Troubleshooting Collaborative Authoring

This article provides information about troubleshooting collaborative authoring in your Vault, including configuration issues and user issues. The issues listed below are the most common errors and their resolution steps.

Vault Integration Status: Connection Errors

Vault Integration Status: Connection Errors appear after clicking Authorize in Admin > Settings > Checkout Settings > Collaborative Authoring with Microsoft Office.

Unable to Retrieve Security Tokens

Error: Integration Status: Connection Error: Unable to retrieve security tokens, please check Office Application Settings.

Cause	Fix
Incorrect details in checkout settings. A common mistake is using the client secret ID instead of the client secret Value.	Double check the directory ID and application ID settings. Generate a new client secret in Entra ID. Enter the client secret Value in Checkout Settings, then click Authorize.
Your tenant has Conditional Access conditions that block the app's token request.	Work with your IT administrators to scope the Conditional Access Policies (CAPs) to permit the collaborative authoring app.

Microsoft Office Edit Version Error

Error: Integration Status: Connection Error: A Microsoft Office Edit Version error occurred. Please try again. If the problem persists, contact your Vault Administrator.

Cause	Fix
The Collaboration Drive field does not point at a real SharePoint document library, or the URL format is wrong.	Verify the document library exists in SharePoint. Correct the URL to `https://[SharePointAdminURL].com/sites/[SiteAlias]/Shared%20Documents`
The SharePoint site was deleted or no longer exists.	Re-create the site, or point Vault at an existing valid library.

Microsoft Office Error

Error: Integration Status: Connection Error: A Microsoft Office error occurred. Please try again. If the problem persists, contact your Vault Administrator.

Cause	Fix
SharePoint is out of storage.	Empty the SharePoint recycle bin or secure more space for the SharePoint library.

Invalid Collaboration Drive Specified

Error: Integration Status: Connection Error: Invalid collaboration drive specified.

Cause	Fix
The Entra ID App does not have the correct API permissions.	Ensure that the app has Site.Selected as an Application permission with Admin consent granted.
The Entra ID App does not have access to the SharePoint site.	Run the PowerShell script to ensure access is granted.

Microsoft Office Server is Not Accepting Requests

Error: Integration Status: Connection Error: The Microsoft Office Server is not accepting requests at this time. Please try your request later or if the problem persists contact your Office 365 support contact.

Cause	Fix
Microsoft is unable to successfully grant an access token for an unexpected reason.	Try again. If the problem persists, open a Veeva support ticket.

Collaboration Drive is Not a Valid Document Library

Error: Integration Status: Connection Error: The Collaboration Drive provided is not a valid document library.

Cause	Fix
The Collaboration Drive URL format is wrong.	Verify the URL matches the following format: `https://[SharePointAdminURL].com/sites/[SiteAlias]/Shared%20Documents`

Cannot Update the Collaborative Drive While Documents are Checked Out

Error: Integration Status: Connection Error: You cannot update the Collaborative Drive while there are documents currently checked out to Collaborative Authoring.

Cause	Fix
An Admin is attempting to change the SharePoint site while documents are still checked out to collaborative authoring.	Check all documents back in, then reauthorize.

Vault Action Errors

Vault action errors appear in Vault dialogs during the user’s collaborative authoring actions on individual documents, including Edit, Check In, and Cancel Checkout.

Unable to Check In from Microsoft Office

Error: Unable to check in from Microsoft Office - The Microsoft Office server is not accepting requests at this time. Please try again later.

Cause	Fix
Microsoft is unable to successfully grant an access token for an unexpected reason.	Try again and raise a ticket with Microsoft if the issue persists.

Unable to Edit in Microsoft Office: Unable to Add User

Error: Unable to edit in Microsoft Office - Unable to add user to the edit version of this document in Microsoft Office. Please check to make sure the user [username] has a valid account in Microsoft Office or use a different check out option.

Cause	Fix
This is an external user and Vault is not configured to auto-invite external users, and the user does not exist in the Entra ID directory.	Add the user as a guest user in the Entra ID directory. or Update the Checkout Settings to auto-invite external users. Make sure that Entra ID has Directory.ReadWrite.All and User.Invite.All permissions.
The user has an invalid email for use with Microsoft Office: either the Vault email does not match the Microsoft 365 account email, or the user has no Microsoft 365 account or Office 365 license.	Confirm the email on the Vault user matches the intended Microsoft account, and that the Microsoft account is licensed for Office 365.

