Microsoft Office 2004 11.3 (#6): Entourage problems and fixes; Endnote incompatibility; more

Entourage problems Entourage has proven to be the most problematic component of the Office suite after the version 2004 11.3 updater is applied. This is despite the fact that the Entourage application itself is not directly touched by the 11.3 updater (remaining at version 11.2.5). Instead, changes to the group of shared libraries and components used by all Microsoft Office applications seem to be having an adverse effect on Entourage.

Problems launching Several users have been unable to launch Entourage after applying the 11.3 updater.

MacFixIt reader Shelly writes:

"Since the update for Microsoft Office, I cannot open Entourage at all. I have a G4 powerbook 15" 1.5 GHz with Mac OS X 10.4.8 and Microsoft Office 11.3 update."

If you are experiencing a similar issue, trying updating prebinding then check for persistence of the issue.

Inability to send mail Other users have reported an inability to send mail after applying the Office 2004 11.3 updater.

One reader writes:

"Although I am aware that the Entourage version remained the same after upgrading to 11.3, I have a  recurrent problem with outgoing mail. I never had any problems with it before until after this upgrade. I have to try many times to send my  messages with different servers and it is not possible, then suddenly they get sent but it seems that it is when Entourage decides it´s the right time? 'The error code is: 5.7.1 500 5.7.2 Your host 189.128.86.150 found on dnsblock list'"

If you are experiencing a similar issue, you may want to try clearing your Mac's DNS cache by entering the following command in the Terminal (located in Applications/Utilities):

• lookupd -flushcache

Repeated crashes Some users continue to report repeated crashes from Entourage after applying the 11.3 updater. MacFixIt reader Peter Dandyk writes:

"I've reinstalled both my system and Office to no avail. Crashes seem a little less frequent but the effect seems cumulative -- as in the frequency of crashes seems to increase with time."

Repair permissions after updating Several users have reported that repairing permissions using Apple's Disk Utility (located in Applications/Utilities) resolves various issues apparent after applying the 11.3 updater.

MacFixIt reader Stuart Hertzog writes:

"Updating Office 2004 on an iMac running Mac OS X 10.3.9 went smoothly. Besides the copy installed on the internal hard drive, Microsoft AutoUpdate found the backup copy of Office on an external Firewire drive and asked which copy I wished to update. I chose the internal drive. However, Word misbehaved (would not change styles for text) until I quit it and fixed permissions. Then, everything seemed to work as expected."

Endnote incompatibility Some users have reported the resurfacing of an issue where EndNote -- a bibliography tool -- has issues with some Office applications.

Rosemary Jagus writes:

"I am running Office 2004, with update 11.3.  Word  no longer seems to have any means of communicating with Endnote 9 (no tool bar option and no listing in the tools menu)."

In some cases, deleting the EndNote .plist file (located in ~/Library/Preferences/) resolves issues introduced during the Office 2004 11.3 update process.

Be patient during update process Over the past few days we've noted various problems and solutions for an issue where the Office 2004 11.3 update process stalls or otherwise fails. In some cases, it can simply be a waiting game.

MacFixIt reader Paul Peress writes:

"I waited out the 'searching for programs to update' mode, and after about 15 minutes, it started flying along, finishing the update completely.  The update VISE doesn't seem to work well with the latest operating systems.  Patience."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Previous coverage:

• Microsoft Office 2004 11.3 (#5): Continuing issues
• Microsoft Office 2004 11.3 (#4): More fixes for problems updating; Entourage version remains at 11.2.5
• Microsoft Office 2004 11.3 (#3): Fixes for problems updating
• Microsoft Office 2004 11.3 (#2): Problems applying update
• Microsoft Office 2004 11.3 released: Security enhancements

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