Microsoft sends PDFs to strange new worlds instead of SharePoint

Use SharePoint Online? Keen on PDFs? Then you won't be keen on the latest Word bug

Microsoft has confirmed a bug where saving a PDF from Word for Windows can send the file to an unexpected location with a random name when using SharePoint Online.

The Windows giant's odyssey of bork has continued, following issues that included a less-than-ideal September for its flagship operating system and a paste problem in Excel. The latest breakage affects the document format PDF in Word for Windows.

After a user updates to version 2609 of Word, saving documents as PDFs to SharePoint Online locations can produce a nasty surprise. For starters, the file is saved in C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\INetCache\Content.MSO instead, with a random filename. Worse, Word shows no error to indicate anything went wrong. 

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According to Microsoft, "The issue only occurs when using Save/Save As, choosing the PDF file type, and selecting a SharePoint location." Use the Export option, or save somewhere else, and all will be well.

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The Register asked Microsoft if it is working on a fix and when one might be incoming, but the company has yet to respond. Some affected users have reported that rolling back the update resolves the issue.

Microsoft's customers have had a torrid time of it lately. As well as the paste glitch, a seemingly innocuous Microsoft 365 update inadvertently deactivated Office 2016 and 2019, and the company recently admitted it had accidentally wiped out some customers' Microsoft 365 data before the expiry of their retention period.

Then there is the ongoing saga of the September Windows update, which caused bugs so severe that Microsoft rushed out an out-of-band update. That out-of-band update brought troubles of its own: on top of lingering audio problems and issues with domain-joined devices, Microsoft admitted that customers using File History might be unable to create or update backups.

Microsoft fixed the latter in the September 22 preview update for Windows, but the others are ongoing. ®