Microsoft Office not opening on a Mac OS X 10.8

[Purplehouse29]

Hi so I'm having trouble launching Microsoft Office 2011 applications on my mac with OS X 10.8 and I have Mavericks installed (which I now regret oh so much). I've read a few other forums with similar problems but their problems all involved some type of error message or control of office applications when I click on Word, Excel, Powerpoint or Outlook they just bounce twice and then nothing, no error message. They are not open in Force Quit Applications. I tried uninstalling office - properly - and re installing, it's the still the same.

I had some documents open in Word which were working normally and when I noticed the problem with Excel, I checked PPt and Outlook they too didn't open and when I restarted my computer, Word stopped working of course. Any suggestions?

 

[GGJstudios]

I had some documents open in Word which were working normally and when I noticed the problem with Excel, I checked PPt and Outlook they too didn't open and when I restarted my computer, Word stopped working of course. Any suggestions?

You might try using the Font Book app to validate the fonts on your computer, then restart and try launching MS Office apps. If that doesn't work, launch Font Book again and click File > Restore System Fonts, then restart your Mac and try MS Office apps again.

 

[Purplehouse29]

Ok so now I get an "Microsoft Word/Powerpoint quit unexpectedly" message if I try to open them but not one from excel or outlook... None of them work still though.

 

[snorkelman]

is your copy up to date? current online update available for Office 2011 is 14.4.4

14.4. update is available down near the bottom of this page on microsofts site:

link here

Bit of a long shot if its already been working with Mavericks up till now, though your reinstall copy may be a fair few versions behind 14.4.4 depending on how long ago you got it

 

[GGJstudios]

Ok so now I get an "Microsoft Word/Powerpoint quit unexpectedly" message if I try to open them but not one from excel or outlook... None of them work still though.

When they quit unexpectedly, is there an option to view details of the error?

 

[campyguy]

I'm a long time MS Office user. I feel your pain - we have many copies of 2011, and some of them act up on occasion.

If all of the apps are not launching properly, it's obviously a common resource. But, consider creating a new user account and try running an MS app then.

The FIRST place I'd start is the application named MERP - the MS Office Autoupdate app. We update our Mac Office suite manually, and disable auto updates - it caused crashing as you're describing. Open the MERP app - its in the Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MERP2.0 folder, the "Microsoft Error Reporting" app. Run it, choose the Preferences and uncheck "Enable Microsoft Error Reporting", restart your Mac, and try opening an Office app again. It's in the root Library folder, not your user Library folder.

The next step is to look for, and delete if you find it - an old MS font named Vivaldi has caused grief on some of our Macs. Delete it. Restart your Mac, and try running an Office app.

Next:
If one or all of the MS apps run in the new user account but still not in your account, then you're looking at something in your user account.

Switch back to your user account that's causing problems and delete the Microsoft User Data folder in the Documents folder - don't delete your Trash - then restart an Office app. The next step would be to remove MS items from your user Library folder - if you ran the MS uninstaller, you still have files to remove, below.

The other files you might have missed are that Microsoft folder that contains the MERP and MAU folders, all of the preferences in your Library folder, and the Microsoft folder in the ~/Library/Application Support folder - I'd wager that something was left behind.

Restart your Mac, and try running an Office App. The final steps are more "drastic", but there's a good start. Time to turn in...

 

[Purplehouse29]

Next:
If one or all of the MS apps run in the new user account but still not in your account, then you're looking at something in your user account.

Switch back to your user account that's causing problems and delete the Microsoft User Data folder in the Documents folder - don't delete your Trash - then restart an Office app. The next step would be to remove MS items from your user Library folder - if you ran the MS uninstaller, you still have files to remove, below.

The other files you might have missed are that Microsoft folder that contains the MERP and MAU folders, all of the preferences in your Library folder, and the Microsoft folder in the ~/Library/Application Support folder - I'd wager that something was left behind.

Restart your Mac, and try running an Office App. The final steps are more "drastic", but there's a good start. Time to turn in...

ok the first two options didn't work but what kind of user account are you talking about? Not a Microsoft email account right?

 

[Purplehouse29]

Ok I made the account you were talking about but it says that either I don't have any other accounts or apps or that they are inaccessible

 

[campyguy]

ok the first two options didn't work but what kind of user account are you talking about? Not a Microsoft email account right?

From an administrator user account:
System Preferences > Users & Groups > Click the lock to make changes > Enter password > "+" Button > Create a New Account

I use an Admin account ONLY for adding/updating apps and administering my Mac or PCs, and work/play from Standard Accounts. I don't let any of my employees have an admin account, and that logic has served me well - one can bung up an account, but not the System. That written, create a New Standard Account and follow my directions from my previous post...