Difference between 2 Excel 2008 preferences? One did not rebuild???

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

First, please, what is the difference between:

Users/~/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Excel.plist

Users/~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/com.microsoft.Excel.prefs.plist

Second, I trashed both files when Excel 2008 12.1.0 kept crashing and then
re-started my PPC OS 10.5.2 Mac. The first one rebuilt itself when I
created new preferences after launching but the second preference file did
not rebuild.

Should I copy com.microsoft.Excel.prefs.plist from a recently cloned volume
to Users/~/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/ or how do I make up for its
absence since I trashed it?

Respectfully, Norm

 

[CyberTaz]

The one that's "missing" is the .plist file left behind by Excel 2004. If
you no longer have that version installed you don't need the file. If you
*do* still have it installed it will create a new one on next launch, just
like 2008 did. The different versions simply store their respective .plist
file in separate locations.

Don't copy the other back to your active system. It may be that the prior
existence of both contributed to the crashes.

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

 

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

Thanks very much, Bob, for your counsel.

I may have a number of Office 2004 preferences in the
/Users/~/Library/Microsoft folder. How does one tell what should be
trashed, please?

There's an Office 2008 subfolder in that Microsoft folder but also a lot of
others that date back to Office 2004 days. What should be in the
/Users/~/Library/Microsoft folder?

Respectfully, Norm

 

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

On 5/21/08 12:35 AM, in article
C4591ED3.8DE3%[email protected],

I may have a number of Office 2004 preferences in the
/Users/~/Library/Microsoft folder.

That's so, even though I uninstalled Office 2004 before installing Office
2008.

These are the preferences--including the Office 2008 subfolder--in my
/Users/~/Library/Microsoft folder.

Camera & Scanner Device List
com.microsoft.AlertsDaemon.plist
com.microsoft.Entourage.prefs.plist
com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist
com.microsoft.PowerPoint.prefs.plist
com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist
Entourage Preferences
Excel Toolbars (11)
Microsoft Office ACL [English]
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
Office 11 First Run
Office 2008
Office Font Cache (11)
Office Registration Cache 11
OLE Registration Database 11
PowerPoint Toolbars (11)
VBA Preferences
Word Font Substitutes

Please give your counsel on which to trash if one has no plans to ever go
back to Office 2004 and wishes to lessen the chances of corruption of Office
2008 preferences.

Respectfully, Norm

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Since you've uninstalled Office 2004 (and assuming you don't intend to
reinstall it), you can get rid of everything but the Office 2008 folder.

On 5/21/08 12:35 AM, in article
C4591ED3.8DE3%[email protected],

I may have a number of Office 2004 preferences in the
/Users/~/Library/Microsoft folder.

That's so, even though I uninstalled Office 2004 before installing Office
2008.

These are the preferences--including the Office 2008 subfolder--in my
/Users/~/Library/Microsoft folder.

Camera & Scanner Device List
com.microsoft.AlertsDaemon.plist
com.microsoft.Entourage.prefs.plist
com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist
com.microsoft.PowerPoint.prefs.plist
com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist
Entourage Preferences
Excel Toolbars (11)
Microsoft Office ACL [English]
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
Office 11 First Run
Office 2008
Office Font Cache (11)
Office Registration Cache 11
OLE Registration Database 11
PowerPoint Toolbars (11)
VBA Preferences
Word Font Substitutes

Please give your counsel on which to trash if one has no plans to ever go
back to Office 2004 and wishes to lessen the chances of corruption of Office
2008 preferences.

 

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

Thanks, J.E.! You might wish to consider an announcement to the blog
microsoft.public.mac.office____ newsgroups suggesting a clearing out of
preferences that remain after uninstalling Office 2004 to prevent possible
corruption of Office 2008 preferences or processes.

Respectfully, Norm

Since you've uninstalled Office 2004 (and assuming you don't intend to
reinstall it), you can get rid of everything but the Office 2008 folder.

On 5/21/08 12:35 AM, in article
C4591ED3.8DE3%[email protected],

I may have a number of Office 2004 preferences in the
/Users/~/Library/Microsoft folder.

That's so, even though I uninstalled Office 2004 before installing Office
2008.

These are the preferences--including the Office 2008 subfolder--in my
/Users/~/Library/Microsoft folder.

Camera & Scanner Device List
com.microsoft.AlertsDaemon.plist
com.microsoft.Entourage.prefs.plist
com.microsoft.Office.prefs.plist
com.microsoft.PowerPoint.prefs.plist
com.microsoft.Word.prefs.plist
Entourage Preferences
Excel Toolbars (11)
Microsoft Office ACL [English]
Microsoft PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
Office 11 First Run
Office 2008
Office Font Cache (11)
Office Registration Cache 11
OLE Registration Database 11
PowerPoint Toolbars (11)
VBA Preferences
Word Font Substitutes

Please give your counsel on which to trash if one has no plans to ever go
back to Office 2004 and wishes to lessen the chances of corruption of Office
2008 preferences.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

You might wish to consider an announcement to the blog
microsoft.public.mac.office____ newsgroups suggesting a clearing out of
preferences that remain after uninstalling Office 2004 to prevent possible
corruption of Office 2008 preferences or processes.

If one uses Remove Office, as suggested by MS, the appropriate prefs are
removed.

However, there isn't, AFAIK, any overlap, so removing 2004 prefs
*should* have no effect on 2008.

 

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

If one uses Remove Office, as suggested by MS, the appropriate prefs are
removed.

Hmmmm? My un-installation of Office 2004 was with Remove Office. Yet the
specific 2004 preferences noted earlier in this thread were not removed.

Remove Office zapped 2004 prefs only in the prime folder:
/users/~/library/preferences but failed to remove any of the 2004 prefs in
the subfolder: /users/~/library/preferences/microsoft.

Perhaps Remove Office works differently in uninstalling from the
/users/~/library/preferences/microsoft subfolder with the PPC version of
Leopard?

Respectfully, Norm

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Perhaps Remove Office works differently in uninstalling from the
/users/~/library/preferences/microsoft subfolder with the PPC version of
Leopard?

Or it may work differently than I remember. I haven't run it in a while,
and I don't have a machine I want to cycle today, but maybe over the
weekend...

 

[Norman R. Nager, Ph.D.]

Or it may work differently than I remember. I haven't run it in a while,
and I don't have a machine I want to cycle today, but maybe over the
weekend...

Please see my May 23, 2008, 11:40 a.m., new post "Anomaly? Office 2008
Remove Office failed to zap some preferences" It includes specifics of what
that will save you the time of finding my list of un-zapped 2004 prefs in
earlier posts in this thread.