Came across this one yesterday:
"The Office Web App cannot open an Office document in Office 2010 if multiple versions of Office are installed."
Ever had this experience? A Microsoft program that was working just fine stops working all of a sudden. Suddenly what seems like a typical day at the office quickly becomes a cascading debacle. Now, to get things done users have to resort to creativity. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm definitely a fan of creativity but there are times when creativity should be a last resort; not the only resort.
The problem here was with SharePoint Office Web App (OWA). OWA is cool because it allows users to edit Microsoft documents right inside the browser without having to launch the application. It even allows multiple users to work on documents and spreadsheets simultaneously. How cool is that? Collaboration, centralization, integration!
That's all good right - so what's the issue?
Apparently when an older version of certain Microsoft products (say Live Office 2007) and a newer product (say Office 2010) are installed, they share certain DLL files. However, if the older product is installed after the newer product, the older guy imposes its will and overwrites the newer shared file with an older version; causing some features of the newer product to not work properly or not work at all. Bummer!
If you've had a day when your Microsoft products were humming along and suddenly things came to a screeching halt, a possible cause is the DLL overwrite issue.
Running Microsoft Office Diagnostics seems to solve the problem. Here is how to get to Office Diagnostics.
Start > Programs>All Programs > Microsoft Office>Microsoft Office Tools>Microsoft Office Diagnostics>Run Diagnostics
