Office update 12.1.4

[cconesa]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel
Email Client: pop

I have just applied this latest patch and everytime I get a new email, the entourage window jumps to the front no matter what I do and even if I disable the "bring the application to the front" option. This didn't happen before 12.1.4.

Please advise.

Regards, Christian Conesa.

 

[Diane Ross]

I have just applied this latest patch and everytime I get a new email, the
entourage window jumps to the front no matter what I do and even if I disable
the "bring the application to the front" option. This didn't happen before
12.1.4.

Have you restarted and run Repair Permissions? It sounds like a corrupt
preference.

For help with problems like corrupt preferences see this page:

Troubleshooting Your User Account for a Problem
<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/test_user.html>

 

[cconesa]

Diane, where is this "repair permissions" option?.

Christian.

 

[Diane Ross]

Diane, where is this "repair permissions" option?.

To use Repair Permissions:
1. Open Disk Utility in your Applications/Utility folder.
2. Click on the First Aid tab and select Repair Permissions
3. Click on the icon for your boot volume.
4. Click the repair permissions button.

Don't run from CD. Updates contain a newer versions of the application's
permissions.

 

[cconesa]

I was able to guess what you said but no errors were found and the problem persists. Is there another way to solve this problem?. Maybe reinstalling office but how so I keep my accounts, emails and so on?.

Christian.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

I have just applied this latest patch and everytime I get a new
email, the entourage window jumps to the front no matter what I do
and even if I disable the "bring the application to the front"
option. This didn't happen before 12.1.4.

Try enabling the "bring to front" option, restart Entourage and then
return and disable the preference.

Hope this helps!

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>

 

[Fred]

Microsoft must immediately stop providing this upgrade and issue a notification of its failure. I am presently attempting to repair the permissions as per the earlier e-mail for my account which, as with other users, has been wiped out by the upgrade. Whether or not this can be repaired -- and Microsoft better hope that it can be -- this upgrade threatens to be a national disaster. I can now report that repair permissions did not work.

 

[Fred]

After two hours I was able to restore service to the destroyed Entourage account and recover mail still resident on the exchange system. But, messages that had been stored on the computer under "on my computer" are gone. Presumably those are still somewhere on the computer in storage. Does anyone know where Microsoft stores the entourage files and how - if it is possible - to recover them?

 

[Sinbad The Sailor]

I certainly hope you followed Diane's instructions for repairing permissions
properly, if at all.

-Dante

 

[cconesa]

After a lot of work and reinstalling Office once, I have been able to find out the cause of the problem: I use a script called "strip HTML" so that all my emails are shown in plain text but for some reason, there is a command in the script ("activate") that caused for Entourage to jump to the front window. This behavior was not noticeable up to patch .3 but with the introduction of .4, the scrip behaves differently. The solution?, deleted the scrip line that contained the line "activate". It now works as it should.

Regards, Christian Conesa.

 

[Fred]

Permissions repaired successfully twice. No improvement to Entourage. Old email found in the Library/Cache/Metadata, etc., but no obvious way to recover into Entourage. However you slice it, this is a Microsoft induced problem -- and the 2d time in two months that a Microsoft update has caused enormous headaches.

 

[Adam Bailey]

After two hours I was able to restore service to the destroyed Entourage
account and recover mail still resident on the exchange system. But,
messages that had been stored on the computer under "on my computer" are
gone. Presumably those are still somewhere on the computer in storage.
Does anyone know where Microsoft stores the entourage files and how - if
it is possible - to recover them?

Your data is stored in your home folder under Documents > Microsoft User
Data > Office 2008 Identities. If there are multiple identity folders here,
you can switch to them via the Entourage menu.

If this folder is not present it may have been moved. Try a Spotlight search.

 

[Fred]

Thanks, but there is only one identities folder with several data sets, e.g., database, mailing lists, but is there any reason to believe that this is not what the computer is currently using -- which would be the "new data", not the previously stored data? The "old data" is in the library cache file under a set of 50 subfolders numbered consecutively (found earlier with Searchlight). I can open the emails with text editor, but do not know how to re-import into the Entourage inbox.

 

[Diane Ross]

Thanks, but there is only one identities folder with several data sets, e.g.,
database, mailing lists, but is there any reason to believe that this is not
what the computer is currently using -- which would be the "new data", not the
previously stored data? The "old data" is in the library cache file under a
set of 50 subfolders numbered consecutively (found earlier with Searchlight).
I can open the emails with text editor, but do not know how to re-import into
the Entourage inbox.

What you have found is the Spotlight cache files. It only gets the first few
bytes of a message, but it's better than nothing. There is no path to
re-import. You could try this....

Do a search for a term used in one of the messages in your Spotlight cache
files. If Spotlight can't find the message it will ask you to open the
Identity that contains the message, but it could open the message and you
can figure out where it's located.

Normally, when mail goes missing it's due to user error. Other times it
happens during an update. This is why you are always advised to backup your
data before updating. More info on how to search for missing files.

