Word 2008, Mac OS 10.5.2 and Clip Art Gallery import

[Eric Waldbaum [MSFT]]

Hi Laurie,
Sorry to hear you (and others) have found some issues in Office 2008, but
thanks for reporting them. This information can be really helpful for
making the user experience better with Office for Mac.

Are the files you download .cil files? The Clip Gallery does not read
..mpf files. On the download page where you can click "Download Now" it
should say "Import into Clip Gallery for Macintosh" as the Media
Application. If it doesn't then please retry downloading that clipart and
it should then say the proper message, download as .cil, and import when
double-clicking. It may be a network issue with the Office for Windows
website and we're investigating what is going on here.

-Eric
MacOffice Testing
Microsoft

P.S. This thread would be better in the Office newsgroup (not
Word-specific), but works here.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Rory:

Yeah, I was able to get it to work in Office 2008 on OS 10.4.11 on this
iBook.

I need lots and lots of detail from you: for example: which file are you
trying to import?

It may be that yours is one of the few Clip Databases that has corrupted.
If that's the case, I may be able to persuade Eric to tell us how to create
a new one and import your clips to it.

Cheers

Sir,

i'm sure you mean well, and I appreciate that you're taking the time
to check this thread, but the solutions posted here so far do not work
for me. Clip gallery launches, the files download into .cil archives,
and double-clicking those archives does nothing. At best it does
nothing, at worst it crashes Clip Gallery, and one has to start again
from the insert->picture->clipart->online. It's a circle that goes
nowhere.

Am i to understand from your post that there are people using Office
for Mac 08 and who are able to use the Clip Gallery program from
within Word and who are able to download .cil files from the MS
website and insert them into documents? In a way, I'd like to know
that I'm the exception, that the program actually works, but I'm not
sure that people are all talking about the same thing. once again, I'm
interested in Office for Mac 08 (including Clip Gallery 12.0.0), using
the current version of Leopard (10.5.2).

--

Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Simon]

Hi,

I've seen solution about the .cil file. How about .mpf file ? It seems
some of the clipart are downloaded as .mpf and not able to import.

Thanks.

 

[John McGhie]

How did you get the .mpf file?

Whenever I try it, the Microsoft Clip Gallery downloads .cil to my Mac, and
that will load into the Clip Gallery with a double-click.

If you are seeing .mpf (media package file) I think you are downloading with
a Windows machine (or a browser pretending to be one).

There is no decoder on the Mac for .mpf. It's an encrypted package file.

You either need to decode the package in Windows, then copy the individual
files to your Mac, or you need to re-download the same files from your Mac,
this time admitting that you are using Safari as your browser and have a
licensed version of Office 2001 or later installed.

You will then be sent a .cil file that will install to Office with a
double-click

The situation is that a large percentage of the files available on the
Microsoft Clip Gallery are provided by outside companies. Microsoft pays
these companies per download for their files. Microsoft got a little sick
of filling Linux computers with free clip-art, so now they check that you're
a paying Microsoft customer before buying clipart on your behalf to send to
you

Cheers

Hi,

I've seen solution about the .cil file. How about .mpf file ? It seems
some of the clipart are downloaded as .mpf and not able to import.

Thanks.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Simon]

Hi John,

I don't understand this as well.

I only have iMac at home, using Lepord and Mac office 2004. Sometimes I get
a .cil file, and that's work fine. But I do get some .mpf file.

It seems that I can get both whenever I open up the link using Safari.

I though that's normal. You mean if I use Mac, I shouldn't have .mpf file ?
Then how come I get it on my Mac ? Very strange...

Simon

 

[Simon]

Oh, BTW I am a license customer, I did actually pay money to Microsoft to get
to use my office

 

[rorycooney]

I've tried the workaround posted on the Powerpoint site, and it isn't
satisfactory. It imports incomplete sets from the .cil files, and only
works once or twice. I discovered i had two different "personal"
folders in the clipart folder. I deleted one, and emptied the other
one. The import from online functioned worked once (and not
completely), then i got the Clip Art gallery crash again. Sigh.

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Simon:

Yes, that's what I am saying. When you go into the download site, it should
sense that you are on a Mac and hand you a .cil instead of a .mpf.

If you are offered a .mpf, it's no good to you on a Mac. We can't unpack
..mpfs.

Just cancel and refresh the webpage. Hopefully it will figure out that you
are on a Mac on the second try.

As the long-suffering Eric (who has the job of making this work for us...)
said: they suspect there's a bug in the detection code on the website. Of
course, it never happens when they try it, but it happens often enough to
catch us out.

The bottom line is that a .mpf file contains Windows Digital Rights
Management code that cannot be decoded on a Mac. So if it offers you one,
cancel and save your bandwidth

Cheers

Hi John,

I don't understand this as well.

I only have iMac at home, using Lepord and Mac office 2004. Sometimes I get
a .cil file, and that's work fine. But I do get some .mpf file.

It seems that I can get both whenever I open up the link using Safari.

I though that's normal. You mean if I use Mac, I shouldn't have .mpf file ?
Then how come I get it on my Mac ? Very strange...

Simon

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[John McGhie]

Sorry Rory:

I know you have been on this issue for a while.

There are three issues:

1) The clipart database can corrupt. I think this has happened to you.

2) Some browsers take the extension off the file name that is downloaded
(e.g. Firefox). If that happens, put the extension .cil back, or your Mac
doesn't know what to do with the file.

3) Sometimes the website fails to detect that you are on a Mac and hands
you the windows package instead. If the website offers you a .mpf file,
cancel and refresh the web page. The Mac cannot decode a .mpf file and
there is no way to make it do so.

