You receive a “There has been a network or file permission error. The network connection may be lost” error message when you work over a network in Word

To work around this problem, use one of the following methods.

Method 1: Save the File to Your Local Disk

If you cannot save the file to a network drive or share, try to save the file to your local disk. To do this, follow these steps:

1. With the file open, click Save As on the File menu.
2. In the Save As dialog box, change the Save in box to the location to which you want to save the file, and then click Save.
3. On the File menu, click Close to close the file.

At a later time, you may want to reopen the file that you saved on your local computer and then try to save the file on your network drive or share.

Method 2: Use a UNC Path in the Save Dialog Box

If you cannot save the file to a network drive or share as usual, try to save the file by using the UNC (Universal Naming Convention) path. To do this, follow these steps:

1. On the File menu, click Save As.
2. In the File name box, type the full UNC path to the location to which you are attempting to save. For example, type a UNC path similar to the following:
   
   
   \\server name\share\file name.doc
   NOTE: Alternatively, you can type the server name portion of the UNC path and then browse to the location to which you want to save your document.
3. Click Save.

Method 3: Use a Mapped Drive

If you cannot save the file to a network drive or share as usual, try to save the file by using a mapped drive. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Right-click Start and then click Explore on the shortcut menu.
2. On the Tools menu, click Map Network Drive.
3. In the Map Network Drive dialog box, select the drive letter and network location (drive or share) to which you want to connect, and then click OK or Finish.
4. In Microsoft Word, click Save As on the File menu.
5. In the Save As dialog box, change the Save in box to the mapped drive or share that you created in step 3, and then click Save.

Method 4: Try to Save the File at a Later Time

If the problem only occurs during certain times of the day, the cause may be excessive network traffic. Networks have physical limitations on the number of connections and the amount of data that can be transferred. If these limits are exceeded, you may receive the error message in the "Symptoms" section of this article when you try to save a file to a share. In this case, you can try to save the file at a later time.