Graphical glitch in Word and Outlook (Office 365)

[FSx3]

Update: Bug persists after today's Windows 11 and Office 365

• Windows 11 Pro x64, Version 22H2, Build 22621.1194
• Microsoft 365 x64, Version 2301, Build 16.0.16026.20002

 

[Betablocker]

Update: Bug persists after today's Windows 11 and Office 365

• Windows 11 Pro x64, Version 22H2, Build 22621.1194
• Microsoft 365 x64, Version 2301, Build 16.0.16026.20002

Which Nvidia driver do you have installed?

 

[FSx3]

Most recent one: Nvidia GRD Version 528.24

 

[VDB]

NOTE: Nvidia driver installed makes no difference (including latest one). Windows 11 update installed makes no difference (including latest one). Office update installed makes no difference (including latest one). BIOS version makes no difference (including latest one). Windows and BIOS settings make no difference. Problem persists, and has persisted for months now. Fact.

 

[FSx3]

@VDB Completely agree, 100% correct.

 

[Arlamas]

Hey guys,

i think, it's not an office problem at all, but more an overall win11 desktop 3d acceleration problem. The reason, why i think of this, is, because i have the same glitches in Win11, if i hover carefully above my shutdown menu.
If i switch between shutdown -> reboot -> standby with my mouse, sometimes i can see the icons in front are switching or 2 times the text of shutdown and so on....

i experience the same problems with the menu in office.

Maybe someone can confirm this.

Btw. i have a 6800xt, everything up to date.

 

[VDB]

Question: Doesn't anyone at Microsoft (220,000 employees) have a computer with a graphics card?

 

[Shou Miko]

Question: Doesn't anyone at Microsoft (220,000 employees) have a computer with a graphics card?

Most of them from what I know test issues in a virtual environment and this might not show the issue.

 

[VDB]

After many months, the situation remains: For anyone with Windows 11 and a graphics card, Microsoft Office is unusable. Meanwhile, Microsoft remains totally oblivious to this situation. If you call them right now, today, and describe the problem to them, they will have no clue what you are talking about. They will ask about your specific configuration, bumble around, and suggest things like: repairing Office, trying sfc /scannow, and other nonsense that has zero impact on this situation. In other words, your call will appear to be the first time the rep will have heard about this, and he/she will have no idea what to do about it, concluding that the issue is likely something you are doing wrong or is unique to your system. Ugh! This level of ignorance is nearly impossible to imagine, yet it is real. Also, the forum threads branched to from this forum, still have just a handful of entries, so Microsoft is unlikely to become aware from them. Bottom line, after all these months, Microsoft appears to still not know about this issue and is thus taking no steps to fix it. So... I ask: Does anyone here have any ideas what else can be done to get Microsoft's head out of the sand and make them aware of this problem, a disastrous problem that renders their prize Office product unusable? All suggestions welcome.

 

[Betablocker]

After many months, the situation remains: For anyone with Windows 11 and a graphics card, Microsoft Office is unusable. Meanwhile, Microsoft remains totally oblivious to this situation. If you call them right now, today, and describe the problem to them, they will have no clue what you are talking about. They will ask about your specific configuration, bumble around, and suggest things like: repairing Office, trying sfc /scannow, and other nonsense that has zero impact on this situation. In other words, your call will appear to be the first time the rep will have heard about this, and he/she will have no idea what to do about it, concluding that the issue is likely something you are doing wrong or is unique to your system. Ugh! This level of ignorance is nearly impossible to imagine, yet it is real. Also, the forum threads branched to from this forum, still have just a handful of entries, so Microsoft is unlikely to become aware from them. Bottom line, after all these months, Microsoft appears to still not know about this issue and is thus taking no steps to fix it. So... I ask: Does anyone here have any ideas what else can be done to get Microsoft's head out of the sand and make them aware of this problem, a disastrous problem that renders their prize Office product unusable? All suggestions welcome.

I’m sorry, but are you serious? What leads you to the conclusion that everyone with Windows 11 and a graphics card is having these glitches? Don’t you think Microsoft would have solved this problem a long time ago if that was the case? The fact is that for millions of users Office works without any problems. It’s also a fact that for some of them it’s not working as planned (maybe because of a chipset or another driver that is not fully compatible, Nvidia driver-settings, another program that is running in the background and is causing problems, etc.). There are numerous combinations that could cause problems (as with other programs as well by the way). But to state that everybody with Windows 11 and a graphics card is having problems is just not true.

 

[VDB]

Don’t you think Microsoft would have solved this problem a long time ago if that was the case?

Yes, I do! Exactly. That is why this is so frustrating... and baffling! As for how basic and far-reaching this problem is, simply read the previous postings in this forum thread. We are trying to prompt Microsoft to take action here, so rather than downplaying or excusing this, do you have any actual constructive suggestions how to create greater visibility for this problem?

 

[FSx3]

i think, it's not an office problem at all, but more an overall win11 desktop 3d acceleration problem. The reason, why i think of this, is, because i have the same glitches in Win11, if i hover carefully above my shutdown menu.

Very good point! When I joined this forum and shared my feedback I also posted a possibly related Windows 11 desktop icons glitch which I, again, can reproduce on multiple different Windows 11 machines & clean Windows 11 install. The video I posted was removed by our forum mod (apparently due to being a different topic) but you can still find it on my Nvidia forum thread . It's very suspicious and so it might be related to our Office 365 bug.

Most of them from what I know test issues in a virtual environment and this might not show the issue.

Interesting! This would explain why our bug wasn't detected yet by the Microsoft QA team and / or QA automation tests.

