Unstalling Office 2008 completely

[newtomac]

We recently purchased Office 2004 for Mac with our new Macs, and because it
was purchased just as Office 2008 came out we were able to get Office 2008
for free. We were using a software called Antidote (a French proofing
software with spell checker, thesaurus, dictionary, etc) which plugs into
office 2004 to proof our documents and it worked great. When the Office 2008
came, I immediately installed it and soon found out that because it is so new
there is no Antidote version for it. We contacted the company and they told
us that it will be a while before they introduce a new version to work with
Office 2008 for Mac. Since I had not uninstalled Office 2004 (while I
expected the installation process of 2008 to do but didn't) it is still on
our two Macs. I would like to uninstall Office 2008 until a new version of
Antidote comes out. I am new to Macs and don't know how to uninstall
software on it. Can someone please tell me how to completely uninstall the
Office 2008 for Mac? Thanks.

 

[Diane Ross]

We recently purchased Office 2004 for Mac with our new Macs, and because it
was purchased just as Office 2008 came out we were able to get Office 2008
for free. We were using a software called Antidote (a French proofing
software with spell checker, thesaurus, dictionary, etc) which plugs into
office 2004 to proof our documents and it worked great. When the Office 2008
came, I immediately installed it and soon found out that because it is so new
there is no Antidote version for it. We contacted the company and they told
us that it will be a while before they introduce a new version to work with
Office 2008 for Mac. Since I had not uninstalled Office 2004 (while I
expected the installation process of 2008 to do but didn't) it is still on
our two Macs. I would like to uninstall Office 2008 until a new version of
Antidote comes out. I am new to Macs and don't know how to uninstall
software on it. Can someone please tell me how to completely uninstall the
Office 2008 for Mac? Thanks.

No need to remove. Just open the Office 2004 applications. If any file wants
to open in 08, select a file in the Finder and do a Get Info (command-I) to
make your changes:

To change a document¹s application:

1) Select the document and choose File > Get Info.

2) Click ³Open with² in the Info window.

3) Choose an application from the pop-up menu, or choose Other to locate a
different application.

4) If you want to use the application you chose to open all similar
documents (the same type as the current document and created by the same
application), click Change All.

Welcome to the Mac. I have a few tips and links posted to help new users
here:

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/new2mac/index.html>

 

[newtomac]

Thank you for your fast response.
I just tried your suggestion and this is what happened:
1. I opened an Excel file by double clicking on it and it opened
automatically with 2008;
2. I closed the app, and then I went through your steps and when I double
clicked on it it opened with 2004 (great);
3. I closed the app again, and then I went back to the finder and carried
out your suggestion to use "Change All" and when I closed the Info page and
double clicked on the file it opened in 2008 again even though I left the
suggested app as is. Can you explain why that would happen?

The other question I have relates to keeping both versions. Does it not
just take up more memory than is required? Why do you suggest keeping both
versions - though I have read in some other posts that it is a good idea.
Thank you

 

[Diane Ross]

3. I closed the app again, and then I went back to the finder and carried
out your suggestion to use "Change All" and when I closed the Info page and
double clicked on the file it opened in 2008 again even though I left the
suggested app as is. Can you explain why that would happen?

Go back and check to be sure when you select Change All that the correct
application is selected. It could be that when you did this as a two part
process, the default for 2008 was reselected.

The other question I have relates to keeping both versions. Does it not
just take up more memory than is required? Why do you suggest keeping both
versions - though I have read in some other posts that it is a good idea.
Thank you

No memory is used if they are not opened. The space required is minimal.
Some users are using both versions of the applications excluding Entourage.
You can't use both versions of Entourage without complications.

 

[newtomac]

Hi,
A. I submitted a response last night but it did not seem to go for some
reason. In any case, here is what I did:
1. I double clicked on the file and it opened with Excel 2008;
2. I checked that the file is saved in Excel 97-2004 Workbook (.xls) format;
3. I closed the file, and open Get Info;
4. I changed the “Open with†to have the file open with Microsoft Excel
(060620) which is Excel 2004;
5. I closed Get Info, and double clicked the file and it opened with Excel
2004 as expected;
6. I closed the file and opened the Get Info and verified that the file was
still associated with Excel 2004 which it was;
7. I double clicked on the file again and it indeed opened with Excel 2004 a
second time;
8. I closed the file again now being sure that the file was associated with
Excel 2004;
9. I then opened Get Info and verified that the file was associated with
Excel 2004 again (which it was);
10. I selected Change All, and I got a window which asks: “Are you sure you
want to change all your Microsoft Excel.app documents to open with the
application “Microsoft Excel�†I have no way of verifying if this is
referring to Excel 2004 or 2008 but since I have already opened the file two
times in Excel 2004 I assume it is referring to Excel 2004 so I click
Continue;
11. When I check the Get Info window, the file is now associated with Excel
2008;
12. And when I double click on the file it indeed opens with Excel 2008.
I am at a complete loss as to why this is happening.

B. Another question is as follows: Since I am new to Macs and could not
figure out how to uninstall Office 2008, I copied the Office 2008 folder to
the trash. When I realized that this in fact did not uninstall Office 2008,
I retrieved the folder into Applications. Would I have damage to the Office
2008 installation by doing this?

C. Lastly, since I am able to associate my files with Office 2004 as
explained above, how do I in fact Uninstall Office 2008, which was my
original question?

Thanks

 

[Diane Ross]

11. When I check the Get Info window, the file is now associated with Excel
2008;
12. And when I double click on the file it indeed opens with Excel 2008.
I am at a complete loss as to why this is happening.

I'm curious too as to why it won't let you change all. There are a couple of
good tools to have in your arsenal. It would be interesting to know if you
reset there if it worked.

These are freeware applications used to set preferences:

RCDefaultApp... RCDefaultApp is a preference pane that allows a user to set
the default application used for various URL schemes, file extensions, file
types, and MIME types. MacOS X uses the extension and file type settings to
choose the application when opening a file in Finder, while Safari and other
applications use the URL and MIME type settings at other times for content
not related to a file (such as an unknown URL protocol, or a media stream).

<http://www.rubicode.com/Software/RCDefaultApp/>

IC-Switch..... I like the feature where it puts a small icon in the menu bar
that allows you to toggle which application you want as default for email,
web, FTP, RSS readers etc. Quick and easy way to change default application
for testing purposes.

B. Another question is as follows: Since I am new to Macs and could not
figure out how to uninstall Office 2008, I copied the Office 2008 folder to
the trash. When I realized that this in fact did not uninstall Office 2008,
I retrieved the folder into Applications. Would I have damage to the Office
2008 installation by doing this?

No damage. Zipping/stuffing a folder is a good way to make it unusable. I
suggest doing this before you apply an updater. This way you can go back if
the update fails rather than having to use "Remove Office" and apply
updates.

C. Lastly, since I am able to associate my files with Office 2004 as
explained above, how do I in fact Uninstall Office 2008, which was my
original question?

"Remove Office" is included in the Office 2008 folder --> Additional Tools
folder. It should remove everything including invisible files associated
with Office 2008.

/Applications/Microsoft Office 2008/Additional Tools/Remove Office/Remove
Office.app

If that fails, there is a bug in "Remove Office". Let me know so I can
report it.

 

[newuser]

I also am a new user and I would like to completely uninstall Office 2008.
I installed it and now may Safari fonts are messed up. I tried the Remove Tool. All it did was delete some files but left all the icons in the dock so i don't think it was a thorough uninstall. It didn't undo the damage it did to Safari fonts

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

The Safari font problem should have been fixed by shutting down for a
couple minutes and then restarting. Try that now.