Unable to connect to Microsoft Office Online

Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the pointer. Unfortunately that didn't have any affect. I tried
turning off all my firewalls, virus checkers etc and still couldn't get any
further.

Cheers

"Gordon" wrote:

> "aurion" <aurion@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:6AF84142-8288-47F2-BD8B-CA05BB3DEC12@microsoft.com...
> >I am using Vista Version 6.
>
> It would be difficult to have ny other version of Vista!
>
>
> > My system originally had Office 2003 installed. I
> > recently upgraded to Office 2007. Whenever I try to create a new document
> > (Word) or workbook (Excel) etc. I receive the message "Unable to connect
> > to
> > Microsoft Office Online". Retrying doesn't work.
> > I can access the Microsoft Office Online website through the internet and
> > that's fine. Does anyone have a clue what might be going on? The system is
> > running the Symantec Antivirus solution - I don't know if there are
> > settings
> > that may be causing the error. Googling this problem has been less than
> > helpful.
> > Thanks for your help in advance.
>
> Try disabling Symantec and see if that cures the problem...
>
>
>
>

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your suggestion.

I checked the Blue Question mark and it shows "Connected to Office Online".
I clicked on this and it shows a check-mark against the words "Show Content
From Office Online". So I think that the system SHOULD be able to access the
Templates etc, because it certainly brings up all of the Help options.

I also had a look at the Trust settings and all of the options were checked
as being on.

So sadly, I'm no further forward.

Best regards...

"Bob Buckland ?" wrote:

> Hi Aurion,
>
> In Word 2007 if you click on the blue help question mark and look at the bottom right hand corner of help does it say 'Offline'? If
> so, click the 'Offline' choice and select 'Show content from Office Online' to see if that helps.
>
> The setting is also changeable from Word (or other ribboned app) Trust Center Options (Alt T, O,)
> Office Button=>Word Options=>Trust Center=>Trust Center Settings=>Privacy Options.
>
> =============
> >>"aurion" <aurion@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B5AAAC52-21BC-48F4-BA05-19522881DD17@microsoft.com...
> Hi Gordon,
>
> Thanks for the pointer. Unfortunately that didn't have any affect. I tried
> turning off all my firewalls, virus checkers etc and still couldn't get any
> further.
>
> Cheers <<
> --
>
> Bob Buckland ?
> MS Office System Products MVP
>
> *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
>
>
>

Hi Aurion,

In Word 2007 if you click on the blue help question mark and look at the bottom right hand corner of help does it say 'Offline'? If
so, click the 'Offline' choice and select 'Show content from Office Online' to see if that helps.

The setting is also changeable from Word (or other ribboned app) Trust Center Options (Alt T, O,)
Office Button=>Word Options=>Trust Center=>Trust Center Settings=>Privacy Options.

=============
>>"aurion" <aurion@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B5AAAC52-21BC-48F4-BA05-19522881DD17@microsoft.com...
Hi Gordon,

Thanks for the pointer. Unfortunately that didn't have any affect. I tried
turning off all my firewalls, virus checkers etc and still couldn't get any
further.

Cheers <<
--

Bob Buckland ?
MS Office System Products MVP

*Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*

Hi Bob,

Thanks for your suggestion.

I checked the Blue Question mark and it shows "Connected to Office Online".
I clicked on this and it shows a check-mark against the words "Show Content
From Office Online". So I think that the system SHOULD be able to access the
Templates etc, because it certainly brings up all of the Help options.

I also had a look at the Trust settings and all of the options were checked
as being on.

So sadly, I'm no further forward.

Best regards...

"Bob Buckland ?" wrote:

> Hi Aurion,
>
> In Word 2007 if you click on the blue help question mark and look at the bottom right hand corner of help does it say 'Offline'? If
> so, click the 'Offline' choice and select 'Show content from Office Online' to see if that helps.
>
> The setting is also changeable from Word (or other ribboned app) Trust Center Options (Alt T, O,)
> Office Button=>Word Options=>Trust Center=>Trust Center Settings=>Privacy Options.
>
> =============
> >>"aurion" <aurion@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:B5AAAC52-21BC-48F4-BA05-19522881DD17@microsoft.com...
> Hi Gordon,
>
> Thanks for the pointer. Unfortunately that didn't have any affect. I tried
> turning off all my firewalls, virus checkers etc and still couldn't get any
> further.
>
> Cheers <<
> --
>
> Bob Buckland ?
> MS Office System Products MVP
>
> *Courtesy is not expensive and can pay big dividends*
>
>
>

I can't believe we can't find a fix for this. I posted two times for this
and never got a single reply. Just in case you didn't see my posting, here
is what I posted...