Yes, I do! Exactly. That is why this is so frustrating...

I feel the same, this is one of the weirdest and most annoying bugs I've eperienced for years. I'm looking at these glichtes about 6-8 hours a day, about 10-20 glichtes an hour.

 

[Shou Miko]

Interesting! This would explain why our bug wasn't detected yet by the Microsoft QA team and / or QA automation tests.

Maybe, I do not know at this point of time what their configuration is, but I was told they tested in a virtual environment by a romanian microsoft contact I had a couple of years ago and I am sure this haven't changed because it's easy and fast to make and boot up a virtual machine.

Next time I am working with Microsoft I will see if I can get some more information.

 

[micropage7]

Maybe, I do not know at this point of time what their configuration is, but I was told they tested in a virtual environment by a romanian microsoft contact I had a couple of years ago and I am sure this haven't changed because it's easy and fast to make and boot up a virtual machine.

Next time I am working with Microsoft I will see if I can get some more information.

some bugs only appear at certain time, certain condition and certain system that's why it's kinda hard even for M$ to test every single condition that may met the condition, just expect M$ gonna find out since 365 is their main sell

 

[Shou Miko]

some bugs only appear at certain time, certain condition and certain system that's why it's kinda hard even for M$ to test every single condition that may met the condition, just expect M$ gonna find out since 365 is their main sell

Also the more people that creates a ticket in 365 and write on their community site makes them aware of this issue the faster it will be fixed.

Sorry but as much as I like TPU I don't think Microsoft comes around here much even reading this thread.

I would create a case myself if I had a customer with the issue but I don't and most of my customers using Intel onboard graphics.

Only thing I can say for now is try to change the update from current channel to another and even maybe a downgrade.

Link: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/update-history-microsoft365-apps-by-date

But I can share some information that I know and have collected since I been working with Microsoft's 365 for 4-5 years now both with online and hybrid solutions and with the cases I had with Microsoft is why I know Microsoft uses a virtual environment for testing because, I had sessions with the more qualified members of the support (Not from India) where they have been testing on a virtual machine they have setup to see if they can reproduce the issues.

 

[FSx3]

Sorry but as much as I like TPU I don't think Microsoft comes around here much even reading this thread.

Agreed, that's why we created bug reports in their feedback portal tool for Office 365 (bug report 1, bug report 2). Not sure if these are systematically scanned by the (product) team or only the highest ranked entries.

Only thing I can say for now is try to change the update from current channel to another and even maybe a downgrade.

Good hint which in continuously use for testing the most recent Office 365 insider previews and beta versions for an upcoming bug fix to this issue. Luckily switching is very easy by regedit (Microsoft how-to).

 

[Arlamas]

Is it possible, that it has maybe something to do with CPUs without integrated graphics? I'm using an Intel (12600K) F CPU and I think, MS will use the IG most of the time for rendering desktop things, so that it can render it without any problems... but if you don't have in ig, they must use the standalone graphic card.

What do you think about this idea?

 

[FSx3]

I'm using the 13900k and I my default config is integrated graphics = off in UEFI = Office 365 glitches.
I tested integrated graphics = on and as expected there is no glitching then as the discrete GPU isn't used (except forced via W11 system settings per application).

 

[Arlamas]

I'm using the 13900k and I my default config is integrated graphics = off in UEFI = Office 365 glitches.
I tested integrated graphics = on and as expected there is no glitching then as the discrete GPU isn't used (except forced via W11 system settings per application).

This might confirm my theory....

 

[FSx3]

This might confirm my theory....

Yes 100% confirms it.

 

[IgnatioMemo]

For me the glitches only go away if I connect my monitor to the mainboard. As soon as the monitor is connected to the discrete GPU the glitches occur - independent of whether the integrated GPU is activated/deactivated in BIOS. So just activating the integrated GPU is not a solution for me.

 

[FSx3]

For me the glitches only go away if I connect my monitor to the mainboard. As soon as the monitor is connected to the discrete GPU the glitches occur - independent of whether the integrated GPU is activated/deactivated in BIOS. So just activating the integrated GPU is not a solution for me.

You're correct! I just checked my debugging notes and indeed deactivating the iGPU in UEFI didn't fix the glichting - I also had to connect to the mainboards HDMI out ( = physical iGPU out) to get rid of it.

 

[Mussels]

This?

Microsoft releases emergency updates to fix XPS display issues (bleepingcomputer.com)

 

[FSx3]

@Mussels Thanks for adding this! Very interesting indeed! I fear that Office 365 isn't using the WPF framework though but it might be worth trying. Also this bug allegedly started only in December 2022 "address XPS display issues triggered by December 2022 cumulative security updates." and our Office 365 is definitely older.

I was experimenting (unsuccessfully) with another trail recently called "Multiplane Overlay (MPO)" after stumbling on this forum post referencing the following:

• "Stuttering or screen flickers may occur during video playback using hardware acceleration with Chrome.
• Blackscreens may occur when alt tabbing from game (or Apps. Like Whatsapp) to browser that has video on loop.
• Some desktop apps may flicker or stutter when resizing the window on some PC configurations."

I tried the proposed Nvidia registry solution but no effect on this Office 365 bug.

 

[Mussels]

Being .net related would explain why windows and office updates dont fix it, and why people have such an erratic mix of problems vs no problems

As well as what they mentioned about certain parts of a document like hyperlinks and glyphs being key triggers


Seems that it's related to securing documents against malware with "XPS" inputs, as the workaround on that page has you disabling some security features - another potential trigger some people may not be setting off