Word 2004 files disappear when saved on network

[SU Help Desk]

Hi All,

I'm the Macintosh Tech at our university where we run Netware 5
servers. In
the last few months, I have begun installing Office 2004 on the Macs on
campus. Recently, one of my users who was upgraded to Office 2004 from
Office
X reported that files were disappearing when they were saved on the
network.
After talking to our network admin (who thankfully is a Mac guy), we've
found
some interesting and frustrating issues.

1. The problem is easily replicated and happens on any of our servers
(which
we authenticate to using Novell's NFA - Native File Access).

2. The problem only happens in Word 2004 - PowerPoint and Excel don't
seem
to be affected.

3. You can initially save a file to the network fine, but when you
attempt
to make changes and do either a File > Save or a File > Save As, the
file
appears as a "ghost" file in the Finder window for a few seconds then
disappears.

4. The original file (the one saved before the changes were made) can
actually be found using the Terminal in a hidden folder called
"Temporary
Items". The file is renamed to something like "Word Work File D_3".

5. The file also seems to "disappear" even if changes are made and
saved to
the Mac's HD then dragged and dropped in the Network drive.

6. This happens right after the installation of 2004 and after all
updates
are run.

7. This doesn't happen in Office X.

8. Our network admin found a post on the web with a similar problem
happening using Samba.

Any ideas? I have searched for days for a solution and have no idea
what's
causing it.

Thanks,
Anne

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Anne,

The best I can do is refer you to this link, which may or may not help:
http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Can'tSaveToNovellContent.htm

But I will definitely escalate your post to Microsoft.

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[Shari]

Anne,

I am a systems analyst at the University of Pittsburgh and have been
working on such Novell/Word issues as you are describing for quite some
time.

If you replace the file on the server that is in the TID that Beth
referenced (see her link) in her reply to you, it should solve the
problem. You will notice that the Word Work files are no longer
created in masses.

I should also alert you that we have seen severe problems on computers
running Norton Antivirus with Office 2004 (when saving to the local
computer). If you are running Norton Antivirus, let me know and I'll
provide more details.

Shari Kubitz

 

[Jeffrey Weston [MSFT]]

Hey Shari,

Thanks a lot for posting to the Newsgroup and providing this information!

 

[SU Help Desk]

Shari,

Thanks for the advice. I emailed the TID to our network admin.
Hopefully that'll fix our problem. Thanks also for sharing the Norton
Antivirus warning. Currently we run McAfee's Virex, but I've heard that
they're discontinuing support and Norton was going to be my next step.
Do you have any suggestions for Mac antivirus software?

Anne

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi Anne,

MacWorld recently ranked VirusBarrier X above the other two. I've installed
it myself and have no complaints. But we'll never know how good it *really*
is until there's a viable Mac virus (and I hope it never gets tested ;-).

<http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/home.asp>

--
***Please always reply to the newsgroup!***

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/index.htm>
(If using Safari, hit Refresh once or twice ­ or use another browser.)
Entourage Help Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org>

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

If everyone installs VirusBarrier, there never will be

A "viable" virus needs to infect about five or ten per cent of the
population of computers out there before it can replicate properly

If Mac users learn from Windows Users' experience and protect their
computers BEFORE the virus writers manage to get one to work, they never
will

Cheers

Hi Anne,

MacWorld recently ranked VirusBarrier X above the other two. I've installed
it myself and have no complaints. But we'll never know how good it *really*
is until there's a viable Mac virus (and I hope it never gets tested ;-).

<http://www.intego.com/virusbarrier/home.asp>

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410