A known issue was introduced by Windows updates released on or after June 9, 2026, causing certain third-party applications that use OLE automation to launch Microsoft Office applications or open documents to fail. Affected Office apps include Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access. The failure may occur silently without error messages. Third-party applications reported to be affected include CCH Engagement, Zotero, Workpaper Manager, and dental software such as Dentrix and Softdent. Microsoft is actively investigating and developing a fix, which will be included in a future Windows update. Until then, Microsoft recommends opening Office apps or documents directly as a workaround. Enterprise customers have access to additional workarounds via Microsoft Support for Business.

Users of certain third-party applications that rely on OLE automation to interact with Microsoft Office applications may be unable to launch Office apps or open Office documents after installing the affected Windows updates. This disrupts workflows that depend on automated Office integration, potentially impacting productivity. The issue does not appear to cause data loss or security breaches but results in application launch failures without error messages, complicating troubleshooting.

Microsoft advises affected users to open Microsoft Office applications or documents directly instead of launching them through third-party applications as a temporary workaround. Enterprise customers can contact Microsoft Support for Business to obtain a separate workaround applicable organization-wide. Microsoft is working on an official fix to be delivered in a future Windows update. Patch status is not yet confirmed — check the vendor advisory for current remediation guidance.