Help! Do I have to download MS Office 2008 for Mac updates one at a time?

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Level 1

54 points

Help! Do I have to download MS Office 2008 for Mac updates one at a time?

A tech recently re-installed OS 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard) on my 2008 Intel Macbook and also installed MS Office 2008 for Mac (I was using 2004 with a patch, which wasn't working well).

I use Entourage, and it turns out that the version of Office 2008 he installed, 12.0, has a notorious bug with the sound alerts--meaning zero sound alerts. Someone in MS for Mac discussion support told me that installing 12.1 or later will fix it, so I went to the downloads for Mac and found two pages of updates.

It's been a long time since I had to update 2004, but I remember that when 2004 was still current, you couldn't just download a package that incorporated all the previous updates; you had to install every $&*#(@)&! update individually.

Can anyone tell me if there's a less time-consuming, more efficient way to get Office 2008 up to speed? Many thanks for any information that's out there!

Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Sep 4, 2013 9:14 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

varjak paw

Level 10

170,200 points

Sep 5, 2013 8:16 AM in response to Turtlewiz

Many updates to Office are only incremental, yes. Microsoft doesn't generally provide "rollup" or "service pack" updates that include a number of incremental updates in a single package. So you probably do need to download each one in turn. Auto Update will download what you need, and if it demands each update in turn, then that's the only route available.

For more information, contact Microsoft support or ask in Microsoft's own forums, Office being their product.

Regards.

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Answer 2

Kurt Lang

Level 9

58,008 points

Sep 5, 2013 2:52 PM in response to Turtlewiz

Use the menu in any open Office app to check for updates. It will determine which updates you need as you apply them, and skip any that are covered in later, minor point releases.

What it should do is update the updater itself, the main Service Pack update, and then 12.3.6, skipping all other minor numbers since 12.3.6 is cumulative (after the Service Pack).

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Answer 3

Turtlewiz Author

Level 1

54 points

Sep 5, 2013 6:57 PM in response to Kurt Lang

Thanks, Kurt--I understand now.

One reason I was alarmed was that evidently when the tech installed Office 2008, something went awry with either the key installer or the key code, because when I finished the first two updates (12.1 and 12.2), I tried to open Entourage to see if the problem I'd been having was resolved. Instead of opening, Office gave me a message that my product key was invalid! I did find the product key, and called the tech, who will come by to see what's wrong (he's an honest guy, so I'm sure it's a legitimate error of some kind, not a pirated copy). But the thought of installing two pages of updates and maybe running into the same glitch every time made me blanch. So I'm glad to know that Microsoft is still doing Service Packs for 2008!

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Answer 4

Mar 16, 2014 6:20 PM in response to Turtlewiz

Can be done in 3 steps

1 Office 2008 SP1 Update (12.1.0)

2 Office 2008 12.2.0 Update

3 Office 2008 12.3.6 Update

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Answer 5

Turtlewiz Author

Level 1

54 points

Mar 16, 2014 7:07 PM in response to Anwar Shiekh

Thank you very much!

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