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Saving XLSX Excel files from Mac to Windows 2016 SMB share

We have a mixed Mac and PC environment and we are hosting files on a Windows 2016 server. We have Mac OSX computers ranging from 10.6 to 10.12 connecting to the file share on this server. They use Excel 2011 and 2016. Whenever they open an XLSX file on the file server and then try to save the file, a temporary file (on Excel 2011) or temporary folder with FILENAME....RANDOMCHARACTERS (on Excel 2016) gets created and the Excel client sits for a while. Then eventually it comes up with "File rename failed. Retry?"

This doesn't happen with XLS files.

What I've tried so far:
-Gave EVERYONE full permission and ownership of all folders for testing
-Tried mounting the share as CIFS:// instead of SMB:// with the same results
-Turned off auto save features in Excel
-Blocked all Mac hidden directories such as .TemporaryFiles from being created on the server with File Screening on the file server
-Tried only enabling SMB 1 on the file server (which kept all Windows machines from connecting, and no change with Excel)

All Mac computers are bound to active directory and the users are using their own active directory credentials. I did notice that when this temporary shared file/folder is created, if I check the file details on the file server, it shows "Administrators" as the owner of the file. I'm not sure why, as the users are logged in using only their AD credentials and connecting to the SMB share using their registered credentials as well. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to resolve this?

Thank you

serialband

See if turning off network share DS stores works.

Open Terminal.app
defaults write com.apple.desktopservices DSDontWriteNetworkStores -bool TRUE

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ASKER

I did see that fix in my searches, but didn't think it worked on Sierra or El Capitan so I passed it up. I gave it a shot anyway on one of our Sierra Mac's and it looked promising at first (I was able to open and save a couple of Excel files) but then after about 5-10 minutes, the problem came back.

serialband

You should still make sure all Macs have that enabled when you connect to Windows SMB share. It will reduce a large portion of your problems. Unfortunately, I don't know what to make of your particular problem. Are there multiple users connecting to the same folders and files? You'll need to make sure that all users have that set.

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ASKER

At the time of testing I only had the one Mac mounting that SMB share (with the DSDontWriteNetworkStores set to TRUE) and I was still having the issue. I am also using File Screening which blocks creation of the .DS and any other hidden "." files from the Macs from being created on the network shares.

serialband

Unbind them, then rejoin them to the domain. It's possible that something broke in the binding, especially if they're Mac laptops that leave the office environment. They tend to lose their domain connection, but continue to appear joined.

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ASKER

I just tried unbinding, restarting, and rebinding with no luck. Still having the same issue

compdigit44

I have seen a number of reported issue with Office 2016 apps for Mac saving to SMV shares. What is the build number of Excel you are using?

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Update-history-for-Office-2016-for-Mac-700cab62-0d67-4f23-947b-3686cb1a8eb7

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ASKER

I'll have to check, but it's also happening with Office 2011

Andrew C

Anyone has any lead to resolve this issue yet? Keen to know as i'm having such issue with users as well.

ITtelligent

Been bumping my head against something similar too for weeks. With mixed but better results than when I first started with.. Got Office 2016 (365 business premium suite edition) and 2016 Standard R2 DC.

Had a disconnection issue with Macs on the Windows SMB to help fix:

I tried disabling SMB1 but that caused connect issues on older versions of Macs (don't recall which version), I attempted that but had to revert for that reason.
Changing NetBIOS over TCP/IP from Advanced TCP/IP settings > WINS has helped improved a disconnection issue with macs to windows SMB share.

For being able to Save to Windows SMB share:

Have had to ensure all Macs are updated to version 10.12.6 or newer, if on 10.11.6 you'll need to jump up to 10.13.1.
Made sure this update was installed https://support.microsoft.com/en-au/help/3133674/microsoft-autoupdate-for-mac-3-4-0---january-5--2016-update
Ensured that Office 2016 was on the latest updates
Made sure the Share permissions are turned off for Everyone but only set for Domain Users on my share paths
Gave Domain Users full control over the .TemporaryItems folder

After those changes still intermittent saving issue for end users:

Fails on save, but works on saveas.

My next theory is that it's due to filename length the .sb.XXXXXX extension added on to the existing file increasing the length of the file name when save occurs. Saving as creates a new file name and it's not using the .sb.XXXX file.

Organising the Share folders to be moved to root, shortened as well as subfolders and filenames being shortened.

serialband

Unfortunately, the least involved work around for this is to copy the files over from the share to the Mac, edit the file, then save it, and finally copy it back to Windows.

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ITtelligent

Follow on from my last comment - end user who reports issue is unable to get a hold of. If response before closure date of 27/10 I'll update.

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ASKER

Found solution

Andrew C

Have anyone tried on macOS 10.13.1? I have one test laptop on that and it doesn't seems to happen on it.