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Run-Time Error when opening Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel on Mac.

Run-Time Error when opening Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel on Mac.

 

There is a known bug with some now outdated Adobe Acrobat 2020 software that is impacting Word, Excel and PowerPoint files. This bug is an add-in within Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

 

The Error might look something like this upon opening Word, Excel or PowerPoint Application:

Run-time error '53' file not found

Here are the steps to resolve the issue:

 

Microsoft Word Steps:

  1. Be sure all Office applications are closed.

  2. Go to /Users/your-user-name-here/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup/Word or as seen below,

image-20260504-195525.png
image-20260504-195607.png

 

  1. If the Library folder is initially hidden, press the “Command” + “Shift” + “.” (period) keys at the same time to display it.

    • The name UBF8T346G9.Office may vary, but should end in ".Office".

  2. Remove linkCreation.dotm

  3. Restart Word and problem solved

 

Microsoft PowerPoint/Excel Steps:

Unfortunately that does not solve the problem for PowerPoint or Excel because if you remove SaveAsAdobePDF.ppam inside the PowerPoint folder or the SaveAsAdobePDF.xlam inside the Excel folder will trigger another error on application launch.

  1. Remove the SaveAsAdobePDF.ppam and SaveAsAdobePDF.xlam from the PowerPoint and Excel folders next to the Word folder.

  2. Launch Excel and PowerPoint and go to the menu Tools -> Excel Add-ins... and Tools -> PowerPoint Add-ins..., respectively, and remove the Save as Adobe PDF add-in, by unchecking it and removing it with the "-" button and then click OK.

  3. Restart Excel and PowerPoint and the problem should go away. If not, try several times to remove those options from the Tools menu until the problem goes away. I had to repeat this procedure in PowerPoint until this got fixed.

If the steps above don't completely fix the issue, you can try removing two additional files:

  1. Go to Macintosh HD/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office365/User Content/Startup.

image-20260504-195853.png

 

If the folder doesn't exist, you can't proceed with this solution.

  1. In the Powerpoint folder, remove the file called SaveAsAdobePDF.ppam and, in the Word folder, delete the file called linkCreation.dotm