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Since August 22, 2016, Microsoft upgraded the Office 2016 32-bit version for Mac to a 64-bit version. Some users encountered the 'Compile Error in Hidden Module' error after upgrading to the 64-bit version, both on Mac and Windows computers.
The cause of this error might be 32-bit add-ins incompatible with the 64-bit Office version for Mac. In other words, certain add-ins on Mac OS X contain code incompatible with Office 2026.
In this article, Mytour will guide you through various methods to fix the 'Compile Error in Hidden Module' when opening Word and Excel files.
Fixing the 'Compile Error in Hidden Module' when opening Word and Excel files on Mac
Method 1: Disable add-ins incompatible with Office 2016 64-bit for Mac
Step 1: Open the Office 2016 application installed on your Mac and disable add-ons.
Step 2: Once completed, navigate to Tools and open Templates and Add-ins.
Step 3: All available add-ins will be displayed in the list of Global Templates and Add-ins.
Step 4: To disable add-ins incompatible with Office 2016 64-bit for Mac, click the + or - icon.
Step 5: Once completed, click OK and restart the application to check for any remaining errors.
Method 2: Drag the file linkCreation.dotm to the desktop and refresh Word
Step 1: Close the Word application on your Mac.
Step 2: Open the directory: -/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office/User Content/Word.
Step 3: In the Word directory, locate and drag the file named dotm to the desktop.
Step 4: Refresh the Word application and check if the 'Compile Error in Hidden Module' persists.
Fixing the 'Compile Error in Hidden Module' when opening Word, Excel files on Windows
The 'Compile error in hidden module' also occurs when opening Word, Excel files on Windows computers. This error may occur if the Microsoft Office Startup folder or the Microsoft Excel Startup folder contains Pdfmaker.dot and Pdfmaker.xla files from the Adobe Acrobat PDFMaker add-in.
Additionally, this error also occurs on systems, Windows computers running Norton AntiVirus software.
Here are some ways to fix the 'Compile error in hidden module' when opening Word, Excel files on Windows computers:
Method 1: Download the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat 5.0 add-in
To fix the 'Compile error in hidden module' when opening Word, Excel files on Windows computers, the simplest way is to download the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat 5.0 add-in and install it. Then, check if the error persists.
To download and install the Adobe Acrobat 5.0 add-in, visit here: Download Adobe Acrobat
Method 2: Relocate the Pdfmaker.dot and Pdfmaker.xla files
Access the Office or Excel Startup folder and locate the Pdfmaker.dot and Pdfmaker.xla files. If both files are located in the same folder, it can cause a 'Compile error in hidden module'. To fix this issue, the solution is to move the files to the My Documents folder.
Method 3: Use cmd to register OCX files
Step 1: Enter command prompt in the Search box on the Start Menu, right-click on it in the search results list, select Run as Administrator to open the Command Prompt window with Admin privileges.
Step 2: On the Command Prompt window, execute the following commands:
- If you are running Windows 32-bit, input the following commands:
regsvr32 -u c:windowssystem32mscomctl.ocx
regsvr32 c:windowssystem32mscomctl.ocx
- For Windows 64-bit:
regsvr32 -u c:windowssyswow64mscomctl.ocx
regsvr32 c:windowssyswow64mscomctl.ocx.
Finally, try opening Word and Excel files on both Windows and Mac computers to see if the error still occurs.
If the 'Compile error in hidden module' persists, the final solution to fix the error is to use antivirus tools and malware removal software to scan your system.
So in this article, Mytour has just guided you through some ways to fix the 'Compile Error in Hidden Module' when opening Word, Excel files on Mac and Windows computers. Additionally, readers can also refer to other articles on Mytour to learn how to fix Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close error on Mac.
