How to open ".doc" files with Word 2004 by DEFAULT instead of Office 2008?

[Tony]

I use Office 2004 almost all the time on my Mac. Office 2008 is too
buggy for me.

Yet, I had to install Office 2008 just to open some Office 2007 files
that I receive from Windows (albeit, with lots of compatibility issues).

The problem now is that double clicking a ".doc" file, it launches Word
2008 instead of Office 2004. No way to prevent it selecting "File - Get
Info - Open with - Change All". I have also installed and used
RCDefaultApp 2.0.1 to no avail.

Note: once Word 2004 is open, then double clicking the ".doc" files
opens them with such application. So, the problem is for the very first
file that launches Word for the first time.

The same for PowerPoint and Excel files with their respective applications.

Thanks.

 

[CyberTaz]

Sorry, Tony, but at the present time there is no solution. Whether it's
attributable to the OS or to Office I'm not sure, but that's a universal
condition. The simplest workaround is to right-click the file & choose the
Open With command in order to select Microsoft Word (11.5.0). When & if
anything will change I have no idea.

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

 

[Tony]

Bob, thaks for the heads up.

Sorry, Tony, but at the present time there is no solution. Whether it's
attributable to the OS or to Office I'm not sure, but that's a universal
condition. The simplest workaround is to right-click the file & choose the
Open With command in order to select Microsoft Word (11.5.0). When & if
anything will change I have no idea.

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

 

[krienkeb]

I have a temporary solution. I also hate having to open 2008 except
for .docx files etc. I use macros a lot in excel and 2008 does not
support them. What I do is create a new folder outside of the
Applications folder call it whatever and drag the office 2008 folder
inside of that. I then lock the folder by get info and then clicking
lock. The programs will still be useable, but not chosen as default.
The problem is that as soon as you need a .docx etc it memorizes the
location and opens it every time. If you work with .doc, .xls most of
the time this is a good option.

 

[John McGhie]

Ewww.... Be careful doing this...

This also means that Office 2008 will not update correctly. You will miss
out on your bug fixes, and chances are eventually the Office installation
will get corrupted as a result.

But you're right: it will work, provided that you always remember to put it
back where it was and fix permissions before running updates

Cheers

I have a temporary solution. I also hate having to open 2008 except
for .docx files etc. I use macros a lot in excel and 2008 does not
support them. What I do is create a new folder outside of the
Applications folder call it whatever and drag the office 2008 folder
inside of that. I then lock the folder by get info and then clicking
lock. The programs will still be useable, but not chosen as default.
The problem is that as soon as you need a .docx etc it memorizes the
location and opens it every time. If you work with .doc, .xls most of
the time this is a good option.

--

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, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

FWIW - I find it safer & more convenient to simply right-click the file &
select the preferred version from the Open With options... I also don't have
to jump through hoops to get a .___x file open in the right version.

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

 

[Phillip Jones]

What MS should have done, though was fix this Bug. all applications
except Office 2008 allow you to decide which version of an application
opens a File. Just select the file, do get info. And go down to open
files of this type with and choose the desired application.

Even Office 2004 allowed this. This is an Obvious bug that should have
been fixed.

Now Taz Before you get your knickers in a Bunch. I am not taking away
from anything you said in your post. I am not correcting or anything.
I'm just expressing my opinion That office 2008 is the only application
package I have that does this. And there fore is a bug.

FWIW - I find it safer & more convenient to simply right-click the file &
select the preferred version from the Open With options... I also don't have
to jump through hoops to get a .___x file open in the right version.

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

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

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[John McGhie]

Hi Phillip:

It's not obvious to me!!

Quite the reverse: this is a designed feature to FIX a bug. The bug was
that if your Launch Services Database got damaged, Word would lose its file
type associations and nothing would open on a double-click.

The fix is that every time any member of Microsoft Office starts, it
re-populates the launch services to launch the latest installed version of
each application.

You may not "like" it, but it's not a bug, it's how they meant it to work.

I bugged it during the beta and got stamped on

Cheers

What MS should have done, though was fix this Bug. all applications
except Office 2008 allow you to decide which version of an application
opens a File. Just select the file, do get info. And go down to open
files of this type with and choose the desired application.

Even Office 2004 allowed this. This is an Obvious bug that should have
been fixed.

Now Taz Before you get your knickers in a Bunch. I am not taking away
from anything you said in your post. I am not correcting or anything.
I'm just expressing my opinion That office 2008 is the only application
package I have that does this. And there fore is a bug.

--

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, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Phillip -

There's a major distinction between expressing a difference of opinion on
any given subject & wantonly contradicting verifiable facts

Although I fully agree that this behavior is a "bug that should have been
fixed" I'm not convinced that it's a MS bug - at least not entirely. My
understanding on this issue is somewhat different than yours:

Double-clicking a file as I understand it doesn't launch a program - it
sends a request to open the file to the OS which in turn identifies which
application the file type is associated with. The OS then launches the
associated or registered application which then opens the file. IOW, the
program being launched isn't even involved in the process until it's
actually called by the OS.

That's a part of what the OS X Finder (or the Windows Registry) is all
about. From that perspective it seems to me that OS X is selecting the wrong
application - especially since making the association explicitly through Get
Info has absolutely no influence on the outcome. I'll admit that *why* the
wrong app is being launched I have no idea. Perhaps someone with more
technical insight can offer a viable explanation.

As far as Office 2008 being the only application that does this, I would ask
one fundamental question: How many other programs are there that you have 2
separate full versions installed on the same Mac? I know I can't afford to
buy the full retail package of every application I own every time a new
version is released. Like most users I follow the upgrade path thereby
effectively *replacing* the prior version with the new one. Even when I do
reinvest in a program I seldom leave the old version installed.

