Office 2008 - What for?

What's the big deal with Office 2008? From what I've read, I don't see any really good reason to buy it. Can anybody tell me why I would want it, given that I already have Office 2004, Pages, Keynote, Numbers etc.
Is there anything that it offers that make it a 'Must Have' App.?
John

Well, "must have" might be a strong phrase... I'm testing it now and don't see anything extremely new, save for a more stylish look.
I was a "power user" of Office 2004 from the start, but with an upgrade to an Intel MBP and Leopard, I've since switched to Numbers and Mail in place of Excel and Entourage.
I tried to make the switch to Pages, mostly because Office 2004 crashed with terrible frequency and I was losing a lot of valuable time and work (I write for a living).
But a few things made that switch premature.
First, Pages export to ".doc" feature is flawed. It works great for simple documents, but anything over 20 or so pages with embedded graphics would crash Word for my PC-based recipients. I found a workaround which involved exporting, opening in Word, re-saving and then opening in Pages, and then re-exporting to .doc again... but that's a hassle.
Second, for all of Pages wonderful features, it lacks two that facilitate the writing of large documents -- split-screen windows and Notebook Layout View. Both are implemented in Word 2004 and Word 2008. When Pages gets those features, I'll make the jump. Until then, I'm stuck with Word. And the main promise of Word 2008 is that it might crash less than 2004 did, so... there you have it.
If you don't think you'll use either of those features and you don't write complex documents, I'd recommend just going with iWork '08 instead.
Hope that helps!
P.S. Meanwhile, something Word doesn't do that I wish it did, is use Apple's Dictionary.app in place of the one provided by Microsoft. Apple's app is far superior. If anyone knows how to make that happen, please let me know.
P.P.S. If you try Office '08 and get the spinning beach ball every time you open, try tossing the .plist files for the individual Office apps. You'll find them in your Library/Preferences folder. It fixed an annoyingly long startup-time in Word for me.

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Is Microsoft Office 2008 compatible with OS X Yosemite?

Is Microsoft Office 2008 compatible with OS X Yosemite? My Word, Excel and PowerPoint files won't open since updating my OS.

Your Office installation sounds corrupted. I would reinstall Office, but you must first do a complete removal of it. I did not write this note, but it should apply to Office 2008. You will just need to locate the version equivalents at the MS site. You might also check inside the Office 2008 folder for an uninstaller.
Your MS Office 2011 may have become corrupted. Reinstalling Office 2011 can address problems that you may be experiencing.
First - find your Office 2011 install disc with the product key # - and only then remove Office according to MS instructions
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2398768.
Or go here to DianefromOregon's site for help removing Office 2011: http://www.officeformachelp.com/2012/12/office-for-mac-2011-remove-office/.
Then Reinstall from DVD
Then enter your Product #
After successfully reinstalling Office 2011, update your Office product using the Software update within Office called Microsoft Update or going to the Help menu within Word or Excel or PowerPoint and select Update.
It may take a few times before you get to final upgrade to current Office version.
It should be 14.4.8 as of current date.
How to locate product keys: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2279109 or here on locating product keys http://office.about.com/od/MicrosoftOfficeMac/a/Best-3-Ways-To-Find-Microsoft-Of fice-For-Mac-Key-Codes.htm.
Note is updated as of February 25, 2015
Or you can do all of this manually:
Uninstalling Software: The Basics
Most OS X applications are completely self-contained "packages" that can be uninstalled by simply dragging the application to the Trash. Applications may create preference files that are stored in the /Home/Library/Preferences/ folder. Although they do nothing once you delete the associated application, they do take up some disk space. If you want you can look for them in the above location and delete them, too.
Some applications may install an uninstaller program that can be used to remove the application. In some cases the uninstaller may be part of the application's installer, and is invoked by clicking on a Customize button that will appear during the install process.
Some applications may install components in the /Home/Library/Applications Support/ folder. You can also check there to see if the application has created a folder. You can also delete the folder that's in the Applications Support folder. Again, they don't do anything but take up disk space once the application is trashed.
Some applications may install a startupitem or a Log In item. Startupitems are usually installed in the /Library/StartupItems/ folder and less often in the /Home/Library/StartupItems/ folder. Log In Items are set in the Accounts preferences. Open System Preferences, click on the Accounts icon, then click on the LogIn Items tab. Locate the item in the list for the application you want to remove and click on the "-" button to delete it from the list.
Some software use startup daemons or agents that are a new feature of the OS. Look for them in /Library/LaunchAgents/ and /Library/LaunchDaemons/ or in /Home/Library/LaunchAgents/.
If an application installs any other files the best way to track them down is to do a Finder search using the application name or the developer name as the search term. Unfortunately Spotlight will not look in certain folders by default. You can modify Spotlight's behavior or use a third-party search utility, EasyFind, instead.
Some applications install a receipt in the /Library/Receipts/ folder. Usually with the same name as the program or the developer. The item generally has a ".pkg" extension. Be sure you also delete this item as some programs use it to determine if it's already installed.
There are many utilities that can uninstall applications. Here is a selection:
    1. AppZapper
    2. AppDelete
    3. Automaton
    4. Hazel
    5. AppCleaner
    6. CleanApp
    7. iTrash
    8. Amnesia
    9. Uninstaller
10. Spring Cleaning
For more information visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on removing software.

