Microsoft finally shares detailed fix for a six-month old Outlook, Word DLL bug

Back in September last year, Microsoft had opened an issue for Office apps like classic Outlook and Word, wherein the company confirmed that users would encounter an MLSL DLL file error. Since then, the tech giant also added PageLayout DLL to the issue.

ISSUE

 

After installing recent updates, you might see one or more of the following errors when you start Outlook, Word, or other Office applications:

 

• “The required file pagelayout.dll cannot be found in your path. Install Microsoft Outlook again.”
• “The required file msls70.dll cannot be found in your path. Install Microsoft Outlook again.”

Microsoft had provided no workaround at the time and had only asked affected users to report the problem. After months of investigation, the company has finally managed to figure out what the problem was. Hence, the issue has now been closed as "fixed."

Microsoft explains:

STATUS: FIXED

 

The Office Team made a change in Version 2504 Build 18730.20000 to help mitigate the issue. Monitor Update History for build availability, Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date).

 

This issue can occur when the Office version does not match the Office channel. For example, this issue may occur if you are on the Monthly Enterprise Channel, but the version of the Office application is the Current Channel's version. Make sure that the channel you are on matches the version showing for that channel on Update History, Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date). To see the Office version, open Word and select File, Account, under About Word. If there is a version mismatch, then there is a problem with the deployment configuration. If you use Intune, make sure the version, and build of Office on the user’s machine matches the channel and build you are intending the user to have.

 

The immediate solution is to move to the channel that matches the Office build. The issue may be mitigated by uninstalling and reinstalling Office. If you need help working through the issue, please open a support case with the Office Deployment support team.

Microsoft has also added details on how to escalate the problem with corresponding support engineers if the issue pops up again:

Once you are on the fixed build and if you still see issues, please collect the Office Logs and the file information below and share them with your support engineer.

 

1. Close all Office apps and then zip up the logs in this directory and add to your support case:Logs: %temp%/diagnostics.
2. Download the Microsoft 365 Apps Deployment Log Collector from the Official Microsoft Download Center. Once downloaded, extract it to a folder, run it, and then add the zipped-up logs to your support case,
3. Capture a screenshot of the Word version details. Go to this folder: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16. Locate Winword.exe, right-click on it and select Properties, then select Details, and take a screenshot to add to the support case.
4. Capture a screenshot of the msls70.dll and pagelayout.dll version details in the same folder as noted in step 3 and add to the support case. In some cases, the version may not be listed but we still want to see that information. If the files are not present in that folder, that needs to be noted in the case.

You can find the support article for the bug here on Microsoft's official website.

Source

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