Unable to Edit in Microsoft Office: No Permission

Error: Unable to edit in Microsoft Office - Vault does not have permission to access the specified Collaboration Drive.

Cause	Fix
This is an external user and the SharePoint setting Allow only users in specific security groups to share externally is enabled.	Microsoft does not support Entra ID app sharing with the Allow only users in specific security groups to share externally setting. Use a different security mechanism to limit external sharing.
The error occurs for specific documents (not all) when there is a lock on the document in SharePoint.	Clear the lock on the document in SharePoint. This needs to be performed by a SharePoint administrator or the SharePoint site owner.

Unable to Edit in Microsoft Office: Microsoft Office Edit Version Error

Error: Unable to edit in Microsoft Office - A Microsoft Office Edit Version error occurred. Please try again. If the problem persists, contact your Vault Administrator.

Cause	Fix
A user manually deleted the document in SharePoint while it was checked out to collaborative authoring.	Manually restore the deleted document from the SharePoint recycle bin (retained for approximately 90 days). or Cancel checkout on the Vault document. This ignores Graph API errors and returns the document to a usable state.

Unable to Cancel Checkout from Microsoft Office

Error: Unable to cancel checkout from Microsoft Office - A Vault or Microsoft Office error occurred. Please try again. If the problem persists, contact your Vault Administrator.

Cause	Fix
The checkout coincided with a Vault restart for maintenance or downtime, leaving the checkout in a corrupted state.	Submit a support ticket requesting Office Edit Version Cleanup.

No Collaborative Authoring Actions Available

In the circumstances below, collaborative authoring actions are not available for the document.

Cause	Fix
The user is trying to use collaborative authoring on a non-supported file type. Only DOCX, XLSX, XLSM, and PPTX are supported. Older Microsoft Office file types (DOC, XLS, PPT) are not supported, and macro-enabled Microsoft Word file types (DOCM) are not supported.	Confirm the file type. Collaborative authoring’s Edit action is not displayed for unsupported types.
The user does not have Edit Document permission.	Confirm the user’s role on the document and in what states the role should have Edit Document permission.

PowerShell Configuration Script Errors

PowerShell configuration script errors can occur when running the provided PowerShell scripts.

Failed to Grant Permission to Site

Error: Granting Collaborative Authoring Entra ID app permission to the SharePoint Site… Write-Error: Failed to grant permission to site.

Cause	Fix
The user running the PowerShell script is not an Owner in the SharePoint site’s membership. This should only occur when updating an existing site (migrating from the legacy configuration).	Add the user as an Owner on the SharePoint site, then rerun the PowerShell script.

Failed to Create Admin App

Error: Creating temporary Entra ID admin app… Write-Error: Failed to create admin app.

Cause	Fix
An incorrect value was provided for the tenant domain.	Check that the tenant domain value is correct and try again.

Failed to Create SharePoint Site

Error: Creating SharePoint site… Write-Error: Failed to create SharePoint site

Cause	Fix
An incorrect value was provided for the SharePoint Admin URL.	Check that the SharePoint Admin URL is correct and try again.

Microsoft Office Errors During Checkout & Editing

Microsoft Office errors may occur when a user is checking out or editing a document due to issues with Microsoft Office. These errors are unrelated to Vault functionality or configuration.

File Moved to a New Location

Error: We can’t open your file. Your file has moved to a new location.

Cause	Fix
A location name was changed on the SharePoint side (such as a site rename or library move).	Work with your SharePoint administrator to undo the change.

Access Denied

Error:

Access Denied - [username] does not have permissions to access this resource.
Access Denied - You do not have access to view this file. Would you like to request for permission on SharePoint?

Cause	Fix
The Site User ID does not match between SharePoint and Entra ID. This is typically a user metadata caching issue on the Entra ID side.	Run the Microsoft diagnostic for Site User ID Mismatch from the Microsoft 365 Admin Center. Search the knowledge base in the Microsoft Customer Service Hub for fix-site-user-id-mismatch and access-denied-or-need-permission-error-sharepointonline-or-onedrive-for-business for more information.

