Microsoft releases new updates for Office 2004, 2008 for Mac

[AppleInsider]

Microsoft on Tuesday evening released a new update for Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac that bundles a number changes aimed at improving the overall stability and performance of the new productivity suite. Separately, it issued a patch for Office 2004 for Mac that allows the older software to support documents saved by newer versions of Office.

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.1 Update

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.1 Update [153MB English] arrives a little more than a month after the Redmond, Wash.-based company first began to fortify the software suite with the release of Service Pack 1 (SP1). The new patch delivers better preservation of formatting in Word documents, improved reliability when working with Excel files, enhanced performance of PowerPoint, and a more stable version of Entourage.

Specifically, Microsoft said Word now preserves macros and multiple spaces between words in documents that were created in or saved by Word 2008 for Mac or by Microsoft Office Word 2007. It also fixes an issue that prevents Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac SP1 from opening Word documents downloaded from the Web. Other improvements to Word include better preservation of items in Notebook layout, font sizes in tables, and dates in charts.

Similarly, Excel has also gained a fix that will now allow documents downloaded from the Web to open correctly when double-clicked. The spreadsheet application also sports improved reliability of chart updates, reference links, and formula calculations and edits. Another fix targets an issue that caused Excel 2008 to reject the entry of international decimal separators in some Error Amount entry boxes.

Meanwhile, PowerPoint was updated with a fix to an issue that caused the presentation software to take a long time to open files that rely on the "DFP" family of fonts, while Entourage gained a fix to an issue that caused the email and personal information management application to quit unexpectedly when a Mac was being woken up from sleep.

Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.0 Update

Separately on Tuesday, Microsoft also issued Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.0 Update [59MB English], which improves compatibility when using documents that were created in Office 2008 for Mac and in 2007 Office for Windows.

For users who've installed the Open XML File Format Converter for Mac, this update enables Office 2004 for Mac to read and to write Office documents that are in Open XML Format. The update also improves stability, Microsoft said.

Also on Tuesday, AppleInsider reported that Microsoft's Mac Business Unit has kicked off the largest hiring spree in its history as it prepares to accelerate development of a new wave of software products for Mac users.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

[elliots11]

Can you move around in Spaces in Leopard without Word 2008 freaking out? I've run all the updates and will do this one, but it still acts buggy where 2004 didn't.

[secretvampire]

Can you move around in Spaces in Leopard without Word 2008 freaking out? I've run all the updates and will do this one, but it still acts buggy where 2004 didn't.

This is my #1 gripe as well, both Word and Excel 2008 do not play nice with Spaces and it irks the hell out of me.

[walkerdarin2003]

Originally Posted by elliots11

Can you move around in Spaces in Leopard without Word 2008 freaking out? I've run all the updates and will do this one, but it still acts buggy where 2004 didn't.

AGREED!! I hate this so much. I use spaces to organize what I am working on in school and this takes a big shit on my thought process.

[sparcd]

I still get the .doc.dot extension when download a .doc file in Safari. Why couldn't they have sorted this problem?

[miamitranceman]

Originally Posted by elliots11

Can you move around in Spaces in Leopard without Word 2008 freaking out? I've run all the updates and will do this one, but it still acts buggy where 2004 didn't.

Haha, I was just going to post the exact same question. They gotta fix that already!

[Paladinkn00be]

Seriously?
It took microsoft 1.5 years to release a patch for Office 2004 to work with their stupid new document format? Openoffice and iWork have supported this format with out an extra convertion program for almost the last year and half. I had problems with a teacher and her inability to save in a normal format and my inability to read microsoft's special format.
I hate you Microsoft. Way to not get the job done in an efficient amount of time without alienating customers.

[Vanka]

Last week I gave in and bought Office 2008 for my personal computer. Seriously, it might NOT be worth the upgrade if you haven't already...matter of fact, I regret it big time. It takes a solid 30 seconds to open a document!!! I keep my computer in tip-top shape and don't have it bogged down with third party apps. But yet it takes this long to open a document??? Geez...that's ridiculous. And this occurs with having already launched the application once during a session.

