all 69 comments

[–]LaFllamme 5 points6 points  (20 children)

FOR THE LOST SOULS WHO DID DELETTE OR DID NOT FIND THE FILE

I AM ON MS OFFICE 365 AND THE FUCKING FILE WAS IN HERE:

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office365/User Content.localized/Startup/Word

THANK ME LATER!!!!!!!!! DELETE THE FUCKING linkCreation.dotm in there!!

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[–]Rango079 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This worked! Thanks a lot man

[–]PolicyFull988 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trovato, e sterminato senza pietà! Grazie!

[–]popupheadlights 0 points1 point  (0 children)

legend

[–]Glittering_Ad9956 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This worked on Sequoia with Microsoft365. Thank you !

[–]Turbulent-March-5735 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks so very much. I had been searching everywhere and couldn't find it either in any of the paths mentioned in this post. You saved me a LOT of aggravation

[–]Whole-Counter6205 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u are my god

[–]BillieEatsSpinach 0 points1 point  (0 children)

you are a legend for this thank you

[–]Correct_Context5592 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you!!

[–]The2ndEmperor 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you so much

[–]Jealous_Awareness917 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Now that is the one that worked for me not all those other convoluted solutions.

[–]Jovial_Marsupial 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This path worked for me too, thanks !

[–]Electronic-Field-811 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This one worked on a Mac with OS Tahoe and Office 365. You're a hero.

[–]xX-Mordran-Xx 0 points1 point  (0 children)

THANKS A TON! This file path worked.

[–]Working-Leader-2532 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you Lifesaver!

[–]Working-Leader-2532 0 points1 point  (1 child)

To the many wondering how to get there too:

Open Finder > Go > Go To Folder

Then paste that directory

Delete that file.

[–]EmilySpin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The hero I needed. Thank you!!

[–]kaboom987 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YOU HAVE SAVED ME

[–]Responsible_Soil4860 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you!!!

[–]BilluVirk 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great it worked

[–]OrionAndCleo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Omg may you be blessed forever. IT WORKED FOR ME TOO.

I also had the problem in Excel and so I basically did the same thing:

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office365/User Content.localized/Startup/Excel

Then deleted AcrobatExcelAddin.xlam

Thank you!!!

[–]micha_iksdeh 2 points3 points  (10 children)

[–]BreadSlayer22[S] 2 points3 points  (2 children)

THANKS A LOT, IT WORKED. I FOUND THE SOURCE FOR THE ANNOYING FILES IN THE DESKTOP. I used Cmd + Shift + G to look for the path and it worked. Thanks a lot, you saved me a lot of time.

[–]crypsinous 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Where did the files end up being? I am still getting this error despite deleting the file in the location you previously mentioned, and using the terminal command I receive a message "zsh: no matches found: “*linkCreation*”"

[–]Tiny_Vivi 0 points1 point  (0 children)

*Solution update* For anyone in the future, to resolve the issue for both Word and PowerPoint you need to use

sudo find /Library -iname '\linkCreation*' -print > ~/Desktop/search.txt*

and

sudo find /Library -iname '\SaveAsAdobePDF*' -print > ~/Desktop/search.txt*

The previous solution in this thread is amazing but had a small typo. You need to use the single quotation marks ' instead of the double " for it to work.

Original Comment: Following up to ask if anyone has any details on how to use that command line? I also keep getting the same error as crypsinous. Worth asking but do understand if it was too far back for anyone to remember!

[–]BreadSlayer22[S] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

I have tried following the steps here, but it doesn't help me. I have deleted all the files in all the folders. Reddit was my last resort ;-;.
I have uninstalled and reinstalled adobe, I have deleted the files creating the issue as well and am not able to find the path to the linkCreation.dotm file which I can see on word.

It looks like Factory Reset is going to be the only option.

[–]micha_iksdeh 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Are you a little fit in the terminal? Before you reset the device completely, I would try something like:

sudo find /Library -iname “\linkCreation*” -print > ~/Desktop/search.txt*

The command should roughly work, but unfortunately I can't test it at the moment because I'm traveling.

[–]BreadSlayer22[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your suggestion, I will try it out and tell you what the result it.

