Run-time error '53'

Darragh Hearns 45 Reputation points

Hello,

I have been experiencing issue with Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. Every time I open these apps, the message "run-time error '53'" appears and I have to continually click "end" 5-6 times for the message to disappear. I have a MacBook Pro that I run these apps on, using macOS Tahoe 26.1 but these issues have been happening before the latest Tahoe update. I am just wondering of anyone else has encountered this problem and if they know of a solution to getting this message to stop appearing?

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Answer accepted by question author and recommended by moderator

John Korchok 232.8K Reputation points • Volunteer Moderator

Arlene's advice will work for some older installations of Acrobat. However, Adobe has changed file locations recently, so you may have to do some searching to find the Adobe files to remove. Since this is a problem created by Adobe, if you need further help you can ask your question at the Acrobat Community Forum.

  1. Darragh Hearns 45 Reputation points

    Hi John,

    Arlene’s solution fixed the problem thankfully but it’s good to know this info in case any further issues arise. Thank you!

Answer accepted by question author

Arlene D 36,075 Reputation points • Independent Advisor

Hello, thanks for reaching out.

If you’re using Microsoft Office for Mac and seeing “Run‑time error ’53’” when you open Word, Excel or PowerPoint, this usually happens because a third‑party add‑in (often from Adobe Acrobat) tries to load files that do not exist or are incompatible.

You should:

  • Quit all Office apps.
  • Open Finder → hold Option → Go → Library.
  • Go to ~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Startup/ and inside the subfolders for Word, Excel, PowerPoint delete files such as linkCreation.dotm, SaveAsAdobePDF.xlam, or SaveAsAdobePDF.ppam
  • Restart your Office apps.

If the error persists after that, do you get the error in all Office apps or only some (Word / Excel / PowerPoint)?

  1. Darragh Hearns 45 Reputation points

    Hi,

    This has resolved the issue. Thanks so much for your help, really appreciate it!

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