The Entourage Help Blog

Why is connecting Entourage to Exchange is so tricky sometimes? Mail might work but public folders don’t appear. Maybe the Global Address List (GAL) just doesn’t work. Or maybe getting new messages is just very slooow.

The solutions to these problems lie with knowing when to use the right server, knowing how Entourage talks with Exchange and tweaking other software to reduce interference.

The US made the switch to Daylight Saving Time this past week-end. If you use Entourage 2004 or 2008 and it's been running through the weekend, you'll need to quit it and relaunch before it recognizes the time change.

DST takes effect on different dates world wide. To avoid scheduling mixups between 3/11/08 and 4/1/08, you may want to include the exact time and timezone of your meeting.

It's Super Update Tuesday! Office for Mac 2008 receives it first update. You must have updated your AutoUpdater (MAU) to 2.1.1 in order to download or be notified. I suggest downloading the 12.0.1 Update standalone updater from Mactopia. Users seem to have better success from using the standalone updater.

The update for Office to 12.0.1 is not available through the AutoUpdate at this time. Currently, the only place to get it is from MacTopia.

Confusion is rampant over (1) updating the AutoUpdater (MAU), (2) the updater for Office 2008 12.0.1 not showing up in the MAU, and (3) Entourage still showing as 12.0.0 after updating.

“If E-mail is your life and you use Entourage then the Database file is the single most important file on your computer.”

One month from this week Microsoft MVPs will be attending the MVP Summit held at Microsoft every 12-18 months. One month from today Mac MVPs will get their opportunity to give feedback directly to the folks who make Office for Mac. This is face-to-face feedback and discussion covering everything from bugs to feature requests.

I’ll be presenting topics for Entourage, including topics related to Exchange. But one of my personal non-Exchange topics will be to ditch the Database. The Database is unwieldy to back up, it’s no longer needed for fast searches and it prevents recovery of any data outside of using the proprietary Microsoft Database Utility.

If you care about protecting your Entourage data then you should care about the Database.

MacBu released a new installer for the Office 2008 Update 12.0.1 today. This is not new Office bits to be installed, but the installer itself that was changed. This change was a result of problems experienced by some Office 2008 users having a failed update to 12.0.1. If you are one of the unfortunate few that had problems, this patch is for you. If you were able to successfully update to 12.0.1 then you do not need this patch.

File this item under “little gems.”

With the help of a plug-in, the Finder can display the contents of Entourage mail messages without having to open them in Entourage. Shin-ichi Kawamura has posted Entourage QuickLook Plug-In ver. 1.1 as a free download on his website.

Previously, in Fonts increasing in size with each reply-MSFT is listening we discussed the problem where font sizes increase with each reply to an email using Entourage 2008. Thanks to the many users that responded to Hui Nee's questionnaire, the problem points to two possible causes.

The Technology Guarantee program ends March 31st, 2008.

Most likely this is the last promotion we will see for Office 2008. The Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Technology Guarantee program allows customers who purchase an edition of Office 2004 for Mac to receive an edition of Office 2008 for the cost of shipping, handling plus applicable tax.

The Technology Guarantee isn't available anywhere outside of the US or Canada.