As you continually use Microsoft 365, the chances of the document cache getting corrupted increases. When this corruption happens, each time the Microsoft Office Upload Center is started, you may encounter the error message The Microsoft Office Document Cache encountered a problem. In this post, we will provide the most suitable solutions to the issue.
The Office Document Cache contains the files Office uses to make sure your changes are saved in the cloud. Sometimes when you use Office with other apps in the cloud, the apps fail to sync properly before you close Office and this can damage, or corrupt, your Office Document Cache. Usually, Office can repair damaged cache files. However, when a cloud app hasn’t synced correctly, it can prevent Office from making the repairs.
If you click to repair, as indicated on notification, you may receive the following new error message:
This action cannot be completed because another application is using the Microsoft Office Document Cache.
It should also be noted, that when opening a Microsoft document of any type (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), you also get the error message below: “
A problem occurred while accessing the Office Document Cache.
If you try to repair the problem, you encounter the issue in focus. This happens because the Microsoft Office document cache is corrupted, unusable and unrepairable.
Microsoft Office Document Cache encountered a problem
If you’re faced with this issue, the only viable solution is to delete the document cache and have Microsoft Office create a fresh cache for its documents.
Here’s an overview of the process to delete your Microsoft Office Document cache:
- Perform a clean boot so as to make sure the cache files don’t get loaded during startup, because you’ll be unable to delete them as they would be locked.
- Delete cached files to allow allows Office to repair itself by replacing the corrupt files.
- Finally, reboot and sync operation should clear up any “stuck” files.
That’s it!
Optional steps
- Instead of performing a Clean Boot, you can open Task Manager, and identify the processes that are using the Microsoft Office document cache by viewing the Description column in Task Manager. If the description of a running process starts with Microsoft Office Document Cache, then you should end the process.
- If you’re unable to access the Microsoft Upload Center to delete the cached files, you can do so manually as follows:
Press Windows key + E to open File Explorer.
Navigate ( you may need to show hidden files and folders) to the directory below – where UserName is the name of the user account that you are currently logged in. The version number after Office is 16.0, if you are using or Office 2024/2016/2019 or Microsoft 365, and 15.0, if you’re running Office 2013, 14.0 if you are using Office 2010 or 12.0, if you are using Office 2007.
C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Office\16.0
At the location, you will find a subfolder named OfficeFileCache. If you tried to repair the corrupted cache and it didn’t work, you will also find other folders named OfficeFileCache.old or OfficeFileCache – 2.old. Delete all these folders that are containing OfficeFileCache in their name.
Exit File Explorer and restart your computer and sync Office. The issue should be resolved.
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