Excel won't mail as a PDF file.

Question

_{Tuesday, December 20, 2016 11:42 AM}

Hello!

I have the following problem. Whenever I want to email a excel file to one of my cleints I try that in the following way: I go to file --> Share --> Email. From there I want to send it as a PDF. 

If I click on that option I get the following pop-up: "General mail failure. Quit Microsoft Excel, restart the mail system, and try again"

I tried that like over 20 times now ;)

I can send it as a appendix without any problems. 

I have repaired Microsoft Office 2013. This didnt helped.

I really hope someone can help me out.

PS: I know I can just save the file as a PDF and just email that, but mailing from excel used the work like a charm. It just doesnt work anymore.

All replies (5)

_{Wednesday, December 21, 2016 7:57 AM}

Hi OldShatterGeek,

>> It just doesnt work anymore.

By this, do you mean this is a recently happened issue? Have you ever made any changes to your system or Office during that time period?
Does this error only occur to a specific Excel file? If this is your case, please try copying the content to a new blank workbook then check if it can work as expected.

If the issue can be reproduced in all Excel files, it is recommended to try reinstalling Office to check if there will be any improvement.

By the way, have you tried closing outlook application before using this function to mail as a PDF?

Please feel free to post back with any updates.

Best regards,
Yuki Sun

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped.

If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

_{Monday, December 26, 2016 7:44 AM}

Hi OldShatterGeek,

We have heard from other customers about the same issue which might be related to a recent security update for Excel 2013 (KB3128008). We are trying to confirming this via an internal resource and will let you know the result if we get any update.

For now, please try having a check via Start > Setting > Update & Security > Update history to see if you could find the Security Update for Microsoft Excel 2013 (KB3128008) 32-Bit Edition.

Best regards,
Yuki Sun

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped.

If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

_{Thursday, December 29, 2016 11:00 AM}

Hi OldShatterGeek,

We have received confirmation from the product team that this is a known issue with KB3128008, and the product team are working on it. Please check for and install the future updates via this link.

Besides, since this is a security update, it is not suggested to uninstall it. For now, we'd recommend you temporarily convert to PDF and send from Outlook as a workaround.

Thanks for your understanding.

Best regards,
Yuki Sun

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped.

If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

_{Wednesday, January 4, 2017 8:05 AM}

Hi OldShatterGeek,

Thank you for the reports. Here is latest information on the issue:

After Excel 2013 update, Send as PDF and Send as XPS commands no longer work
Fixes or workarounds for recent issues in Excel for Windows.

This impacts both MSI and Click-to-Run customers and a fix is forthcoming. As a workaround, we recommend saving workbooks as PDF or XPS and then sending as attachments in Outlook or another email program.

We will let you know once the problem is solved.

Best regards,
Yuki Sun

Please remember to mark the replies as answers if they helped.

If you have feedback for TechNet Subscriber Support, contact [email protected].

_{Wednesday, January 11, 2017 3:47 AM}

Good news, everyone. The fix for the Send as PDF/XPS issue is available.

• MSI users can get the fix by installing KB3141475.
• Click-to-run users can get the fix by updating to 15.0.4893.1002. You can either wait until you're prompted to update or get in immediately via File > Account > Update Options >  Update Now.

Thanks for your patience here!