The Entourage Help Blog

Should I upgrade?

Upgrading to Snow Leopard has pushed some users with older versions of Office installed to consider upgrading. Consider the pros and cons...

• Office X is end of life software. No further updates will be issued.
• Both Office X and Office 2004 will run on Snow Leopard, but a few minor issues have been reported.
• It was recently announced that support for Office 2004 would be extended for those users that have had to stay with Office 2004 for VBA support.
• Office 2008 does not include VBA. It's returning in Office v14.
• You can run both Office 2004 and Office 2008 applications at the same time.
• Office for Mac v14 with Outlook for Mac won't be released until the holiday season of 2010. Do you want to wait that long?
• Entourage EWS version has improved performance for Exchange users.

I would advise all Office X users to upgrade to Office 2008. There have been many improvements since Office X was released. Do you really want to be stuck with the 4GB limit for Entourage databases?

Office 2004 users that don't use VBA should also consider upgrading.

Entourage's database in 2008 is more stable and the Spotlight search alone is worth the upgrade. If you are an Exchange user, the improvements for Entourage makes it a worthwhile upgrade.

If you don't need Exchange support you can get Office 2008 very reasonably from Amazon with free shipping. $126.99 (price can vary slightly) This version comes with 3 CD Keys and can be used on three computers at the same time.

Still undecided? Download the trial and test out the new features.

Quick Facts

The FAQs offered by Microsoft for the trial can be found on this page, but I want to bring your attention to the following issues.

1. Do not select to remove old versions of Office during the install process.
2. It's important to understand that the download version is a bit different from the retail version in that it has to be activated if you purchase the trial version.
1. You cannot use a retail key to activate the trial. If you download the trial then later purchase, you must remove the trial to install the retail version.
2. You can't use the trial installer if you lost your retail CD.
3. Feature wise, there is no difference in the download version from retail version.
4. Your order and confirmation email contain important info. Be sure to keep this info.
5. Physical backup media are available for purchase along with the product, or alternatively, customers can purchase the Extended Download Service, which allows the customer to re-download the software from Digital River for 3 years after the time of purchase.

What do I get when I download?

The current trial is version 12.2.0 (SP2). This is the standard edition of Entourage and includes Exchange support as well as the Automator actions not included in the Home & Student version.

If you meet the requirements for Entourage Web Services (EWS), you can upgrade to v13 after updating to 12.2.1. EWS has improved Exchange support over the 12.2.1 version. The Business Edition extras (tutorial videos, templates and themes, RDC and Entourage EWS on disk) are not included with the trial.

[Note: The standard version of Office 2008 upgraded to EWS v13 is the same as the business edition without the extras mentioned above.]

Will I need to upgrade after downloading?

Yes, currently all users will need to upgrade to 12.2.1. this is a small updater that contains a fix where Open XML files couldn't be opened. Verify the 12.2.1 update

Tip: Before updating Office 2008, it's important to quit all applications. Easy way: Log out of your User under the Apple in the menu bar. When you Log in, hold down the Shift key. This will disable all startup items including the hidden ones like the Microsoft Database daemon.

What happens to my Entourage data if I decide I don't want to continue with Entourage 2008?

The trial version of Entourage is not set to leave your mail on the server for POP accounts. POP accounts delete mail from the server when it downloads so it's important that you set to "leave on server" so the mail will still be available to download if you switch back.

1. You need to select "leave on server" so the messages will be available to download to your older version. This only gets message you receive. You would need to export your sent messages from Entourage 2008 for import into your old Identity if you are using a POP account.
2. Export as .rge file and import this file into Entourage 2004. This option is not available for Entourage X.

Under Tools in the menu bar, select Accounts. Open your Account and click on the Options tab.

Do not select to remove older versions of Office during the install.

The importer will leave your older identities alone in the Office X Identities or Office 2004 Identities subfolder of the Microsoft User Data folder. When you first launch 2008 Trial, it will make a brand new Office 2008 Identities subfolder in the same Microsoft User Data folder, and will start off with a totally different, brand new, fresh empty identity. You can select to import your old data at this time. Your old Identity is still safe.

Any time you choose to go back to your previous version, you can. And, if and when you upgrade to a purchased copy of 2008, you will be able to go on using your Trial 2008 database regardless if it's the trial version or a retail version.

Install the trial

For detailed screenshots of the install process, click on this link.

Remove the trial

If you decide not to purchase the trial version or want to install a retail version of Office 2008, you will need to fully remove all traces of the Office 2008 Trial version.

1. Run "Remove Office" found in this location: Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Additional Tools/Remove Office/
2. Manually remove these files:
• Delete Microsoft Office 2008 settings.plist file: /Users/username/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008/Microsoft Office 2008 settings.plist
• Remove all office2008...pkg receipts in /Library/Receipts
1. If you are running Snow Leopard, remove the com.microsoft....plist files in this folder:
   In the Finder toolbar under Go, paste in this path:
   /private/var/db/receipts
• Empty the trash.

• Online Store
• Activating and starting trial
• Converting the trial version to a full purchased version
• Purchase Office for Mac and Snow Leopard at Amazon.com and help support this site.
• Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Home and Student
• Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Standard Edition
• Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Upgrade
• Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition
• Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 Business Edition
• Snow Leopard
• How to install when you have an upgrade CD of Office and no longer have the original version installed.

[Tip: compare the price of Office 2008 for Mac Special Media Edition to the standard edition. Often it's cheaper.]