[Nodnarb]

Long story short, my computer died and I had to get a new macbook. I bought the student edition of office a few years back, used one of the licenses, gave the second to my sister for her mac, and the third to my mom. I no longer have the install disc or package with the serial numbers.

Should I just copy office of my sister's or mom's computer and put it on mine? Or can I somehow unlock the trial version that's already on here since I already paid for it? Please let me know what way I should go about this.
Thanks alot you guys

[ghporter]

You can't unlock the trial version-it's not the complete package anyway. And you really can't get the software to work reliably by copying it from another computer. Do your sister or mother still have the media for it?

[mikemako]

I have found that just copying the Microsoft Office folder is sufficient for running Office on my second computer. Are there any crucial files that don't get copied over when this method is used?

[Art Vandelay]

The Microsoft Office folder used to be self-contained until one of the recent updates. Now there are some Spotlight plugins installed in /Library/Spotlight by the updates. If you don't care about the Spotlight plugins, you can safely copy the Office folder. You might be able to run the 11.2.5 updater again to get the plugins.

[larrinski]

I have successfully copied my office folder from my imac G5, to an ibook G4, to an intel imac, to a Powerbook without ever re-installing from the disc. It has worked for me!

[Artanis]

Yeah, just copying the files works fine from Panther to Tiger and viceversa, however you really need to be carreful about the license. I don't understand how you people loose your cds.

[ghporter]

I stand corrected about the copying issue. I didn't think MS would let that be so easy.

[Art Vandelay]

Well, that was one of the touted features of Mac Office: drag and drop installation. And until recently, everything was kept in the MS Office folder except for fonts which were auto-installed into each user's home (should really go into /Library/Fonts instead). Now with the recently added Spotlight support, there is now a plugin in /Library/Spotlight. However, that isn't needed for Office to run.

[TETENAL]

Apple bundles the Office-Spotlight-medatadaimporter with the OS.

[Art Vandelay]

Not the Entourage one. That's what I was referring to.

[Mr. Blur]

If I recall correctly, the drag and drop install gets you most of what you would need but may not be a 'complete' install of every component. Then, when you try to use a function or component that is not there it will ask for the cd.

[Art Vandelay]

No the drag and drop install gets you everything. The installer by default gives you a reduced feature set that you can customize further to either include everything or even less.

[Nodnarb]

I ended up just putting office on a cd and transfering it back to my new computer. However, whenever I open a program, be it word excel or powerpoint, I get a message "An unexpected error occured while trying to load the microsoft framework library."
Anyone know what this means?

[Macola]

Originally Posted by Nodnarb

I ended up just putting office on a cd and transfering it back to my new computer. However, whenever I open a program, be it word excel or powerpoint, I get a message "An unexpected error occured while trying to load the microsoft framework library."
Anyone know what this means?

Try downloading the latest updates for your version of Office.

[gnomexp]

Yup.... update repeatedly until it's done. The only restriction MS places on the Student and Teacher edition is that it can't run two copies on the same network. It checks on launch and the second copy won't load until the first one quits.

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by Nodnarb

I ended up just putting office on a cd and transfering it back to my new computer. However, whenever I open a program, be it word excel or powerpoint, I get a message "An unexpected error occured while trying to load the microsoft framework library."
Anyone know what this means?

It sounds like you either didn't copy the files without some corruption, or the "framework library" was not with the rest of the app(s). Doesn't Office break some Mac rules by installing in more than just its own Applications folder?

[gnomexp]

Originally Posted by ghporter

It sounds like you either didn't copy the files without some corruption, or the "framework library" was not with the rest of the app(s). Doesn't Office break some Mac rules by installing in more than just its own Applications folder?

No really, just update Office until it works. It happens on totally clean, original installs.

[ghporter]

Youch! It really says its library is goobered?!?! Bad. Just. Plain. Bad.

[Macola]

Originally Posted by ghporter

Youch! It really says its library is goobered?!?! Bad. Just. Plain. Bad.

Unfortunately, yes...that's MS for you. Here's some info straight from the horse's as...er, mouth:
After you install Office 2004 for Mac SP2, you receive an error message when you start Entourage 2004 for Mac, Excel 2004 for Mac, PowerPoint 2004 for Mac, or Word 2004 for Mac

[Nodnarb]

Originally Posted by Macola

Unfortunately, yes...that's MS for you. Here's some info straight from the horse's as...er, mouth:
After you install Office 2004 for Mac SP2, you receive an error message when you start Entourage 2004 for Mac, Excel 2004 for Mac, PowerPoint 2004 for Mac, or Word 2004 for Mac

Awesome. Thanks alot, Macola. After applying this update everything appears to be running smoothly.

I have to say, I am extremely impressed with rosetta, Apple has truly made this transition as painless as possible.

[VValdo]

Why not try the Neooffice 2.0 "Aqua" Office that just came out today? It's aqualicious and will read/save Word files.

NeoOffice Home

Get the beta 3 for your platform (PowerPC or Intel - no rosetta required )

You can copy it as much as you like, legally.

W