Whenever I'm in any Microsoft Office 2003 Pro application and try to perform
a search, the Search Results has "Unable to connect to Microsoft Office
Online" listed on top of the Task Pane. My anti-virus is Norton Internet
Security 2007. I checked the settings and all of the Office apps are set to
the Allow setting. I tried turning off the firewall and auto protect and
still unable to connect. I've worked with Microsoft some time ago on this
and gave up after spending way too much time on it. I've searched the
internet and haven't had any luck either. If I remember right, this all
started after I installed the Office 2007 trial version and then uninstalled
it. At that time I started having problems with Office 2003, so I had to
uninstall and reinstall it. I have both programs (Office 2003 and Norton N/S
2007) on my laptop and the online search works fine. Any input would be
greatly appreciated. Like I said, way too much time spent on this problem.

Hey Dan,

I agree that it seems unbelievable that this doesn't seem to work. The other
thing that went wrong at around the same time I did the upgrade to 2007 was
that the Indexing stopped working. So now I cannot do a search in Outlook.
Maybe not connected but yet another really frustrating thing which I haven't
found an answer for in an forum.

Cheers...

"Dan" wrote:

> I can't believe we can't find a fix for this. I posted two times for this
> and never got a single reply. Just in case you didn't see my posting, here
> is what I posted...
>
> Whenever I'm in any Microsoft Office 2003 Pro application and try to perform
> a search, the Search Results has "Unable to connect to Microsoft Office
> Online" listed on top of the Task Pane. My anti-virus is Norton Internet
> Security 2007. I checked the settings and all of the Office apps are set to
> the Allow setting. I tried turning off the firewall and auto protect and
> still unable to connect. I've worked with Microsoft some time ago on this
> and gave up after spending way too much time on it. I've searched the
> internet and haven't had any luck either. If I remember right, this all
> started after I installed the Office 2007 trial version and then uninstalled
> it. At that time I started having problems with Office 2003, so I had to
> uninstall and reinstall it. I have both programs (Office 2003 and Norton N/S
> 2007) on my laptop and the online search works fine. Any input would be
> greatly appreciated. Like I said, way too much time spent on this problem.
>
>

Hi, This is JohnBes from Microsoft, I’m in the Office Assistance and
Worldwide Services team. I’m very sorry you are all having problems using
our online services from the Office client. From this and other threads I’ve
read, I wanted to first confirm some background information for further
investigation. Please let me know if any of the following assumptions are
incorrect…

1. It generally happens after upgrading from Office 2003 to Office 2007.
2. The symptoms are all connectivity related and occur in both Office 2003
and Office 2007.
a. Connection problems occur primarily when using Search in 2003 and
Help or File New in 2007.
3. Everyone has checked their trust center settings and they all are set to
online.
a. To check in 2007 ( From Bob Buckland’s reply check the settings at
Office Button=> App Name Options=>Trust Center=>Trust Center
Settings=>Privacy Options => Check “Search Office Online for Help when
connected to the internet”)
b. To check in 2003, Tools-Options-General Tab-Service Options-Online
Content- Check “Search online content when connected”
c. Also, please respond if any admin policies have been changed or
applied to their systems recently regarding online connectivity.

There have been reports on both Vista and Windows XP, so at this point
appears the issues is not specific to any operating system. There are two
other services I’d like you to check form the Office Client…

Try to insert some online clipart.
1. On 2007 ribbon apps like Word, XL,PPT click on the Insert menu => choose
Clip Art
a. On 2003 and non-ribbon apps, Insert = > Picture => Clipart…
2. Click on the “Search In” drop down of the Clipart Task Pane and make sure
“Web Collections” is checked.
3. Search for any common term like cat or bridge.
4. If an alert appears asking if you want to search for clips online, choose
Yes.
5. Online clipart should appear in your clipart taskpane. You’ll know its
online as they will have a tiny globe icon at the bottom left of the clipart
thumbnail.
6. Click on any online clip to insert into yoru document.

