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Microsoft Releases Office for Mac 2008 Updates to Address Open XML Bug

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Microsoft today released a pair of updates to address a bug introduced in Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 2 released last month that prevented users from opening some Office documents saved in Microsoft's Open XML format. A description of the issue is included on Microsoft's support document regarding the update.

Compatibility is improved. This update fixes an issue that causes Office 2008 for Mac to display an error message that resembles the following:

"Microsoft Excel cannot open the file. You may have to download the latest updates for Office for Mac. Do you want to visit the Microsoft Web site for more information?"
Click to expand...
- Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.1 Update (23.8 MB)
- Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.1 (45.1 MB)

Article Link: Microsoft Releases Office for Mac 2008 Updates to Address Open XML Bug
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/06/micrsoft-releases-office-for-mac-2008-updates-to-address-open-xml-bug/
I just realized the problem existed yesterday when my boss sent me an xlsx file from Office 2007 and I couldn't open it...
 
For people too lazy to download the update manually: In one of the Office apps, select Help -> Check for Updates. Quit your Office apps while the download is in progress. A few clicks later you Office apps will be updated.
 
Word is the only program I've bought and intend to use, so I'm glad to get updates whenever they come. I just wish Microsoft would do something about my incapacity to add new words to a Custom Dictionary. >_< It's just not me - at least four other people in the world have this problem. =P
 
English version only...

Seems that the latest 'Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.1 Update (23.8 MB)' is only for the English version?

'Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.1 (45.1 MB)' is for all languages.

Greets
 
Dokter_Mac said:
Seems that the latest 'Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.1 Update (23.8 MB)' is only for the English version?

'Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.1 (45.1 MB)' is for all languages.

Greets
Click to expand...

"The English version of this update is live right now, and we're following with the other languages very soon. "

From Nadyne's blog on the Mactopia website
 
You cannot install Office 2008 12.2.1 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume.

To learn how to fix this issue, see "I can't install Office 2008 for Mac updates" at http://www.microsoft.com/mac/help.mspx.
Click to expand...

Edit: Had to install 2008 12.2.0 (from AutoUpdate) first, only then would 2008 12.2.1 "take" (and it showed up immediately in AutoUpdate after the 2008 12.2.0 update completed).

So don't bother to download the 12.2.1 update from microsoft.com/download unless you are already on 12.2.0. Its not a combo update...
 
Ok, this is great and all, but where is the announcement for Entourage for Web Services ?!?

We were told at WWDC it would be available when SP2 was released, and when SP2 was released, MS said they'd be making an announcement shortly.

I suppose in MS's world, shortly can mean several weeks.
 
On one of my Macs the installer simply froze. I had to use Force Quit. Then I started the download all over again and it worked fine. That's just what happened to me the last time I did an Office update.
 
John.B said:
Edit: Had to install 2008 12.2.0 (from AutoUpdate) first, only then would 2008 12.2.1 "take" (and it showed up immediately in AutoUpdate after the 2008 12.2.0 update completed).

So don't bother to download the 12.2.1 update from microsoft.com/download unless you are already on 12.2.0. Its not a combo update...
Click to expand...

12.2.1 is an incremental update instead of a combo update because a combo updater takes longer to get out. Incremental updates require much less testing, so they're faster to get out. We didn't want to make anyone wait any longer than they had to.

Also, the Japanese updater is live now too, with the other languages following shortly.

Regards,
Nadyne.
 
nadyne said:
It's coming soon. :)

Regards,
Nadyne.
Click to expand...

I suppose the longer it takes Microsoft to make an announcement with regard to a release date for EWS, the closer we'll be to the actual release. :eek::eek::eek:

I'm definitely sad that I cannot update to SP2 as I'm locked into using the EWS beta and there's no way I'm going back to the old (though confusingly - now, newer) version of Entourage.
 
nadyne said:
12.2.1 is an incremental update instead of a combo update because a combo updater takes longer to get out. Incremental updates require much less testing, so they're faster to get out. We didn't want to make anyone wait any longer than they had to.
Click to expand...
Thank you, Nadyne. Re-reading the doco on this, its clear that 12.2.0 was SP2 and that 12.2.1 was an incremental update. I just jumped the gun on the news and tried to install 12.2.1 (without 12.2.0 installed yet) and the resulting error wasn't clear, so I wanted to post in case anyone besides me didn't follow instructions. :)

I, for one, am appreciative that I can run Office for Mac at home. It allows me to collaborate with work documents while running my MacBook as a Mac (no Fusion or Parallels). Thanks!!!

John_B
 
That was a good reaction time from Microsoft. I updated my Excel 08 copy at work to 12.0 the very day the update came out and I could no longer open a few important files. Fortunately, I still had my personal laptop with the "unupdated" Excel.

Yesterday's patch fixed that bug. Thank you Microsoft.

Now, how to fix images in some Word files sent over from PC to not show as black boxes is another story. Funny, but Pages shows these images ok, but it completely screws up overall formatting of the document.
 
Ericatomars said:
Ugh... how i don't miss Microsoft word... Nothing but headaches... i love pages, easy to use and gets the job done!
Click to expand...
I share your sentiments but in the biz community it's an "Office" world.

Sadly, Office 2008 removed macros and OpenOffice is starting to look pretty good to me. I've been testing OO on some MS correspondence and it's been opening some pretty complex documents without problems so far.
 
Doctor Q said:
On one of my Macs the installer simply froze. I had to use Force Quit. Then I started the download all over again and it worked fine. That's just what happened to me the last time I did an Office update.
Click to expand...
Ditto here. It told me to quit Word. When I obeyed, the installer froze.

I had similar problems updating version 12.0 to 12.2 with all the service packs.

Microsoft's installers for the mac suck ass.
 
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