Re: Unable to connect to Microsoft Office Online

I am having the same type of problem except I also cannot get the online help
through Office 2007. We can browse the website, download the calendar, but
we cannot get new templates online. I have just installed Office 2007 SP1
and it did not help.

"michel" wrote:

Hi John:

I found this conversation while I was posting a problem similar to the one
you resolved.

When opening help (F1) in office 2007, I get only the table of content .
The main page is blank. If I click on a topic (even offline) nothing
happens.

I cannot get templates, neither insert clipart.
This is the same with firewall desactivated.

Note that the page used to say: "This page is not available". After I
installed SP1 today, the page is now blank.

Could you please help?

Michel

"Johnbes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" wrote:

Thanks for the ping Shaun, your mail was filtered to another folder, I just
finished investigating your fiddler data and believe I understand what is
occurring in your client.

The issue is specific to Office Online/ Office 2007 integration and a fix is
currently being escalated . I hope to have a fix propped on the web with the
next service release. Its specific to clients running with worldwide
language combinations that are currently not supported by Office Online.
Shaun in looking at your Fiddler logs it appears you are running English
Office with a Singapore location. While it’s a totally valid international
setting, our File New service doesn’t currently support this combination.

As a temporary workaround please try setting your location as follows
1. Bring up the Control Panel and open the “Regional and Language Options”
dialog.
2. Click on the “Current Format” dropdown and select the English(United
States) language format.

I’ve uncovered a few other language combinations that are currently not
compatible with File New, all of these will be addressed in the fix to Office
Online.
English (Malaysia)
English (Singapore)
English (Indonesia)
Spanish (Traditioanl Sort)
Spanish (Latam)
Romanian (Modava)
I’ll reply to the thread when I know the target date for propagating the fix
to Office Online. NO download will be required, this is an online only issue
that updates the http://office.microsoft.com site.

I’ve also been investigating Dan’s issue with the Fiddler info he provided
over the past week. Dan I've confirmed that your issue is NOT related to the
mixed language scenario. I’ve tried numerous combinations of installs and
have het to find a repro case. I do believe it is related to the 2007 trial
version being uninstalled. If anyone else has a similar issue with Office
2003 client search not able to connect with Office Online, please send a
reply to the thread, as the more customer data the better in debugging this
problem.

A special thanks to Shaun and Dan who have really made the difference in
investigating these issues!

All the best,
John
Johnbes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


"aurion" wrote:

Hi John,

Did you manage to receive the email I sent you with the attachment?

I've not heard from you recently so would appreciate an update.

Cheers... Shaun

"Johnbes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" wrote:

Hi Shaun,

There’s a tool called Fiddler I’d like you to run on your system, it can log
all your client server connectivity in a specified period of time. It
needs the .net framework to run, so you’ll be prompted to install it too. If
you don’t mind installing Fiddler and sending me the .saz output file to
Johnbes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, I should be able to tell what’s going on with your
Office 2007 install.

Dan is also working in parallel with Fiddler and sending me his Office 2003
Client Server traffic. Between the three of us we can hopefully figure out
the issue(s) preventing online connection. We'll report back to this thread
after debugging the output.

Here's the steps to install and run Fiddler...
1. Exit from your Office 2007 applications.
2. Browse to http://www.fiddler2.com/Fiddler2/version.asp and click on the
link “Install Fiddler 2”.
3. If you are prompted to install the .net framework please do so. You may
have to retrigger the Fiddler 2 install after installing the .net framework.
4. Once Fiddler is installed, run it from the Start – All Programs –
Fiddler 2
5. Click on the File menu and make sure “Capture Traffic” is checked. You
are now ready to capture your client/server traffic.
6a. Launch Word 2007 and bring up the File New dialog. Click on a few
categories.
6b. Exit from File New and download some online clipart.
6c. Press F1 and browse online help from the Client Help Viewer.
7. Back in Fiddler make sure new session data has appeared in your Fiddler
Session window.
8. Go to the Fiddler Edit menu – Select All.
9. Fot to the Fiddler File menu – Save – Session(s) – in ArchiveZip…
10. Give it any name and send the .saz file to Johnbes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanks for all your help!
John
Johnbes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

"aurion" wrote:

Hi John,

Would be nice to think we're making some progress!

I apologise if I'm a little unclear. I can definitely use the Client Help to
access Office.Microsoft.com. Not had problems with this. The search I was
referring to was the Search feature in Outlook. Before it always said that it
was still indexing and I couldn't do a search - for 4 months. But now it's
working.

I was able to browse to Office.Microsoft.com when logged in AND not logged
in. I just downloaded the 2008 calendar without problem by following the
link. But I still can't do this by going to the NEW function.

Hope I answered your question.

Cheers... Shaun


"Johnbes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" wrote:

Hi again, It sounds like we’re making progress, just to confirm at this
point you can connect to Office.Microsoft.com through client search and
client help on both Office 2003 and 2007. But currently can't connect to
Office Online through the Office 2007 File New dialog, correct?

Also, did you notice if you were logged in when you browsed to
Office.Microsoft.com? Can you download templates from Office.Microsoft.com
into the client? For instance, tell me what happens when you go to
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/TC101945201033.aspx?pid=CT101425391033 and attempt to download the 2008 calendar into Word.

Thanks for all your help!
John
Johnbes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx


"aurion" wrote:

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@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 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.
.