Can you revert to 2004 by exporting and importing?

L

Lancelot

Like some others here, I have been very frustrated by the difficulties
of syncing Entourage 2008 with a Palm device. In addition I have been
experiencing instability with Office 2008 that I never had with 2004,
with multiple hangs when I attempt to execute formatting or font
changes in Word. I don't have time to work through these issues, so I
have decided to return to Office 2004, which always worked well for
me, and which allowed easy synchronization with my Palm device.

I understand that the main obstacle in the way of reverting from 2008
to the 2004 version is that 2008 has introduced a new database format
and, while it includes a conversion program to convert from the 2004
format into the 2008 format, the process cannot be run in reverse.

I would like to know if one could achieve the same result (backward
conversion of the database) by first exporting the 2008 data into a
neutral format and then reinstalling 2004 and finally importing the
previously exported data back into 2004. Would that strategy work?

Lancelot Fletcher
 
M

Michel Bintener

Simply use Entourage's own Export utility to create a .rge archive, which
you can subsequently import into Entourage 2004. In Entourage 2008, click on
File>Export and export your data into an Entourage archive. Quit E2008, open
E2004 and choose File>Import to import the newly created archive.


Like some others here, I have been very frustrated by the difficulties
of syncing Entourage 2008 with a Palm device. In addition I have been
experiencing instability with Office 2008 that I never had with 2004,
with multiple hangs when I attempt to execute formatting or font
changes in Word. I don't have time to work through these issues, so I
have decided to return to Office 2004, which always worked well for
me, and which allowed easy synchronization with my Palm device.

I understand that the main obstacle in the way of reverting from 2008
to the 2004 version is that 2008 has introduced a new database format
and, while it includes a conversion program to convert from the 2004
format into the 2008 format, the process cannot be run in reverse.

I would like to know if one could achieve the same result (backward
conversion of the database) by first exporting the 2008 data into a
neutral format and then reinstalling 2004 and finally importing the
previously exported data back into 2004. Would that strategy work?

Lancelot Fletcher
Click to expand...

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:mac (Entourage & Word)

*** Please always reply to the newsgroup. ***
 
L

Lancelot

Simply use Entourage's own Export utility to create a .rge archive, which
you can subsequently import into Entourage 2004. In Entourage 2008, click on
File>Export and export your data into an Entourage archive. Quit E2008, open
E2004 and choose File>Import to import the newly created archive.

On 19/02/08 11:24, in article
3a3f89cd-5f56-4e01-9557-bca65ec9c...@n75g2000hsh.googlegroups.com,
Click to expand...

Thanks, Michel. That sounds simple enough. The reason I hesitated to
use that route is that I thought the archive file coming from
Entourage 2008 would be in a format that Entourage 2004 would not be
able to read. Are you saying that the archive file CAN be read by
Entourage 2004?

Lancelot
 
M

Michel Bintener

Thanks, Michel. That sounds simple enough. The reason I hesitated to
use that route is that I thought the archive file coming from
Entourage 2008 would be in a format that Entourage 2004 would not be
able to read. Are you saying that the archive file CAN be read by
Entourage 2004?

Lancelot
Click to expand...

Yes, it worked quite well for me. And you can always leave your data in
Entourage 2008 in case anything goes wrong during the export/import, but
there should be no problem.

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:mac (Entourage & Word)

*** Please always reply to the newsgroup. ***
 
L

Lancelot

Yes, it worked quite well for me. And you can always leave your data in
Entourage 2008 in case anything goes wrong during the export/import, but
there should be no problem.

--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:mac (Entourage & Word)

*** Please always reply to the newsgroup. ***
Click to expand...

Does that mean that I can reinstall Office 2004 without removing
Office 2008?

Lancelot
 
D

Diane Ross

Does that mean that I can reinstall Office 2004 without removing
Office 2008?
Click to expand...

Yes, but NEVER run them at the same time. Check for duplicate daemon in
Startup Items. Delete all if more than one and Entourage will create a new
one when launched.

