Similar problems in Word, Excel and Entourage on both I-Mac and MacBook Pro (Intel)

[nenelabeet]

My husband and I are experiencing an irritating problem with Office
2004 on our Macs. When certain commands are executed, like
spell-checking certain words in an Entourage message, the programs
close down. I can live with it - sort of - but for my husband, who
works with huge, complicated spreadsheets, it's hell! Are there certain
commands that are "off limits" on a Mac compared to a PC? He's the last
of our family to have converted to Mac.

Kind regards,
Néné

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

This is not normal and you should not have to live with it.

When you say spell-checking, do you mean right-clicking to bring up word
suggestions? I'm trying to figure out what would be common to all three
programs, and right-click menus might be something. What are some other
triggers?

 

[nenelabeet]

I can't quite put my finger on it, but it is not only right-click
commands. In Entourage at least, I've noticed that the more spelling
mistakes (or rather the more names, weird words, other-language words
etc.), the more often the programme closes down. In Word it's special
commands, but I'm not quite sure which. In Excel it may be when
commands that would be Windows-commands are executed, since my husband
still hasn't got used to the Mac-version of Excel, which he finds very
different from the PC-version.

Thanks for your interest in my problem.

//Néné

 

[CyberTaz]

You don't specify in either post, so the first suggestion is to make sure
that both Office and OS X are fully updated. Even if *both* are recent
purchases you can't assume that the latest of either were "in the box" -
11.3 for Office, 10.4.8 for OS X... and be sure to use Disk Utility - Repair
Disk Permissions after any updates. If you need to update the OS it's better
to use the Combo updater from the Apple web site. In fact, it might not be a
bad idea to reinstall using it even if you are at 10.4.8 already.

The generality of what you report could also be associated with an
incomplete removal of the Office Test Drive if you had that installed on the
systems before installing Office 2004.

As far as the "very different" issue of Mac vs PC Excel, there are any
number of variables that could come in to play here - especially if he is
using files created on the PC which have been customized. OTOH, it could
just be a matter of getting used to Command = Control, Option = Alt, as both
versions are far more similar than they are different. Not knowing exactly
what he's having difficulty with makes it hard to offer any suggestions, pro
or con.
--
HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

I can't quite put my finger on it, but it is not only right-click
commands. In Entourage at least, I've noticed that the more spelling
mistakes (or rather the more names, weird words, other-language words
etc.), the more often the programme closes down. In Word it's special
commands, but I'm not quite sure which. In Excel it may be when
commands that would be Windows-commands are executed, since my husband
still hasn't got used to the Mac-version of Excel, which he finds very
different from the PC-version.

Thanks for your interest in my problem.

//Néné