Word 2008: Existing Issues, Some with Workarounds
These issues are compiled from reports on the newsgroups. We expect that updates will fix them. Please post to the Word newsgroup if you can confirm an issue is fixed, or that it persists despite an update.
Updates
In general, you can find updates at Mactopia Downloads, or you can select Help>Check for Updates in any Office program. Each update is also linked from the Description in the MS Knowledge Base.
Description of the 12.0.1 update, released 11 March 2008. These fixes have been rolled into the 12.1 update, and you can now skip the 12.0.1 update.
Description of the 12.1 (Service Pack 1) update, released 13 May 2008. This is a combo updater—there is no need to run the 12.0.1 update before installing the 12.1 update. HOWEVER, please click on the Mactopia link for Additional Information for best practice on installing it, and also see here. If you find yourself trapped in a Setup Assistant/AutoUpdate loop after installing the SP1 Update, see the fix posted here.
Description of the 12.1.1 update, released 24 June 2008. You need to install the 12.1 update before installing 12.1.1.
Contents
- Crash on Launch or Quit
- Translation Can't Find the Internet
- Can't Change the Default Double-Spacing
- My Printer Only Prints Blank Pages!
- File>Open Menu Causes Crash/Freeze
- "This Picture is an Unsupported Graphics Format or May Be Damaged"
- Messages about Full Memory and Work File
- Can't Paste into Dreamweaver (or other programs)
- "A File Error Has Occurred..."
- GoBack Command Fails
- Word Doesn't Print Graphics
- Readability Statistics Are Wrong (fixed in 12.1)
- Can't Double-Click Files to Open Them (12.1 only, fixed in 12.1.1)
- Things Missing from the Status Bar: Line Number, Section Number, Overtype
1. Word Crashes on Launch or Quit
Microsoft has confirmed that a possible cause for Word 2008 crashing on launch (or quit) is the presence of preference files from previous versions of Word. If you have this problem, try one of these workarounds:
Look for Old Preference Files
Quit out of all versions of Word and trash (or rename) all Word preference files prior to Word 2004:
[username]/Library/Preferences/Microsoft/Word Settings (10)
Hard Drive/OS 9 System Folder/Preferences/Microsoft/ Word Settings (9)
Hard Drive/OS 9 System Folder/Preferences/Microsoft/ Word Settings (8)
Hold Down the Shift key while Launching Word.
This bypasses the First Run Update process so Office doesn't go looking for previous version preference files. Unfortunately, this tells Word not to load any preferences and templates at all even Word 2008 prefs and you will need to do this on every launch, so it's not a long-term workaround.
If shift-launching Word works for you, but deleting the above files didn't help, then also test the preferences from Word 2008 and 2004. If that still doesn't work, then test the Normal template, both for Word 2008 and for any earlier versions you may have installed.
If that still doesn't work, see if you might have any old settings files in any other locations. Clearing out AutoRecovery files may be necessary. For instance, one newsgroup poster found that a crash on quit appeared to be caused by the presence of a copy of the 2004 Normal template in an AutoRecovery folder, which Word was finding and importing.
A newsgroup poster reported crash on launch was caused by enabling Quartz GL in Quartz Debug. If you had done this, you would probably know it, so this is just to jog your memory. If you have never heard of this, it is highly unlikely to be causing your problem.
2. Translation Can't Find the Internet
This has been tracked down to an issue caused by not having a proxy specified.
There is a potential workaround: In Network Settings, under Bypass proxy settings for these Hosts & Domains, try entering a wildcard (i.e. "*.*") or an exception for mso.worldlingo.com.
3. Can't Change the Default Double-Spacing
Because it isn't really double-spaced. MS changed the default Space After (which controls the space between paragraphs, not between lines). This isn't actually a bug, either, but it is an FAQ, so we'll put it here.
To change it in just the active document, select all, go to Format | Paragraph. Look down to the find the Spacing: After field, and change 10 to 0.
To change this in all documents created from now on, you'll need to change the Normal style.
First, select Format | Style. Normal should be selected.
Click on Modify—make sure "add to template" is CHECKED. You'll see a Format menu in the bottom of the dialog—select Paragraph from it, and change the Spacing: After setting from 10 to 0.
4. My Printer Only Prints Blank Pages!
When running on Leopard, Word 2008 and Word/PowerPoint/Excel 2004 may produce blank output for some printers. Microsoft, Apple, and various printer manufacturers are working on this issue but in the meantime, there are a couple of workarounds:
1. Set the current default printer to one that doesn't have this problem. Try an inkjet or low dpi laser printer, if you have one.
2. Change your printer resolution to something lower if possible, like 600 dpi, from the print dialog.
3. If all else fails or is otherwise not possible, uninstall the printer and save to PDF as follows.
a. Open System Preferences>Print & Fax and remove/uninstall your printer.
b. Quit and relaunch Word.
c. File/Save as.../PDF (in Word 2004: Save/print to PDF) -OR- File/Print/PDF/Save as PDF.
d. Reinstall the printer.
e. Open the PDF and print to any printer.
The third workaround, while undeniably a pain, is probably best. You may be able to save up all your print jobs and only have to do this once a day.
5. File>Open Menu Causes Crash/Freeze
Problem: you are able to open Word documents if you double-click a Word doc in the Finder, but when you use the File>Open menu, Word locks up, or freezes.
This is due to corrupt preferences, specifically the UserName/Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.Word.plist . Quit Word, drag that file to the desktop, and relaunch Word.
