Cannot open files via menu

[CyberTaz]

Well, I don't claim to know the complete difference either - keep meaning to
educate myself but just never get around to it What I "believe" to be
the case is:

Prefs files store various preference settings which the user controls
through the Preferences dialog, whereas
Plist files store app-specific structural information regarding such things
as window size/position, toolbar display, etc.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Thanks, Bob.

I feel as though in Word 2004 those functions might have been separated,
or at least Word 2004 had a separate file (in user Prefs, but not inside
the MS folder) that handled some display-related stuff, I think. Maybe
it wasn't Word specific. But they are integrated now--for sure the pref
settings are stored in that plist.

Oh well.

Daiya

 

[Beth Rosengard]

"plist" is short for "preference list". A .plist file *is* a preference
file. AFAIK, MSFT doesn't use a .pref designation (at least not any more).

Beth

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Daiya:

I don't think so.

I think Shift/Launch is the same as the PC's "winword.exe /s" which does a
"silent" launch. It does not "create" any prefs or templates or whatever,
but it ignores any that already exist.

I could be wrong...

Cheers

I don't know the difference between a .plist and a .pref?

I thought shift-launch was supposed to do the same as if you had dragged
preferences and Normal to the desktop. And I had tested (because I
forgot shift-launch did prefs and thought it just did Normal, until Beth
said), and when I shift-launched, my prefs were reset to the default.
I'm not sure *which* prefs it bypasses other than that main one,
though--there's a lot of user/lib/prefs/com.microsoft.* files, plus the
files in user/lib/prefs/microsoft/office 2008.

Perhaps that isn't the actual prefs file? But I think I tested that
too--that's the file that remembers the checkboxes in preferences for
Office 2008.

User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist

Same file as in Word 2004, just moved to a different location.


Frederic did re-install, so it's possible there was a conjunction of
corruptions.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Right, it doesn't create anything. I misspoke.

But if it isn't loading the existing prefs and global templates, it
should test whether they are causing the problem equally as well as
dragging them to the desktop.

 

[Phillip Jones]

Just looked in 2004 it appears to be one item only in preference File in
preferences Folder named Microsoft Word
and an item in plist folder named com.microsoft.Word.plist

Thanks, Bob.

I feel as though in Word 2004 those functions might have been separated,
or at least Word 2004 had a separate file (in user Prefs, but not inside
the MS folder) that handled some display-related stuff, I think. Maybe
it wasn't Word specific. But they are integrated now--for sure the pref
settings are stored in that plist.

Oh well.

Daiya

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[John McGhie]

Yes, it should. I just don't know "which" files it ignores ‹ it's not "all"
of them...

Right, it doesn't create anything. I misspoke.

But if it isn't loading the existing prefs and global templates, it
should test whether they are causing the problem equally as well as
dragging them to the desktop.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Nhulunbuy, Northern Territory, Australia
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[OpusMinus]

I have been going through the same issues with opening files in Office
2008 on one machine in our office.

-tested removed retested and then re-added the ram...it is not a RAM
issue.
-reinstalled office 2008 several times. With the new ram and without.
-tried these three: 1) hold down shift while launching Word. Does the
problem persist? - yes
2) Log out of your user account, then hold
down shift while logging back
in. Does the problem persist? - yes
3) create a new user account in OS X and
test in that one. Does the
problem persist? - no
-Creating a new account on the Mac fixed the issue...but this is not a
fix for our office, as users need their own accounts...

-Really getting fed up with 10.5.1...and associated issues

 

[John McGhie]

Have you replaced User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist ?

That often fixes it.

All Office apps ust be quit when you do it: just delete it.

Word will re-create if it is missing. But it won't touch it with a
re-install if it is not missing.

Cheers

I have been going through the same issues with opening files in Office
2008 on one machine in our office.

-tested removed retested and then re-added the ram...it is not a RAM
issue.
-reinstalled office 2008 several times. With the new ram and without.
-tried these three: 1) hold down shift while launching Word. Does the
problem persist? - yes
2) Log out of your user account, then hold
down shift while logging back
in. Does the problem persist? - yes
3) create a new user account in OS X and
test in that one. Does the
problem persist? - no
-Creating a new account on the Mac fixed the issue...but this is not a
fix for our office, as users need their own accounts...

-Really getting fed up with 10.5.1...and associated issues

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50

 

[dogear6]

I have been having the same problem and deleted the plist file for both Office and Word. It has not helped. Unfortunately, I can only close Word with a forced quit, which I cannot think is very good long term for my machine.

Any other suggestions? I would appreciate any guidance.

 

[dogear6]

I just realized that the very first post said I can get out of the screen using ESC. Which worked very well, so at least I do not have to force quit.

I would still appreciate if there are any ideas on how to resolve as I have tried those posted here.

 

[John McGhie]

I guess the reason you've been hanging so long waiting for an answer is that
you didn't post your version information. We can waste hours researching an
answer only to find the user doesn't have that version -- so often we just
left it go through to the keeper...

I'm not sure which file you deleted?

Wast it User/Library/Preferences/com.Microsoft.Word.plist ?

That often fixes it.

All Office apps must be quit when you do it: just delete it.

Word will re-create if it is missing. But it won't touch it with a
re-install if it is not missing.

Cheers

I just realized that the very first post said I can get out of the screen
using ESC. Which worked very well, so at least I do not have to force quit.

I would still appreciate if there are any ideas on how to resolve as I have
tried those posted here.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[CyberTaz]

Not to beat up on you, but another reason for a delay/lack of response is
that you "hijacked" another thread that had been inactive for 3 weeks.
Anyone *not* participating in the original messages has not really had any
reason to even read what you wrote.

Even if your issue "seems" to be the same as another, if the fixes offered
don't work for you your problem must be *different* in some way. It's far
better to post as a NEW message giving all particulars as well as
referencing any previous threads you've reviewed, what suggestions you've
tried & what the results of those efforts were.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac