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Microsoft Office 2008 SP1 (12.1): problems installing, launching apps -- fixes
[Wednesday, May 14th]
Applications won't launch Some users are unable to launch any Microsoft Office 2008 applications after applying the SP1 (12.1) update. In some cases, the setup assistant repeatedly launches in place of the intended application.
One reader writes:
"After installing SP1 for Microsoft Office, I can no longer launch any of the applications. Every time I try to launch Word, etc. - the Setup Assistant runs. I go through the assistant, close it and try to launch the app again and the setup assistant starts up again. I have restarted the computer. No effect - I get stuck in a setup assistant loop. Is anyone else seeing this?"
Fix: If you are experiencing this problem, delete the following files:
- ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/Microsoft Office 2008 Settings.plist
- /Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Office/OfficePID.plist
then launch the problematic application(s) and enter your Office 2008 serial number.
Double-clicking documents doesn't open them Other users have reported an issue in which double-clicking documents to trigger an Office application launch no longer works.
One reader writes:
"Is it just me, or has the SP1 update for Office 2008 broken the ability to open an Office application and load a document by double-clicking on a document? Since this morning's update, double-clicking on either Word or Excel files launches the corresponding application, but fails to load the document. Rebooting or rebuilding the Launch Services database have no effect, nor does repairing the permissions."
MacFixIt reader Louis Hecht reports a similar issue:
Fix: If you're experiencing similar issues, try updating prebinding by launching the Terminal (located in /Applications/Utilities) and entering the following command:"I just downloaded and installed...everything seems to work well except when MSWord is executed by choosing an existing document, does not open the (intended) document, but instead opens a new document."
- sudo update_prebinding -debug -root / -force
You'll be required to enter an administrator password.
Applications will not update Some users have reported a problem in which the 12.1 update fails to apply to some Office applications. In these cases, your best bet is to delete the entire Office 2008 folder from /Applications, reinstall from the original media and re-attempt the update.
Keychain issues We've received some reports of keychain issues after the 12.1 update. One reader writes:
"I installed successfully (can you imagine?) Office 2008 SP1. Immediately, Entourage 2008 began to require that I allow incoming.isp.net access to keychain so that my accounts can access my email accounts. I clicked on ?Always Allow? but have to do this every time the program or my selection attempts send/receive."
If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let ue know.
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Rebuild the launchservices database - that's what fixed it for me.
I use OnyX - a great free utility that easily and safely does this.
Scott
My docs were'nt opening from the finder (only Win docs), updating prebinding solved the issue (Tiger)
Sorry, I was wrong. Both remedies did not work. My Win Doc files still dont'open by doubleclicking then of dragging them on the app icon. They from inside the application
Find one of the "PC" docs and get info on it.
Re-select Excel as the app under open with, and select "change all"
Try now - does it work?
I too saw the PC docs showing as generic under the Get Info tab.
Scott
No of course it does not, they are files word not excel. They open regularly from inside the application
Come on Mario, use your noggin.
For Excel docs, choose Excel.
For Word docs, choose Word.
For me, MS Office is very slow to launch, and Word crashes routinely (iMac 24", 2.1 MHz, Tiger). Updating to 12.01 does not work - the installer cannot find a program to update. MS Word insists in telling me what to do all the time. To change default font, I had to dig deep into my user library to find the correct file to change. *Very* counterintuitive! For every new version of eh Office package I've had to spend hours turning off "features".
I have been a faithful customer. I have bought and used MS Word since version 1.0 for the Mac Plus but now: I've had it. I have installed Open Office 3.0 beta, it is fast in comparison despite some rough edges, but I have not had any problems. Sigh, the richest company in the word cannot design a decent word processing program...
Hi Scott,
Thanks, the OnyX worked for me as well as the download originally failed to install, just sort of looped and repeated the download - all the other suggestions did not work.
Strange I have two machines, the upgrade worked first time on my MacMini but failed on the iMac 24ins...
