Field display problems in Entourage email and Calendar

C

Craig Deutsch

I'm hoping to find another person out there with a similar issue. I'll try
to synopsize and be brief, but if anyone has a spare moment or two to read
and comment, I'm grateful; this problem is frustrating me entirely, and I
did not have these issues with Office X:

As expected, when launching Entourage, the To:, cc:, bcc:, and Subject:
fields fill and justify correctly, using a font which fits the field
correctly and displays properly. In the Calendar item fields, the Subject:,
Location:, Start/Time:, End/Time:, Duration: and Reminder/Hours: fields work
correctly as well.

However, it doesn't take too long for all to go haywire. It usually happens
after I click on one email, then click on another -- or go from one folder
to another, or go from Email to Calendar and then back again. Once the
problem starts, it stays for as long as Entourage is open. In other words,
all's well when launching, but something shortly thereafter hoses everything
up.

The symptoms:

* All email and calendar user-fillable fields become right-justified, and
the font is too large for the field; the bottom pixels of characters are
truncated. An example: In the Subject: line of any email -- which becomes
as wide as the open window that contains it -- the subject text is
completely right-justified.

* When forwarding or replying to an email, the last character of the field
remains phantom; in other words it is not editable, but it doesn't really
seem to exist, either.

* In some cases, the field data isn't visible at all, particularly in the
Calendar application. Sometimes this is remedied by clicking and dragging
left in the field so as to attempt to expose the (hidden) characters. Other
times it doesn't work at all.

* The biggest operational problem comes with scheduling events; because of
this display issue, I cannot manually set the Duration:, nor can I set the
Hours: field when clicking the Reminder box. This causes erratic entries in
the calendar, and I have little control over when reminders go off. Note
that clicking in these fields to change the data is impossible; nothing
appears.

Here's what I've done to try and resolve the problem:

* Used Test accounts to determine whether a new "pristine" account would
demonstrate the same issues. It does.

* Used other Users' accounts for same purpose. Same problem.

* Completely removed Microsoft Office and all preference/associated files;
then reinstalled. Same problem.

* Used FontDoctor to examine fonts in the Main System Library as well as
user libraries. Removed duplicates, mis-matched and corrupted fonts. After
a clean bill of font health, the same problem appears.

* Unfortunately, Microsoft email-based assistance indicates that no such
problem has previously been reported.

Anyone have ANY clue as to what's causing this? I'd add an attachment, but
last time I tried, the Newsgroups servers don't allow them, so I can't show
you the screenshots I've made that clearly demonstrate the issue.

Thank you!
 
B

Barry Wainwright

Have you applied the recent 11.1 update? I think it is supposed to fix this
problem.

If not, MS are aware of the issue, and I expect a fix will be along soon.
 
C

Craig Deutsch

Yes, I have; thanks for your reply. I have tried absolutely everything I
can think of to solve this problem (as indicated in my original post).
Nothing -- I mean nothing -- seems to work.

I'm quite curious why this fix didn't make it into Service Pack 1. It is,
indeed, a big problem for those of us afflicted and seriously limits the the
usability and enjoyment of a rather expensive software suite.

I have been able to confirm -- as indicated by previous posts from Paul
Berkowitz -- that the problem is always initiated by first viewing an
HTML-formatted message. Once that's done, the problem appears and stays for
the entire session.

I simply cannot understand why this is so difficult to fix.
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

Yes, I have; thanks for your reply. I have tried absolutely everything I
can think of to solve this problem (as indicated in my original post).
Nothing -- I mean nothing -- seems to work.

I'm quite curious why this fix didn't make it into Service Pack 1. It is,
indeed, a big problem for those of us afflicted and seriously limits the the
usability and enjoyment of a rather expensive software suite.

I have been able to confirm -- as indicated by previous posts from Paul
Berkowitz -- that the problem is always initiated by first viewing an
HTML-formatted message. Once that's done, the problem appears and stays for
the entire session.

I simply cannot understand why this is so difficult to fix.