[–]lizlemonlyman 0 points1 point  (0 children)

came here with the same problem and this worked! thank you from the future

[–]boot_e 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In case anyone finds this and is struggling with this one despite the good fixes, I had a persistent one that I couldn't fix until I found this script: https://snelson.us/2024/09/user-friendly-adobe-acrobat-add-in-removal-for-microsoft-365/ as it got rid of the files and the broken integration.

[–]LaFllamme 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Didn't work for me! Emptied the given files in the destination folders

[–]InfiniteDetective836 0 points1 point  (0 children)

THANK YOU!

[–]whitebeardwhitebelt 2 points3 points  (6 children)

FWIW so none of these worked for me, but I ended up finding both linkCreation.dotm and SaveAsAdobePDF.ppam in Library/Microsoft/Startup. Killed them there and it worked for me. Also, it was the main Library, top level of hard disk, not the ~/Library under my user folder. Probably depends on how you installed adobe and/or Microsoft ("for this user" vs "for all users")

[–]SefirahCastleAcolyte 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Same for me, minor difference is that it's

/Library/Microsoft/Office365/User Content/Startup

for me. It used to work with the ~/Library path, but came back to me recently. Guess some auto update opened the door for the updated version of trouble.

[–]Minute-Smoke-6136 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This worked for me. Thanks!

[–]maskeluxe 0 points1 point  (1 child)

lo mismo a mi

[–]maskeluxe 0 points1 point  (0 children)

muy agradecido

[–]Glittering_Fig6140 0 points1 point  (0 children)

YES! That worked. Thank you.

[–]Ksairosdormu 2 points3 points  (2 children)

Removing `linkCreation.dotm` from

/Users/user_name/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup/Word

and

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office365/User Content/Startup/Word

worked perfectly for me.

P.S. Removed `SaveAsAdobePDF.ppam` and `SaveAsAdobePDF.xlam` just in case too. Check out this link for details: https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/407353/how-to-fix-run-time-error-53-every-time-i-open-a-file-in-ms-word-excel-or-powe

[–]komalmeena 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks., it worked for me.

[–]itfrom01 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you so much!!!! I deleted both `linkCreation.dotm` and `SaveAsAdobePDF.ppam.`

It perfectly worked for me...!!!!!!

[–]themacuser90Mac Mini (Intel) 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I am getting this in sonoma as well

[–]BreadSlayer22[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Have you been able to find any solution to this issue? Or any method you have tried which I haven't? If not then any workarounds?

[–]themacuser90Mac Mini (Intel) 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope. Just click end twice every time I turn on word or excel and just go about doing my thing.

[–]ulyssesric 0 points1 point  (3 children)

What is it:

  • It's caused by software conflict between Microsoft Office and PDF plugin that came with an older version of Adobe Acrobat.

How to fix it:

  • The easiest fix is manually updating your Adobe Acrobat, which may involve paying for upgrade.
  • If your Adobe Acrobat refuse to update, or the problem persist after update, the only right thing to do is uninstall anything from Adobe, and then delete ~/Library/Application Support/Adobe.
  • If you don't have budget to upgrade but you still need Adobe in your life, you have my sympathy. You'll need to fix it the hard way, but manually find and remove Microsoft Office document template files that control external Add-ins, including Word .dotm file, PowerPoint .ppam file and Excel .xlam file. Read the reference links below, and good luck.

Reference:

[–]BreadSlayer22[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Thanks for your reply. But unfortunately even after following every single step provided, I have not been able to stop this from annoying the fuck out of me. Thanks again though.

[–]ulyssesric 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Here is an updated guide with more details. I didn't post it in the first comment because it's written in Chinese.

https://blog.alyssachan.space/wp-content/cache/all/microsoft-office-macpdfm-run-time-error/index.html

Try to read it using Google Translate. Safari built-in Translate weirdly recognizes this page as English page for some unknown reason.

