Excel and Word (2016) Hangs When Saving in Long PathNames

allanc

Well-Known Member
Reaction score
385
Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
A client has the following configuration:
Lenovo T530 notebook maybe about 2 years old
Windows 8.1 (preinstalled)
4 Gb RAM
64-Bit
Currently Office 365 is installed and he is using the 2016 versions of Word and Excel, etc.
The 32-bit versions of these programs are installed.
He had the same issue with MS Home and Office 2013 although I don't know if the 32 or 64 bit versions were installed.
He uninstalled the Home and Office 2013 before installing Office 365.

In any case, the symptom is that Word and Excel hang (swirling mouse pointer) whenever he tries to save in certain directories on his hard drive, but other directories do not have this problem.
In Wordpad, I can save a .txt to this directory.
I can use File Explorer to paste files into these directories.
The full path name including the drive letter, directory structure, slashes and actual file name including the suffix of the files that won't save is about 140 characters.
I did some research and from what I have read, the Word and Excel applications themselves do not have a limit on their own but are restricted by the Operating System.
Also, from what I have read, the Operating System limitation seems to be somewhere between ~240 to ~254 depending on what expert wrote the article.
I could not find any reference to a restriction of the pathname when using 32-bit version of Word or Excel compared to the 64-bit version
When I dragged one of the directories with the issue to a shorter pathname I could save Word and Excel documents with no problem.
I have obviously overlooked something but do not know what it is.
All assistance including links to articles are much appreciated.
 
Back
Top