Microsoft confirms Office SP2 can't read Win-created files

From macwindows.com. The Macbu is really not good at what they do.

Microsoft confirms Office SP2 can't read Win-created files

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Microsoft is recommending that Office 2008 users who upgraded Service Pack 2 should remove it and roll back to an earlier version. The update, released last week, disables Office for Mac applications' ability to open files in the Open XML format (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) created by Office 2007 for Windows. Microsoft gives this advice, amoung others:
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.
Use the AppleTime Machine to roll back to Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.9 Update or an earlier version.
Convert your document to .doc, .xls, or .ppt, by using Open XML Converter.

On Monday, we reported that some users could no longer open .pptx (PowerPoint) files. Today, we have several reports from readers who cannot open .xlsx (Excel) files after the SP2 update. Several readers also reported some odd symptoms.

Peter Jones received an explanation from a Microsoft representative who said that the problem was specifically with Open XML files created by Windows users:

I have not had any problems with .pptx files, however after installing Office 12.2.0 on my Powerbook G4 I found that I could no longer open Windows-created .xlsx files, in particular, our expense voucher format--this matters a lot! I had to revert to Excel 12.1.7 using my Time Machine backup. At that point the .xlsx files opened fine.

I received the following information from Microsoft on this problem: "Basically, the situation is that we made a change in 12.2 to only allow .xlsx files with valid application tags in the file to open. Unfortunately, it turns out that Windows Excel doesn't write out that tag (although it should) when files are created in certain ways (such as by opening a .csv or .txt file and then saving as .xlsx). We're working with the Windows Excel team to get them to fix that issue and also working on a solution for Mac Excel so that it can open those files."

I concur with the recommendation that folks hold off upgrading to 12.2.0 until Microsoft can correct this issue.

Brad Eastman reports a symptom:

Same problem for me. Tried to open it and it asked for a password. Opened in PowerPoint 2007 in Windows XP (in Parallels) without any difficulty.

John Philip gets a link to the Microsoft web site:

Noone in our group can open .xlsx files after the update was installed. Instead, a link pops up.

If you've seen this problem please let us know.

Good find.

Here is the official MacBU problem and solution list. I don't get any 2007 documents so I can't confirm what is said here. Anyone having problems with this?

Have received a number of 2007 documents or 2007 Word attachments and have had no problem. Did update to the newest Open XML Converter however which was released on July 22.

vansmith said:

Good find.

Here is the official MacBU problem and solution list. I don't get any 2007 documents so I can't confirm what is said here. Anyone having problems with this?

Click to expand...

I didn't realize there was a problem until I read this thread. However, since I keep my Office 2007 document format in compatibility mode at all times (Office 97 - Office 2003) I've had no difficulty with the exchange. The only advantage I can see for using the XML format is that it yields a smaller and more compact document. Not really an issue with me.

Regards.