Adding Proofing Tools...

[scienceprofessor]

I thought I would minimize the garbage that might install while
loading office:mac onto my imac. So, of course I made sure to do a
custom install and did not install msn messenger or entourage...
However, I think I made a mistake when I did not install the proofing
tools. I saw that the file was quite large and did not want all the
uneeded languages. Yet, now I see spell check is greyed out and cannot
be used. When I try to load the installation disk it will not let me
get through to the custom install... it tells me I already have a
newer version of office 2008. I was able to "right" click on the cd
and find the office2008_en_proofing_english.pkg file but am not sure
where to put it. Any ideas? I thought about uninstalling and
reinstalling... but I did not want to risk using another serial key.
Thanks so much for your help!!!

-Tom

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi Tom

I can't help you with the problem you describe, but:

I thought about uninstalling and
reinstalling... but I did not want to risk using another serial key.
Thanks so much for your help!!!

You do not need to use another serial key when you uninstall and then
reinstall. Office 2008 does not need to be activated, so in theory, you
can use each product key as many times as you want. Keep in mind that
doing so would be illegal, though, and an authenticity checker that runs
in the background would prevent you from running the same copy on
multiple computers on the same network simultaneously.

Long story short: you can reinstall using the same product key without
any problems.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Tom:

I understand your thinking, but Microsoft Office isn't really built like
that. Really, it's a core, with four different user interfaces (most modern
suites are done this way...)

Which means it's not really a very good idea to leave bits out when you
install. You may save 40 MB of disk space (the saving is not large, trust
me...) but the thing never works right.

If I were you, I would do a Remove and Replace (because if you don't Remove,
the re-install won't do anything...)

This is the "Scorched Earth" fix. Whatever it is, if it's caused by Office,
this should fix it. It's not as laborious as it looks; it's actually
quicker to do it than to read it...

1) Track down all instances of pre-2008 Normal template on your computer,
and drag them to your desktop. The file is called simply "Normal" and has
no extension.

2) Run the Remove Office tool from
</Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Additional Tools/Remove Office>

3) Find and delete the file Normal.dotm. Unless you have moved it, it
should be in
~/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/User Templates/

4) If the following files exist, Remove or rename them:

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (10)

~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (11)

~/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist

5) ~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Office 2008 (the whole folder!)

6) Ensure that your copy of OS X is right up-to-date with the latest patches
issued by Apple. Run Software Update until it finds nothing!

7) Now insert the CD and install Office 2008.

8) Then Repair Permissions with Disk Utility.

9) Now start Font Book and "Resolve Duplicates". Office installs some later
versions of fonts already in place: you must get the duplicates out, or Word
will crash.

10) Then re-install or reapply the 12.2.0 and 12.2.3 and 12.2.4 updates, in
that order.

11) Repair permissions again.

12) Now shut down, wait for the power to go off, then re-start. This fires
the Unix clean-up scripts.

Hope this helps

I thought I would minimize the garbage that might install while
loading office:mac onto my imac. So, of course I made sure to do a
custom install and did not install msn messenger or entourage...
However, I think I made a mistake when I did not install the proofing
tools. I saw that the file was quite large and did not want all the
uneeded languages. Yet, now I see spell check is greyed out and cannot
be used. When I try to load the installation disk it will not let me
get through to the custom install... it tells me I already have a
newer version of office 2008. I was able to "right" click on the cd
and find the office2008_en_proofing_english.pkg file but am not sure
where to put it. Any ideas? I thought about uninstalling and
reinstalling... but I did not want to risk using another serial key.
Thanks so much for your help!!!

-Tom

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones, C.E.T.]

You can download and use a Program called Pacifist and open CD and drop
the CD/DVD icon on to Pacifist. it will load the entire installer then
you can the individual components as need. You might have to run the
updater. It works on DMG installers as well as PKG installers as well.

can save your backside if your desperate.

 

[John McGhie]

Careful, Phillip:

That's a recipe for a broken Office installation.

The individual installers in Office 2008 are not designed to run
stand-alone, and the results of doing so my be "high entertainment value".

cheers

You can download and use a Program called Pacifist and open CD and drop
the CD/DVD icon on to Pacifist. it will load the entire installer then
you can the individual components as need. You might have to run the
updater. It works on DMG installers as well as PKG installers as well.

can save your backside if your desperate.

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones, C.E.T.]

I've haven't done it on 2008 but have on other programs with no ill
affects.

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

The individual installers in Office 2008 are not designed to run
stand-alone, and the results of doing so my be "high entertainment value".

I like your phrasing
In addition, it makes updating really complicated.
It's sad, I agree, but I would uninstall and reinstall with the proper
options. (then reupdate all the way)


Corentin

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Phillip:

Do me a favour? Please don't recommend it to anyone in here

I wake in fright at night at the thought of having to help a user unpick the
mess that is likely to result

Cheers

I've haven't done it on 2008 but have on other programs with no ill
affects.

--

The email below is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless I ask you to; or unless you intend to pay!

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410 | mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones, C.E.T.]

Sure. No problem.

I just hate the thoughts of having to spend hours hunting down all the
files scattered around that the uninstaller misses in Preferences,
Applications support, Fonts. Then go through all those updaters and each
took a long time to download and even longer to run.

Each time I download a updater often takes 20 minutes and another 5-10
to actually install the upgrade. If Office installers are like, Adobe
installers, you have to download and install in exact order, there are
no multiple version in one updater. And I have a synchronous DSL line.
:-(