Office 2013 won't open "save as" dialog.

Weboh · 09 Apr 2015

Whenever I try to save any document in any Office 2013 program, nothing happens. When I press File>Save as F12, or ctrl+s, (on a new document) nothing happens. Any normal way to save a file, even saving customizations, does nothing. I just get the "working" mouse for a half a second. Nothing opens, but I can still work in the document (so I know it didn't just come up in the background). Has anyone else had this problem? Is there any way to fix it?

Relevant: I have Office 2003 installed. I've heard that causes problems. I'd be willing to uninstall them both and reinstall in the recommended order, but I'd lose my customizations. I can't save my customizations, because that requires the save as dialog.

Ranger4 · 09 Apr 2015

Does this problem occur with both version of Office or only with Office 2013. Also are you having any problems with any other programs on your computer.

You could try repairing Office 2013. To do that open Control Panel, select Programs & Features, scroll down to Microsoft Office 2013, right click on it & select Change & this will show a couple of Repair options for you to try.

Weboh · 09 Apr 2015

It only happens with Office 2013. 2003 functions completely normally.
I tried both the quick and online repairs and nothing happened.

Ranger4 · 09 Apr 2015

Read through this MS website & see if there is anything there that helps you. While it is about Office 365 it relates to Office 2013 as well.

Word 365 ProPlus does not save - Microsoft Community

Weboh · 24 Apr 2015

Nothing there helps. Hopefully someone here can help me, or else I'll lose a whooole lot of time reinstalling and setting up Office 2003 and 2013.

Ranger4 · 24 Apr 2015

Perhaps this website might help. Just as a matter of interest was Office 2003 already installed when you installed Office 2013. If not you need to install Office 2003 first & then Office 2013 last.
Also you can only have one version of Outlook on the computer & Outlook 2013 would be the sensible choice there.
Both versions of Office in your case must be 32 bit or x86 versions. Office 2003 was only available as 32 bit but Office 2013 can be 32 bit or 64 bit. Mixing 32 bit & 64 bit versions will not work together on the same computer.

How to install both MS Office 2003 and MS Office 2013 on the same system | Overclockers Forums

Weboh · 25 Apr 2015

Office 2013 was installed first, and was the x64 version. I read somewhere else that were I to mix the two, one would need to be x64. I'm willing to reinstall, but I'd like to try something else first, as I don't want to lose my customizations. They've worked fine before this point though, so there must be something else I can do to fix it.

Ranger4 · 25 Apr 2015

It seems that you have identified the problem. Both version HAVE to be the same, that is x86 or 32 bit, as in this case Office 2003 is only available as a 32 bit version. Office was not available as a 64 bit version until Office 2007.

Uninstall both versions of Office, then reinstall Office 2003 first & then after you have followed the directions in the website below, which is the one I posted for you in post #6, & made sure it is working properly, you can then reinstall Office 2013, but it must be the 32 bit version.

How to install both MS Office 2003 and MS Office 2013 on the same system | Overclockers Forums

I have Office 2013 Pro installed in the 32 bit version & I have not had any problems with any programs. In fact Microsoft recommend that the 32 bit version should be used unless you have some very large spreadsheets or similar.

Post back if you have any problems, as sometimes uninstalling Office can be difficult.

Weboh · 25 Apr 2015

After reinstalling, will I be able to choose programs from the Office 2003 suite as default? One of the reasons I installed Office 2003 last was for it to be the default for files, as I prefer it. Right now when I try to select Word 2003 from the open with dialog or default programs, it selects Word 2013.

And is there a way to save my customizations in Office 2013 without doing it the regular way? I can't open up the save as dialog to save it from within Office. Is there like registry keys or something? Or do I just have to lose all of that?

Ranger4 · 25 Apr 2015

Read through that website I posted & there is a section there that describes how to get Office 2003 to be the default.

I don't think you will be able to save your customisation as uninstalling will delete them. Make a note of of all your most preferred customisations & then set them up again after the reinstall.