Also, make sure you can connect to Research sites from Word.
1. In Word 2007 choose the Review menu from the Ribbon and select Research
from the Proofing toolbar.
a. In Word 2003 select Tools => Research…
2. In the Reference dropdown at the top of the Research pane, select any
online listing in the “All Research Sites” category.
3. Search for any common term and make sure online results appear in the
results list.

Finally, if you haven’t recently, please delete your cookies, then restart
your system and check for connectivity.

I’ll be your main contact for tracking this issue through to completion.
Feel free to E-mail me at JohnBes@Microsoft.com anytime. If we can’t readily
figure out this problem with standard trouble shooting steps, I may ask a few
of you to download a shareware tool to detect client/server connectivity
traffic to help debug the issue.

Thanks,
John

"aurion" wrote:

> Hey Dan,
>
> I agree that it seems unbelievable that this doesn't seem to work. The other
> thing that went wrong at around the same time I did the upgrade to 2007 was
> that the Indexing stopped working. So now I cannot do a search in Outlook.
> Maybe not connected but yet another really frustrating thing which I haven't
> found an answer for in an forum.
>
> Cheers...
>
> "Dan" wrote:
>
> > I can't believe we can't find a fix for this. I posted two times for this
> > and never got a single reply. Just in case you didn't see my posting, here
> > is what I posted...
> >
> > Whenever I'm in any Microsoft Office 2003 Pro application and try to perform
> > a search, the Search Results has "Unable to connect to Microsoft Office
> > Online" listed on top of the Task Pane. My anti-virus is Norton Internet
> > Security 2007. I checked the settings and all of the Office apps are set to
> > the Allow setting. I tried turning off the firewall and auto protect and
> > still unable to connect. I've worked with Microsoft some time ago on this
> > and gave up after spending way too much time on it. I've searched the
> > internet and haven't had any luck either. If I remember right, this all
> > started after I installed the Office 2007 trial version and then uninstalled
> > it. At that time I started having problems with Office 2003, so I had to
> > uninstall and reinstall it. I have both programs (Office 2003 and Norton N/S
> > 2007) on my laptop and the online search works fine. Any input would be
> > greatly appreciated. Like I said, way too much time spent on this problem.
> >
> >

Hi, One more issue to check. Browse to http://office.microsoft.com and
sign-out if you are currently signed in with your passport account. After
signing out, delete your cookies, restart your Office apps and try to connect
to online properties from the Office apps.

Note: You can tell if you are signed in or not by looking at the top right
of the Office.Microsoft.com home page. A status indicator will say either
"Sign In" (meaning your are NOT signed in) or "Sign Out" (meaning you are
signed in.)

Thanks,

John
Johnbes@Microsoft.com


"Johnbes@Microsoft.com" wrote:

