Q&A: Why can't I update Office:Mac 2008?

  • Article

A question has been coming in via email, and I've noticed it in my referrals to my post about Office:Mac 2008 12.2.3:

Why can't I update Office 2008 to 12.2.3?

There are a few reasons why you might not be able to update Office 2008. They include:

  • You just installed Office 2008 and are installing updates in sequence. On occasion, a temp file created during the update doesn't get deleted, and so a subsequent update fails. Reboot and try again.
  • You have moved the Office 2008 folder out of the Applications folder. If you've done that, move it back, and try the update again.
  • You have manually deleted something from the Office 2008 folder. I'm sorry to say, but you'll need to uninstall Office and then reinstall it. When you reinstall it, make sure that you do a custom installation, and only choose the pieces that you want.
  • You have run an application like Monolingual or Xslimmer to regain some space back on your hard drive. While I understand the desire to get space back (especially since I just looked at the available space on my work laptop and realised that I only have 20 GB free!), these apps aren't the right way to go about it. You're going to have to uninstall and reinstall Office, and do that custom installation to save the space that you're concerned about.

Try those first. If those don't solve your problem, then I recommend that you call tech support. With your legal purchase of Office 2008, you get two free calls to tech support. To get the right phone number for your region, go to our support page.