Word 2008 crash when working with Word 2003 (PC) files

[Mikael_Johansson]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have installed office 2008 and have great problems with stability as many other users obviously have. MS Word crashes when working with MS Word 2003 documents from PC. Especiallly when the multi-author tools are used.

I have tried to delete preferences according to instructions from MS staff on other newsgroups. I have removed MS word 2008 and made a clean re-install without any effect. I am trying to save and resave the pc documents in different file formats without success. No effect.

I have no stability problems when working with MS Word 2008 .docx files.

I now plan to go back to office 2004 or start to use Apple pages instead.

Any other suggestions?

MIkael

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello Mikael;

You mention installing & reinstalling but you say nothing about applying the
updates pursuant to either. If the updates (at least through 12.1.3) haven't
been applied it could contribute the problem.

By "multi-author tools" I assume you're referring to Track Changes? The
feature itself can be problematic depending on the manner in which it's
used, and those problems can be magnified when working the same document
between any 2 different versions of Word - Mac or PC. What other tools you
might be including I'm not sure.

The updates mentioned above have corrected most of the problems with the
original release. 2008 is now at a point where I'm not sure it can be any
longer deemed unstable. However, it does seem to be heavily dependent on
other elements of its environment being in nearly pristine condition. Most
of the "instability" we see in this group is usually traceable to font
issues, remnants of prior installations, permissions problems... Right
straight up to maintenance of OS X, itself - often the use of the most
recent OS X Combo Update resolves such things as file management issues.

I'm not trying to convince you to not return to 2004, but am only saying
that - with the requisite details - there may be some options for resolving
the specific issues you're encountering with 2008. Just as one example, the
majority of the training I do is with the Windows versions, so virtually all
of the exercise files I work with were created using Office 2000, 2003 or
2007 - some even have been dredged up from earlier versions. Granted, most
of those files are not lengthy or complex, but I routinely use them in 2008
when prepping on my personal systems - all Macs - and I do an awful lot of
saving from one format to another in the beta testing & experimentation I do
in support of the group & elsewhere. I can honestly say that since the
advent of the 12.1.1 update I've not had a single 2008 crash/hang that was
directly attributable to Word... and I run it on both Tiger/G5 &
Leopard/Intel systems.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Mikael_Johansson]

Thank you for your rapid reply Bob!

A little more information on my configuration. I use a new MacBook Pro (not the latest though) 2.4 Ghz Intel core 2 duo w 4 Gb RAM. I run a well maintained MacOS 10.5.5. I have installed all available office upgrades from microsoft. After having stability problems I finally removed Office with the assistant (not just dragged the folder to trash) and re-installed office and re-installed all upgrades to version 12.1.4. I have tried to trash office preferences and normal templates without any effect.

I work with medium sized MS Word documents (scientific papers) of 5-10 kWords or 10-20 pages. I am working together with other co-authors and we all use the track changes system (invaluable for the biomedical research community). My collegues right now are using Office 2003 for PC and I am using Office 2008 for Mac.

The symtoms are hangups of MS Word a couple of minutes after opening a PC office 2003 .doc document. I think the crashes may be related to the use of track changes but crashes also occur when the track changes function is off. I dont encounter crashes at startup and I dont have any problems working with documents originating from MS Word 2008 for Mac.

The problem is major for me since we are approaching an important dealine.

I have always been happy with MS Office but these stability issues are of that magnitude that I have to consider a downgrade or change of Word processor right now.

Would be happy for more advice on possible solutions.

Mikael

 

[Guest]

Just started a client migration to her Mac and MS Office 2008.

Crashes continually, despite applying all updates. I'm trying to open previously created Office documents from Windows systems. PPT and Excel crash just starting them.

Google results look pretty bleak.

Downloading openoffice.org

 

[CyberTaz]

Hi Mikael;

Sorry for the delay but have been trying to find something that would be
more helpful. I'm a bit perplexed because of this one excerpt from your last
message:

The symtoms are hangups of MS Word a couple of minutes after opening a PC
office 2003 .doc document. I think the crashes may be related to the use of
track changes but crashes also occur when the track changes function is off. I
dont encounter crashes at startup and I dont have any problems working with
documents originating from MS Word 2008 for Mac.

That would suggest that there is something about the documents themselves
that is causing the crashes. Not being familiar with the nature of their
content it's impossible for me to identify what that might be but you might
look for anything common to the problematic files. That might include:
extensive use of tracking, use of the Versions feature, corrupt Tables,
Images, or Sections, perhaps even font conflicts. There is also information
linked to on this page pertaining to "Unexpected quit while in use" which
you might want to explore in more depth:

http://word.mvps.org/mac/Diagnose.html


Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Mikael Johansson]

Thank you for your interest and concern Bob.

Yes, I dont have any stability problems working with native MS Word 2008 documents in any format. The problems are crashes when working with MS Word 2003 .doc files from PC.

My last observation:

Yesterday night I workd with my PhD students thesis. It is a 80 pages MS Word 2003 (PC) .doc document with a few jpeg images. No strange inserts otherwise. I was able to work with hte file and do corrections using the track changes fctn for 20 minutes. Then I had the first hangup and forced MS Word to quit. From then and on My MS Word 2008 continued to crash every second minute making wotk virtually impossible. Interestingly crashes stopped when I turned track changes off while reading. I then kept switching on track changes as soon I was making a correction and then rapidly turned it off again to avoid crashes.

In this way I managed to work my way through the document without more crashes.

Anyway. Workflow is slowed down this way and this workaround isnt enough.

Obviously more people still have the same problems. Does anyone know if there are any Office upgrades to expect?

I dont like to downgrade but It soon seems to be the only way out

Mikael

PS My system config is in the thread. i forgot to tell that we also use EndNote X1 plugged into word. DS

 

[Clive Huggan]

Hello Mikael,

I haven't been following your thread closely because I haven't moved to Word
2008 yet. However, you may be interested in my (and others') practice of
achieving Tracked Changes while avoiding the potential for document
corruption that Tracked Changes can bring.

Essentially I don't use Tracked Changes at all, but I achieve the same thing
by applying Tools => Track Changes => Compare Documents to a "Saved As" copy
of the document.

A 2-page article about this technique, which also mentions some of the
problems this avoids, is on pages 67-69 of some notes on the way I use Word
for the Mac, titled "Bend Word to Your Will", which are available as a free
download from the Word MVPs' website
(http://word.mvps.org/Mac/Bend/BendWordToYourWill.html).

[Note: "Bend Word to your will" is designed to be used electronically and
most subjects are self-contained dictionary-style entries. If you decide to
read more widely than the item I've referred to, it's important to read the
front end of the document -- especially pages 3 and 5 -- so you can select
some Word settings that will allow you to use the document effectively.]

Note: In Word 2008, which I don't use yet, some of this information may not
apply, or may be accessible through a different interface. If that causes
problems, post back and someone will help you further.

Hopefully Bob can solve your problem, but even so you might find some
assurance by using this technique.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
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