> Hi, This is JohnBes from Microsoft, I’m in the Office Assistance and
> Worldwide Services team. I’m very sorry you are all having problems using
> our online services from the Office client. From this and other threads I’ve
> read, I wanted to first confirm some background information for further
> investigation. Please let me know if any of the following assumptions are
> incorrect…
>
> 1. It generally happens after upgrading from Office 2003 to Office 2007.
> 2. The symptoms are all connectivity related and occur in both Office 2003
> and Office 2007.
> a. Connection problems occur primarily when using Search in 2003 and
> Help or File New in 2007.
> 3. Everyone has checked their trust center settings and they all are set to
> online.
> a. To check in 2007 ( From Bob Buckland’s reply check the settings at
> Office Button=> App Name Options=>Trust Center=>Trust Center
> Settings=>Privacy Options => Check “Search Office Online for Help when
> connected to the internet”)
> b. To check in 2003, Tools-Options-General Tab-Service Options-Online
> Content- Check “Search online content when connected”
> c. Also, please respond if any admin policies have been changed or
> applied to their systems recently regarding online connectivity.
>
> There have been reports on both Vista and Windows XP, so at this point
> appears the issues is not specific to any operating system. There are two
> other services I’d like you to check form the Office Client…
>
> Try to insert some online clipart.
> 1. On 2007 ribbon apps like Word, XL,PPT click on the Insert menu => choose
> Clip Art
> a. On 2003 and non-ribbon apps, Insert = > Picture => Clipart…
> 2. Click on the “Search In” drop down of the Clipart Task Pane and make sure
> “Web Collections” is checked.
> 3. Search for any common term like cat or bridge.
> 4. If an alert appears asking if you want to search for clips online, choose
> Yes.
> 5. Online clipart should appear in your clipart taskpane. You’ll know its
> online as they will have a tiny globe icon at the bottom left of the clipart
> thumbnail.
> 6. Click on any online clip to insert into yoru document.
>
> Also, make sure you can connect to Research sites from Word.
> 1. In Word 2007 choose the Review menu from the Ribbon and select Research
> from the Proofing toolbar.
> a. In Word 2003 select Tools => Research…
> 2. In the Reference dropdown at the top of the Research pane, select any
> online listing in the “All Research Sites” category.
> 3. Search for any common term and make sure online results appear in the
> results list.
>
> Finally, if you haven’t recently, please delete your cookies, then restart
> your system and check for connectivity.
>
> I’ll be your main contact for tracking this issue through to completion.
> Feel free to E-mail me at JohnBes@Microsoft.com anytime. If we can’t readily
> figure out this problem with standard trouble shooting steps, I may ask a few
> of you to download a shareware tool to detect client/server connectivity
> traffic to help debug the issue.
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
> "aurion" wrote:
>
> > Hey Dan,
> >
> > I agree that it seems unbelievable that this doesn't seem to work. The other
> > thing that went wrong at around the same time I did the upgrade to 2007 was
> > that the Indexing stopped working. So now I cannot do a search in Outlook.
> > Maybe not connected but yet another really frustrating thing which I haven't
> > found an answer for in an forum.
> >
> > Cheers...
> >
> > "Dan" wrote:
> >
> > > I can't believe we can't find a fix for this. I posted two times for this
> > > and never got a single reply. Just in case you didn't see my posting, here
> > > is what I posted...
> > >
> > > Whenever I'm in any Microsoft Office 2003 Pro application and try to perform
> > > a search, the Search Results has "Unable to connect to Microsoft Office
> > > Online" listed on top of the Task Pane. My anti-virus is Norton Internet
> > > Security 2007. I checked the settings and all of the Office apps are set to
> > > the Allow setting. I tried turning off the firewall and auto protect and
> > > still unable to connect. I've worked with Microsoft some time ago on this
> > > and gave up after spending way too much time on it. I've searched the
> > > internet and haven't had any luck either. If I remember right, this all
> > > started after I installed the Office 2007 trial version and then uninstalled
> > > it. At that time I started having problems with Office 2003, so I had to
> > > uninstall and reinstall it. I have both programs (Office 2003 and Norton N/S
> > > 2007) on my laptop and the online search works fine. Any input would be
> > > greatly appreciated. Like I said, way too much time spent on this problem.
> > >
> > >

Hi John,

Thanks very much for picking up on this concern. I'll embed my answers into
your questions, ok?

> 1. It generally happens after upgrading from Office 2003 to Office 2007. CORRECT. BUT PLEASE NOTE, I'VE JUST CHECKED THE SEARCH IN OFFICE AND IT IS NOW WORKING. I GUESS THE LAST TIME I CHECKED IT WAS ABOUT 3 WEEKS AGO AND IT DIDN'T WORK THEN. BUT NOW IT IS. I HAVE LOADED THE MOST RECENT FIXES FOR EVERYTHING FROM WINDOWS UPDATE, NOT SURE IF THIS IS CONNECTED!

> 2. The symptoms are all connectivity related and occur in both Office 2003
> and Office 2007. I CAN'T RECALL IF I HAD PROBLEMS WHILE USING 2003, JUST ONCE I'D MOVED UP TO 2007.

> a. Connection problems occur primarily when using Search in 2003 and
> Help or File New in 2007.
CURRENTLY, IN WORD, I CANNOT CONNECT TO MICROSOFT ONLINE WHEN USING FILE
NEW. BUT IF I CLICK ON THE ?HELP ICON THERE IS NO PROBLEM CONNECTING TO THE
HELP INFORMATION.