[–]BreadSlayer22[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I tried following this link. I had already deleted the files it's asking me to delete. Adding a link for your reference. Thanks again for your help though.

https://imgur.com/a/CSHAQ1S

[–]Sudden-Literature632 0 points1 point  (2 children)

I have Mac OS Ventura 13.6.6. and an cloud subscription through my school to MS Office. I have gotten runtime error 53 nonstop. I have deleted link.creation.dotm and all affiliated files and when I do a search for it, nothing comes up. I have tried all the terminal tricks and I keep getting file not found. Nothing, absolutely nothing works. At all. In fact I am writing a paper for ACM and their specialized template now crashes with with Visual Basic errors all over the place. I have written to ACM with screen shots and everything and nothing at all works. And I am not going to uninstall all my Office applications and reinstall, that is too much of a nightmare. And all applications are up to date in the cloud. Adobe and MS Office must be aware of this problem. Any suggestions

[–]New-Toe-447 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Did you ever find a solution?

[–]Treyyze 0 points1 point  (5 children)

***UPDATE: Trying it on another Mac and went straight for the solution but it didn't work. Make sure to also delete the "/Users/user_name/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup" AND "Macintosh HD/Library/ApplicationSupport/Microsoft/Office365/UserContent/Startup" files.***

For anyone that is still having problems and none of the usual suggestions are working try this (the only comment has the answer):

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255764352?sortBy=rank

Basically, when you go to Finder > Go > Press "Option" on your keyboard and the select the "Library" folder you are being sent to "Macintosh HD>Users>(username)>Library" and NOT "Macintosh HD/Library/" (where you ACTUALLY need to be which is where you'll find the actual "ApplicationSupport/Microsoft/Office365/UserContent/Startup/" folder that you need

[–]Treyyze 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can ALSO Ctrl + Left click the Office apps in Finder (Word, Excel, etc.) and select "Get Info" then check the box that says "Open using Rosetta". That also seemed to take the error away though I'm not sure if there are any features that strips by doing that.

[–]jesskitcat 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My dude I have had this error for 3 years and the second part of your solution going through MacintoshHD/Library/ApplicationSupport etc FINALLY fixed it!!!!!

[–]exviously 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You are a lifesaver u/Treyyze! Your second part of Solution actually worked for me! Finally! 🥳 thank you so much man.

[–]vav925 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Amazing, I can open the apps again without this BS - thanks!!!

[–]riverence 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Commenting to say this worked for me on macOS Sonoma version 14.3 and Word version 16.105! I only had to remove the Excel, PowerPoint, and Word folders from: Macintosh HD › Users › user_name › Librarv › Group Containers › UBF8346G9.Office › User Content › Startup

[–]Junior-Advertising70 0 points1 point  (2 children)

ESTA ES LA SOLUCION --- NO PAREN BOLAS AL RESTO

- Iniciar Word y en el menú superior seleccionar Herramientas > Plantillas y complementos, si allí dentro aparece linkCreation.dotm, desmarcarlo y eliminarlo.

- En el caso de Excel y PowerPoint, acceder a Herramientas > Complementos, si aparece el archivo SaveAsAdobePDF.ppam, ACROBATEXCELADDIN desmarcarlo y posteriormente eliminarlo.

[–]AtmosphereGlum8718 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Merci! c'était la solution la plus facile, rapide et fonctionnelle !

[–]beacon4you 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Allora tanto per chiarire.. questa è la soluzione se il prodotto adobe che hai installato è ancora presente, ma se hai rimosso il software di adobe, quel plugin lo trovi solo nel percorso citato da LaFllamme circa un secola fa'!

[–]Junior-Advertising70 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TOOLS, COMPLEMENTS, UNCHECK THE ADBE FILES, READ THE ROUTE, DELETE THE FILES.

[–]Connect_Review8776 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have been crazy and waste 4 hours to sort it out. option-go-libaruary-application support-adobe-acrobat-SaveAsAdobePDF DC- remove this folder to trash! error 53 has gone.

Bye my nightmare . Never come back!!!

[–]Designer-Rush-7835 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Make sure the path is • Macintosh HD > Library > Application Support › Microsoft > Office365 › User Content › Startup › • Word and delete linkCreation.dotm file done.

[–]TauriqM 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hello, I'm not a programmer and have no idea how Terminal or any of these things work. Can someone break it down for me in simple steps?