However, the entire argument seems to have been rendered moot - or at least
less significant

I've done some testing just now & found the problem is no longer as much of
a problem. Although it still doesn't apply universally even if you hit
Change All in the Get Info window you can successfully associate any given
..doc with Word 2004. When you dbl-clk that file it will open in that version
- *IF* 2008 isn't already running. It appears to work in both 10.4.11 as
well as 10.5.4 running Office 12.1.1 & 11.5.0 in each. Who's responsible or
exactly how/when it came about I have no idea, but it seems to be a step in
the right direction

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

 

[Phillip Jones]

Might Know Ms would do something just to be different

to fix a launch service problem if it just applies to MS product do get
info on a group of Ms word Files, right click , select get info group or
whatever its named.

then go to, open with choose 2004 or 2008 word then click on open all
fies of this type with...

then click on the red (dismiss button) and your set.

if you have problems with more than just MS products (or any one
particular application use a utility such as onyx to rebuild the launch
system data base,

You may have to choose an application the first time but its then set.

To me when only one group of applications does something against the
grain. then Its a Bug. I don't care if MS or the Pope sees it different
its a bug.

When other applications such as Adobe or Intuit or whomever, comply and
The MS doesn't its a bug. Ms may call it a feature.

You don't know how teed off I was the first time I loaded Office 2008
and tried to open Word and Excel Documents in 2004 and it would let me.

I would go to get info set as I had been doing, upwards of 50 times.
Before I decided for some cruel reason only MS could fathom They had
disabled this. And I did demand the previous method be reinstated in in
a feedback request. That's Like one day your driving your car, then the
next day you go to drive it and you suddenly find the steering wheel and
all the controls set so you have to set in the rear seat to drive the car.

Hi Phillip:

It's not obvious to me!!

Quite the reverse: this is a designed feature to FIX a bug. The bug was
that if your Launch Services Database got damaged, Word would lose its file
type associations and nothing would open on a double-click.

The fix is that every time any member of Microsoft Office starts, it
re-populates the launch services to launch the latest installed version of
each application.

You may not "like" it, but it's not a bug, it's how they meant it to work.

I bugged it during the beta and got stamped on

Cheers

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

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<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Phillip Jones]

Launch services can be manually set. And That is what MS and and only MS
has broken.

if you want to set an individual file to open with a specific application.

select the file
Do Get info (Command-I)

look for open file with and notice the button. If it does not show what
you want it to open with (that is compatible) click on it and shows a list.
Choose from the list.

And click on open file of this type with this application

on OSX3.9 to make a group open use command click to highlight a bunch of
files at least 5 anyway.

Next choose get info and it open the get info show as a *group* instead
of individual files. Do the same as above. get out of get info in either
case your now set.

IN OSX.4x select the group of files and right click or control click and
wait for window to come up you can choose either getinfo which will open
windows individually or choose the one for group which opens just one
window and applies to all the selected group. set for desired
application as previously given. Again your all set to go.


In 2004 no problem.

In 2008 you can do this it appears changed but is not changed. you go
back and its bounced back to 2008.

You can repeat setting things until your arm falls off from wearing the
sockets out. Makes no difference.

Files I created in 2004 I *don't * ever want to open with 2008 *unless*
I want to update them for the new features. IN Excel especially because
Many features are broken or crippled in 2008, I never ever want to open
2004 Excel files in 2008. Now If I want to create new files and want to
into consideration all the drawbacks then I am quite willing to open and
create a new file 2008.

So to me Its a Bug . MS may call it a Feature all they want. But to me
its a Bug. They probably wrote the code and didn't realize until to
late, and can't figure out how to fix. So they call it a new feature.
hoping everyone will swallow it hook line and sinker.

No offense to either You or Or john or any of the MVP's.

Hi Phillip -

There's a major distinction between expressing a difference of opinion on
any given subject & wantonly contradicting verifiable facts

Although I fully agree that this behavior is a "bug that should have been
fixed" I'm not convinced that it's a MS bug - at least not entirely. My
understanding on this issue is somewhat different than yours:

Double-clicking a file as I understand it doesn't launch a program - it
sends a request to open the file to the OS which in turn identifies which
application the file type is associated with. The OS then launches the
associated or registered application which then opens the file. IOW, the
program being launched isn't even involved in the process until it's
actually called by the OS.

That's a part of what the OS X Finder (or the Windows Registry) is all
about. From that perspective it seems to me that OS X is selecting the wrong
application - especially since making the association explicitly through Get
Info has absolutely no influence on the outcome. I'll admit that *why* the
wrong app is being launched I have no idea. Perhaps someone with more
technical insight can offer a viable explanation.

As far as Office 2008 being the only application that does this, I would ask
one fundamental question: How many other programs are there that you have 2
separate full versions installed on the same Mac? I know I can't afford to
buy the full retail package of every application I own every time a new
version is released. Like most users I follow the upgrade path thereby
effectively *replacing* the prior version with the new one. Even when I do
reinvest in a program I seldom leave the old version installed.

However, the entire argument seems to have been rendered moot - or at least
less significant

I've done some testing just now & found the problem is no longer as much of
a problem. Although it still doesn't apply universally even if you hit
Change All in the Get Info window you can successfully associate any given
.doc with Word 2004. When you dbl-clk that file it will open in that version
- *IF* 2008 isn't already running. It appears to work in both 10.4.11 as
well as 10.5.4 running Office 12.1.1 & 11.5.0 in each. Who's responsible or
exactly how/when it came about I have no idea, but it seems to be a step in
the right direction

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

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>