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colloc

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 27, 2012
87
0
Since there's no uninstaller for Mac Office 2011, I wonder if it's safer to install 2008 version instead?

I have read Microsoft's guide on uninstalling its 2011 Office and man, it's so complicated, I am scared it may mess up my Mac.
 

S.B.G

Moderator
Staff member
Sep 8, 2010
26,679
10,465
Detroit
Since there's no uninstaller for Mac Office 2011, I wonder if it's safer to install 2008 version instead?

I have read Microsoft's guide on uninstalling its 2011 Office and man, it's so complicated, I am scared it may mess up my Mac.

I have Office 2011 on my Mac and it works just fine. If you're concerned about uninstalling, you can always refer to this post with specific instructions on fully deleting applications.
 

mannyo1221

macrumors member
Sep 21, 2011
90
4
Blandford, UK.
if you have mountain lion, you'll have to use the 2011 version as 2008 is not compatible since it used the now defunct rosetta.

I have been using office 2011 without a problem since Lion.
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
if you have mountain lion, you'll have to use the 2011 version as 2008 is not compatible since it used the now defunct rosetta.

I have been using office 2011 without a problem since Lion.
I would recommend Office 2011 over Office 2008. However, the reason that you gave is nonsense. Office 2008 runs just fine under Mountain Lion.
 

Brad9893

macrumors 6502
Feb 8, 2010
496
1,470
Hiding Under the Genius Bar
I would recommend Office 2011 over Office 2008. However, the reason that you gave is nonsense. Office 2008 runs just fine under Mountain Lion.

It runs perfectly fine, IF it is installed. The installer for Office 2008 is PowerPC only, so it wouldn't work on Lion and Mountain Lion. If you have installed the apps on Snow Leopard and upgraded to Lion or ML, it will work because the application itself is Intel. It's just the installer that is the problem.

And since the OP is on ML and hasn't installed Office 2008, installing it will be impossible and Office 2011 is really the only option. Unless of course it is possible to just copy the apps and their system files over from a Mac with it installed. I am not sure about that.
 

Risco

macrumors 68000
Jul 22, 2010
1,956
313
United Kingdom
Since there's no uninstaller for Mac Office 2011, I wonder if it's safer to install 2008 version instead?

I have read Microsoft's guide on uninstalling its 2011 Office and man, it's so complicated, I am scared it may mess up my Mac.

Yup, I had the exact same thoughts! It works fine, just do a custom install and only install the stuff you need. For example all I wanted was word, excel and powerpoint, no messenger or outlook etc.

Also follow this guide below. Office screws with the system fonts, and it makes word etc run slow. Doing what is described in the link will ensure it runs fine.


http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-disable-duplicate-fonts-in-office-2011-for-.html
 

stchman

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2012
671
2
St. Louis, MO
Unless you REALLY need something MS Office specific (VBA, Outlook, etc.) just use LibreOffice. LibreOffice is free and pretty much does everything that 99.9% of the people need for their office duties.

The LibreOffice folks make a OS X version.

http://www.libreoffice.org/download/?type=mac-x86

It is a VERY easy download and install. Give it a try, you'll be surprised how well it works.

To install, drag to the Applications folder, to uninstall drag to the Trash. How simple can it get? You don't have to worry about the MS bloat.
 

VSMacOne

macrumors 603
Oct 18, 2008
5,935
2,894
I just use AppCleaner for Mac to get rid of any apps. That should take care of all residual stuff.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,556
950
I just use AppCleaner for Mac to get rid of any apps. That should take care of all residual stuff.
It doesn't, actually. In most cases, app removal software doesn't do a thorough job of finding and removing files/folders related to deleted apps. For more information, read this and this. If you just want to delete the app, drag the .app file to the trash. No other software needed. If you want to completely remove all associated files/folders, no removal apps will do the job.

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:
 

VTECaddict

macrumors 6502
Sep 15, 2008
392
61
Do you foresee the need to uninstall Office sometime soon after installing it? I can understand if it's a trial and you're just trying it out, but Office is kind of one of those staple programs that typically stay on someone's machine until a new version is out.
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
Unless you REALLY need something MS Office specific (VBA, Outlook, etc.) just use LibreOffice. LibreOffice is free and pretty much does everything that 99.9% of the people need for their office duties.

...
For those using Microsoft Office in a professional environment, this is incredibly bad advice. Star Office's progeny like OfficeOffice.org and LibreOffice are good at what they do. However, Microsoft Office-compatibility is an contradiction in terms. LibreOffice and its siblings cannot be trusted not to suffer the unexpected formatting glitch when reading or writing MS Office documents.
 

SlCKB0Y

macrumors 68040
Feb 25, 2012
3,431
557
Sydney, Australia
For those using Microsoft Office in a professional environment, this is incredibly bad advice. Star Office's progeny like OfficeOffice.org and LibreOffice are good at what they do. However, Microsoft Office-compatibility is an contradiction in terms. LibreOffice and its siblings cannot be trusted not to suffer the unexpected formatting glitch when reading or writing MS Office documents.

Wow. What an over-reaction. :rolleyes:

How about this version which is less like the world is ending and more like reality:

"If you need to use Microsoft Office in an enterprise environment please be aware that the MS Office compatibility offered by Libreoffice is not perfect and you should be mindful that it might not render the documents correctly. The same is true when you export MS Office formats from Libreoffice and open them in Microsoft Office. These issues are more likely to occur in more complex documents."

