Office 2004 Service Pack 2 [SP2] (#4): Numerous Entourage issues; Problems with long filenames; Error reporting back; more

Entourage

Crashes when attempting to print a calendar A number of users are reporting crashes when attempting to print a calendar.

Jane Stein writes:

"I ran MS Office Update 11.2.0, after updating permissions, backing up, etc. Entourage wouldn't work after a restart and froze the computer. Seems some of the support couldn't be found. I reran the update and everything seemed to work. But I find that Entourage now crashes whenever I try to print a calendar. Several other people have had the same problems, according to the microsoft.public.mac.office.entourage group."

Random freezing Meanwhile, some users are reporting what appear to be purely random freezes with Entourage 2004 SP2 (11.2):

Rick C. Vartian writes:

"Lately, the email client has been freezing on me while I am opening an email or even in the middle of typing a reply or a new message. While Entourage is frozen, I can hear the disk drive on my Powerbook G4 reading the disk in much the same way it does during a search or while running a repair permissions session etc.

"A forced quit from the OSX dock does nothing. All other applications continue to operate normally, but Entourage is hosed from that point forward. I can?t perform a normal restart or shut down because Entourage refuses to quit, so I must do a hard shut down and then restart the machine."

If you are experiencing similar issues, please let us know.

Another solution for corrupt Entourage attachments MacFixIt reader Jake Jacobson reports another fix for corruption-of-attachment issues with Entourage we've noted over the past several days:

"I experienced a problem with attachments in Entourage after installing the Service Pack 2. However, the fix is really simple.

"Create a new identity in Entourage and try to send an attachment. If you can your user data is corrupted and will have to be tossed. If you can't, go into the login items found under accounts in system preferences, highlight the Microsoft item that is named something like daemon and hit the minus sign at the bottom of the window. Close everything up, quit all programs and restart."

"Duplicate" function in Entourage broken A number of users report that the "Duplicate Contact" function no longer works when a contact record is open.

Several users report that Microsoft technical support has confirmed this issue to them.

Problems opening files with long filenames/deep directory locations One user reports issues with opening files with long filenames, or files that are embedded several layers deep in the directory structure, resulting in a long path name.

The reader writes:

"Post SP2 update (on a fully updated 10.4.2 system) I am having problems opening some files with very long filenames, or long pathnames. If I attempt to open a file with the name:

"MCA Element Analysis Matrix Final as of 062205.xls, which is buried fairly deep in a file structure on my disk, it fails. If I rename the file 'test' it opens just fine.

"If I put both files (short and long named) in a folder titled 'MCA Element Analy_Same doc, problems opening' at that deep level (about 8 levels) in the file structure, Then neither will open, giving the same error message that refers to the folder name, not the file name."

"If I move both files onto the desktop, then they both open without error."

Microsoft Error Reporting works again -- how to re-enable Microsoft has let us know that Error Reporting is once again functional in Office 2004 SP2, and requests that users re-enable the function to send valuable bug research data back to the Mac BU at Microsoft.

Microsoft representative Priyanka told MacFixIt:

"If you have disabled Microsoft Error Reporting because of issues it had on Tiger, I am pleased to report that these issues have been fixed in the Latest upgrade (SP2). Please enable the feature by following the steps listed Below:

"This is how you can enable Microsoft error reporting:

• Go into the Office folder under the folder where Office 2004 is Installed
• Start Microsoft Error Reporting,
• Go to Microsoft Error Reporting->Preferences, check Enable Microsoft Error Reporting
• Command-Q to quit Microsoft Error Reporting

"This feature is a very useful tool that helps Microsoft in gathering data about Your problems with the product and thus enables us to provide high quality Products."

Directory Services moved As noted by a number of readers, Directory Services has been removed from the Tools menu. Instead, Directory Services are now listed in the Address Book.

Word performance improvements Some readers are reporting improved responsiveness from Word 2004 after the update.

One reader writes:

"Complex document editing, particularly those with tables, would suffer considerable delays in both typing, but especially in reformatting - even on a 2.0Ghz G5. These issues have largely seemed to have gone away. There is a slight delay when adding new text to a table, but only on the first word or so (depending on how fast you type)."

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Previous coverage:

• Office 2004 Service Pack 2 [SP2] (#3): Updating issues; .Mac mail not being received; "Older daemon running" message
• Office 2004 Service Pack 2 [SP2] (#2): Lingering issues
• Microsoft releases Office 2004 Service Pack 2

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