Cannot open files via menu

[Fredericpaeps]

I installed Office yesterday. Everything worked fine, but now I can no longer open Word files via the menu. When I go via Finder it works fine. When I go via the menu (file open - or via the toolbar) I fall on an endless grey field with at the bottom the "enable" box. No response and all menu items are greyed out. The only way to leave that page is via esc. Restarting my mac doesn't solve the issue. It doesn't happen in powerpoint or excel. Should I reinstall??? Tx for help

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

No, don't reinstall. Reinstall is *never* the first thing to try.

Diagnostic tricks to help locate the cause of the problem:

1) hold down shift while launching Word. Does the problem persist?

2) Log out of your user account, then hold down shift while logging back
in. Does the problem persist?

3) create a new user account in OS X and test in that one. Does the
problem persist?

 

[Fredericpaeps]

Thx Daiya.
Tried each of the above. Only the new user account (your #3) seemed to work fine...it opened fine on a finder window but of course there were no word files to be opened there yet (also I got the office set-up form again...hope I don't get issues with license infringement here).I'll save a word file there and re-try.

If I can find a way to re-connnect all my data with another user account then I don't mind switching but I'm not sure if that's not going to create any other issues with licenced stuff I got on my mac (Photoshop and a zillion other things).

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Okay, well, that's a good clue. Unfortunately, that's the clue that
usually means, "eh, easier to just migrate than try to track down the
issue". The usual suspects are all bypassed in Test #1 (shift-launching
Word) so since that didn't work, I'm not sure. Since opening docs from
the Finder is a viable workaround, you might wait a little bit to see if
anyone else chimes in with a suggestion.

Just by the way--Migrating accounts should not be a license issue--as
long as your apps are in the Applications folder that is directly on the
hard drive, and not in the [username]/Applications folder, they should
be installed and licensed for all users of the computer. The Office
Setup Assistant should just be creating an identity for that user--it
didn't ask you for a license key, did it?

 

[Fredericpaeps]

OK, I'll stick with the finder for the time being. It's a pain and a bit of a shame for such a a posh new app but at least it's manageable. And you are right for the license, it just asked for name etc. not the license key.

 

[John McGhie]

The test Daiya recommended has proved that the problem is likely to be
somewhere in here:
/Users/~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/

It is safe enough to delete that entire folder. If you do, the Microsoft
applications will rebuild what they need when they next start (you may be
prompted for your user data again...)

One of the things that will do is trigger the "First Run" mechanism that
should re-establish the file associations.

Hope this helps

OK, I'll stick with the finder for the time being. It's a pain and a bit of a
shame for such a a posh new app but at least it's manageable. And you are
right for the license, it just asked for name etc. not the license key.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Fredericpaeps]

Tx John. Have tried your suggestion, I deleted the MS folder in library, emptied trash and restarted, it rebuilds and sets up fonts etc allright (no prompt for user data) but I still get this irresponsive page. And still only with Word, PPt and Excel are ok. BTW I only deleted the Microsoft folder as you said; there is also the com.Microsoft.Word.plist file in the library, I suppose I have to leave that where it is?
What to do What to do??

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Uh, it's better not to actually *delete* that folder, but just to move
it to the desktop so Office can't find it. You might want to recover the
customizations from it, like an AutoCorrect List.

 

[Fredericpaeps]

@ Daiya & John: really thanks for time and advice!
I've installed office from same CD now also on my G4 powerbook (the other is on my Intel iMac) - so far I can open word files from the menu without any issues. We tried all you stuff on the other one to no avail, so it must be something to do with my imac...I guess I'll reinstall anyway and see what happens. Wish me luck

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Frederic:

If you want to re-install, then you must run the Remove Office Tool first.

If you don't, it is almost certain that the problem will remain, and a high
chance that it will become worse

Cheers

@ Daiya & John: really thanks for time and advice!
I've installed office from same CD now also on my G4 powerbook (the other is
on my Intel iMac) - so far I can open word files from the menu without any
issues. We tried all you stuff on the other one to no avail, so it must be
something to do with my imac...I guess I'll reinstall anyway and see what
happens. Wish me luck

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Fredericpaeps]

Ok guys I give up! I have carefully removed Office, tenderly reinstalled...and I get exactly the same problem, again - luckily - only with Word. Can it be due to a defective install DVD or is it one of those things that just happens to happen with my iMac. As said, I can workaround by clicking esc and then opening my documents by double clicking via the Finder but it just doesn't feel right for a new 300$+ software. How can I get this thing fixed?? Is it likely to go away when there are updates or do I just have to learn to live with it? BTW apart from that I quite like Office 2008. The whole thing looks better and it seems much snappier. In particular, Powerpoint is a lot faster (no longer endless "opening metafiles" messages in presentations with lots of graphs. So all in all I glad I upgraded but this flaw just upsets me. It's like a nice new car with a big scratch in it.

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Frederic -

A while back you mentioned the
User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist file - did you ever try
removing that? If not, with no MS apps running drag that file to the desktop
or other location then launch Word. See if that corrects the problem.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Time to migrate, I guess, if it still doesn't occur in a new identity.
Sounds like there must be some glitch specific to the user identity (but
not related to Office), that only Word is triggering. Very mysterious.

 

[Fredericpaeps]

Ta ta ta taaa!!!
@ cyber taz. Dragged the User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist file to the desktop and relaunched, and everything seems to work perfectly now! File open brings me straight to the documents window - what a relief!
Now what do I do do with the plist file on my desktop, can I just dump it? I leave my mac on and promise I won't touch or delete anything

Looks like we've cracked it. Tx a million to all of you!

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Yes, dump it. Word created a new virgin .plist when you relaunched.

Congrats on solving it!

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
Mac MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/Mac/WordMacHome.html>
My Site: <http://www.bethrosengard.com>

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I would just like to say that shift-launching Word should have created a
new prefs file, and the problem still persisted. Which is why Frederic
didn't test it specifically. I wonder if something else was interfering.
Either that, or shift-launch isn't a reliable diagnostic. Hmm.

 

[CyberTaz]

No applause, just send money to cybertaz@.....;-)

Seriously - glad it worked for you & hope it will continue, which I believe
it will! Thanks also for the confirmation.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[CyberTaz]

Hey Daiya -

That's a very good point - perhaps it need be boosted up the ladder... But
is the launch in safe mode also supposed to create a .plist or just a .pref?
I'm honestly not sure.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

I don't know the difference between a .plist and a .pref?

I thought shift-launch was supposed to do the same as if you had dragged
preferences and Normal to the desktop. And I had tested (because I
forgot shift-launch did prefs and thought it just did Normal, until Beth
said), and when I shift-launched, my prefs were reset to the default.
I'm not sure *which* prefs it bypasses other than that main one,
though--there's a lot of user/lib/prefs/com.microsoft.* files, plus the
files in user/lib/prefs/microsoft/office 2008.

Perhaps that isn't the actual prefs file? But I think I tested that
too--that's the file that remembers the checkboxes in preferences for
Office 2008.

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

Same file as in Word 2004, just moved to a different location.


Frederic did re-install, so it's possible there was a conjunction of corruptions.

 

[Phillip Jones]

Dump it in Trash and empty. Its no longer needed or wanted.

Ta ta ta taaa!!!
@ cyber taz. Dragged the
User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist file to the desktop
and relaunched, and everything seems to work perfectly now! File open
brings me straight to the documents window - what a relief!
Now what do I do do with the plist file on my desktop, can I just dump
it? I leave my mac on and promise I won't touch or delete anything

Looks like we've cracked it. Tx a million to all of you!

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