Microsoft Office Setup Assistant has shut me out of Word, Excel etc.

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Microsoft Office Setup Assistant has shut me out of Word, Excel etc.

I have a Mac Pro with High Sierra. Until a few days ago all was fine opening Word or Excel. Then suddenly I wasn't able to open any Word Office 8 apps. Instead I got a prompt for the Setup Assistant. I tried removing plists, using Time Machine and downloading a new version of Office 8. But nothing works. When I try to open anything I get the prompt. And filling it in doesn't do any good as it doesn't forward it to Microsoft (perhaps because they no longer support Office 8.) In short, is there any way to disable or work around Microsoft Office Setup Assistant?

MacBook Pro 13″

Posted on Jan 8, 2024 2:04 PM

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Answer 1

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VikingOSX

Level 10

127,236 points

Jan 8, 2024 2:55 PM in response to SteveInToronto

If you mean Office 2008 by the term Word 8, it has been retired by Microsoft for years and the license servers disabled — so you cannot install or license it. You could potentially restore Office 2008 from a Time Machine backup to the original drive it was licensed on, but not a different drive.

Current versions of Microsoft 365 or Office 2021 for Mac are only supported for installation on macOS Monterey or later. You may be able to continue accessing your Microsoft documents on High Sierra with the last version of the LibreOffice Suite (7.4.7.2) for that version of macOS.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

127,236 points

Jan 9, 2024 2:29 AM in response to SteveInToronto

LibreOffice started life decades ago as StarOffice. I used StarOffice on my Sun workstation to open a Word document in 1997 that even Word would not open. I keep a current version of LibreOffice installed on my Macs. You will find LibreOffice 7.4/7.5 PDF user guides on their documentation site.

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Answer 3

Jan 8, 2024 3:31 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you for your reply. I will try your LibreOffice Suite suggestion (and thank you for the link). I realize Office 2008 been retired. I just went back over two years on Time Machine to retrieve the theoretically earliest Word version as well as removing any and all plists I could see that might somehow activate the Setup Assistant (which had never been activated before). Same computer and Time Machine backup I've been using since 2011. The Word program is in my computer and up until this past weekend there were no problems. Something fundamental - though perhaps with an easy fix - has somehow changed. At least that's what I'm hoping for. I just need to find a way to disable or work around the Setup Assistant.

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

127,236 points

Jan 8, 2024 3:45 PM in response to SteveInToronto

I won't be of further help with Office 2008 issues as I never owned it, or 2011. At this point in time, I doubt you will find any Microsoft hosted support communities for this old Office 2008 product as everything has shifted now to Microsoft 365.

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Answer 5

Jan 8, 2024 4:06 PM in response to VikingOSX

I'm going to check a couple of Mac experts I've dealt with to see if they have any insights. That said, you were right about LibreOffice. I downloaded it and was able to open my Word docs. So... THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! I've never even heard of LibreOffice, but it appears it will do the trick. Just have to familiarize myself with it. Again, after spending many many frustrating futile hours on this, you are an IT lifesaver! Much appreciated.

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Microsoft Office Setup Assistant has shut me out of Word, Excel etc.

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