June 24th, 2008

Microsoft releases critical update for Office 2008 for Mac

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 5:58 pm

Categories: Microsoft, Office, Software, Software Update

Tags: Apple Macintosh, Critical Update, Microsoft Corp., Desktops, Microsoft Office, Hardware, Office Suites, Software, Jason D. O'Grady

Microsoft just pushed out a 153.3MB update for Office 2008 for Mac that’s labeled “critical.” You will get notified of the updated via Microsoft AutoUpdate the next time it phones home or you can download the patch directly from the MS support knowledgebase.

According to Article ID 953822 the Office 12.1.1 update fixes an issue that causes Office 2008 applications to exit unexpectedly when you open or use Office 2008 applications and an issue that causes the dates in a chart to change unexpectedly when you open a Word 2008 document or a PowerPoint 2008 presentation that contains a chart.

In addition, the Office 12.1.1. update addresses the following individual application improvements:

Word 2008 for Mac

• Spaces between words are preserved.
• Macros are preserved when you save a document that contains macros.
• Word documents open correctly when you double-click the document or when you download the document from a Web site.
• Items in Notebook Layout documents are preserved when the document is converted.
• Font size is preserved for text in tables.
• Reliability is improved when you save a document that contains an Area or Filled Radar chart in the .doc format.

Excel 2008 for Mac

• International decimal separators are accepted for error bars.
• Reliability is improved when chart data is updated.
• Excel workbooks open correctly when you double-click the workbook or when you download the workbook from a Web site.
• Reliability is improved when you reference or link to a sheet name that resembles a cell reference.
• Reliability is improved when you calculate or edit a formula.
• Embedded movies are no longer duplicated when you save a workbook in the .xls format.
• Reliability is improved when you save a workbook in the Microsoft Excel 5.0 Workbook format or in the Microsoft Excel 95 Workbook format.
• PivotTable reports are improved.

PowerPoint 2008 for Mac

• Performance is improved.

Entourage 2008 for Mac

• Stability is improved when you wake the computer from sleep.

To install the Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.1 Update you must be running Mac OS X 10.4.9 (Tiger) or a later and have Microsoft Office 2008 Service Pack 1 (SP1) Update (12.1.0)  installed. To verify that the Office 2008 SP1 Update (12.1.0) is installed:

1. On the Go menu, click Applications.
2. Open the Microsoft Office 2008 folder, and then open any Office application. For example, open Word.
3. On the Word menu, click About Word.
4. In the About Word dialog box, examine the version number next to Latest Installed Update.