And I'm curious as to why you would assume it would be easy to fix? What do
you know about it, and how would you ever have access to Microsoft's
proprietary code anyway? I, for one, certainly have no idea whatsoever what
the programming or other bug consists of. How would you? This is something
that affects a lot of people, so I'm certain Microsoft would have fixed it
on those grounds had it been possible to do by the early deadline of SP 1.
The fact that it didn't make the deadline would indicate to me that it might
be something complicated - something that will require a lot of re-writing
and may cause other problems - even among the tens of thousands of people
who do _not_ have the current problem - as a result. That in turn would
require a major internal and beta-testing program. They don't seem to have
had that amount of time available for this SP1 release. I expect they'll do
it as soon as they can.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.
 
C

Craig Deutsch

Paul, while I appreciate your response, I don't need a verbal lambasting
about the technicalities of fixing bugs, and what I interpret to be your
somewhat aggressive reply simply doesn't belong here.

Plain and simple, no -- I'm not a programmer. However, I am a long-time
dedicated Mac and Microsoft advocate who remains frustrated and perplexed by
this problem, and thus far it seems to fall on deaf ears -- you of course
excluded. At the end of the day, I am the consumer who's paid hundreds of
dollars for two versions of a complex software application that the
manufacturer touts as the best tool for business on a Mac. Yet it does not
work as indicated. Fine. So they should fix it, but they should also keep
interested parties updated as to what's happening with the product's
anomalies.

To your point, if the issue is so complicated that it couldn't make SP1,
then it's my opinion that Microsoft should have notified the user base that
(a) it's aware of the problem and (b) that its investigation/fix is
underway. That would have been the appropriate response, IMO.

Yet we hear nothing. Microsoft's own online support system acknowledges that
it's "never heard of the problem." I can show you three months of email
threads from a Microsoft Online Support Professional who, while very nice
and sympathetic, doesn't have a clue about what the problem is and claims MS
never before heard of it.

Don't they consult the Newsgroups and scan them for issues that they might
undertake? I've spent three months going back and forth with them, trying
umpteen different things to remedy the situation -- to no avail.

I think it's fair to say that the Mac BU at MS probably doesn't have the
staffing that the Windows side of the house does. So a delay in getting
issues resolved might be at some level understandable. But total lack of
response from MS is not appropriate.

As a guy who spent years on the front lines of computer store and retail
banking operations, I've learned that customers listen much better when
they're not addressed in condescending language. A public and pointed
demonstration of your (apparent) frustration over my (assumed) lack of
understanding of bug fixes, regression testing, resource allocation or any
other behind-the-scenes topics just isn't necessary.

Craig Deutsch
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

You were the one who said:

"I simply cannot understand why this is so difficult to fix."

I'm still curious as to why you think it should be easy to fix.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.
 
C

Craig Deutsch

I conceded that it might not be easy to fix, and I implied that I'm ignorant
when it comes to programming-related difficulties. There's still no reason
for the kind of reply you tendered.

And in fact, were you able to properly interpret the frustration inherent in
my (somewhat rhetorical) question, perhaps a better finessed answer would
have said the same thing in a more appropriate, informative tone -- as
opposed to the one with which you chose to reply.

'Nuff said.
 
B

Barry Wainwright

Don't they consult the Newsgroups and scan them for issues that they might
undertake? I've spent three months going back and forth with them, trying
umpteen different things to remedy the situation -- to no avail.

Yes, they do employ people to watch these newsgroups for issues, feedback
and feature requests. I am surprised, and somewhat disappointed, that the
support line doesn't know anything about the issue since it has been a
'known issue' for quite some time.

I will elevate the issue through the channels that are available to MVPs and
try and get some recognition that they have internal communication problems.

In addition to reporting here, you can also send feedback through the 'send
feedback...' option in the help menu of any office app. This feedback goes
direct to the MBu, but posting here is supposed to be a more direct route to
the dev team.
I think it's fair to say that the Mac BU at MS probably doesn't have the
staffing that the Windows side of the house does. So a delay in getting
issues resolved might be at some level understandable. But total lack of
response from MS is not appropriate.

I agree.
 
C

Craig Deutsch

Barry, thanks for the informative and constructive post. I appreciate it,
and I think I speak for others on this board who are also experiencing what
looks to be a maddening Microsoft bug. It really does detract from the
usability of what is otherwise a pretty darn good program even if it does
lack several nice features available to Outlook for Windows users.

Regards,

Craig
 

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