My Entourage app has vanished!

R

rrshaw

Mac OS 10.4.8 with MS Office 2004. This morning I had a notice from MS
auto update, but I didn't notice which one it was (perhaps the 11.3
update?). Anyway, I started the update process but was interupted by
holiday guests, whereby I stopped the update.

When I came back to my computer to do the update I found that the
Entourage 2004 application was missing! Gone, disappeared, nada! I did
a search and the app is no longer on my hard drive! The other Office
apps are there and run normally. It looks as though I still have my
Microsoft User Data folder.

Any ideas on what happened and any speculation if all my emails may
still exist somewhere (that's all I really care about). Where do I look
and what steps should I follow?

Any assistance y'all can provide will be like a second Christmas for
me. Thanks in advance.
 
M

Michel Bintener

Hi,

good news first: if you still have your old Microsoft User Data folder, then
all your Entourage data (i.e. e-mail messages, contacts and so on) is still
intact. I'm surprised, though, that the 11.3.2 update could have done such a
thing. When you say that Entourage is no longer there, do you mean the Dock
icon or the actual Entourage application in Applications/Microsoft Office
2004? Open the Microsoft Office 2004 folder to see if it's not in there; if
it isn't, you may have to reinstall Entourage. Let us know! And now would
also be a great moment to perform a backup of the MUD folder, just in case,
and you should start backing up that folder on a regular basis, if you're
not doing so already.


Mac OS 10.4.8 with MS Office 2004. This morning I had a notice from MS
auto update, but I didn't notice which one it was (perhaps the 11.3
update?). Anyway, I started the update process but was interupted by
holiday guests, whereby I stopped the update.

When I came back to my computer to do the update I found that the
Entourage 2004 application was missing! Gone, disappeared, nada! I did
a search and the app is no longer on my hard drive! The other Office
apps are there and run normally. It looks as though I still have my
Microsoft User Data folder.

Any ideas on what happened and any speculation if all my emails may
still exist somewhere (that's all I really care about). Where do I look
and what steps should I follow?

Any assistance y'all can provide will be like a second Christmas for
me. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

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

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***
 
R

rrshaw

Thanks for the quick reply. Yep, Entourage 2004 is no longer in the
Office 2004 folder... and no where else on my computer! I wish I could
be more precise about what MS update was being processed at the time
and exactly what dialogue box it was that I clicked "stop", but the
app, like Elvis, has left the building. I do have the MUD folder backed
up on an external drive (hopefully it still has all the right stuff in
it).

Now my questions are:

1. I presume I can reinstall just the Entourage app or will I need to
do a complete Office 2004 uninstall/reinstall?
2. Once installed, do I just replace the "new" MUD folder with my old
one to be back in business?
3. My other Office 2004 apps are identified as 11.3... and a reinstall
of Entourage would probably be an earlier version...does that cause a
problem?
4. My Office 2004 disks are at my cabin "up north" and I'd really like
to access some of my emails today. I also have Entourage 2004 on my
wife's networked Mac...is there a way to use my backed up MUD with her
computer (without replacing its own MUD) so I can view some of the more
critical emails?
 
M

Michel Bintener

Thanks for the quick reply. Yep, Entourage 2004 is no longer in the
Office 2004 folder... and no where else on my computer! I wish I could
be more precise about what MS update was being processed at the time
and exactly what dialogue box it was that I clicked "stop", but the
app, like Elvis, has left the building. I do have the MUD folder backed
up on an external drive (hopefully it still has all the right stuff in
it).
Click to expand...

You clicked "Stop"? So you aborted an update? If yes, that's never really a
good idea. And backups are always good!

Now my questions are:

1. I presume I can reinstall just the Entourage app or will I need to
do a complete Office 2004 uninstall/reinstall?
Click to expand...

I can't say I've ever done this, but theoretically speaking, it is possible
to install just one application. You will need the Office 2004 disk and run
the Installer. At one point during the setup, you will be asked which
applications you want to install. Simply uncheck everything but Entourage.
You will now get Entourage at version 11.0, so you will need to run the 11.3
and 11.3.2 updates to get it up-to-date.
2. Once installed, do I just replace the "new" MUD folder with my old
one to be back in business?
Click to expand...

When Entourage is up-to-date, it will simply read the information from your
old MUD folder, so no need to replace anything. Since there is a MUD folder
in your Documents folder, Entourage will not create a new one.
3. My other Office 2004 apps are identified as 11.3... and a reinstall
of Entourage would probably be an earlier version...does that cause a
problem?
Click to expand...