> 3. Everyone has checked their trust center settings and they all are set to
> online.
> a. To check in 2007 ( From Bob Buckland’s reply check the settings at
> Office Button=> App Name Options=>Trust Center=>Trust Center
> Settings=>Privacy Options => Check “Search Office Online for Help when
> connected to the internet”). ABSOLUTELY, ALL PRIVACY OPTIONS ARE CHECKED.
> b. To check in 2003, Tools-Options-General Tab-Service Options-Online
> Content- Check “Search online content when connected”
> c. Also, please respond if any admin policies have been changed or
> applied to their systems recently regarding online connectivity.
> NO ADMIN POLICIES HAVE BEEN CHANGED OR APPLIED.

> There have been reports on both Vista and Windows XP, so at this point
> appears the issues is not specific to any operating system. There are two
> other services I’d like you to check form the Office Client…
>
> Try to insert some online clipart.
> 1. On 2007 ribbon apps like Word, XL,PPT click on the Insert menu => choose
> Clip Art
> a. On 2003 and non-ribbon apps, Insert = > Picture => Clipart…
> 2. Click on the “Search In” drop down of the Clipart Task Pane and make sure
> “Web Collections” is checked.
> 3. Search for any common term like cat or bridge.
> 4. If an alert appears asking if you want to search for clips online, choose
> Yes.
> 5. Online clipart should appear in your clipart taskpane. You’ll know its
> online as they will have a tiny globe icon at the bottom left of the clipart
> thumbnail.
> 6. Click on any online clip to insert into yoru document.
I CAN ACCESS THE ONLINE CLIP ART WITHOUT PROBLEM.

>
> Also, make sure you can connect to Research sites from Word.
> 1. In Word 2007 choose the Review menu from the Ribbon and select Research
> from the Proofing toolbar.
> a. In Word 2003 select Tools => Research…
> 2. In the Reference dropdown at the top of the Research pane, select any
> online listing in the “All Research Sites” category.
> 3. Search for any common term and make sure online results appear in the
> results list.
I CAN ACCESS THE ONLINE RESEARCH SITES WITHOUT PROBLEM.

>
> Finally, if you haven’t recently, please delete your cookies, then restart
> your system and check for connectivity.
I REGULARLY CLEAR OUT MY COOKIES. MY SYSTEM WAS RESTARTED VERY RECENTLY. I
CAN ACCESS ALL THE ABOVE SITES BUT STILL NOT ACCESS THE FILE NEW SITE.


> I’ll be your main contact for tracking this issue through to completion.
> Feel free to E-mail me at JohnBes@Microsoft.com anytime. If we can’t readily
> figure out this problem with standard trouble shooting steps, I may ask a few
> of you to download a shareware tool to detect client/server connectivity
> traffic to help debug the issue.
>
> Thanks,
> John
>
THANKS VERY MUCH FOR YOUR HELP JOHN.

Hi again John,

I tried what you suggested below, and unfortunately this didn't help.

Let me know what I can do to help you pin this down.

All the best... Shaun

"JohnBes@Microsoft.com" wrote:

