Office 2016 Grant Access Error On MacOS

Many MacOS users are receiving the grant access error when trying to open various types of files in Office 2016. The problem usually appears when trying to open files of Word, but some users have also reported the issue with Excel and Powerpoint files.

When dealing with this issue, you will get a pop-up window asking you to provide access privileges when opening a file with an Office 2016 program. If the user selects the file and clicks the button Grant Access, the following error will appear: Word/Excel/Powerpoint cannot open the document: The user does not have access privileges.

It turns out that the grant access error  This is caused by Apple's updated sandboxing rules, which restrict certain actions that are tied to specific locations.

Following the new guidelines, each app that uses custom fonts must ensure that the fonts remain unique to that particular app. Apple is also not allowing apps to install fonts for use within the system.

If the entire system font is modified during the process, it will be considered a security breach and will be replaced the next time it is updated.

However, you should know…

Most third-party utilities have not been fully updated to work with the new sandbox rules and will cause conflicts that macOS considers security violations.

It has been confirmed that third-party font management applications such as Suitcase, Linotype Font Explorer, Extense  o  FontExplorer are the main culprits of the grant access error with the suite Office 2016.

Hereinafter, FontBook is the only font management utility that is specifically designed to work with Apple's new security system.

Note: Some users have reported that reducing the number of fonts in third-party font management applications has made the problem go away. If you have a lot of fonts (more than 1000), try reducing their number. Then, restart your computer and try logging in again.

Solutions to Grant Access Error in Office

Below we show you a set of methods that will make the error disappear. grant access errorIf you have installed an external font management application (other than FontBook), but you do not need it, follow the Method 1 or Method 2.  In case you rely on a third-party font management application, follow the Method 3 o Method 4.

Method 1: Disable fonts from third-party font management apps

Since management applications sources , the FontExplorer X, Universal Type Server, Suitcase or Extense are causing the grant access error, disabling fonts in those apps usually makes the problem go away for good.

If you are using Suitcase Fusion, you can easily solve this problem by clearing the font caches. To do this, open Suitcase Fusion and go to File > Clear Font Caches. Then, restart your system and the Office files should open normally.

Note: This fix only works temporarily. You may need to repeat the procedure from time to time.

If you are using FontExplorer X, Universal Type Server o Extend, you have no choice but to open those apps and disable all the sources. Then, you have to restart your device and try to open the files that were showing the error before. If that is not enough, uninstall the external source manager app and follow the instructions below:

• Access the application Finder, Select Applications and double click on Fontbook, you are going to select where it says All sources in the left panel. Then, you have to choose any Source from the right panel and hold the key Command + A to select them all.
• With all sources selected, access the menu Edit at the top of the windows and click on Find duplicates enabled.
• After this, click on Solve manually and wait for the list to complete. Shortly after that, you will see a window listing the sources that were checked. Then, you need to click on the header All and change it to Warnings and errors.
• Open each source that is listed as duplicate. You should be able to see both versions. Select the older source and tap where it says Delete checked. Do this for all duplicate fonts.

Note: The “Delete Checked” option has been changed to “Resolve Checked” in the latest version and you need to check the fonts you want to keep and not the ones you want to delete.

• Next, you need to go to Archive and select where it says Validate sources. Click on the header All and change it to Warnings and errors.
• If you find any errors (yellow or red), open each one and resolve any duplicates manually as we did in step five. Once you have covered each duplicate, you need to click on Validate sources again and make sure no errors are displayed.
• Close FontBookand open any app affected by the grant access error. If it still shows the error, reboot and open it again.

Method 2: Boot from the recovery partition to reset folder permissions

If the above method has not managed to remove the error in question, you can try booting from the recovery mode and use the utility Bus Terminal to reset folder permissions and ACLs. This method has proven successful for many users who were still struggling with the error after removing the third-party font manager. Here's what you need to do:

• Click on the apple icon in the upper left corner and select  While you MAC it restarts, press and hold Command + R to enter the recovery mode.
• Once you see the window OS X Utilities, access the menu of utilities at the top of the screen and Click on the Terminal window, you must write this command resetpassword and press the key.
• Shortly after this, you will see the Reset Password window. Go to Reset home folder permissions and ACLs and click on the button Resetting.
• You may be prompted to enter your password. After you do so, the system will automatically reboot.
• Try opening the Office application you were using before. It should open without the error you've been getting.