I don't know how much longer we can trust Microsoft and their mac department. I'm anxious for apple to keep making iWork better. I mean, I'm actually tempted to reload the old office 2004 version...very little is to gain from this upgrade. What a waste of money and time. Office 2004 worked pretty well...I never felt limited and it launched almost instantly. I was simply looking for a new interface and a few more features. Not a bogged down, slower program that takes 30 seconds to load. Oh, and the very first time I tried doing the update, it froze. Word stopped working. I had to delete everything and reinstall the software and, just today, did the current updates. This time, it finished...however, the last "minute" took about 8 minutes...I was worried it had froze again. The first time, I let it process for an hour before having to force-quit the update.

Very disappointed...4 years and this is what they come up with?

[guinness]

I'm surprised the same company can come out with a really good version (2007), and also a really flaky version (2008).

This update improved speed and stability for me, but the Spaces problem remains (and I thought it was just me).

[Vanka]

I haven't tried out spaces with this version...I guess I shouldn't given that people are having problems.

The thing is, I want Microsoft Office to succeed but when you hear Ballmer always trying to play down Apple products to only end up eating his words, I have to wonder how much they really want their mac development team to do well. It will always be profitable for them regardless if it works well.

BTW, I think the launch time has decreased a little...before this update I just did today, it varied from 40 seconds to a full minute. Now it seems to take 30 seconds but I just relaunched it and it took only 20 seconds this time. I wonder why it speeds up and slows down like that.

[mdcat]

Originally Posted by AppleInsider

Microsoft on Tuesday evening released a new update for M
Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.0 Update

Separately on Tuesday, Microsoft also issued Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.0 Update [59MB English], which improves compatibility when using documents that were created in Office 2008 for Mac and in 2007 Office for Windows.

For users who've installed the Open XML File Format Converter for Mac, this update enables Office 2004 for Mac to read and to write Office documents that are in Open XML Format. The update also improves stability, Microsoft said.

Also on Tuesday, AppleInsider reported that Microsoft's Mac Business Unit has kicked off the largest hiring spree in its history as it prepares to accelerate development of a new wave of software products for Mac users.

[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]

I guess it doesn't apply to Tiger/Word2004 users because when I seek an update
from within the program it tells me that none is available. My version of Word2004 is 11.3.8 (at least,
according to About; I understand that some past updates have not changed the version and I have all the
previous updates.

[palex9]

Originally Posted by sparcd

I still get the .doc.dot extension when download a .doc file in Safari. Why couldn't they have sorted this problem?

because MS is run by boneheads that keep some bugs alive for years even though thousands of users complain!

[Cubit]

Originally Posted by palex9

because MS is run by boneheads that keep some bugs alive for years even though thousands of users complain!

I cannot open my Excel 2004 files in the new Excel 2008. Even if I attempt to open a new Workbook in Excel 2008 and paste in the entire workbook from Excel 2008, I only get a file that has the text, but all the formulae have disappeared. Suggestions.

There is absolutely no answer to this on any Mactopia, Microsoft Q&A or anything else that I can find...

[somethinbaloo]

have you tried reopening in office 2004 and resaving as a different file? if that doesnt work you can open in open office and resave. I have seen this glitch occur on windows side between ms office and open office before. I know your situation is between office and office but its still worth a try.

[Cubit]

Originally Posted by somethinbaloo

have you tried reopening in office 2004 and resaving as a different file? if that doesnt work you can open in open office and resave. I have seen this glitch occur on windows side between ms office and open office before. I know your situation is between office and office but its still worth a try.

Thank you for your suggestions and offer to help. I have tried it, with completely new name, but nothing happens when I attempt to open it within the application or by double-clicking on the

If I copy the file and paste it in, I get only the whole spreadsheet as text files, correctly entered, but all the regular formula from the original .xls file missing. Changing a cell's value changes nothing in the calculations.

This is a problem, since we are talking about all my financial records for the past couple of years before I bought my apartment...