14 DAY TRIAL // Redmond-based Microsoft released about two weeks ago a new flavor for the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac computers, namely Service Pack 2, and it seems that some issues with it have already surfaced, including the fact that PC-created Open XML files could not be opened after applying the update. The best part is that the company acknowledges the problem and recommends that a roll-back to the previous version be performed.
“Remove Office manually, reinstall Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac from the original installation media, and then upgrade to Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.9 Update. Do not upgrade to Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 2 (12.2.0) from Microsoft AutoUpdate,” Microsoft’s Mac Business Unit is recommending. Another recommendation is the following: “Use Time Machine to roll back to Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.9 Update or an earlier version.”
The problem seems to be a more extended one, as not only Office 2007 Open XML formatted documents (.docx) (documents created under Windows, that is) cannot be opened in Office 2008 SP2, but the same issue surfaces with presentation (.pptx) and spreadsheet (.xlsx) files as well. Microsoft comes with other solutions besides the aforementioned ones, among which we can count the use of the Open XML Converter to “convert your document to .doc, .xls, or .ppt.”
It is rather intriguing that such a big issue slipped the testing machinery from Microsoft, yet we should wait for a new update to come from the Redmond company to fix it. It has been promised to come in August, so it shouldn't be too long before it surfaces. In the meantime, in case you already updated and do not want to roll back to an older version, you can try other solutions Microsoft recommends, the list of which can be found here.
The Microsoft Office 2008 Service Pack 2 can be downloaded from Softpedia too, via this link. But it might be wiser to wait for the next update to come before upgrading to SP2, in case you haven't installed it already. Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.1 can be downloaded from here.