I was just getting ready to post my experience with this and I am so
glad to see I am not alone. Since updating to 11.2.3, I started getting
constant notifications that my Office database was damaged. This is
happening not just in Entourage, but every time I open Excel or Word as
well. The behavior is identical on both my Powerbook and my Dual 1.7GHz
Cube, both running OS X 10.4.5 with all software updates.
Unlike you, however, I am able to revert to my 11.2.1 versions (I
learned long ago to always backup my Office apps folder and database
before applying any Office patch) of each app, including Entourage
without a problem. When I first saw the notification (about 10 minutes
after I updated) I ran the "verify" command in the Database Utility. It
said no problems were found and that my DB was ok. 5 minutes later when
it happened again, I decided to bite the bullet and let it Rebuild my
database.
Roughly 15 minutes after I began using the rebuilt database (10 of
which were uneventful as all my Exchange folders were downloaded) it
happened again. Strange, I though - how can it be damaged so soon after
rebuilding it? It was then that I decided to switch to my 11.2.1 copy
of Entourage to see if it generated the same error. Several hours later
I was pleased to see that no damage alerts had presented themselves.
I decided that night to archive all but the last 90 days of my email
(using Dan Crevier's EEAx, which I am a long-time fan of). Just to test
the waters I decided to also see if Entourage would allow me to export
a full rge file of my entire database (about 1.5GB at the time due to
regular archiving of my 20 or so accounts). It allowed me to do so with
no errors, which seemed to reinforce that there was nothing at all
wrong with my database.
I got brave and launched Entourage 11.2.3 again, this time using my
new, slimmer 300MB database which seemed to have a clean bill of
health. Within moments of first launch, the damage notification popped
up again. So I decided to launch the Remove Office app and let it
eradicate all traces of Office from my machine. Then I dragged a copy
of Office 2004 (11.2.1)from my backup into my applications folder and
launched Word, which did it's first-run routine of installing a all the
fonts it think I want. I stayed in Word for a bit without incident.
Then I launched Excel and worked there for a few minutes. All good.
Then I launched Entourage, worked there for 30 minutes or so and no
problems.
Feeling confident again, I ran the 11.2.3 updater. Update completed
without incident. Launched Word - no problems, but only had it open for
a few minutes. Launched Excel and within a few minutes got a "Your
Office database is damaged" notice. Odd. Launched Entourage and got the
same notice only a few seconds later, and it kept popping up every few
seconds no matter how many time I canceled out of it. I worked in
Entourage for over an hour, constantly suppressing the message until I
finally got tired and shut Entourage down.
Next morning I deleted the 11.2.3 versions from my machine and
reinstalled 11.2.1. I've been working fine (as I was before) in 11.2.1
and won't be returning to 11.2.3 until this seemingly erroneous message
is gone.
Things to note: I manage roughly 25 accounts in Entourage (used to be
closer to 50). They are all POP accounts except for 1 IMAP (.mac)
account and 1 Exchange account. I have about 50 Rules for the POP
accounts and 5 for the Exchange account. I have 8 schedules that manage
the mail checks for the POP accounts. I have about 2000 contacts
locally (email addresses only) plus an Exchange address book. I do not
use the local Entourage calendar (I still use Now Up to Date and Now
Contact for comprehensive cal and contact management), although I do
use my Exchange calendar. I say all this because I am not a "typical"
user. I'm a power user and I've been using Entourage since it first
came into existence (gave up Claris Emailer after many many happy years
with it). I also happen to provide Mac support (including Entourage
support in corp environments) for a living, so I am not one easily
baffled by vexing problems. This one really has me whipped, however.
Other things worth noting... for the past year or so I have kept my MUD
folder on a pocket Firewire drive (all of which is excluded from
Spotlight indexing), with aliases to it on my Cube and on my Powerbook
since I switch back and forth between both machines once or twice every
day and I like to have an identical Entourage environment no matter
where I am. I have had ZERO problems with this setup. On the off change
that it was a problem, however, one of the first things I did when this
problem appeared was replace the alias in my Docs folder with my
original MUD folder. I then disconnected the firewire drive so there
would be no chance of accidentally launching the database from that
drive. I also checked permissions on the MUD folder and all enclosed
files and folder, on my Docs folder, repaired permissions on the volume
as a whole and ran Disk Util and DiskWarrior on both my Powerbook and
my Cube. None of those had any bearing on this problem and the problem
persists unless I stick with 11.2.1.
Yet other things I did: Used Spotless to disable Spotlight on both Macs
completely. Turned off all Office notifications. Disabled database
integrity checking in the database utility. Used Paul's Export-Import
scripts to move everything to a brand new identity. I set everything
back up except my Exchange account and my rules (didn't have an hour to
devote to that) and that failed to resolve the problem. Within a few
minutes of being in the new Identity, the damaged database
notifications came back. I don't actually spend a lot of time in Word
or Excel so I don't even care whether they are broken or not.
If anyone has any clue as to why this is happening, what it actually
means and how to put an end to it, I'd really love to give 11.2.3 a
chance since Spotlight searching of messages would be a great reward
for being such a loyal Entourage user for so many years.
Many Thanks,
Laurie
