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Troubleshooting Microsoft Office v.X 10.1.4 (#2): Solving "no valid copy" issues; Excel Solver broken?; more

Troubleshooting Microsoft Office v.X 10.1.4 (#2): Solving "no valid copy" issues; Excel Solver broken?; more

CNET staff
3 min read

Solving "no valid copy" issues In addition to re-applying the Microsoft Office v.X 10.1.2 updater (noted yesterday), some users have been able to work around the "no valid copy found" error by moving Microsoft Office v.X back to its original folder.

MacFixIt reader James Connor writes "I ran into the 'no valid copy' problem on only one of our computers. After comparing the directories between a good and an aborted install I noticed that the applications were inside the 'Office' folder, not in the main window of the 'Microsoft Office X' folder on the computer that reported the 'no valid copy.' I moved the applications icons back to the main Microsoft Office X folder and the updater ran without a problem.

Excel Solver broken? WJ Shack writes "The 10.1.4 upgrade seems to break the Excel Solver add-in. It works once on a worksheet, then if you try to reuse it again on that worksheet, Excels quits. Further, if you re-open the workbook and try to reuse Solver on that worksheet, it quits immediately. Other sheets in the workbook will work once."

This behavior has been cross-verified among several systems.

UPDATE: Temporary Fix MacFixIt reader Mark Moorcroft offers some additional insight, as well as a temporary fix that involves deleting Excel's VBA preference file: "I found that this is tied to the Solver preferences panel. I can open the Solver multiple times on the same worksheet, but as soon as I open the Solver Preference panel once, Excel will crash every time I reopen the Solver. If I trash the VBA Preferences file from ~/Library/Microsoft and reopen Excel, I can then open Solver again until the next time I open Solver Preferences, at which point VBA Preferences is recreated. VBA Preferences appears to be an empty file on every system I have looked at so far. The Solver preferences do appear to be saved in the actual worksheet because changes made will remain after trashing the VBA Preferences and reopening the Solver Preferences."

Project Gallery crash pre-dates 10.1.4 Yesterday we noted an issue where the Project Gallery in Offive v.X 10.1.4 causes crashes, which can be avoided by disabling the component. Apparently, this issue has existed before the recent update, and some users may have mistakenly associated its appearance with the 10.1.4 update because this was the first time they opened Excel or PowerPoint from the application icon.

Performance boost for Excel macros Rob Pattay has more good news about performance improvements in Office v.X.

"I installed the new Office 10.1.4 Update and one thing that is improved but haven't seen mentioned anywhere is that Excel macros run much faster now. I have a financial spreadsheet I put together and have a macro set to calculate a series of cash flows. Previously it took about 60 seconds to run and now it takes about 30 seconds (this is on a 500MHz G4). Still slower than using Excel under 9 though, if I remember correctly - that took 15 seconds or so on the same machine to run the same macro."

As noted yesterday, most users have noticed increased application launch speeds and faster menu navigation in particular after applying the update.

Delete and re-establish IMAP folders for connectivity MacFixIt reader Tony Harmar writes "I connect to our exchange server using two machines, one of which works flawlessly and the other doesn't. On my office machine connected to the same LAN as the exchange Server, contacts and appointments sync perfectly. My home machine displays the symptoms described by your correspondent (calendar and events are displayed as mail messages)."

If you are experiencing difficulty, try deleting your IMAP folders and re-establishing them using the new, Exchange-enabled version of Entourage.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

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