<http://www.entourage.mvps.org/troubleshoot/crashes.html#crash15>

 

[Fred]

No offense, but the idea that busy users will sit around undertaking backup procedures each time Microsoft decides to send out an update -- as in twice this week with a correction to the initial update -- is a bit extreme. There is no user error here -- I have worked in the computer industry and with computer software for over 30 years. This was something done by Microsoft, and frankly the idea that the company would send out a patch knowing that it will destroy existing data is shocking. That brings this episode to an end as my data has been destroyed.

 

[Allen A Watson]

After a lot of work and reinstalling Office once, I have been able to find out the cause of the problem: I use a script called "strip HTML" so that all my emails are shown in plain text but for some reason, there is a command in the script ("activate") that caused for Entourage to jump to the front window. This behavior was not noticeable up to patch .3 but with the introduction of .4, the scrip behaves differently. The solution?, deleted the scrip line that contained the line "activate". It now works as it should.

Regards, Christian Conesa.

Good catch!

 

[Allen A Watson]

No offense, but the idea that busy users will sit around undertaking

backup procedures each time Microsoft decides to send out an update --
as in twice this week with a correction to the initial update -- is a
bit extreme. There is no user error here -- I have worked in the
computer industry and with computer software for over 30 years. This was
something done by Microsoft, and frankly the idea that the company would
send out a patch knowing that it will destroy existing data is shocking.
That brings this episode to an end as my data has been destroyed.

Fred: I, and probably thousands of other people, installed this patch
with no data loss.

The accusation that Microsoft "would send out a patch knowing that it
will destroy existing data" is absurd. Backing up data files before
updating software is the procedure recommended by nearly every software
vendor. Surely, with your experience in the computer industry, you know
that. Making that recommendation is purely precautionary, and in no way
implies that the vendor "knows it will destroy existing data."

I'm not saying that it's impossible that the patch somehow corrupted
your data or deleted it, but in all my experience with Entourage...which
dates back to the very first version...I've never known it to happen
when procedures are properly followed. So it isn't likely.

I would urge all users of Entourage to make a complete backup of their
Microsoft User Data folder on an external disk drive at least once a
week, and more often if you can't afford to lose a week's data. And keep
multiple copies of the backups, going back in time. I back up daily, and
keep 3 generations of backups, and make an archival copy of one of these
every month, just in case. Of course, after a few months I delete the
oldest copies...

That way, no matter what the disaster might be--malicious Microsoft
updates, hard disk failure, or (Gasp!) user error--you'll be able to
recover all but the most recent data.

 

[Fred]

Allan,

Of course I routinely backup my data with multiple redundancy, including e-mails. I am not an idiot. So no, I did not lose a lifetime of data. But that is not the point.

Microsoft sent out a patch which after routine acceptance of installation overwrote the previously installed set up and destroyed the existing data files. There was no "user" activity involved other than to accept the patch. So, your implication that user error may have caused the problem is not reconcilable with the facts. I return to my previous observation. It is irresponsible for a corporation of the size and resources of Microsoft to widely distribute a patch that will perform in this way even if only among 2% of users. It will have taken me over three hours to restore the damage done by the patch, plus the time of our tech support crew to reinstall the necessary coding for our system.

This is why I shifted to Apple in the first place -- having become fed up with Microsoft errors, including especially its poorly performing data synchronization systems. Putting Bill Gates and Seinfeld on TV commercials cannot create the goodwill needed for Microsoft to recover its departing users. Seinfeld was not here to reinstall my Entourage software. When Microsoft begins to issue software that runs properly, it will not need Seinfeld. Perhaps that will happen before it loses its dominant position on the market.

 

[Adam Bailey]

Microsoft sent out a patch which after routine acceptance of installation
overwrote the previously installed set up and destroyed the existing data
files. There was no "user" activity involved other than to accept the
patch. So, your implication that user error may have caused the problem is
not reconcilable with the facts. I return to my previous observation. It
is irresponsible for a corporation of the size and resources of Microsoft
to widely distribute a patch that will perform in this way even if only
among 2% of users.

What evidence do you have that this affected 2% of users? Thus far we only
know of it affecting one user. It seems likely there was some other factor -
perhaps preexisting corruption - that contributed to your experience.

 

[William Smith [MVP]]

Microsoft sent out a patch which after routine acceptance of
installation overwrote the previously installed set up and destroyed
the existing data files. There was no "user" activity involved other
than to accept the patch. So, your implication that user error may
have caused the problem is not reconcilable with the facts. I return
to my previous observation. It is irresponsible for a corporation of
the size and resources of Microsoft to widely distribute a patch that
will perform in this way even if only among 2% of users. It will have
taken me over three hours to restore the damage done by the patch,
plus the time of our tech support crew to reinstall the necessary
coding for our system.

The 12.1.4 patch *may* have triggered your loss but only because your
system had problems first.

As Allen has said, many folks have installed the update without data
loss. The patch is working as expected on machines in many environments.

No software developer can account for the esoteric potential problems of
all its users. Things may interact. Problems may happen. That's why
backups are important.

If you can install this update on more Macs and reproduce the problem
then you've found a legitimate problem with the update. If not, then the
problem is unique to your system.

--

bill

Entourage Help Page <http://entourage.mvps.org/>
Entourage Help Blog <http://blog.entourage.mvps.org/>
YouTalk <http://nine.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/youtalk>
Twitter: follow <http://twitter.com/meck>