Much less freak-out alarmist and communicated effectively without the gratuitous "bold" tags.
 
Last edited:

stchman

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2012
671
2
St. Louis, MO
For those using Microsoft Office in a professional environment, this is incredibly bad advice. Star Office's progeny like OfficeOffice.org and LibreOffice are good at what they do. However, Microsoft Office-compatibility is an contradiction in terms. LibreOffice and its siblings cannot be trusted not to suffer the unexpected formatting glitch when reading or writing MS Office documents.

The OP said nothing of using MS Office in a professional environment.

Trust me, we use Office 2007 Professional at work and it has a boat load of issues. MS Office is FAR from prefect.
 

macneubie

macrumors regular
Aug 8, 2011
150
0
Side track a bit, when installing Office 2011, is it possible to choose select apps to install?

I would only need Excel and Word, but I don't need Outlook and MSN messenger and some other seemingly useless app folders created/installed by Office 2011.

Or do I install the complete package thereafter trashing the unwanted app without causing any problems?
 

stchman

macrumors 6502a
Jul 16, 2012
671
2
St. Louis, MO
Side track a bit, when installing Office 2011, is it possible to choose select apps to install?

I would only need Excel and Word, but I don't need Outlook and MSN messenger and some other seemingly useless app folders created/installed by Office 2011.

Or do I install the complete package thereafter trashing the unwanted app without causing any problems?

When installing MS Office on a Windows machine there is the option of a custom install. One might assume that exists on the Mac version, but you never know.
 

Risco

macrumors 68000
Jul 22, 2010
1,956
313
United Kingdom
Side track a bit, when installing Office 2011, is it possible to choose select apps to install?

I would only need Excel and Word, but I don't need Outlook and MSN messenger and some other seemingly useless app folders created/installed by Office 2011.

Or do I install the complete package thereafter trashing the unwanted app without causing any problems?

Yes, there is a custom install option.
 

MisterMe

macrumors G4
Jul 17, 2002
10,709
69
USA
The OP said nothing of using MS Office in a professional environment.

Trust me, we use Office 2007 Professional at work and it has a boat load of issues. MS Office is FAR from prefect.
You are disputing a point that I did not make or imply. To the contrary, a fair reading of my previous posts in thread [and others on this forum] is that Microsoft Office's flaws play a role in making it problematic to replace it with other "compatible" applications.

If Office-compatibility is not an issue, then I strongly recommend using something else. Quite frankly, I recommend against Office-clone applications in this event because Office needs to be gone. You can't go past Office if all you do is to chase it.
 

VSMacOne

macrumors 603
Oct 18, 2008
5,935
2,894
It doesn't, actually. In most cases, app removal software doesn't do a thorough job of finding and removing files/folders related to deleted apps. For more information, read this and this. If you just want to delete the app, drag the .app file to the trash. No other software needed. If you want to completely remove all associated files/folders, no removal apps will do the job.

The most effective method for complete app removal is manual deletion:

For most consumers, trashing an app is enough. For those who are a tad more OCD, app removal software will delete MOST folders and crap that you can easily find. I'm gonna go ahead and say that for most people that is more than enough.
 

Krazy Bill

macrumors 68030
Dec 21, 2011
2,985
3
On many ocassions I have used CleanMyMac to remove parts of Office 2011 and even all of it with no problems. Most recently, Outlook.
 

talmy

macrumors 601
Oct 26, 2009
4,727
337
Oregon
I've personally hated every version of Office for Mac. Just yesterday I came across an incompatibility between PowerPoint 2011 on my Mac, on which I was working on a presentation, and PowerPoint 2010 on my work Windows computer. Also I find that keyboard shortcuts don't work nearly as well in the Mac version and it messes up my fonts.

If it is really important to have compatibility with Windows, get the Windows version of Office and run it in a virtual Windows machine or BootCamp. If you don't need full compatibility, check out LibreOffice or Apache OpenOffice first -- I've actually found them more compatible than Office for Mac in some cases! They seem to handle graphics better and they have far more import/export options.
 

GGJstudios

macrumors Westmere
May 16, 2008
44,556
950
For those who are a tad more OCD, app removal software will delete MOST folders and crap that you can easily find.
Actually, in many cases, it doesn't. Read the links I posted. I've tested many of these apps. In many cases, they delete the .plist and a few other files, but leave behind MBs of files. If the goal is to free up disk space, they're not very efficient. If you want to use one, that's up to you.
On many ocassions I have used CleanMyMac to remove parts of Office 2011 and even all of it with no problems. Most recently, Outlook.
I would not recommend CleanMyMac, based on the number of complaints that have been posted in this forum and elsewhere. As an example: CleanMyMac cleaned too much. While you may not have experienced problems yet, enough people have that it's wise to avoid it. Like other software that claims to completely remove apps, it doesn't.
 

Krazy Bill

macrumors 68030
Dec 21, 2011
2,985
3
I would not recommend CleanMyMac, based on the number of complaints that have been posted in this forum and elsewhere. As an example: CleanMyMac cleaned too much. While you may not have experienced problems yet, enough people have that it's wise to avoid it. Like other software that claims to completely remove apps, it doesn't.

It does fine at removing apps. It basically just searches and finds the same files I used to look for manually. That said, always look at what it's going to delete first, just like you would any other file.

I don't use it to scan the entire drive and "clean" the other crap. That's where you get into trouble.
 
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