Word 12.3.6 files not showing up in finder

I have word 12.3.6 and osx 10.11.6.(El Capitan). Files type ".docx", do not show up in the finder, although the they do show up in "recent documents" within office . PDF prints from Office do appear in the finder, but not in "recent documents". How do I resolve this problem for .docx? I tried to upgrade from El Capitan to Sierra

a while ago, and found it didn't work, so I reverted to el capitan. was this maybe an issue?

thanks to anyone with solution? cheers