Office 2008 - problems opening up Word, Powerpoint, Excel

I've upgraded from Leopard to SL. Now I can't open Word, Powerpoint or Excel (2008). It just hangs. Is there a fix or workaround - I do need to be able to get into these applications quickly otherwise I'll need to de-install and go back to Leopard (which will make upgrading a waste of money).

Hi Naz,
Anytime you perform an upgrade from one OS to another, check your 3rd party software applications first to see if there are any updates necessary to download and instal; ie., Snow Leopard. Go to the Microsoft site and look for PP support for Mac. There are several other posts here with the same issue.
There is an article here re: Office 2008 - Snow Leopard and a Spaces issue.
http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/28/microsoft-declares-office-2008-ready-for-sno w-leopard-most-spaces-issues-fixed/
One thing you can try is deleting the associated PP preference file.
Not sure of the exact wording but try this. com.powerpoint.plist
Might be com.microsoft.powerpoint.plist
/Users/YourName/Library/Preferences. Drag the file from the Preferences folder to the Trash, empty the Trash and restart your Mac. See if you can launch PP now.
Same routine for Word and Excel preference files.
Carolyn

I have a mac g 5 and i uploaded Microsoft Office 2008 for my 90 year old mother. Now when she tries to open earlier word docs, they won't open at all :-( what happened?

HELP!!! i have a mac g 5 and i uploaded Microsoft Office 2008 for my 90 year old mother. Now when she tries to open earlier word docs, they won't open at all :-( what happened? I SEE THE WORD IN THE NAVIGATION BAR BELOW, but when she tries to open a word doc, the navigation bar opens and closes around the Word symbol and nothing happens :-( i'm going crazy :-( PLEASE CAN SOMEONE HELP AND LET ME KNOW WHAT TO DO?

If you have not already done so, repair permissions and restart your computer. Or boot up from your install DVD and run "Repair Disk" from the Utility menu. When done, restart back to your desktop, repair permissions and restart your computer. Suggest that you post in the Microsoft Office for Mac Forums if the above does not work.

It seems that my Office 2008 is incompatible with the Yosemite OS that my friend just installed on my iMac. My Word no longer works. Also, I can't access messages on Entourage. What version of Office should I buy?

