, please fix

Thank you to VikingOSX.

I followed the suggestion of booting into safe mode then going into Get Info to get it to open a .docx file. Then rebooted the MBP i9 and now it seems to allow me to open the file from Finder or within Open in the Word app.

I don’t know if it is coincidence or actually fixed it, but Word does seem to be able to open the docx.

However the files do not have a little image on the thumbnail icon.

At least I’m another step forward.

I only have Word 16.89. I am not sure how to move to 16.89.1

Reinstalling the MacOs as described within the following link solved my issue: How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

I had the issue on Monterey in the past. A simple reboot should fix the issue.

I am having the same problem.

At the moment, the only workaround I've found is by opening the documents from Microsoft Word, while setting the open mode to "Recover Text".

My document opens properly, but this is the only way I've found to open any DOCX in Word.