Microsoft releases Office 2004 11.6.1, Office 2008 12.2.7, Open XML Converter 1.1.7 updates

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Date: Wednesday, October 13th, 2010, 04:20
Category: News, Software

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Late Tuesday, Microsoft released version 11.6.1 of its Microsoft Office 2004 suite, version 12.2.7 of its Microsoft Office 2008 suite and version 1.1.7 of its Open XML Converter Utility. The Office updates, which weigh in at 16.4 and 333 megabytes, respectively, focus on improving security for both suites, fixing vulnerabilities that could allow malicious code to overwrite portions of your Mac’s memory and run arbitrary commands.

Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1.7 is a 45MB update and repairs similar bugs.

The updates are free and available through the Microsoft AutoUpdate programs and require Mac OS X 10.2 or later to run Office 2004 and Mac OS X 10.4 or later to run Office 2008.

If you’ve installed the updates and have any feedback to offer, let us know.

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  • Guest

    I installed Office 11.6.1 this morning, and now I can’t open a spreadsheet (.xls) that I was able to open previously. (I didn’t create this particular sheet.) The usual small “Open” box appears very briefly, but then disappears and the file does not open. The “Quick Look” works, and I can open the file in Excel 2008. If I save it as .xlsx and then try to convert it using 2004, I get an error.

    The spreadsheets that I created seem to work fine.

    • Excel User

      You are not alone. If you go back to 11.6.0, it will work. Move to 11.6.1 and Excel goes into a tither and decides “Yuk, this was created in an older version of Excel, I won’t open it – Please upgrade to Office 2008 or copy and paste the spreadsheets in new spreadsheet files created by Excel 11.6.1 (Note it works this way).”

      It will be interesting to see how many users will mention this. Even more interesting will be the solution: Will Microsoft re-issue a new update? Or will someone be cleverer than the above suggestion and figure something else out?

      • Guest

        Same issue. I have Excel 11.6 on my Mac G5 and Excel 11.6.1 on my PowerBook Pro. The 11.6.1 won’t open some of the spreadsheets I need.

    • Excel User

      You are not alone. If you go back to 11.6.0, it will work. Move to 11.6.1 and Excel goes into a tither and decides “Yuk, this was created in an older version of Excel, I won’t open it – Please upgrade to Office 2008 or copy and paste the spreadsheets in new spreadsheet files created by Excel 11.6.1 (Note it works this way).”

      It will be interesting to see how many users will mention this. Even more interesting will be the solution: Will Microsoft re-issue a new update? Or will someone be cleverer than the above suggestion and figure something else out?

  • Not a Tech

    I am also having problems opening several spreadsheets since downloading and installing the 11.6.1 update. My computer belong to the school district I work for and I do not have access to anything but Office 2004. I do not even have the software to reinstall and then only update to the 11.6.0 version. Any suggestions?

  • Guest

    Yup, having the exact same problem opening files in Excel 2004 after the 11.6.1 update.

  • Basenji1

    I have the same problem. I will try to reinstall the older update of the software. :(

  • Thomas

    same problem here. some files just won’t open anymore on my Mac.
    On a PC, they seem to be fine.

  • jml

    Files written with personal macros don’t open. :(

  • Jeff

    The invitation to update Open XML converter popped up when I opened a Word doc. I started the update but didn’t complete. Went back to do some more work in Word. A nag window popped up several times and I went back to Word. Finally exited Word, Excel, Safari and Word updater as requested by the converter updater. But the updater had stalled. It was hung on looking for the disk containing Applications. (The MacBook Pro on which this happened has only its internal drive.) I tried a restart to see if that would restart the install, but all traces of it have disappeared. What’s more MicrosoftAutoUpdate thinks the computer no longer needs an update even though the update did not complete. Suggestions welcome!

    • Jeff

      Never mind. I found the update on the MS website. Succeeded.

  • Lezhkin

    I encountered the same problem with not opening my files I used everyday since excel 11.6.1 update was applied. I have downloaded the previous 11.6.0 patch set and tried to downshift to the last stable excel version. But installer could find nothing to update. I feel panic…

  • Frustrated Office user

    The update would not install on my machine at all. When it did its search for files to update, it couldn’t find any!! I repeated this process half a dozen times, to no avail. As I recently migrated all my files, including Office 2004, to a new Mac, I wondered whether somehow the product key hadn’t transferred properly, causing the update to not recognize my Office files, but now, having read all of the other comments, I doubt that is what is causing the problem. There simply seems to be a major bug in this “update”. Again, based on other comments here, maybe I’m better off sticking with 11.6.0 for the time being as that appears to be a much more stable version.

  • Another Frustrated User

    I encountered same problem with certain (large) spreadsheets not opening. Tried a lot of things without success to fix it. Even though AutoUpdate couldn’t find it, apparently Version 11.6.2 was issued 10/15. You can go straight to Microsoft for the update. For me, this did fix the problem. Interestingly, Microsoft mentions nothing about any bug fixes with this update – just security improvements (not admitting a problem).

    • tad

      thanks for the info re the 11.6.2; it fixed the file opening problem for me. —tad.

    • Thankful

      Thanks for your post. This worked for me! Leave it to MS to not let people know about this. Of course, I have to say, when Apple’s Time Capsule had a bad power source, they never would admit it. They quietly replaced those of us who complained, but I wonder how many simply lost their money. Oh well, man is fallen.

  • http://tedshelton.blogspot.com tshelton

    I just ran the installer and it wants me to quit Safari — what the heck is Microsoft messing with Safari for!! I won’t continue the update as I am worried about what kind of back door software evil microsoft is trying to install!! Can anyone explain?

  • http://tedshelton.blogspot.com tshelton

    I had to kill the installer process as root – they kept trying to get my to quit Safari even after I terminated the updater program