My friend installed OS X Yosemite 10.10.1 on my iMac. Since then, I can barely use my Miocrsoft Word 2008. The spinning pinwheel, things freezing up, template and formatting trouble, and I can't get any Entourage messages more than a year old, which is a disaster. I read that Yosemite won't support Word 2008. What Microsoft Update should I buy, and will that fix my problems? I am desperate. Thank you in advance for your help. Here is the result I got from EtreCheck. I hope this helps you help me. BTW, your drop-down menu under Operating System doesn't work
EtreCheck version: 2.1.8 (121)
Report generated February 19, 2015 at 11:26:31 PM EST
Download EtreCheck from http://etresoft.com/etrecheck
Click the [Click for support] links for help with non-Apple products.
Click the [Click for details] links for more information about that line.
Click the [Adware! - Remove] links for help removing adware.
Hardware Information: ℹ️
    iMac (24-inch, Early 2009) (Verified)
    iMac - model: iMac9,1
    1 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU: 2-core
    4 GB RAM Upgradeable
        BANK 0/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok
        BANK 1/DIMM0
            2 GB DDR3 1067 MHz ok
    Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
    Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ℹ️
    NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 - VRAM: 256 MB
        iMac 1280 x 800
System Software: ℹ️
    OS X 10.10.1 (14B25) - Time since boot: 5 days 6:58:44
Disk Information: ℹ️
    WDC WD6400AAKS-40H2B0 disk0 : (640.14 GB)
        EFI (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
        Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / : 639.28 GB (603.31 GB free)
        Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
    HL-DT-ST DVDRW GA11N
USB Information: ℹ️
    HP Officejet 4500 G510g-m
    Apple Inc. Built-in iSight
    BELKIN USB 2 Flash Media Device
    Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
    DELL Dell USB Wired Multimedia Keyboard
    Logitech Optical USB Mouse
    Apple Inc. BRCM2046 Hub
        Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Gatekeeper: ℹ️
    Mac App Store and identified developers
Adware: ℹ️
    Conduit [Adware! - Remove]
    Geneio [Adware! - Remove]
Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [running]    com.conduit.loader.agent.plist [Adware! - Remove]
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.fpsaud.plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist [Click for support]
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
    [loaded]    com.adobe.ARM.[...].plist [Click for support]
    [loaded]    com.genieo.completer.download.plist [Adware! - Remove]
    [loaded]    com.genieo.completer.ltvbit.plist [Adware! - Remove]
    [running]    com.genieo.completer.update.plist [Adware! - Remove]
    [loaded]    com.google.keystone.agent.plist [Click for support]
User Login Items: ℹ️
    iTunesHelper    UNKNOWN Hidden (missing value)
    Genieo    Application (/Incompatible Software/Genieo.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    Default Browser: Version: 600 - SDK 10.10
    Flip4Mac WMV Plugin: Version: 2.4.4.2 [Click for support]
    OfficeLiveBrowserPlugin: Version: 12.2.8 [Click for support]
    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: Version: 10.1.13 [Click for support]
    FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    Silverlight: Version: 4.0.60531.0 [Click for support]
    Flash Player: Version: 16.0.0.305 - SDK 10.6 [Click for support]
    QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.3
    iPhotoPhotocast: Version: 7.0
    SharePointBrowserPlugin: Version: 14.0.0 [Click for support]
    AdobePDFViewer: Version: 10.1.13 [Click for support]
    CouponPrinter-FireFox_v2: Version: Version 1.1.7 - SDK 10.5 [Click for support]
User internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
    BrowserPlus_2.9.8: Version: 2.9.8 [Click for support]
    CitrixOnlineWebDeploymentPlugin: Version: 1.0.79 [Click for support]
Safari Extensions: ℹ️
    Omnibar [Adware! - Remove]
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
    BrowserPlus [Click for support]
    Flash Player [Click for support]
    Flip4Mac WMV [Click for support]
Time Machine: ℹ️
    Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
         4%    WindowServer
         0%    AppleSpell
         0%    fontd
         0%    askpermissiond
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
    412 MB    softwareupdated
    206 MB    Image Capture Extension
    180 MB    Safari
    125 MB    Microsoft Word
    120 MB    Mail
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
    511 MB    Free RAM
    1.67 GB    Active RAM
    1.06 GB    Inactive RAM
    691 MB    Wired RAM
    12.59 GB    Page-ins
    90 MB    Page-outs

Remove Office 2008 for Mac using Microsoft deinstall procedure. Reinstall Office 2008 for Mac. If there are updates, apply them. Using Disk Utility, verify/repair permissions on your boot drive.
Does Office for Mac 2008 now work correctly? If not, you may want to repeat the above first sentence, and then update to Office for Mac 2011, and apply the latest (14.4.8) update which has Yosemite fixes.

MS office 2008 now crashing when we try to print. No changes to computer; same old software. New printer 9 months ago, no trouble printing until last month. Other programs (adobe, mac) print fine. What can I try?

I have an iMac from 2009. It's running OSX 10.6.8 and we've used MS Office 2008 for Mac all along without any trouble. We replaced our printer 8 or 9 months ago, and we've had no trouble printing from any program until the last several weeks. Now, when we try to print ONLY from word or excel, the print window appears, but then the spinning rainbow comes up, followed by a Microsoft crash message: "Microsoft Word has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." I tried to trick it into making a PDF, but the crash comes too fast. The only change to our entire Mac ecosystem is the following: We also have a Macbook Pro that has the 2nd allowed installation of the same MS Office 2008 for Mac. Due to liquid damage 6 weeks ago, that computer was replaced and all of the data and applications were moved from the dead one to the new one. Could this possibly be because microsoft detects a "third" computer "using" its software? I'm guessing no because I've seen several threads about problems similar to mine, and none mention licensing issues. In terms of troubleshooting, I've shut down, unplugged, restarted and tried newly created docs as well as old ones. Same results, no matter what.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac/forum/macoffice2008?tab=Threads
27" i7 iMac (Mid 2011) refurb, OS X Yo (10.10.2), Mavs, ML & SL, G4 450 MP w/10.5 & 9.2.2