Much appreciated..
PowerBook G4 15"
Mac OSX 10.4.11
Experiencing the same problem with many of my Word docs. I tried updating the prebinding, rebooting, rebuilding the Launch Services database, and repaired the permissions. Nothing so far has worked.
I am able to fix it on one each individual document by opening the file in Pages and exporting it back out as a word document, but this is not a good answer! I cannot see myself doing this with lots of files!
There has to be a fix somehow. I wish I knew what was different about the documents that do work and the ones that don't. I don't seem to find a pattern as of yet.
-Rodney
Read the suggestion by Scott. It is the standard solution for "lost" document types and "disconnected" documents. I don't know why MacFixIt didn't mention it. The issue has arisen for me from time to time over the years - though not with this Office update. In my experience, setting the default application in Get Info almost always solves the problem.
On another note, it's not just Mac users who are having problems with the new Office document formats. I have friends on Windows PCs who are complaining about not being able to open these files. They are invariably surprised when I tell them that MS changed the document format in the latest version so that older versions of Office need a translation tool to access such files. Microsoft provides the tool but, of course, doesn't publicize the problem, thus leaving millions of users of older versions of Office for Windows in the dark. Way to go MS!
---
Don't anthropomorphize computers.
They hate that.
The problem of files not opening from the finder. It is NOT something which concerns the new files format for Word files, which nobody is using (fortunately).
Mario, stop, read and try again.
Office consists of a number of apps - Excel, Word, PPT, etc.
Please, think about what you read here and apply it properly.
Word to Word
Excel to Excel
You have to be smarter than your posts are showing.
There seems to be some confusion about the nature of the problem. The documents that I am having problems with are not "lost" documents. If I double-click on them, Word 2008 opens up, but the document itself never opens. There is no error message, just no document. I can open the same document in Pages, or in Parallels/Fusion with the Windows version of Word just fine. If I then re-save the document (even without changes) I can then open them in Word 2008. Again, this is not all documents, just some of the .doc documents.
-Rodney
I have this problem but only when trying to open attachments in my email (I use Lotus Notes). Before SP1 no problem, now I have to save and then load. Loading from the Finder is OK for me and works without problems.
I have this same EXACT Problem. Some but not all docs basically open up the Normal template, but not the doc. I too use Lotus Notes 8 and I too started having this behavior when I applied SP1. Called MSFT and they were no help.
Rebuild the launchservices database - a number of free utilities do this, I prefer "OnyX"
Now after doing that and logging out/in (or reboot, but not needed) you need to find a doc of each Office type (.doc, .xls, .ppt) that won't open.
It appears as though the ones causing troubles are generated (or changed/saved) by Office on the PC (don't know if it's a certain version or not)
Get Info on the file that won't open and associate it to Excel 2008 on your Mac. I noticed the icon was off on the ones not working.
Before closing, select "Change all"
Now, all of the Office docs open on my Mac(s) but this is not something I plan on doing on the machines I support so I will not roll out this version until MS fixes this.
Please post on the MS Mac newsgroups or send them an email - they need pressure to get this fixed.
Scott
Thank you Scott. I tried your suggestion (with Onyx) but it does not work. When I try the Change all button after changing the file to excel everything goes back to Word
- by Agi5--2008 May 15, 2008 7:40 AM PDT
>This is a reply to a previous comment by slboettcher
- Like this Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 2 pages (31 Comments)The solution suggested didn't seem to solve my problem. I still can't open some documents by doubleclicking (or dropping on word) after doing the prebinding fix originally recommended and rebuilding the launchservice database with OnyX, restarting and assigning Word/Excel to the files again...(which they seem to be assigned to anyways, so I have to change it to something else and then change it back, otherwise I wouldn't make any noticable change at all). However, while some files open (the ones I made myself on this computer, some of them with earlier version of Office), some documents I received over email (so they might well be generated with Windows Office) still won't open. Any ideas what else I could try?