See answer #1 for that. Again, let me emphasise that I have never done this
before, so I'm only talking from a theoretical point of view.
4. My Office 2004 disks are at my cabin "up north" and I'd really like
to access some of my emails today. I also have Entourage 2004 on my
wife's networked Mac...is there a way to use my backed up MUD with her
computer (without replacing its own MUD) so I can view some of the more
critical emails?
Click to expand...

Short answer: no. You will need a copy of Entourage to read the database
inside the MUD folder, and Entourage can only read information in the MUD
folder, which means you will have to replace your wife's MUD folder with
your own, with Entourage shut down at the moment of the file swapping.

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

***Always reply to the newsgroup.***
 
R

rrshaw

I understand and thank you for your great help. Until I can get my
original install disk in order to do the reinstall, would this work as
a temporary thing tonight:

On my wife's Mac (with Entourage shut down) I rename her MUD folder to
"Microsoft User Data Wife", then copy over my own MUD folder leaving it
correctly named. Then when I launch her Entourage it SHOULD recognize
and read my MUG folder? After I retrieve the info I need, I then shut
down Entourage, rename my MUG folder to "Microsoft User Data Idiot
Husband" and rename her MUG folder to be correct again.
 
D

Diane Ross

On my wife's Mac (with Entourage shut down) I rename her MUD folder to
"Microsoft User Data Wife", then copy over my own MUD folder leaving it
correctly named. Then when I launch her Entourage it SHOULD recognize
and read my MUG folder? After I retrieve the info I need, I then shut
down Entourage, rename my MUG folder to "Microsoft User Data Idiot
Husband" and rename her MUG folder to be correct again.
Click to expand...

You will have to "Switch Identity" under Entourage in the menu bar to select
your Identity unless it is named "Main".

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
The Entourage Blog lists the EHP as one of the top five Microsoft Entourage
resources.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>
 
K

kathryn.maloney

Very interesting ... exactly the same thing happened to me. I didn't
actually cancel the update, but was in Safari web browser at the same
time as the update was being downloaded. The webpage I was on crashed
my Mac (unfortunately, I can't now remember which page it was). This
left me with no option other than to switch the computer off at the
socket - I know, this should NEVER be done, but it really was a last
resort thing! I'd tried everything else. When I restarted my Mac,
Entourage app had disappeared. I'm about to try the suggestion of
re-loading Entourage - will let you know how I get on. Point of
interest - I'll make sure nothing else is running when downloading an
update in future ...
 
R

rrshaw

Well, thanks to the help here, I was able to do the renaming and copy
my MUD into the other computer and successfuly access all my files and
folders. I did have to first make sure the Entourage on the other
computer had the latest update, but I did not have to create a new
Identity. Woo Hoo!

Kathryn... please report what happens when you reinstall your Entourage
app because that will be the next step for me as well whence I have my
install disk in hand again.
 
D

Diane Ross

Very interesting ... exactly the same thing happened to me. I didn't
actually cancel the update, but was in Safari web browser at the same
time as the update was being downloaded. The webpage I was on crashed
my Mac (unfortunately, I can't now remember which page it was). This
left me with no option other than to switch the computer off at the
socket - I know, this should NEVER be done, but it really was a last
resort thing! I'd tried everything else. When I restarted my Mac,
Entourage app had disappeared. I'm about to try the suggestion of
re-loading Entourage - will let you know how I get on. Point of
interest - I'll make sure nothing else is running when downloading an
update in future ...
Click to expand...

One of the nice features about OS X is the ability when one application
crashes is you can "Force Quit" that application instead of resorting to
pulling the plug. In the Dock, select the problem application and select
"Force Quit" or go into the Activity Monitor and "Force Quit" from there.

--
Diane Ross, Microsoft Mac MVP
Entourage Help Page
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/>
The Entourage Blog lists the EHP as one of the top five Microsoft Entourage
resources.
<http://blogs.msdn.com/entourage/>
 
K

kathryn.maloney

Success! I managed to reinstall just the Entourage app again from the
Office:mac 2004 CD. This didn't fix the problem immediately (it came
up with a message saying something like the identities weren't
compatible with this version). So I downloaded the updates 11.3.0 and
11.3.2 successfully (don't know if it's useful but I found links to
these on http://www.entourage.mvps.org/) and everything is working like
it was. I backed up the MUD files and other important files just in
case - luckily I didn't need to reinstall the MUD files as everything
linked up once the updates were installed.

Incidentally, the reason for having to switch my Mac off at the wall
was because it eventually froze. Diane Ross suggested I could quit by
doing Force Quit (via dock or activity window), but this too had
frozen! So the only option was to switch it off.

I'll also make sure I check the Groups and check for any problems
before downloading Office updates in the future.

Hope this helps.
 
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