The software is fine, BUT... don't ever change hard drives; don't ever have a hard drive go out on you. Don't use a different ethernet card. Don't add RAM. Don't ever replace a motherboard, or buy a new graphics card.... because if you do, you'll lose your license to use the software, and your only option will be to buy it again.

Think I'm exaggerating? Check it out:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2390723

Since at least one of those things happening is virtually inevitable, you're really paying Microsoft a rental fee, not even a license. Pay for it, and use it as long as you can... but be prepared to lose every dime you paid... even the next day if your machine changes. (Yes: I made the mistake of buying a $70 larger hard drive...which ultimately cost $220, since Office refuses to run now.)

That's it. I'm done with Micro$oft. If they want to treat me like a thief, I'll deal with companies that treat me like a customer, instead.

Bought this since son needs it in school. I've only tried Word and there the one really big complaint for me is the dictionary is online; because of that I don't use it; If they offered option to use mac dictionary I might fire it up for large prose that required sync with Windows based computers.

This update is not nearly as good as the last. Slow opening pages... takes longer to boot ap... Seems unstable in a lot of areas.

Here are the details of improvements included in the 14.1.4 release (not including security fixes):

The Office for Mac 2011 14.1.4 Update includes the following improvements.
Improvements for all Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 applications

Update installation reliability is improved.; ;
This update fixes issues that cause the installation of previous Office for Mac 2011 updates to fail in the following situations:
When the user's home directory contains a space.
When you deploy updates through Secure Shell (SSH).
When you install multiple updates at the same time.
Reliability is improved when you open IRM-protected documents.
This update fixes an issue that prevents Office applications from opening some Information Rights Management (IRM)-protected documents. ; ; ;

Improvements for Microsoft Excel for Mac 2011

Stability is improved.
This update fixes an issue that causes Excel to exit unexpectedly or stop responding when you open some workbooks or when you use data validation. ;

Improvements for Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011

Password expiration notice issue is fixed.
This update fixes an issue that causes Outlook to display an incorrect password expiration notice.
Sync efficiency is improved
This update improves sync efficiency with accounts on Microsoft Exchange servers when the permission settings are changed for a shared or delegated folder.

Previously released improvements included in this update
This update includes all the improvements that were released in all previous Office 2011 updates since the release of the Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.1 Update.

”This update fixes critical issues and also helps to improve security.
It includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code.”

Give me a break.
It's been the same description of ”what's new” in the updates in Microsoft Office on the Mac for years.

Can't be the same every time, can it?
Why not let us know what's new?

This is for the people having trouble starting sync services because the Sync Service dialog box is grayed out or empty.
I had the same problem and this is what I did to get it working.
1. First setup a new 'user administrator account' in the Accounts System Preferences. This can be deleted later after you use it.
2. Now log out of your current user account and log into the one you just made.
3. Start Outlook and go to the Preferences > Sync Services. If the sync services panels are not grayed out or empty, that will tell you that something in your personal user account is interfering with Outlook's ability to start sync services. This is good news because now all you need to do is figure out what it is without waiting for Microsoft to fix it.
4. Now log out of this account and log back into your personal account. Of course try the following at your own risk but if you are careful you should be okay.
5. Basically I deleted any file in my Home Library folder that had sync in its name that could be related to sync services. I deleted the files but not the folders they were in. I did not delete things like Dropbox or SugarSync because I did not believe they were related to sync services. These file will be made again the next time you use sync services but hopefully without the problem causing Outlook not to start syncing. Again, please be careful on what you are deleting.
6. Now restart your computer, login to your personal account, start Outlook, go to Preferences > Sync Services and see if all is well. This worked for me and I pray it will work for you. Good Luck.
P.S. Now you can delete the administrator account you created earlier. That can be done from within Accounts System Preferences.

Unbelievable! The Office 2011 14.0.2 update STILL can't find any version of Office on my work MacBook Pro or iMac, despite that they're both loaded with v. 14.0.1!!! And the list of this update's 'improvements' (which really should be called 'fixes') is TINY compared to the number of unaddressed major muckups that any self-respecting company would have fixed well before the first version was released! Nevertheless, it still weighs in at 111 MB!!

The final verdict about Outlook: Absolute sh1t, and the few improvements that v. 2011 brought to the rest of the suite weren't worth its cost. There isn't enough space here to list all the ways in which Outlook alone is VASTLY INFERIOR to almost any other solution — even Entourage '08, which also was sh1t — let alone the problems with the other three-quarters of Office!

With this last in a grand series of humiliating failures, I think it's clear now that Microsoft is just a warehouse for all the half-assed engineers and code warriors who couldn't get hired at Apple, Google, and a few other quality enterprises. Even Bill got out while the gettin's good! I think it's headed for an overdue and dramatic reversal of fortune.

Despite having paid for Office 2011 for home use, after two disappointing months with Outlook, I chucked it! Now ours is a fully Apple household, and the integration of Mail, iCal and iWork is a welcome relief from the 15 years I spent wrestling with Office!

I get a lot of these errors when I double click a Word doc to open it in Word 2011:



The same file opens normal in Word 2008.

Anyone got a clue…?