The Entourage Help Blog

Are you an AT&T/Yahoo DSL user having trouble sending e-mail? Do you receive error message that states that the user password was rejected or that the e-mail address needs to be verified? It's not your fault!

Along with many other ISPs, AT&T implemented increased security settings by changing the name of its servers. As a result, you need to update the settings in your e-mail client to reflect these changes. How to setup your account....

Are you having problems where the Office 2008 12.0.1 update installer fails with an alert saying there was nothing to update? One user on the microsoft.public.mac.office newsgroup offered this solution:

1. Launch the updater


2. Drag the installer to your desktop.
   View image


3. Eject the virtual disk.


4. Run the updater from the installer on your desktop.

Microsoft released Office 2008 SP1 Update (12.1.0) today just four months after its initial release and a little over a month since its Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.0.1 update. This is a major release and includes nearly 50 bug fixes and improvements for Entourage. This update is available through AutoUpdate or you can download from Mactopia.

Although service packs (SP = "service pack") may sometimes include new features, such as Office 2004 SP2 (11.2.0) did for Exchange support, this one does not. Instead, it appears to be focused on stability and functionality. The big news is VBA will be returning in the next version of Office. more info

Office 2008 SP1 includes almost 50 improvements to Entourage. This article is focused on the general improvements that been hot topics on the newsgroups for Entourage 2008. Exchange Support features will be discussed in [Office 2008 SP1] Exchange Server 2007 support improved with update.

First, thanks to all that worked with MVPs, developers and reported their problems using the MERP tool. this combined effort has resulted in an unprecedented set of improvements.

Previously, we have advised that users can run both Office 2004 and Office 2008 at the same time except for Entourage. After applying SP1, users can run both Entourage 2004 and Entourage 2008 at the same time.

Did your problem get addressed in SP1? Following are improvements that will surely make a lot of users happy.

SP1 (SP = service pack) for Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac includes about a dozen Exchange fixes and improvements as well as some new highly requested features, especially with Exchange Server 2007 connectivity.

While not all Entourage 12.1.0 improvements are geared toward any one version of Exchange Server, some are geared specifically toward Exchange Server 2007. Entourage currently connects to Exchange Server 2003 via WebDAV and Exchange Server 2007 via a combination of WebDAV and Web Services. WebDAV has been de-emphasized in Exchange 2007, which means it's going away in future versions. (MAPI, which is Outlook's primary connection protocol, has also been de-emphasized with an emphasis for Web Services as its replacement.)

Beginning with this service pack, expect more Entourage improvements for Exchange to come from its interaction with Web Services. That means more features for Exchange Server 2007 organizations and less for those with Exchange Server 2003 and older.

After applying the Office 2008 for Mac SP1 Updater, some uses are experiencing a problem where the Setup Assistant starts up every time they try to launch any Office application.

This situation is a result of when the Office Setup Assistant detects that an invalid Product Key was used to install Office 2008. David Pelton, Microsoft MacBU core lead test has outlined below how to fix the problem and requests users to work with him to help chase down the issue to keep it from happening in the future.

Update version numbering 12.1.0 and 12.0.1 are apparently confusing some users trying to update to Office for Mac SP1 via Mactopia Downloads.

If you receive this error, be sure you have downloaded the correct updater.

You cannot install Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.0.1 Update on this volume. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume.

All will be fine if you make sure that you download this file: (this is English version name)

File Name: Office2008-1210UpdateEN.dmg
Version: 12.1.0
Date Published: 5/13/2008

If you have downloaded the correct version and get a similar error indicating "there was nothing to update" see Workaround when Updater fails.

Also see Failure to Update Office 2008 Added June 9, 2008

Problem: When I deploy Office 2008 for Mac SP1, the update is not installed on client computers

When you use Apple Remote Desktop or the command line to deploy Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 1 (SP1), a script error in the installation package prevents deployment. Although Apple Remote Desktop or the command line indicate that Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 1 (SP1) was deployed successfully, the update is not installed on client computers.

Solution:

Download the updated Office2008-1210Update.dmg file again from the Downloads page of the Microsoft Web site (www.microsoft.com/mac).

According to Erik Schwiebert's blog:

MSFT put up a very minor revision to the SP1 installer today. The new package has a fix so that the update can actually be deployed via Apple Remote Desktop or via the command-line. If you want to deploy SP1 via ARD and downloaded the update yesterday, please redownload it. If your install is already done and working, there's no need to redownload and reinstall the update -- the fix was in the installer only, not in any of the actual application bits.

Several hot topics emerged this week on the newsgroups involving the install of Office 2008 SP1 Update.

• Office Setup Assistant opens when I try to open an Office 2008 application View fix
• Installer fails with an alert saying "there was nothing to update" View fix
  • This problem can also be caused by a modification of the Office files. See details here.
• Installer fails with an alert saying "Version required not found." View fix
  • This error can be caused by user error... confusion over 12.1.0 and 12.0.1. View fix
• Entourage fails to start. It crashes immediately. View fix
• When I deploy Office 2008 for Mac SP1, the update is not installed on client computers. View fix
• Office apps not opening some documents correctly when double-clicking them, or when downloading them from a Web site. View fix

Note some links above will not work until you view the extended view. (added 5/20)

We are celebrating our first birthday since the launch of the Entourage Help Blog. We want to thank all our readers and contributing authors for making this a successful year.

We're also exploring ways to expand our support such as developing a Wiki and beginning a mailing list for those who prefer E-mail over newsgroups. To help us understand what you need we'd appreciate your feedback and advice on how we can improve.

In a short while we will open an online survey and you can give us your opinion on what we're doing right and where we can do better. As a "thank you", all participants will be entered into a drawing for a free copy of Office 2008 for Macintosh: The Missing Manual from O'Reilly.

"Jeremy", a Microsoft Entourage newsgroup reader, asked if others had seen his issue where his calendar was not displaying the AM/PM symbols even though he was certain his clock was not set to 24-hour format.

After reinstalling Mac OS X, "Kent" found that Entourage was using the AM/PM time format even though his clock was set to use 24-hour format.

"JMB" reported that every new event in his calendar defaulted to a time of "7:08 PM" and he can't adjust the time at all.

Are these bugs in Entourage or signs of Database corruption? The answer actually lies outside of Entourage and in System Preferences but maybe not where you would think.

I've posted version 2.0 of my EntourageExchangeSetup AppleScript on The Entourage Help Page that includes support for Microsoft Entourage 2008's Kerberos feature as well as some minor additions and bug fixes.

This AppleScript is intended to be modified by an administrator to assist his Entourage users with the setups of their Exchange server accounts. It has been tested specifically with Entourage 2004 11.2.6, 11.3.3, 11.3.7 and Entourage 12.00, 12.0.1 and 12.1.0 but should work with any version of Entourage 2004 SP2 (11.2.0) and higher. Every company's network is different so this script was written to provide enough ideas for a novice scripter to be able to adapt it for use in his network in just a few minutes.