If the problem persists, try the instructions here.
6. "This Picture is an Unsupported Graphics Format or May Be Damaged"
Several newsgroup posters have reported getting this error when using Insert>Picture>From File, while drag and drop works fine.
The current solution is to make sure that the Styles section of the Formatting Palette is closed before inserting the picture, or temporarily close the Formatting Palette all together. The misleading error message appears to be related to Word's inability to automatically substitute the Styles section for a Format Picture section, as it is supposed to do when a picture is inserted.
7. Messages about Full Memory and Work File
If you get the following error messages:
"Word could not create the work file. Check the amount of space on your startup disk"
"You are working without a Word work file, and memory is nearly full. Save your work. "
Some newsgroup posters have reported that Repairing Permissions solved the problem. Use the system Disk Utility program. Another person reported that using the utility AppleJack in single user moder for a more extensive system repair solved it.
8. Can't Paste into Dreamweaver, etc.
Word 2008 changed the information that it puts on the clipboard, and some programs are having problems handling it, most notably Adobe Dreamweaver, but also InDesign, Fireworks, and apparently iChat. Please send feedback to both companies to increase the priority on this problem—the more complaints, the more likely to get a quick fix. I believe Adobe will need to make the fix, as GoLive and other programs have no problem handling what appears to be a standard format. Certainly the 12.1 update to Office 2008 did not improve this issue at all.
Complain to the MacBU at Microsoft
Potential Workarounds
You can copy into Word 2004 and then re-copy. I have not tried using TextEdit or Pages as an intermediary yet.
A newsgroup poster suggested printing to PDF and copying from the PDF.
In Dreamweaver, you can use Edit>Paste Special and select Text Only to get the basic text into Dreamweaver, but you'll have to reformat it.
Pasting from a clipboard utility sometimes produces different results than a simple cmd-V. When you copy, Word puts several different formats on the clipboard. When you hit cmd-V, the program you are copying into picks a format. Using a clipboard utility may let you pick that format yourself, for programs lacking Paste Special options. (In my tests, using the Pasteboard module of YouControl produced better results with InDesign and Fireworks, allowing me to paste unformatted text rather than a picture. In Dreamweaver, it produced different but not especially better results.)
9. "A File Error Has Occurred..."
Newsgroup posters have reported getting the following error message on closing Word. The symptom appears to be that Word does not save preferences or changes to the Normal template.
"A file error has occurred. Check your network connections or make sure the disk is properly inserted and not defective."
One person solved the problem by trashing all versions of the Normal template. See the instructions here, and be sure to look for the Normal template for Word 2008, Word 2004, and any version of Word you ever had installed on the computer.
10. GoBack Command Fails
The GoBack command, which cycles you through the last three edit points, fails in Word 2008. It works while a document is opened, but the bookmarks are cleared when you close the document.
Increase the priority on this issue by letting the MacBU know it causes problems for you.
This does not appear to have been fixed with SP1.
11. Word Doesn't Print Graphics
First, in Word>Preferences>Print, under Include With Document, make sure that "drawing objects" is checked.
If that doesn't work, one newsgroup poster solved the issue by grouping all of the graphics with their text box labels.
12. Readability Statistics Are Wrong—FIXED
Word 2008 reports incorrect reability statistics—grade levels are shown as much lower than evaluation in Word 2004. The 12.1 update fixed this problem.
13. Can't Double-Click Files to Open Them (SP1 only)—FIXED
FIXED with the 12.1.1 update.
Office 2008 SP1 prevents documents with some very old file types (most notably WDBN for Word files) from opening on double-click. The MSKB makes it clear that this was only intended to affect very old documents. However, several browsers and email clients have been assigning old file types to downloads/attachments, particularly Firefox/Thunderbird, Eudora, and Lotus Notes, so that even new documents may have the old file types. Certain network servers (ExtremeZ-IP) also assign the deprecated file types. Documents from Windows may also be hit by this.
After installing the 12.1.1 update, you should be able to double-click the documents you receive, although documents that were really created decades ago may still require File>Open.
If for some reason you are unable to install the 12.1.1 update, these workarounds may help.
Workarounds
—Use File>Open instead. Once you make any minor change to the document and resave it, it will double-click fine in the future. Or Save As a new document.
—MVP Corentin Cras-Méneur has written a script to batch-change the file types of existing documents (you may also want to read the two preceding blog posts for more information about the script).
—dragging Word attachments into an open Word document will create a COPY of the document. This may be a quick way to view files that you do not need to save or edit, but is not otherwise recommended.
Firefox users—Firefox 3, released 17 June, no longer assigns old file types, so the problem will be fixed for the future.
Lotus Notes users—you can use the MisFox utility to change the file type that is assigned. This thread gives more discussion of how to implement this workaround.
Thunderbird users—you can use the MisFox utility to change the file type that is assigned. This thread gives more discussion of how to implement this workaround, see the post from Andersson.
ExtremeZ-IP servers—GroupLogic has provided this workaround.
This issue has been widely discussed on the newsgroups, including here, which offers additional potential workarounds that aren't feasible to recommend here.
14. Things Missing from the Status Bar: Line Number, Section Number, Overtype
Word 2008 redid the status bar, the line at the bottom of each document window.
MS removed information on the line number and section number. Try to convince MS to return it by letting the MacBU know it causes problems for you.
You can recover the Overtype command by customizing the toolbar (click for directions). The command you need is named "Overtype".