New Updates Available for Mac's MS Office

Microsoft recently announced the release of a new update for Microsoft Office for Mac 2004 and 2008. The 12.1.1 update, the second for the application, promises to fix all those annoying little inconsistencies that occasionally pop up. (Source: arstechnica.com)

Most Mac users get their regular update fix straight from Apple's official site, but that doesn't cover programs manufactured by other companies. Those of us using the Microsoft Office application can breathe a sigh of relief that the program is getting an overhaul.

The new update aims to increase the stability and overall performance of the program. Fixes include an update to ensure that Office 2008 applications don't quit unexpectedly. Another aims to stop date changes in charts when Word or PowerPoint 2008 documents are opened concurrently. (Source: microsoft.com)

MS Word problems that needed fixing: Spaces between words disappearing, macros not saving properly, and documents that won't open after download have been addressed. Excel fixes include improvements in chart data updates and the performance of embedded movies (which were duplicating themselves when the workbook they were in was saved). In addition, the reliability and performance of both PowerPoint and Entourage have been improved by the company. (Source: microsoft.com)

Those users with Office 2004 will be pleased to know that Office documents can be viewed and changed using the Open XML format, but only once the Format Converter has been installed. Office 2004 users will probably want this one, since it allows Office 2004 to recognize documents saved on newer versions of the programs. (Source: arstechnica.com)

Other than that, the usual stability and other minor fixes to applications have been added. Improved text display in Word, increased reliability with the past function in Excel and updates to PowerPoint have also been included.

The update can be downloaded in numerous languages from the Microsoft website here.