about to install new version of office...

G

gweno

I have Office 2004 and would like to install it soon, but the
instructions all suggest you don't already have Entourage. I do, and
don't want to lose access to my database-- many messages-- and would
prefer not to have to reenter all of my account settings.

can't i upgrade without completely reinstalling?
 
M

Michel Bintener

If you want to be on the safe side, make a backup copy of the Microsoft User
Data folder that's situated in your Documents folder (which you should do on
a regular basis, anyway), as all the data Entourage uses is stored in there.
However, it is unlikely that you will run into any problems when upgrading,
since the uninstaller which removes earlier versions of Office prior to the
installation of Office 2004 (but only if you want it to) will not touch said
folder.

Michel
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

If you want to be on the safe side, make a backup copy of the Microsoft User
Data folder that's situated in your Documents folder (which you should do on
a regular basis, anyway), as all the data Entourage uses is stored in there.
However, it is unlikely that you will run into any problems when upgrading,
since the uninstaller which removes earlier versions of Office prior to the
installation of Office 2004 (but only if you want it to) will not touch said
folder.
Click to expand...

That is correct. There is no connection between upgrading, or uninstalling,
to your data. There is no point to making an extra copy of the MUD folder.
Of course you should already, as Michel says, be backing it up in any case
so, if you don't, now is as good a time as any, but once you've upgraded and
imported the previous version's data you'll want to back up the imported
data (i.e. back up the MUD again) so it doesn't ever need to be re-imported.

There's a double process, gweno:

First you install the new version (I'll assume 2004) of the applications:
i.e. Office 2004. You can choose to uninstall the earlier versions during
that process, with no danger of losing any data (messages, contacts,
calendar, etc. etc.) nor account or preference settings.

Then launch Entourage 2004. You will be in a new empty identity. Go to
File/Import/From a program/Entourage X or 2001 as appropriate. The importer
will import all your data, and all your settings, your signatures, etc, etc
from the earlier version, This is what does the type of "upgrade" you're
looking for. It's a separate process because your data is kept separate (in
your OS X user's Documents folder) from the applications (in the computer's
Applications folder), precisely so you won't accidentally delete anything
when upgrading or updating the applications.

--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.
 
S

stitch

I have installed the Office X upgrade over Office 2004. In trying to
import the calendar I am not given the option to import from 2004 (only
2001) which I deleted when I got 2004. Any suggestions? Thanks.
 
D

Daiya Mitchell

I have installed the Office X upgrade over Office 2004. In trying to
import the calendar I am not given the option to import from 2004 (only
2001) which I deleted when I got 2004. Any suggestions? Thanks.
Click to expand...
You appear to be raising a new problem on an existing thread?

And what are you talking about? Office X upgrade *over* Office 2004? Much
of your message does not make sense--can you rephrase your question? Or
repost in a new thread, as the subject line sounds as though you have not
yet installed, but your message suggests you have.
 
P

Paul Berkowitz

You appear to be raising a new problem on an existing thread?

And what are you talking about? Office X upgrade *over* Office 2004? Much
of your message does not make sense--can you rephrase your question? Or
repost in a new thread, as the subject line sounds as though you have not
yet installed, but your message suggests you have.
Click to expand...

Stitch is not using English clearly, but I think I know what she means. (If
she's actually a he, he might think about using a real name here to make
that clear too, if she cares.)

She doesn't really mean an "upgrade" since its a downgrade to go from 2004
to X. I expect she probably had tried out the Office 2004 Test Drive, and
time ran out. Now she's installing Office v. X because someone lent it to
her for free, or something like that. Just in case that's not so, maybe she
is not aware that 2004 is later than X - so if you're actually buying the
software, Stitch, see if you can return v. X and get 2004 which is 2 years
more recent.

There is no way to import 2004 files into Entourage X, correct. How could
the X version, which came out over two years earlier, possibly know the file
format of a version that wasn't created yet? The only way to do it is with a
still-valid copy of 2004, open it, export all your data using the export
scripts of my shareware "Export-Import Entourage X" scripts, then import it
all into Entourage X using the import scripts of the same package.

But if you had a still-valid copy of 2004, there would be no need to do
this. You'd just use 2004. If you know someone who has 2004, and they're
kind enough to let you use it temporarily, you could open your 2004 identity
there (change the name of the "Main Identity" subfolder of your
~/Documents/Microsoft User data/Office 2004 Identities/Main Identity) to
"Stitch" so it won't conflict, copy it to a CD, take it over to your
friend's computer, copy it into the same place on your friend's computer
(being certain it's called "Stitch"), open Entourage 2004 there, go to
Entourage/Switch Identities/ and switch to Stitch, identity, install the
Export-Import X scripts there, use all of them to export all the data to
text files, copy the text files to a folder on the CD, quit Entourage there,
delete your temporary Stitch folder and text files from your friend's
computer, bring the CD over to your computer, copy the .txt files to a
folder on your desktop, install Export-Import X there, open Entourage X,
import all the text files using the Export-Import X scripts, and you'll have
all your data.

Or you could buy Office 2004 instead and just go on using the data you had
with the Text Drive.



--
Paul Berkowitz
MVP MacOffice
Entourage FAQ Page: <http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq/index.html>
AppleScripts for Entourage: <http://macscripter.net/scriptbuilders/>

Please "Reply To Newsgroup" to reply to this message. Emails will be
ignored.

PLEASE always state which version of Microsoft Office you are using -
**2004**, X or 2001. It's often impossible to answer your questions
otherwise.
 
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