ONe troublesome toolbar

[Dinger]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have just installed Office 2008. Just ONE of the toolbars (Drawing)refuses to open but gives me the whirling disc and I have to Force Quit. I have tried some of the suggested answers available here but so far no luck. Solution greatly appreciated.

 

[CyberTaz]

If you have "just installed Office 2008" have you also applied the updates?

Did you repair disk permissions & restart after installing?

Is your installation a new installation of Office 2008 or is it an upgrade
from a prior version -- and if so which one?

Without knowing what "suggested answers" you've tried it's pure guesswork to
to try offering alternatives. Exact update level of Office & OS X is also
important information to include in any requests for assistance.

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

 

[Dinger]

Thank you for your fast response
1. I installed an Academic version of Office bought from Apple Japan last week to replace my old 2004 though I did not buy the upgrade.
2. All upgrades automatically suggested by M'soft were installed
3. I do not understand 'repair disk permissions & restart after installing' and it concerns me that I should. Cans of worms I am not looking for...
(Perhaps I should just return the software and ask for a version that works.)

One of the posts I did read here was that Office and Leopard don't like one another...
Regards

Dinger

 

[John McGhie]

Yeah, the Drawing toolbar problem is a hardy perennial.

It is resolved by one of the several fixes that have been issued, which it
appears have not correctly applied to your computer.

As Bob suggests, you should first start Apple's Disk Utility and Repair
Permissions. Then shut down your computer and turn the power off. Wait 30
seconds, and start it up again (this triggers some Unix house-keeping
routines).

That should fix it. When it does, then download and apply the latest
(12.2.0) fix from Microsoft, and the 12.2.1 fix that came after it.

If that doesn't work, come back here: there are several other things we can
help you to do.

Office 2008 was built for OS 10.4, not 10.5. It needs all of the latest
fixes to work properly with 10.5. It actually goes better in 10.6, because
OS 10.6 contains some Apple fixes Microsoft was waiting for.

If you return the software and ask for a version that works, you will walk
out with a copy of Office 2004. That may be a good move: 2004 can't do the
new file formats properly, but it is a bit more stable. It still won't work
properly in 10.5 until you put in all the patches, though...

Cheers

Thank you for your fast response
1. I installed an Academic version of Office bought from Apple Japan last week
to replace my old 2004 though I did not buy the upgrade.
2. All upgrades automatically suggested by M'soft were installed
3. I do not understand 'repair disk permissions & restart after installing'
and it concerns me that I should. Cans of worms I am not looking for...
(Perhaps I should just return the software and ask for a version that works.)

One of the posts I did read here was that Office and Leopard don't like one
another...
Regards

Dinger

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Dinger]

Thank you for your response. I will try what you suggest.

However, your mention of OS 10.6 is interesting as I expect to have this next week.

Regards

Dinger

 

[Dinger]

Update
1. I tried the fix suggested for the 10.5 Leopard. I am afraid there was no change.
2. I have just installed Snow Leopard. However, again I get the twirling disc just for the blessèd Drawing toolbar requiring a force quit and wasted time.

Do other people just forget about this particular toolbar and give up on it as a dead loss? Do you know anyone with a Mac who actually CAN use this particular toolbar? If not, I shall ask for a rebate of USD1.-

Seriously, if this problem can be resolved, I should be very happy.

Thanks

Dinger

 

[John McGhie]

Update
1. I tried the fix suggested for the 10.5 Leopard. I am afraid there was no
change.
2. I have just installed Snow Leopard. However, again I get the twirling disc
just for the blessèd Drawing toolbar requiring a force quit and wasted time.

Do other people just forget about this particular toolbar and give up on it as
a dead loss? Do you know anyone with a Mac who actually CAN use this
particular toolbar? If not, I shall ask for a rebate of USD1.-

Seriously, if this problem can be resolved, I should be very happy.

Thanks

Dinger

Hi Dinger:

I use the Drawing toolbar frequently, here in Word 2008 12.2.1.

The next step is to go to the Word>About Word menu in Word 2008 and check
the version numbers.

You should see Version 12.2.0 Build 090605, and on the next line:
Latest Installed Update: 12.2.1.

If you do not see that, it's not going to work. The reason those updates
might not have installed is that they require your Operating System to be
started up with the language set to English, or they will not install
properly. It's a bug...

If those updates ARE installed, then we need to track down all versions of
the Normal template and Normal.dotm template and delete them. Make CERTAIN
that all Microsoft software is quit, not just minimised, when you do this.

Use Spotlight for this, you have to get them ALL, because it's Spotlight
that the startup routine uses to find them, and if it dinds them, you'll get
your problem back.

The issue is probably that Word 2008 sucked in the Word 2004 Normal template
settings when you upgraded. Sadly, the Drawing toolbar in a Word 2004
template is not compatible with the one in the Word 2008 template.

The cure is to delete all instances of both the Word 2004 template (Which is
just called "Normal" without an extension) and the Word 2008 Normal.dotm.

IF you get them all, Word 2008 will create a new blank template on startup,
and the drawing toolbar will work

I hope...

This email is my business email -- Please do not email me about forum
matters unless you intend to pay!

--

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP (Word, Mac Word), Consultant Technical Writer,
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
Sydney, Australia. | Ph: +61 (0)4 1209 1410
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]