Check your Sync Services pref when you switch back to be sure it's correctly
set. I know when you switch Identities in the same version, it will not
allow you to enable Sync Services if it was set in another Identity. Not
sure what happens with two different versions.
 
L

Lancelot

Yes, but NEVER run them at the same time.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Diane, and everybody else who has helped. When you say never
run them at the same time, are you referring only to Entourage, or to
the entire Office Suite. For example, if I am running Entourage 2004
and I open Word 2008, will that cause problems?

I have now reinstalled Office 2004 and I am happy to have recovered
the ability to synchronize with my Palm device. Exporting the
Entourage 2008 database and then importing it into Entourage 2004 did
produce some small problems, however. It seems that my mailing list
rules and junk mail settings did not survive the transfer. It would be
interesting to know if there is any way to transfer these settings as
well.

In addition -- in the minor nuisance category -- importing the
archived identity creates a separate folder structure below the 7 or
so folders that are installed by default. I have copied the messages
from the archive inbox into the default inbox but I am having some
trouble getting the other folders back the way I had them before. My
question is, is the order of the folders in the folder pane fixed, or
is there some way I can modify it?

Lancelot
 
D

Diane Ross

Thanks, Diane, and everybody else who has helped. When you say never
run them at the same time, are you referring only to Entourage, or to
the entire Office Suite. For example, if I am running Entourage 2004
and I open Word 2008, will that cause problems?
Click to expand...

Just Entourage. Many users are still using Word 2004 along with Entourage
2008. The big thing to watch out for is multiple daemons in the Startup
Items folder in System Preferences. If you have more than one, delete all
and let Entourage create a new one. Multiple daemons can cause crashes.

I'm not 100% sure that Office 2008 and Office 2004 use different daemons. I
know there was a huge problem in Office X and Office 2004 daemons.
I have now reinstalled Office 2004 and I am happy to have recovered
the ability to synchronize with my Palm device. Exporting the
Entourage 2008 database and then importing it into Entourage 2004 did
produce some small problems, however. It seems that my mailing list
rules and junk mail settings did not survive the transfer. It would be
interesting to know if there is any way to transfer these settings as
well.
Click to expand...

You just need to reset them. Open and reselect the destination folder.
In addition -- in the minor nuisance category -- importing the
archived identity creates a separate folder structure below the 7 or
so folders that are installed by default. I have copied the messages
from the archive inbox into the default inbox but I am having some
trouble getting the other folders back the way I had them before. My
question is, is the order of the folders in the folder pane fixed, or
is there some way I can modify it?
Click to expand...
You cannot delete the default folders. You can make your folders as
subfolders of the Inbox or as a root folder in the folder window. At one
time, when you exported as Entourage archive, it only got folders that were
part of the Inbox. I haven't tested lately to see if that is still true.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/get_started/folders.html>

Tip: I use @ in front of the name to push my most used folders to the top of
the folder list.
 
L

Lancelot

Simply use Entourage's own Export utility to create a .rge archive, whichyoucansubsequently import into Entourage 2004. In Entourage 2008, click on
File>Export and export your data into an Entourage archive. Quit E2008, open
E2004 and choose File>Import to import the newly created archive.






--
Michel Bintener
Microsoft MVP
Office:mac (Entourage & Word)

*** Please always reply to the newsgroup. ***
Click to expand...

I have reinstalled Office 2004 as Michel Bintener suggested. Mostly
the result is what I wanted. However I find that my projects are no
longer available. The contents of the Office Projects folder are still
the same. When I create a new project, the new project folder appears
as a new folder within the Office Projects folder. But when I open up
the Project Center in Entourage 2004 or any of the other components of
Office 2004, only the new project appears. In other words. the old
projects are not recognized by the reinstalled components of Office
2004. What can I do to get my projects back.

Lancelot Fletcher
 
J

Jim Lange

I use single or double blank spaces in 2004 to do the same thing.

Jim Lange
Clearwater, Fla.
 
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