Word 2008 SP1: still full of bugs

[cmaier]

1) the "jump to a random space" bug with Spaces still exists

2) a bug where printing a "range" results in images being missing still exists. (Happens in all of my documents. Not sure what I'm doing to make me so special).

3) a bug where pasting the same image multiple times in a largish document results in all the versions of the image, except the last, being corrupted (randomly resized, or, more typically, replaced by other images in the document, squished to the wrong size), seems to still exist.

4) redraw bugs still exist. For example, where a "keep with next" paragraph should end up at the top of a page, it is drawn sometimes at the top of a page and at the bottom of the preceding page.

On a positive note, a bug where performing a "find" that returns zero results causing a crash seems to have been squashed.

Still waiting to see if the "disappearing cursor" bug is still there. Haven't yet tried excel. (Though I finally figured out yesterday that you need to use the toolbox to set axis labels. Just like I apparently need to use the toolbox to unlink headers from previous headers. MacBU are a bunch of tools; why the heck remove stuff from menus. How is someone supposed to remember what they can get in the menus and what they need to use the toolbox for? Argh.)

 

[foeniox]

sp1 bugs wont let me open any of the office apps

i can never get past the first run setup wizard ...
the one that has the customer improvement crap.

it all completes fine and then everytime i launch an office app it runs again.

lame


will post if i find a fix

 

[David2070]

I use Word a lot on quite large documents and I don't see any problems either with crashes or speed.

I'd be interested to know if problems occur with Leopard or Tiger?

I'm on Tiger (10.4.11) and have the latest SP installed.

 

[dukebound85]

that spaces issue drives me nuts. holy cow

also, office 08 apps will not be selected when using expose still

 

[SFStateStudent]

I've been using Office 2008:Mac since Macworld SF '08, where I bought the Student Edition. Just downloaded the latest "update" 12.1.0 and just finished a 15 page document, that I started at about 9:00pm PDT and completed it at 2:25am PDT, without any of the problems mentioned by other posters. Download and Install was effortless.

 

[Achiever]

i can never get past the first run setup wizard ...
the one that has the customer improvement crap.

it all completes fine and then everytime i launch an office app it runs again.

lame


will post if i find a fix

A fix has been found and posted. Check our the MR home page and look for the SP1 release/Return of VBA article. AT the bottom, you will see a reference to the fix. If not, search through the user comments that accompany that article. Somewhere around page 8 or so, someone posted the fix.

 

[dukebound85]

I've been using Office 2008:Mac since Macworld SF '08, where I bought the Student Edition. Just downloaded the latest "update" 12.1.0 and just finished a 15 page document, that I started at about 9:00pm PDT and completed it at 2:25am PDT, without any of the problems mentioned by other posters. Download and Install was effortless.

do you use spaces with word?

 

[NAG]

I'm not horribly surprised they're having problems with multiple desktops seeing as how Windows doesn't support that kind of feature (yes, I know they're different dev teams).

What I wish is that they'd stop using these stupid nonstandard UI effects. Why does it do a ripple effect when you click a button (same effect as when you drop a widget in dashboard)? The buttons are so small that you can't even see it unless you're paying attention. It feels like Vista invaded my mac, frankly. It reminds me of the guys who use the marquee tag on their websites.

 

[MacDonaldsd]

Its still sloooooow, takes ages to open any of the applications.

 

[NAG]

Rebuild your database:

Applications (folder) > Microsoft Office 2008 (folder) > Office (folder) > Microsoft Database Utility (application) > Rebuild database (radio button) > Continue (button...what a weird name for a button, it doesn't say what it does at all...typical windows UI design)

Now disable WYSIWYG menus:

Word (menu) > Preferences... (menu item) > General (panel) > WYSIWYG font and styles menus (uncheck)

Another thing I love is that to change the default format for saving files you have to go to the Save preferences panel for Word but the Compatibility preferences panel for Excel. Who designed this UI?

 

[GotPro]

Another thing I love is that to change the default format for saving files you have to go to the Save preferences panel for Word but the Compatibility preferences panel for Excel. Who designed this UI?

That's Microsoft for you. I used WinBlows for years, and one of my greatest head banging sessions was always due to preference were in different places in seemingly almost EVERY freaking app they wrote.

Want preferences in IE? It's under Tools
Want preferences in Word? It's under Edit
Want preferences in ...