> Hi, One more issue to check. Browse to http://office.microsoft.com and
> sign-out if you are currently signed in with your passport account. After
> signing out, delete your cookies, restart your Office apps and try to connect
> to online properties from the Office apps.
>
> Note: You can tell if you are signed in or not by looking at the top right
> of the Office.Microsoft.com home page. A status indicator will say either
> "Sign In" (meaning your are NOT signed in) or "Sign Out" (meaning you are
> signed in.)
>
> Thanks,
>
> John
> Johnbes@Microsoft.com
>
>
> "Johnbes@Microsoft.com" wrote:
>
> > Hi, This is JohnBes from Microsoft, I’m in the Office Assistance and
> > Worldwide Services team. I’m very sorry you are all having problems using
> > our online services from the Office client. From this and other threads I’ve
> > read, I wanted to first confirm some background information for further
> > investigation. Please let me know if any of the following assumptions are
> > incorrect…
> >
> > 1. It generally happens after upgrading from Office 2003 to Office 2007.
> > 2. The symptoms are all connectivity related and occur in both Office 2003
> > and Office 2007.
> > a. Connection problems occur primarily when using Search in 2003 and
> > Help or File New in 2007.
> > 3. Everyone has checked their trust center settings and they all are set to
> > online.
> > a. To check in 2007 ( From Bob Buckland’s reply check the settings at
> > Office Button=> App Name Options=>Trust Center=>Trust Center
> > Settings=>Privacy Options => Check “Search Office Online for Help when
> > connected to the internet”)
> > b. To check in 2003, Tools-Options-General Tab-Service Options-Online
> > Content- Check “Search online content when connected”
> > c. Also, please respond if any admin policies have been changed or
> > applied to their systems recently regarding online connectivity.
> >
> > There have been reports on both Vista and Windows XP, so at this point
> > appears the issues is not specific to any operating system. There are two
> > other services I’d like you to check form the Office Client…
> >
> > Try to insert some online clipart.
> > 1. On 2007 ribbon apps like Word, XL,PPT click on the Insert menu => choose
> > Clip Art
> > a. On 2003 and non-ribbon apps, Insert = > Picture => Clipart…
> > 2. Click on the “Search In” drop down of the Clipart Task Pane and make sure
> > “Web Collections” is checked.
> > 3. Search for any common term like cat or bridge.
> > 4. If an alert appears asking if you want to search for clips online, choose
> > Yes.
> > 5. Online clipart should appear in your clipart taskpane. You’ll know its
> > online as they will have a tiny globe icon at the bottom left of the clipart
> > thumbnail.
> > 6. Click on any online clip to insert into yoru document.
> >
> > Also, make sure you can connect to Research sites from Word.
> > 1. In Word 2007 choose the Review menu from the Ribbon and select Research
> > from the Proofing toolbar.
> > a. In Word 2003 select Tools => Research…
> > 2. In the Reference dropdown at the top of the Research pane, select any
> > online listing in the “All Research Sites” category.
> > 3. Search for any common term and make sure online results appear in the
> > results list.
> >
> > Finally, if you haven’t recently, please delete your cookies, then restart
> > your system and check for connectivity.
> >
> > I’ll be your main contact for tracking this issue through to completion.
> > Feel free to E-mail me at JohnBes@Microsoft.com anytime. If we can’t readily
> > figure out this problem with standard trouble shooting steps, I may ask a few
> > of you to download a shareware tool to detect client/server connectivity
> > traffic to help debug the issue.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > John
> >
> > "aurion" wrote:
> >
> > > Hey Dan,
> > >
> > > I agree that it seems unbelievable that this doesn't seem to work. The other
> > > thing that went wrong at around the same time I did the upgrade to 2007 was
> > > that the Indexing stopped working. So now I cannot do a search in Outlook.
> > > Maybe not connected but yet another really frustrating thing which I haven't
> > > found an answer for in an forum.
> > >
> > > Cheers...
> > >
> > > "Dan" wrote:
> > >
> > > > I can't believe we can't find a fix for this. I posted two times for this
> > > > and never got a single reply. Just in case you didn't see my posting, here
> > > > is what I posted...
> > > >
> > > > Whenever I'm in any Microsoft Office 2003 Pro application and try to perform
> > > > a search, the Search Results has "Unable to connect to Microsoft Office
> > > > Online" listed on top of the Task Pane. My anti-virus is Norton Internet
> > > > Security 2007. I checked the settings and all of the Office apps are set to
> > > > the Allow setting. I tried turning off the firewall and auto protect and
> > > > still unable to connect. I've worked with Microsoft some time ago on this
> > > > and gave up after spending way too much time on it. I've searched the
> > > > internet and haven't had any luck either. If I remember right, this all
> > > > started after I installed the Office 2007 trial version and then uninstalled
> > > > it. At that time I started having problems with Office 2003, so I had to
> > > > uninstall and reinstall it. I have both programs (Office 2003 and Norton N/S
> > > > 2007) on my laptop and the online search works fine. Any input would be
> > > > greatly appreciated. Like I said, way too much time spent on this problem.
> > > >
> > > >