MS Office bug - with OS 10.6

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Level 1

21 points

MS Office bug - with OS 10.6

I have a repeatable bug. Just upgraded to SL. Everything seems to work fine except updating office documents on a Windows XP computer. I'm running the latest version of everthing (i.e. office, etc.). I have a Windows XP computer on my network. There are 2 anomalies.

a) I'm having trouble opening xls and doc files that reside on my XP machine (from my Mac). This used to work fine. I get an error message, and can open them by using the file / open commands in Office 2008 rather than clicking on the icon. This is a pain but OK.

b) When I open the document (word or excel), make a change, I cannot resave the document back on the XP machine. I get an error message.

So to make sure - I'm running on my Mac with 10.6 and latest version of Office. I'm accessing files on a XP computer on my network. This used to work flawlessly. Could be an Office issue ... Could be an 10.6 issue. I will also post to www.microsoft.com.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6), 4 Gig

Posted on Sep 5, 2009 1:28 PM

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Answer 1

adamb529

Level 4

1,163 points

Sep 5, 2009 1:39 PM in response to Kross76

I just connected to an XP machine on my network, double clicked on a .doc file, and it opened with Word 2008. I was able to make changes and save. I don't think it's a bug, or I should be having the same issue.

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Answer 2

Kross76 Author

Level 1

21 points

Sep 5, 2009 7:04 PM in response to Kross76

Here's a discussion on the Microsoft Mac forum that exactly describes the issue. Note my posting at the end indicating that my 2 Macs with 10.6 have the problem, and my 1 Mac with 10.5.8 doesn't. Hopefully Apple or MSFT will take note.

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Answer 3

Kross76 Author

Level 1

21 points

Sep 5, 2009 7:04 PM in response to Kross76

http://www.officeformac.com/ms/ProductForums/Office/4117/2

(sorry, forget to post the URL)

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Answer 4

JasonFear

Level 5

4,965 points

Sep 5, 2009 7:25 PM in response to adamb529

Same... I just connected to an XP & Vista machine and opened a half dozen Word & Excel documents with no problems. I suspect something else is going on here, I'm unsure what exactly. Out of curiosity, have you tried reinstalling the Office Suite in SL?

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Answer 5

Sep 5, 2009 8:22 PM in response to Kross76

Hi Kross76;

I doubt that either Microsloth or Apple will see this thread in this forum.

Allan

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Answer 6

adamb529

Level 4

1,163 points

Sep 5, 2009 8:23 PM in response to Kross76

This forum is talking about issues with Windows Server, not Windows XP.

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Answer 7

Sep 5, 2009 8:27 PM in response to Kross76

You don't say what version of Microsoft Office 2008 you're running.

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Answer 8

Kross76 Author

Level 1

21 points

Sep 6, 2009 6:04 AM in response to Kross76

http://www.officeformac.com/ms/ProductForums/Office/4117/2

(sorry, forget to post the URL)

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Answer 9

deggie

Level 10

167,177 points

Sep 6, 2009 6:25 AM in response to Kross76

You did post it, but the OP in that thread is using Windows Server, don't know about the others.

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Answer 10

Kross76 Author

Level 1

21 points

Sep 6, 2009 7:24 AM in response to Kross76

I'm using the very latest version (fully updated) of MS Office; and while the Microsoft forum discussion talks about issues accessing files on Windows Server, the description of the problem and the error messages are identical to what I'm experiencing on 2 different Macs. It's interesting to me that this problem seems to only affect .doc files, not .docx files.

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Answer 11

Kross76 Author

Level 1

21 points

Sep 6, 2009 11:00 AM in response to Kross76

Here's a little more information from my test. Given, the same issue seems to occur with text files and the Mac text editor ...

Here's a little more information on my issue - Mac 10.6; and Office (with all updates). Operating from a Mac, files stored on XP on my network.

a) I can save a new file from Mac to XP if it's a .DOCX format. If it's .DOC format, I cannot save.

b) When I retrieve a file in .DOCX format, it gives me the "read only" notation by the file name. This seems to be an indication of the problem.

c) when trying the same process with the Mac Text Editor, I have the same problem as with a .DOC file - although the error messages are not as clear.

And to re-iterate, my other Mac, running 10.5.8 does not have this issue.

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Answer 12

Kross76 Author

Level 1

21 points

Sep 6, 2009 2:19 PM in response to Kross76

Here's the solution (an anomaly???). Under 10.5, when I connected to my XP computer, I could read / write files in the folders without having to have set permissions on the folder(s). Perhaps this was a bug in 10.5?

I went into my folders on the XP computer, and changed the sharing permissions to read and write. That solved my problem for Word, Excel and Text Edit

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Answer 13

Kross76 Author

Level 1

21 points

Sep 8, 2009 8:21 AM in response to Kross76

I answered my own question - see notes below.

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Answer 14

Sep 9, 2009 5:50 PM in response to Kross76

I have the same problem. Here are the details:

External Hard Drive with LAN (Buffalo Drivestation Flexnet: http://tinyurl.com/kk5mmu)
Mac OS X 10.6, on 3 different Mac Mini's

This error occurs on all computers when trying to copy a file to the 'SHARE' sharepoint on the SMB Drive:
"The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "filename" can't be read or written. (Error Code -36)"

I CAN
Access / Read / Write this Drive in Windows XP
Access / Read / Write this Drive in OS X 10.5.7
Make new folder on this Drive in OS X 10.6
See a .DS_Store file which 10.6 has written to the Drive
Save a document to the drive from the Text Edit save dialog in 10.6
Save a document to the drive from the Pages save dialog in 10.6
Duplicate a document on the drive using Terminal (cp Untitled.pages Untitled2.pages) in 10.6
Copy anything to any other computer on the Network using 10.6

I CAN NOT
Copy a document to the Drive in 10.6
Duplicate a document on the Drive in 10.6
Save a PDF or JPG to the drive from the Preview save dialog in 10.6

This error happens every time. It is easily reproducible.

I hope that this information helps Apple get on to the problem soon.

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Answer 15

Tajmari

Level 1

50 points

Oct 20, 2009 3:47 PM in response to Luke Carbis

Same problem here exactly. I cannot save a doc file to the share drive, but I get dialog boxes that make me think I am saving. The document simply does not show up at all on the share. Revised an entire doc and lost all changes that way! I can save docx files to the share, but I cannot open them subsequently.

Would love to see this resolved. Thanks for all suggestions!

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