To resolve issue 1, look for the clip gallery user database file in folder
Microsoft Office 2004/Clipart/Clip Art

If it is there, move the content of the folder to a folder on your desktop.

Then look for the ~Microsoft Office 2008/Office/Media/Clipart/Personal
folder, and move the content of that to a folder on your desktop.

Now, your Clip Gallery should start without a crash, and rebuild its
database without a crash.

Come back to us and tell us what happens next.

Cheers

I've tried the workaround posted on the Powerpoint site, and it isn't
satisfactory. It imports incomplete sets from the .cil files, and only
works once or twice. I discovered i had two different "personal"
folders in the clipart folder. I deleted one, and emptied the other
one. The import from online functioned worked once (and not
completely), then i got the Clip Art gallery crash again. Sigh.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Eric Waldbaum [MSFT]]

I'm not "long-suffering" as John said, but I do feel some customer pain when
reading about issues like importing clipart not working properly. Customer
feedback in these newsgroups has really helped us investigate a variety of
issues here and I'm hoping to help improve this experience for future
versions of Office for Mac. The downloading .mpf file on a Leopard (OS
10.5.2) Mac (PPC and Intel-based) in Mac Safari has been found to
occasionally reproduce and this is being investigated. Re-downloading the
clipart should then download as a proper .cil file. If you consistenly get
a .mpf file for re-downloading the same clipart in a Mac browser and/or find
this occurring on Tiger (OS 10.4.11) Mac please let me know.

Thanks,
Eric
MacOffice Testing
Microsoft

 

[tehidy]

Hi Rory,
Thank you for reporting this information. There have a been a variety of
issues reported about importing online clip art into the Clip Gallery. This
doesn't appear to be specific to getting to the Clip Gallery from Word
(i.e., see the thread at:http://www.officeformac.com/ProductForums/PowerPoint/482). We have been
actively investigating a database corruption issue that can occur. Sorry
for any inconvenience.

-Eric
MacOffice Testing
Microsoft




Sir,

i'm sure you mean well, and I appreciate that you're taking the time
to check this thread, but the solutions posted here so far do not work
for me. Clip gallery launches, the files download into .cil archives,
and double-clicking those archives does nothing. At best it does
nothing, at worst it crashes Clip Gallery, and one has to start again
from the insert->picture->clipart->online. It's a circle that goes
nowhere.

Am i to understand from your post that there are people using Office
for Mac 08 and who are able to use the Clip Gallery program from
within Word and who are able to download .cil files from the MS
website and insert them into documents? In a way, I'd like to know
that I'm the exception, that the program actually works, but I'm not
sure that people are all talking about the same thing. once again, I'm
interested in Office for Mac 08 (including Clip Gallery 12.0.0), using
the current version of Leopard (10.5.2).

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

MS Mac Newsgroups:http://www.officeformac.com/ProductForums
MS Mac News & Updates:http://www.microsoft.com/mac

To add to the complaints, I attest that the clip art program in Office
2008 12.1.0 does not work.I cannot open clipart without crashing my
macbook pro. I don't even have to try downloading clip art, these are
files I used frequently in Office 2004. I have office 2008, leopard
10.5.2. I've tried trashing the preferences. What happens when I trash
the preferences
Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Clip Gallery Preferences
Home/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.ClipGallery.plist
is that I see the clip art icon appear in the toolbar. If I try to
open it, the mac crashes. If I do not trash the preferences, the
computer crashes immediately I choose select clip art from the menu.
By crash I mean needs a hard reboot. I'm very sorry I switched to
Office 2008.

 

[CyberTaz]

To add to the complaints, I attest that the clip art program in Office
2008 12.1.0 does not work.I cannot open clipart without crashing my
macbook pro. I don't even have to try downloading clip art, these are
files I used frequently in Office 2004. I have office 2008, leopard
10.5.2. I've tried trashing the preferences. What happens when I trash
the preferences
Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Clip Gallery Preferences
Home/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.ClipGallery.plist
is that I see the clip art icon appear in the toolbar. If I try to
open it, the mac crashes. If I do not trash the preferences, the
computer crashes immediately I choose select clip art from the menu.
By crash I mean needs a hard reboot. I'm very sorry I switched to
Office 2008.

I guess there isn't much much to be said since you've apparently drawn your
conclusions already, but I will offer a few points for your consideration:

1- All of the posts in the thread you hijacked pertain to a totally
different issue involving the downloading of clipart - none of them concern
crashes in any way,

2- That issue is known to not be an Office-specific problem, but is
attributable to one of certain issues detailed in a post from John McGhie -
same thread, but 2 weeks later than the one to which you "replied",

3- All of the posts in this thread pre-date the availability of the 12.1.0
update by at least a week, so it's impossible that the update caused them
even if they were the same problem you're experiencing,

4- Since that release yours is the first mention of of such a problem in
either the Word or Office group, and finally

5- Although I'm running 10.5.0 rather than 10.5.2 I am using 12.1.0 on a
MacBook Pro. I'm able to insert as much clipart in a Word document as I
choose without any hesitation, let alone crashes. And it doesn't make any
difference whether it's a Word 2008 .docx or prior file in Compatibility
Mode. That's the case regardless of whether I use the Insert> Picture> Clip
Art command, the Clip Art button on the Drawing Toolbar, or the Clip Art
group of the Object Palette in the Toolbox.

Since it's evident that the Clip Art Gallery does indeed work with 12.1.0 it
suggests that the trouble you're experiencing could be an issue local to
your system. If you are willing to consider the possibility that this just
"may" be the case perhaps you'd see fit to post a *new* message detailing
all particulars so those who have no reason to be revisiting this thread
will be more likely to notice it and offer assistance.

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