Uninstall-reinstall

[Ann Mulhern]

I have been doing updates and upgrades on my Office since the 1st Office
came out. I am about to upgrade to Office 04. BUT (1) Do I uninstall first or
install the new program first. (2) I was missing some parts of my Office
recently and my tech person suggested i reinstall Office. So I did. I thought
it would install just the pieces i needed. It did not. I got i all and now have 2
(conflicting) copies in my applications file. I am at a loss as to what to
uninstall- because I think it will uninstall BOTH copies--in which case what
happens to all of my Entourage preferences....So before i do something that
takes me hours to fix--i thought I would ask. I wanted to start Office 04
with Office 10 working up to speed. (3) Is Office 04 a stand alone or an
upgrade? I bought it when I recently purchased a copy for a second
computer.
Thank you.

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi Ann,

In regard to your existing office install, if you run the installer or the
value pack installer you need to subsequently run the office updates even if
you already ran them previously. You should also use Disk Utility First Aid
to repair permissions after running the updates.

With regard to Office 2004, here's my advice. Hopefully others will chime in
and cover things I may have missed.

When you put the installer disk in you have a choice of drag-and-drop or to
use an installer. I recommend that you use the installer. Use the default
install location suggested by the installer. Do not move things around after
the installer is done. During the process the installer will locate your
existing office installation and ask you whether or not you want to delete
it. Delete it. You won't need it for anything anymore. Most of your user
preferences will be preserved (such as Entourage email settings, mail
caches, etc.)

The installer might remove some things you might want to keep, however. So
before you get rolling, make a backup copy of these things:
* The file called "Normal." It has many of your Word customizations
* The "My Templates" folder. Put these items into the new "My Templates"
folder for Office 2004
* In the Office folder look in the Add-Ins folder for any custom add-ins you
may have. Office 2004 will make new versions of things like the Analysis
Tool Packs, so use the new versions. But if you bought or made any
additional add-ins you'll want to keep those around for Office 2004.

Hope this helps.

-Jim
--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[neva]

On the list of things to back up:
If you have made a lot of entries in AutoCorrect or AutoText, back up the
ACL file so you won't have to type things in again if the installer sets
your files to the defaults.

Those files are located in Library/Preferences/Microsoft in your home
folder.
Office X calls its files MS Office ACL [English], while the 2004 version
begins the file names with Microsoft Office instead of MS Office.

neva

 

[Tony Burch]

In regard to your existing office install, if you run the installer or the
value pack installer you need to subsequently run the office updates even if
you already ran them previously. You should also use Disk Utility First Aid
to repair permissions after running the updates.

With regard to Office 2004, here's my advice. Hopefully others will chime in
and cover things I may have missed.

When you put the installer disk in you have a choice of drag-and-drop or to
use an installer. I recommend that you use the installer. Use the default
install location suggested by the installer. Do not move things around after
the installer is done. During the process the installer will locate your
existing office installation and ask you whether or not you want to delete
it. Delete it. You won't need it for anything anymore. Most of your user
preferences will be preserved (such as Entourage email settings, mail
caches, etc.)

The installer might remove some things you might want to keep, however. So
before you get rolling, make a backup copy of these things:
* The file called "Normal." It has many of your Word customizations
* The "My Templates" folder. Put these items into the new "My Templates"
folder for Office 2004
* In the Office folder look in the Add-Ins folder for any custom add-ins you
may have. Office 2004 will make new versions of things like the Analysis
Tool Packs, so use the new versions. But if you bought or made any
additional add-ins you'll want to keep those around for Office 2004.

This is very useful information Jim, but a question about fonts:
When I upgraded from Office 2001 to v X, I ran the 2001 un-installer and
'lost' Book Antiqua font - the MS version of Palatino. This was a minor
rather than major nuisance, but I would like to know if there are there any
other fonts that have not been kept for Office 2004?

Thanks,
Tony