Cause	Fix
Microsoft Office credentials failing or malfunctioning on the user’s device. The user enters their email on the Microsoft login page but is not logged in for collaborative authoring; they are continuously returned to the same login page. This error is seen primarily in Project Vault.	Try opening Microsoft Word in the browser. If it works, restart the device and retry Edit in Desktop Application. If it is still failing, run the Microsoft Office Sign-In Troubleshooting Tool. Select No to most prompts asking if sign-in was successful; this purges Office credentials. Retry Edit in Desktop Application after the tool completes.

Automatic Mentioning Errors

Automatic mentioning errors are displayed in the Grant Access dialog in Microsoft Office. They include the following errors:

These recipients don’t have access to this item. They will not be able to see or reply to your mention unless you give them access.
You do not have permission to grant access to this item. The following people mentioned will not be notified.

Cause	Fix
The mentioned user was not granted edit access for the document in SharePoint because of a workflow configuration issue or limit.	Verify against the automatic mentioning configuration requirements: The workflow must have a collaborative authoring System Action step. Manual checkouts do not support automatic @mentioning. The user must have Edit Document and Download Source role permissions per the Sharing Settings at the time the System Action step runs. The user must hold the participant role that receives the workflow task before the System Action checkout step, or use the Add Participant action on the workflow after the checkout step. Adding a user only to Sharing Settings, or only to a workflow participant role, is not supported. External or Guest users are not supported, which is a Microsoft limitation. Sessions with 100 or more participants or task assignees are not supported.
The mentioned user was not granted Edit access for the document in SharePoint because of a missing permission in the Entra ID app.	The Entra ID app must have the User.Read.All Application permission with Admin consent granted.
The user's email in Vault does not match their user account email in Entra ID.	Reconcile the email values. Ensure Send Notification upon Check Out Completion is configured on the System Action step. The notification email contains a CSV with per-user results for diagnosis.

Cause

Fix

The mentioned user was not granted edit access for the document in SharePoint because of a workflow configuration issue or limit.

Verify against the automatic mentioning configuration requirements:

The workflow must have a collaborative authoring System Action step. Manual checkouts do not support automatic @mentioning.
The user must have Edit Document and Download Source role permissions per the Sharing Settings at the time the System Action step runs.
The user must hold the participant role that receives the workflow task before the System Action checkout step, or use the Add Participant action on the workflow after the checkout step. Adding a user only to Sharing Settings, or only to a workflow participant role, is not supported.
External or Guest users are not supported, which is a Microsoft limitation.
Sessions with 100 or more participants or task assignees are not supported.

The mentioned user was not granted Edit access for the document in SharePoint because of a missing permission in the Entra ID app.

The Entra ID app must have the User.Read.All Application permission with Admin consent granted.

The user's email in Vault does not match their user account email in Entra ID.

Reconcile the email values. Ensure Send Notification upon Check Out Completion is configured on the System Action step. The notification email contains a CSV with per-user results for diagnosis.

Workflow Errors

Workflow errors may occur due to issues with the collaborative authoring workflow configuration.

Document Cannot be Updated

Error: [Document Number] cannot be updated because it does not meet the following criteria for entering the state: Content must not be checked out for docVersion.

Cause	Fix
A Check In from Microsoft Office System Action is followed by a state change action in a workflow, and the next state has Content is not checked out entry criteria. The collaborative authoring check-in is asynchronous for performance reasons (to avoid large delays on bulk workflows), so the state change executes before the check-in completes.	Remove the entry criteria, or insert a manual task between the Check In System Action and the state change action so the user proceeds only when check-in is complete.

Unable to Perform Checkout

Error: Unable to perform checkout at this time. This document is locked by another user.

Cause	Fix
A lifecycle entry action is configured to check the document out when it reaches a specific state (for example, In Authoring) at the same time that a workflow System Action also checks it out for automatic mentioning. The system attempts two checkouts in succession and the second checkout fails.	Remove the lifecycle entry action. The workflow’s System Action already performs the checkout.

Troubleshooting Using the Collaborative Authoring Error Log

In addition to using the troubleshooting information in this article, Admins can access the Collaborative Authoring Error Log, which provides raw diagnostic strings to help Admins further investigate collaborative authoring errors. The log allows Admins to confirm or deepen a diagnosis they already started from a user support request. See Collaborative Authoring Error Log for information about reviewing errors in the log.