Using ms office 2008 for mac home & student edition with snow leopard serv

Hi all,
I have a very particular question.
I have a new small business starting up and we want to make full use of leopard and snow leopard server in our infrastructure. We also want to use os x for all our client machines.
We want to use ms office 2008 for mac as our main offfice software but i believe we don't need all the uses or festures of the business edtion and i need to seek good advice and clarity on this.
We won't ever use any microsoft exchange servers but instead willl use the apple mail servers and all the other apple server services.
My question is, based on the fact that we will have an all apple mac os x backend and client frontend but want to use the ms office for mac as our business software, and also based on the fact that we wont use the "Build your Brand clip art, Build your skills by lynda.com, the Remote Desktop for mac 2, the Microsoft Exchange Server Support and the Microsoft Windows sharepoint services support, do we really need to go for the business edition? Can we not just use the home and student edition and get the same functionality using everything else apart form what we listed as we wont need these?
The other question is, the Entourage 2008, Web services Edition, will this work with an apple backend instead of ms exchange server?
Kind regards and thanks for your wise advice,
Neil Watson

Thanks, Kurt--I understand now.
One reason I was alarmed was that evidently when the tech installed Office 2008, something went awry with either the key installer or the key code, because when I finished the first two updates (12.1 and 12.2), I tried to open Entourage to see if the problem I'd been having was resolved. Instead of opening, Office gave me a message that my product key was invalid! I did find the product key, and called the tech, who will come by to see what's wrong (he's an honest guy, so I'm sure it's a legitimate error of some kind, not a pirated copy). But the thought of installing two pages of updates and maybe running into the same glitch every time made me blanch. So I'm glad to know that Microsoft is still doing Service Packs for 2008!

Office 2008 Setup Assistant Loop for one user, but not for another

I just upgraded my MacBook Pro to a MacBook Air and migrated everything across using Migration Assistant via WiFi.
Seems to have gone fine but found that my wife can't get any Office 2008 apps to start up. Word, Excel, etc start up in my account without a hitch but when we try to start any Office app in wife's account the Setup Assistant pops up, asks if we'd like to participate in feedback, then asks to choose to register or learn more. No matter what we choose the Microsoft Updater pops up and prompts to check for updates after this the app closes. We are forever in this loop of trying to open an Office app, checking for updates and then the app closing down. And the app closes even if I quit Setup Assistant and/or Microsoft Updater.
I've tried dumping various plists but not luck.
Any help in resolving this would be much appreciated.

Another copy of this question turned up a couple of weeks later and has been answered. Basically, you have to reinstall Office 2008 from the original media.
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3645235?start=0&tstart=0

Font Problem in Mail after installation of Office 2008 for Mac

Since I installed my 2008 Office for Mac I have had occasional problems with the font display in IMail. Sometimes the fonts are just gibberish but will become readable again if/when I change the font sizing. Any suggestions? When I installed Office 2008 I had previously deleted the Trial Version of Office for Mac 2004 and the installer for Office 2008 did not find any prior Office installation.
Thanks

Download Font Nuke. Close all other applications you may have running.
Run Font Nuke and click on the "Nuke Font Caches" button at the upper left. The panel will fill with other choices. At the lower right, first click "Update Caches List". It will search your hard drive for font cache files and list them. The purpose being simply so you can see what is about to be removed. Click the "Nuke Font Caches" button at the bottom right. Your Mac will restart. Don't attempt to stop the restart. You should always restart immediately after removing any cache files.

MS Office 2008/2011 be enough? 2011 is so restrictive -One computer/user, what if you own 2? - Really?

Just installed Lion and my 2004 MS Office will not work. Wish I had known that before upgrading... 2008 is less restrictive and costly than 2011. Is there that much difference between the 2?

gifts4me wrote:
Thank you for your response. I am in an industry that is still very PC driven and use Word, Excel etc. it seems for everything and quite frankly that is what I am used to as well. Just downloaded Lion without doing any research on it. Dumb... I liked the new Mail features( wish Snow Leopard had them) I saw on a friends computer and ran home to get it. Woah! Right now I am sorry I did. I ran to the Genius Bar yesterday to switch back but found out I have to erase my hard drive, hours of work to make sure everything is backed up, etc. etc. The tech suggested that I work with it a few days and then decide which is what I am going to do. He said all of their product comes loaded with Lion now. I don't like some of the new features at all - Address Book is awkward and not so sure on calendar - this one is just picky. I don't care for the graphic at the top and don't like that you can't change it to something else. We have 3 Mac laptops at home and I would like to be able to load the upgraded version on all three and not have to pay so much more for it. Snow Leopard family pak was only $20. more than single. I saw 2008 works as well and found it for $45.00 -3 user as opposed to $149. from MS for 2011 -3 user as well. So, what to do?
If you have moved your Mobile Me account you can not go back, regardess of what the Genius said.
Office 2008 for $45 is a good price and there are cheaper aternatives (Open Office etc are fully compatible with MS Office)
Don't go back, go forward.

