Formatting lost when coauthoring a Word document

Last Updated: December 1, 2025

ISSUE

Users may experience lost formatting when coauthoring Word documents. This can affect applied Styles, including:

STATUS: FIXED

The Word team has released an update to fix the issue. This will prevent future formatting loss for unimpacted files.

For users with impacted files, the following workarounds may need to be performed to prevent recurring formatting loss:

Workaround 1: Use “Save As” to Create a New File

Open the affected document in Word for Desktop.
Go to File > Save As and create a new copy of the document in .docx format.
Close and reopen the new file before continuing edits.
Reapply formatting if needed:
- For tables, manually reapply borders and styles after saving as a new file.
- If fonts default to Times New Roman, change them back to your preferred font after reopening.

Workaround 2: Clear the office file cache

Steps for Windows:

Open Word.
Go to File > Options > Save and select Delete Cached Files.

Note: All authors in the coauthoring session will need to clear the cache as well.
Close Word, then reopen Word and the file.
Reapply formatting if needed:
- For tables, manually reapply borders and styles after saving as a new file.
- If fonts default to Times New Roman, change them back to your preferred font after reopening.

Steps for Mac:

Open Finder.
Press Shift + Command + G to open the Go to Folder.
Type or copy and paste the command below and press Enter:~/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/OfficeFileCache
Delete the contents of this folder.
Close Word, then reopen Word and the file.
Reapply formatting if needed:
- For tables, manually reapply borders and styles after saving as a new file.
- If fonts default to Times New Roman, change them back to your preferred font after reopening.