I am trying to find info on Office 2008.

[james427]

My copy stopped working and gave me a message I had to update. When I did it wanted me to pay for a subscription. So, I deleted the software and reinstalled and had the same problem. Is there a workaround for this? I paid good money years ago for this program.

 

[throAU]

My copy stopped working and gave me a message I had to update. When I did it wanted me to pay for a subscription. So, I deleted the software and reinstalled and had the same problem. Is there a workaround for this? I paid good money years ago for this program.

If you aren't going to pay for an upgrade - don't update it. You may need to roll back to an earlier version of macOS to continue to use it (as newer versions of macOS have dropped features it probably needs).

You paid for that software 10-12 years ago - and you got a product that ran with the then current version of macOS (which would have been Leopard if I recall). Time and technology has moved on and the 10 year extended support time frame Microsoft give on office is well and truly expired.

 

[eRondeau]

There are work-arounds for most Mac issues except trying to run decade-old 32-bit apps on a modern MacOS. To echo what the previous poster said, if you can find a decade-old Mac with decade-old accessories your decade-old MS Office should run just fine. And they're out there -- I've got several of 'em of that vintage that still work perfectly.

 

[chscag]

My copy stopped working and gave me a message I had to update. When I did it wanted me to pay for a subscription. So, I deleted the software and reinstalled and had the same problem. Is there a workaround for this? I paid good money years ago for this program.

Did you upgrade to Catalina? Office 2008 is 32 bit and will not work with Catalina. It does work without upgrading with versions of macOS up to Mojave. Whenever you upgrade macOS you need to make sure your apps are compatible with the new version.

 

[TiggrToo]

As others have said, this is 12 year old software. It is totally unsupported and reached end of life eons ago.

Your choices are:

1. Stay on Mojave or lower and keep using 2008. It shouldn't nag you to update.
2. Upgrade to Catlina and purchase a new license or subscription to Office (2008 will not work on Catalina).
3. Forget Office and migrate to Libre Office or use the Mac alternatives or other Office like apps

Personally I'd not stay on 2008. Security wise it's leakier than the Titanic was after it took a nosedive into an iceberg.

 

[WilliamDu]

My copy stopped working and gave me a message I had to update. When I did it wanted me to pay for a subscription. So, I deleted the software and reinstalled and had the same problem. Is there a workaround for this? I paid good money years ago for this program.

If you really need Office and haven't upgraded to Catalina, keep using 2008 without an update if you can. Microsoft pushes everyone to 365 for obvious reasons. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. I used 2008 ten years until I put my head where the sun don't shine.
I bitterly regret upgrading to Office 365/2016 which is FULL of bugs as well as having to pay the annual subscription. Catalina has its own issues.

 

[james427]

My copy stopped working and gave me a message I had to update. When I did it wanted me to pay for a subscription. So, I deleted the software and reinstalled and had the same problem. Is there a workaround for this? I paid good money years ago for this program.

Thank you so much for the info. I did upgrade to Cat. Now I know what happened.

 

[WilliamDu]

Thank you so much for the info. I did upgrade to Cat. Now I know what happened.

I'm not touching Catalina because of iTunes/Photos issues and general mess created by miserable software QC at Apple.
Even holding off needed upgrade to new 27" iMac since Apple can't assure me they can get Mojave back on one if I buy it.
I guess you're stuck with going to 365 if Apple's Work stuff won't do.
I haven't tried it but my grandson used to use it on his laptop for college work.
I may see if I can transfer my large Excel files to Numbers, but they're pretty complex and my macros may not transfer.
Outlook and Word 2016 work OK, but Excel 2016, while working, will twist you in knots trying to figure out why it acts up in spreadsheets and does really wierd things on Charts. It won't provide fine granularity or correct adjustments on X axis, and is just generally a pain in the a--, compared to 2008.
If you use dates on the X axis, you'll need to subtract about 4 years from what you want to get correct adjustment figures on the chart. Microsoft refuses to acknowledge these gremlins.
Good luck