Lost entourage!

[Clawman]

Help. I've been using Entourage on my G4 for a year (with Mac OSX
10.3.9), and today, without warning, I suddenly got a message that
said: This identity cannot be opened with this version of Entourage. I
reloaded my Office: Mac 2004 (student and teacher edition) but no
difference. I am now effectively locked out of my email. HELP!

 

[Michel Bintener]

The problem is caused by the fact that the version of your Entourage
identity is newer than the version of Entourage itself. The SP2 update
modified the format of your database, so any pre-SP2 version of Entourage
will not be able to read it. Make sure you've installed all the latest
updates for Office 2004, and everything should be alright again.

 

[clawman]

Thanks Michel;
I erased the old version of Office and reinstalled new one and problem
evaporated.

cheers

claude

 

[Steve Blum]

The SP2 update
modified the format of your database

Is there anymore information available regarding how it was modified? I'm
wondering if this is the root cause of the problem with slow operation of
the address book.

I've tried the archive/re-import fix, and it helps speed it up a bit, but
doesn't fix it. I don't know if there's anything I could do even if I knew
what the changes were, but you don't know until you try, I guess.

Cheers,

Steve Blum
Tellus Venture Associates
+1 831/582-0700
(e-mail address removed)

"What are the facts? Again and again and again--what are the facts? Shun
wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what 'the stars
foretell,' avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the
unguessable 'verdict of history'--what are the facts, and to how many
decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your
single clue. Get the facts!" RAH

 

[Michel Bintener]

Is there anymore information available regarding how it was modified? I'm
wondering if this is the root cause of the problem with slow operation of
the address book.

I've tried the archive/re-import fix, and it helps speed it up a bit, but
doesn't fix it. I don't know if there's anything I could do even if I knew
what the changes were, but you don't know until you try, I guess.

Cheers,

Steve Blum
Tellus Venture Associates
+1 831/582-0700
(e-mail address removed)

"What are the facts? Again and again and again--what are the facts? Shun
wishful thinking, ignore divine revelation, forget what 'the stars
foretell,' avoid opinion, care not what the neighbors think, never mind the
unguessable 'verdict of history'--what are the facts, and to how many
decimal places? You pilot always into an unknown future; facts are your
single clue. Get the facts!" RAH

I don't think that information about the database structure is available.
And I don't think that the SP2 update is responsible for the slow-down. Have
you tried searching this newsgroup for tips on how to speed up Entourage?
You might be able to find one or two useful tips. And if you can't find any
valuable suggestions, then you could post your question as a new topic, so
people can share their wisdom with you. Sorry for not being of any help.

 

[Steve Blum]

I don't think that information about the database structure is available.
And I don't think that the SP2 update is responsible for the slow-down. Have
you tried searching this newsgroup for tips on how to speed up Entourage?
You might be able to find one or two useful tips. And if you can't find any
valuable suggestions, then you could post your question as a new topic, so
people can share their wisdom with you. Sorry for not being of any help.

Michel,

I appreciate your thoughtfulness in taking time to reply. I think we're all
in the same boat -- just trying to figure things out and help where we can.

The post-SP2 slowdown in the Address Book has been a topic of discussion on
the newsgroup. Several people have reported experiencing the same,
reproducible symptoms.

I've looked for hints, and so far haven't found anything that works well.
Using Paul Berkowitz's excellent import/export scripts or the archive
function to create a new database helps some, but at the cost of a lot of
useful metadata (at least for me). And it doesn't really seem to fix the
problem, just reduce it.

I've also tried the sorting hint from the website to no avail, as well as
pruning and rebuilding several times.

So far, no one from Microsoft has commented on the problem. I'm hoping it's
because they have an idea what's causing it, but can't say anything
meaningful about it until they've found a fix.

The problem is bad enough that I've looked around at other PIMs, but
Entourage otherwise works extremely well for me -- my business is
project-centric and Entourage has some great, unique tools that I really
don't want to give up.

I'm open to any other ideas or suggestions.

Thanks!

Cheers,

Steve Blum
Tellus Venture Associates
+1 831/582-0700
(e-mail address removed)

"Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax
collectors--and miss." RAH