I was getting support for my Office 2008 for Mac, and the support tech said my OS was very slow. I have latest update for Snow10.6.7. Question how can I speed up my Macbook?

I was getting support for my Office 2008 for Mac, and the support tech said my OS was very slow. I have latest update for Snow10.6.7. Question; How can I speed up my Macbook?

Hi
In the first instance, I'd use Onyx and run through its sequence of maintenance and tune up tools:
Verify, Maintenance, Cleaning.
I'd also reset the SMC and PRAM (Google them)
If that doesn't help then I'd look at System Preferences.. > Accounts > Login Items tab (not Login Options). Check what processes get started at login and decide which ones you don't want.
After that I'd use Applications/Utilities/Activity Monitor to see if any processes are using a lot of computer power or if anything else nasty might be happening.
If none of this helped then my final step would be to reinstall OS X.
Bob

Is it worth it spending $200 dlls in the new Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac?

I am trying to decide whether to upgrade my Mac to the new Microsoft Office 2008. Is it worth it? What are the differences between the new version and the old one?

There are more differences than would be practical to list here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicrosoftOffice_2008_forMac
might be a good place to start, as well as Microsoft's website for a full description of new features. ArsTechnica also has a review of it on their website somewhere too.
Is there any specific reason for upgrading? If not, then I would recommend sticking with 2004. I went out and got 2008 about a month ago (student licensing, so it only cost me $40) and I'm not at all impressed. It's slower than 2004, even on my quad-core Mac Pro. The overall responsiveness of the application is sluggish, especially in Powerpoint. Dragging textboxes and other elements around the page, for example, is incredibly laggy and feels imprecise. No to mention Microsoft broke Endnote compatibility in Word 2008 as well, so if the Cite While You Write feature is important to you, forget about it. I'm sticking with Office 2004 and iWork for now. I don't feel so bad since I only spent $40 on it; no way would I justify $200 unless I needed 2008 for a specific reason (ie work compatibility, etc)

What version of Windows Office will work for my OS X 10.5.8; also what is the most up-dated browser available for my system?

What version of Windows Office will work for my OS X 10.5.8, and also what is the most updated browser available for my system?

Sorry for my typo. Ofice 2008 will continue to run on Leopard and Leopard includes Safari 5.0.6. A G4 s an old machine and you will not get much speed when surfing the internet.
Leopard is no longer avilable from Apple, and costs around $200 on eBay or Amazon.

Office 2008 for mac on os x 10.8.4

I have updated to os x 10.8.4 and I am trying to install office 2008 for mac from a flashdrive of my friends, but it won't work. Anyone know what I can do?

Office 2008 should work.
That said, finding support for illegally installing it from a flash drive of your friend's... no ;-)

Leopard Upgrade problem for Microsoft Office 2008???

Hi there,
i have a question regarding upgrading my MacBook. I've done some searching
on this forum but couldn't find what i was looking for.
I bought a MacBook in September 2007 which runs Tiger and i would
like to upgrade to Leopard.
I have installed a version of Office 2008 and i only have the 1 licence.
Will the Leopard installation overwrite this licence or will be
be detected and preserved to run on leopard????? I don't want to
lose the use of that licence
Many thanks
Chris

Welcome to Apple Discussions:
First, unless MS has changed their policy, you are allowed two installs of MSOffice - notebook and desktop. At least in the PC world.
Second, even if you do have to reenter the license, since the hardware is unchanged, I do not believe anything will happen.
For example, I am running Vista on this machine via bootcamp. I installed it when I was running Tiger and did not have to reregister it. True, that's not quite the same as your case, but I strongly suspect that you will not even be required to reregister the product, since the license is a user license.
If you do have any issues, I have found MS to be very cooperative with their technical phone assistance, so I would add not to be concerned.
Just be sure you either use the default install or Archive and Install so you do not have to reinstall Office.

Office 2008 - What for?

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