Solved: Win Office 365, "Something went wrong" error

I bought Office 365 when I bought an HP All-In-One with Windows 8.1 last December. It worked fine until this week when I find if I try to open Excel or Word I get a message...

<Something went wrong
We couldn't start your program.
You can go online to find more help.> ('Go online' is a link)

First I tried to repair via "Programs and Features" Both the "Quick" and "Online" options took me back to the above message.

Next I clicked the link in the "Something went wrong" message.I followed the prompts, "Go to your account page" (a link), then "Install", then "Save file" This sent a file to my Downloads, Clicked the download and after a while I got a new message...

<Couldn't start Office installation. Go online for additional help>

This puts me back into the loop described above.

Any suggestions please? After the above I decided to restore to an earlier date to see if that would do it. Can't Win 8 do a traditional install? I could only find how to "Refresh" the computer and this involved completely reinstalling Windows and says I'd need the disk or memory stick. As I bought it from a store with Win 8 already installed I wasn't given a disk or memory stick, so that's out. Anyhow, I don't need to reinstall Windows; it is fine, I just wanted to restore to an earlier date for which no internet connecting or disks should be required.

Maybe the easiest solution is to uninstall Office completely and download Open Office?

Bill in Oz

 

Thanks Wayne. I am bound to want to do a restore at some time and knowing how will be very useful.

Regarding the MS Office problem, I think I'll call it solved as today I installed Open Office to have a look at it whilst I awaited an answer to my query. I'm very impressed. Will check it out some more before deciding, but I think I'll just dump MS Office and change to Open Office.

Thanks for your help re the Restore question, much appreciated

Cheers, Bill.

 

Hadn't thought I'd need to do that. How do I do it when I can't get into MS Office?

 

Yes that's right, but it didn't occur to me they would just bill me without prior warning. how do I go about cancelling?

 

I don't have anything from them about that. I bought Office from the computer retailer when I bought the computer last December. It lists Office separately to the computer, but no mention of renewing after a period at all, though I do know it involves an annual charge. The invoice does say "422134 Microsoft Save Now FY15 422134" I take "FY15" to mean it covers the full year 2015. Think I'll take the documentation back to the supplier and talk to them about cancelling any future payments. I did pay by credit card, but think it would be breaking privacy laws for them to pass the number on to Microsoft without telling me.

 

Looking on the link you've given me I see "Q: How will I know when to renew my subscription?
A: As the end of your subscription approaches, you&#8217;ll get renewal notices within Office and via email."

So I guess renewal is handled in the usual way. I'm guessing they don't have my credit card details and I would have to act to renew, so no problem likely. I'll talk to the retailer anyway just to be sure.

Thanks for your help on that Wayne; much appreciated.

PS, just went to office.com/myaccount and it says the subscription ends on 11th December and that automatic renewal is "Off". So all good!

 

I have done some testing with people I send copies of excel docs to. I sent them a copy in OO format and another in Excel 97-03 format. They have varying spreadsheet programs and all could open both alternatives, so no problem there.