Word problems after update

[Tudor Liron]

Hi, I hope someone can help - I've searched various user groups online
but couldn't find any solutions...
I've been using Office 2004 on my PB for months - no problems at all.
But after downloading the most recent update, it's all gone wrong...

Word now crashes whenever I try and copy and paste text and whenever i
try and use bullets. Also when I try and copy text and paste in another

app (like Mail or Excel).

Should I try reinstalling Office - and ignore the Office updates?

thanks...

 

[CyberTaz]

Hello -

Did you Repair Disk Permissions after installing the update? Which update
are you referring to: 11.2.5 or 11.2.6 - there's very little (if anything)
in the latter that could cause this sort of problem.

If Permissions repair doesn't fix it there is most likely a coincidental
situation that can be resolved by following the troubleshooting steps here:

http://word.mvps.org/Mac/TroubleshootingIndex.html

Reinstallation on the Mac *seldom* resolves anything unless you do a proper
& complete *uninstall* first. But try the trouble shooting steps (if
necessary) after running Disk Utility & post back with specifics if you
continue to have problems.

Good Luck |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Elliott Roper]

Hi, I hope someone can help - I've searched various user groups online
but couldn't find any solutions...
I've been using Office 2004 on my PB for months - no problems at all.
But after downloading the most recent update, it's all gone wrong...

Word now crashes whenever I try and copy and paste text and whenever i
try and use bullets. Also when I try and copy text and paste in another

app (like Mail or Excel).

Should I try reinstalling Office - and ignore the Office updates?

That should be a last desperate measure. Most people's updates are
working fine, so there has to be something specific to your set up.
Work through the procedures described here.
http://word.mvps.org/mac/TroubleshootingIndex.html

I'd try applying the update again before removing and re-installing.

If all else fails, don't forget to completely remove Office according
to the recipes therein. The normal Mac way of simply trashing
applications does not completely undo the mess that Microsoft makes of
your Mac.

It should be safe to apply all the updates.

When you get it working, please post back here with how. It will be a
help to anyone else that has had a similar problem.

 

[Tudor Liron]

Thank you Elliott and Bob -

I have repaired the Disk Permissions and done a Restart and that seems
to have done the trick.

I had no idea you should repair Disk Permissions after an update -
thanks so much for the advice.

Adrienne

 

[Elliott Roper]

Thank you Elliott and Bob -

I have repaired the Disk Permissions and done a Restart and that seems
to have done the trick.

I had no idea you should repair Disk Permissions after an update -
thanks so much for the advice.

Everyone seems to think that "repair disk permissions" is a magic
potion like throwing salt over you shoulder and making a wish. And they
think it magically fixes things that mysteriously go wrong in any part
of their computer and probably their sex lives as well..

All it actually does is look in the more or less internal 'receipts'
folder and makes sure that the user's owner's and system's read execute
delete and write privileges of files that are part of software
installed with Apple's own software installer match their descriptions
in the receipts folder.

Me, I think that in all other cases it is about as effective as
pressing the 'close doors' button in a lift. (aka elevator on the left
of the pond)

Microsoft's own installs leave their own litter over your system and
probably would not know what a permission was if one leapt out of the
gutter and bit it on the ankle, so I am not convinced that repair
permissions does anything in Microsoft's case.

Like throwing salt over your shoulder, it probably does no harm.
It will be hard to prove now, but I bet the restart would have fixed it
on its wild lone. At restart time, OS X automatically does a 'fsck' -
not a swear, but a file system check. That will repair much more
general mishaps in the on-disk file structure, which will almost
certainly have more effect on your misbehaving documents.

 

[CyberTaz]

Glad it was that simple 8)

For future reference, that utility is recommended any time you update OS X
(actually some say before *and* after) or install, remove or update any
applications.

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

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Yep. We've been recommending the procedure for years. However, I've read
recently that repairing disk permissions is *not* useful before/after
installing apps. However, this Apple KB article suggests (though it doesn't
state outright) that it is:
<http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106712>.

The significant section is "Issues Related to Permissions", particularly the
first point:

~~~~~~~~~~~~
â–ª Application installers, Applications folder

A third-party application installer incorrectly sets permissions on the
files it installs, or even the entire Applications folder. Symptoms of the
Application folder's permissions being set incorrectly include applications
appearing in the dock as question marks, and/or not being able to connect to
the Internet. It is also possible that software installed while logged in as
one user will be inaccessible when logged in as another. To avoid this, make
sure you are logged in with your normal user account when installing
software that you wish to use with that account.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

At any rate, as Elliott says, it can't hurt!

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

Beth Rosengard
MacOffice MVP

Mac Word FAQ: <http://word.mvps.org/Mac/WordMacHome.html>
My Site: <http://www.bethrosengard.com>

 

[Elliott Roper]

~~~~~~~~~~~~
? Application installers, Applications folder

A third-party application installer incorrectly sets permissions on the
files it installs, or even the entire Applications folder. Symptoms of the
Application folder's permissions being set incorrectly include applications
appearing in the dock as question marks, and/or not being able to connect to
the Internet. It is also possible that software installed while logged in as
one user will be inaccessible when logged in as another. To avoid this, make
sure you are logged in with your normal user account when installing
software that you wish to use with that account.
~~~~~~~~~~~~

At any rate, as Elliott says, it can't hurt!

Ah, I missed the point that it made there. While repairing permissions
won't help Office after its own installation, it /might/ undo the
damage that the Office Install could have done to other applications.
Similarly, there could be applications out there that will play with
permissions of files belonging to Microsoft or, more likely, to folders
containing files belonging to Microsoft Office as well as those of
other applications.