Note: The problem will reappear if you decide to install and open a third-party font management app that does not comply with Apple's sandbox rules.

Method 3: Bypass Apple's sandbox requirements

In versions prior to Office 2016, many users tended to store their files in any location. In addition, they used almost any font without any warning or permission requests.

However, this is no longer possible due to new sandbox requirements. Now, people who use VBA with Excel are the most affected, in part because they are constantly asked for permissions to run scripts.

Tip: If the problem is with your computer or a laptop, you should try using Restoro Repair, which has the ability to scan the repositories and replace damaged and missing files.

This is something that works in many cases, especially in those cases where the problem is caused by some system corruption. You can download Restoro by doing click here.

However, the Mac has certain locations that you can safely use to bypass some login prompts. Most of these locations allow VBA users to freely run scripts without any additional user interaction.

Fortunately, you can also use these locations to avoid the error of access grantThe trick is that this location is not readily available, so we will have to take additional steps to make it more accessible.

An example of a secure location that prevents applications Office permission is: / Users / * YourUsername * / Library / Group Containers /UBF8T346G9.Office

You can use this folder to share data between Office programs or with a third-party application, since it has read and write access. Here we will show you a step-by-step guide that you can follow to use this location and avoid the error from appearing:

Note: This guide may work exclusively with Excel files, but hypothetically it can also work well with any of the files available in the Office 2016 suite.

• Open a Finder window and press and hold the Alt key while pressing the tab Ir in the menu bar. Then click on
• Navigate to Group containers and then double click on the folder Office.
• Create a new folder inside the folder Office y assign him the  name you want.
• Next, move all the Office-related files that refuse to open into this secure folder. They should all open without any problems.

Note: For easy access, you can select the folder and press Command + Ctrl + T to automatically add it to Favorites in Finder.

Method 4: Extract Microsoft from the resources folder (temporary)

If your work revolves around using an external font management application, removing it from your system is not an option. Fortunately, some users have been able to fix the problem. granting of permits deleting Microsoft fonts from the resources folder.

However, this solution will only be temporary. When you allow the next Office update, the fonts will be reinstalled in the package and the error will return.

Warning: Some users have reported Word crashes after following this method. If you do not backup the fonts as we will do in the steps below, you will need to reinstall/repair the Office suite if something goes wrong.

Here we show you a step-by-step guide so you can achieve it without any major setbacks:

• Access the Finder app and select Applications. Then right click on the Office application that is displaying the error Grant access and click Show package contentIn this case it is Word, but you can also do it with Excel, Powerpoint or another application. Microsoft Office.
• Go to Content > Resources and look for the Sources folder. You can see it as sources o DFonts. Double click it so it can open.
• Next, create a folder on your desktop. We will use this to protect MS fonts so that we can restore them if this method fails. Use Command + A to select all sources Dfonts and move them to the folder you created earlier.
• Once you have successfully copied the fonts into the new folder, right-click on one of the fonts in Dfonts and then press where it says Move to trash.
• Once the folder Dfonts is empty, open the Office application that was displaying the error Grant access. It should open normally now.

Note: If you still see the error or Word crashes on startup, try again. Content > Resources > DFonts and re-add the fonts from the folder we created earlier.

Method 5: Clear Mac OS font caches via Terminal

Some affected users who have had this problem with  macOS 10.13 High Sierra  or higher have reported that the issue has been resolved after clearing the font caches by using the Terminal. After doing this and restarting your Mac, most affected users reported that the error has been resolved. access grant has stopped happening.

If this scenario is applicable to your particular scenario, here's what you should do:

• Close all applications that are currently open. To do this, press Command + Option + Escape to open the window Force quit application. Then, select each open application and click the button Force exit.

Note: This step is very important. If you don't do it, you will get an error if an application that is using the font caches is currently open.

• Once all applications are closed, press Command + Shift + U to open the folder Utilities and click Bus Terminal to start it.
• Type the following command and press Return to execute it: databases sudo atsutil –remove
• You will be asked to provide your account password, when prompted, do so and press ROI once again to grant the necessary permits.
• When the process is complete, type exit to end your command line session, then go to File > Exit to exit the application Bus Terminal.
• Restart your Macintosh and the problem should be resolved at the next system startup.

We hope that with these simple tips you can solve this annoying error. If you know of another effective method, you can let us know in our comments section. Likewise, you can visit our portal whenever you like. See you in a future post.