"This Identity cannot be opened with this version..."

[MissMaeve]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Email Client: Exchange I recently purchased a new Mac Air and transferred everything from the old one using my Time Machine back up. Everything transferred without a hiccup except my Microsoft Office:Mac 2008.

Every Microsoft product gives me various error messages and sends me to the Database Utility to rebuild my database, which I am then unable to complete.

I have tried re-installing Office:Mac 2008, however am still experiencing the same issues. And when I run the Microsoft Auto-Update, there is one critical update to be installed, however when I get to, "This package will run a program to determine if the software can be installed...", the message returned is, "Office 2008 SP1 Update (12.1.0) can't be installed on this disk. A version of the software required to install this update was not found on this volume."

Any suggestions welcomed gratefully!

 

[Michel Bintener]

Hi,

it is generally not a good idea to restore Microsoft Office from a Time
Machine backup, as some important system files might not make it to the
new machine. Remove Office entirely using the uninstaller, then
reinstall it and try to install all the latest updates. If you did not
remove Office properly, some files on your system might prevent the
updates from being applied.

I should point out that your subject line is entirely different from the
problems you describe in your post. The error message about Entourage
not being able to open an identity indicates that the database has been
modified by a newer version of Entourage, and that your current version
is not up-to-date. Applying all the latest updates should fix that problem.

Using a Time Machine backup of your Entourage database is not a good
idea, either, as the data might indeed be corrupt. Time Machine backs up
data at specified intervals, and Entourage keeps changing the database
almost continuously when open. As a result, the backed up database can
be a complete mess, so avoid using it. The best solution is to transfer
your database from your old Mac (it can be found in
~/Documents/Microsoft User Data) to the same location on your new Mac,
either via your network, or with the help of a portable USB storage device.

 

[MissMaeve]

Thanks Michael. I was not sure what to put in the subject as I don't (didn't?) know what the problem was!

I will give this a go.