You get my drift.

Ugh.

 

[marclevoy]

Word 2008 got buggier after SP1!

Before installing SP1, I could double-click on .doc files created by previous
versions of Word (or Word on a PC), and they would open correctly. Now,
after installing SP1, they open as blank documents. If I just launch Word,
then File/Open..., then I can open the file fine, but I can't double-click on it
in the Finder. This problem has been reported elsewhere, so it's not just me.
I've been a PC user for years, and I have never seen service packs introduce
such blatent bugs. The quality control on Office for the Mac must be lower than
for PCs. This isn't helping Microsoft's reputation - on any platform.

-Marc Levoy
Stanford University

 

[BornAgainMac]

Microsoft can continue to do this quality for years. They are sleeping on a pile of cash. Nothing will change with SP2, Office 2012, Office 2016, and Office 2020. I would like to see WordPerfect come back to the Mac and with a spreadsheet and database and their photo tools. Developing for the Mac would probably save that company and make them profitable again.

 

[John01021988]

Before installing SP1, I could double-click on .doc files created by previous
versions of Word (or Word on a PC), and they would open correctly. Now,
after installing SP1, they open as blank documents. If I just launch Word,
then File/Open..., then I can open the file fine, but I can't double-click on it
in the Finder. This problem has been reported elsewhere, so it's not just me.
I've been a PC user for years, and I have never seen service packs introduce
such blatent bugs. The quality control on Office for the Mac must be lower than
for PCs. This isn't helping Microsoft's reputation - on any platform.

-Marc Levoy
Stanford University

Yeah, thats a Pain in the butt...... same happens to me, I download a document, double click on it and it opens a blank page..... Also, stupid spaces and expose bugs drive me nuts sometimes, especially when I am working in 3 documents at the same time, so irrating..... so M$.....

 

[dlsk]

Before installing SP1, I could double-click on .doc files created by previous
versions of Word (or Word on a PC), and they would open correctly. Now,
after installing SP1, they open as blank documents. If I just launch Word,
then File/Open..., then I can open the file fine, but I can't double-click on it
in the Finder. This problem has been reported elsewhere, so it's not just me.
I've been a PC user for years, and I have never seen service packs introduce
such blatent bugs. The quality control on Office for the Mac must be lower than
for PCs. This isn't helping Microsoft's reputation - on any platform.

-Marc Levoy
Stanford University

Yeah, you know what Microsoft says about this? see: http://www.officeformac.com/ProductForums/Office/1973

I love the part where they say that one should avoid Firefox and Thunderbird, because these programs make a small change to the file's resources. Defective by design? I know which program I'll avoid.

.

 

[GGJstudios]

I just installed the SP1 update yesterday and when I double-click files, such as Word or Excel, the files open up just fine... even password-protected files created on a WinXP system. I don't know what's going on with some of your setups... maybe earlier versions of Mac OS?

 

[heehee]

Every time I close word, it gives me the "Microsoft Error Reporting" window. I have Leopard latest update and Office SP1 update.

 

[@home]

Before installing SP1, I could double-click on .doc files created by previous
versions of Word (or Word on a PC), and they would open correctly. Now,
after installing SP1, they open as blank documents. If I just launch Word,
then File/Open..., then I can open the file fine, but I can't double-click on it
in the Finder. This problem has been reported elsewhere, so it's not just me.
I've been a PC user for years, and I have never seen service packs introduce
such blatent bugs. The quality control on Office for the Mac must be lower than
for PCs. This isn't helping Microsoft's reputation - on any platform.

-Marc Levoy
Stanford University

I am getting the very same problem. It's dumb, I have installed Office 2004 so I can open all my Word Documents.

I am running Office 2008 on an Intel Mac mini with Leopard...

 

[ckurowic]

M$ is such a freaking joke. How are they even allowed to put out software? All of it sucks hardcore. I have a LEGIT copy of MS Office 2008: Mac and installed SP1 and it won't open any of the apps. Fan-freaking-tastic Redmond. Un-gratulations.

 

[n8c]

that spaces issue drives me nuts. holy cow

also, office 08 apps will not be selected when using expose still

Try assigning Word '08 to "all spaces" in the spaces system preferences. This got rid of the errant behavior for me, although now I have to see my word documents in every space. At least they don't jump around unpredictably anymore!