Description of the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 Update

The Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 Update contains several changes that improve security, stability, reliability, and performance. Additionally, this update includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of a computer's memory by using malicious code.

Improvements that are included in the update

The Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 Update includes the following improvements.

Improvements for all Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac applications

• Security is improved. This update fixes vulnerabilities in Office 2008 for Mac applications that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory by using malicious code. For more information, see the security bulletin that is listed earlier in this document.
  
• Stability is improved. This update fixes an issue that causes Office 2008 for Mac applications to close unexpectedly when you open or use Office 2008 for Mac applications.
• Chart performance is improved. This update improves the following performance issues in charts:
  
  • Improves the performance of charts that have multiple data points.
  • Improves performance when line and scatter charts are generated. By default, new line and scatter charts will use simpler formatting.
• Reliability is improved in the display and layout of Charts and Pictures. This update fixes the following issues in Charts and Pictures:
  • Lines print with 1point thickness, even when the line is narrower than 1point.
  • It is difficult to resize a line and keep it perfectly straight.
  • Line breaks and hyphens move in Microsoft PowerPoint 2008 for Mac after you install Office 2008 for Mac updates.
  • PowerPoint 2008 for Mac closes unexpectedly when you try to apply colors to a picture that is embedded in a shape multiple times.
  • The Order pane in the Format Data Series dialog box displays an empty string for an untitled series in a chart. In this update, the untitled series in a chart is replaced with the title "<series x>." In this title, x is a placeholder for the series number.
  • The data trends include cells that contain the value "#N/A" during the calculation.
  • The axis labels on some charts are truncated.
• Reliability is improved when you open a document that contains a PDF image. This update fixes an issue in Office documents that contain PDF images. This issue occurs when images are lost or moved when the document is opened in a Windows-based version of Office.
• Stability is improved for documents that contain PDF images. This update fixes an issue that causes an Office 2008 for Mac application to close unexpectedly when you save a document that contains a PDF image.

Improvements for Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac

• Compatibility with EndNote is improved. This update fixes an issue that occurs when you start Word with EndNote X1 installed, and the tool buttons on the Standard toolbar are unavailable.
  
• Reliability is improved with AutoCorrect. This update fixes an issue that occurs when you change the language to German, and then type inside Word, and you receive the following error message:
  
  This command is not available in this version of Microsoft Word.
  
• Reliability is improved in the display of SmartArt, charts, and pictures. This update fixes an issue that causes SmartArt, charts, and pictures to be obscured when you make the right side margin wider.
  
• Reliability is improved for Table drawing.This update fixes an issue that causes regular text in tables to appear bold after you add or delete some lines.
  
• Reliability is improved for documents that have inline graphics. This update fixes an issue that causes inline graphics to be saved with incorrect alignment in HTML format.
  

Improvements for Microsoft PowerPoint 2008 for Mac

• PowerPoint no longer changes the date time stamp of a saved file. This update fixes an issue that occurs when PowerPoint changes the date time stamp of a saved file to the time that the file is opened. This change applies to .ppt binary files, not to OpenXML .pptx files.
• Stability is improved when you open PowerPoint presentations in Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard). This update fixes an issue for Mac OS X v10.5 users that causes PowerPoint 2008 to close unexpectedly when users open a presentation.
  
• Images that are inserted into PowerPoint from other applications now display correctly. This update fixes an issue that occurs when an image that is copied or dragged from a Web browser or another non-Microsoft application into PowerPoint, and a URL is displayed instead of the actual image.
  

Improvements for Microsoft Excel 2008 for Mac

• Reliability is improved in calculations. This update fixes the following calculation issues:
  
  • This update fixes an issue that occurs when the SUMIFS formula returns a z #VALUE error when it refers to large ranges of cells.
  • This update fixes an issue that occurs when the XIRR formula calculation does not match the calculation results of Excel for Windows. The results also vary between .xslx files and .xls files.
• Stability is improved with Pivot Tables. This update fixes the following issues:
  
  • This update fixes an issue that occurs when Excel workbooks automatically sort a pivot table, and then Excel closes unexpectedly.
  • This update fixes an issue that occurs when you select a cell outside a pivot table range from the Sort dialog box, and then Excel closes unexpectedly.
• Stability is improved when you save documents. This update fixes the following issues when you save documents:
  
  • This update fixes an issue that prevents Excel from opening a saved file. The file may be corrupted if a row that contains an array formula is deleted. You receive the following error message when you open the corrupted file:
    
    Excel cannot open this file. The file might have been damaged or modified from its original format.
  • This update fixes an issue that causes the following warning to be displayed when you save an Excel workbook:
    
    Not enough memory.
    
  • This update fixes an issue that prevents an .xslx file that is saved from another .xslx file to open.
• Performance is improved when you create charts. This update helps improve performance when you create charts from a large dataset.

Improvements for Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac

• Calendar events are not duplicated in Outlook Web Access or in Outlook 2007. This update fixes an issue that causes Calendar events to duplicate in Outlook Web Access or in Microsoft Office Outlook 2007. This issue occurs when an attendee accepts a changed and updated meeting request in Entourage 2008 for Mac. This fix resolves the issue only for newly created or received meetings. You should empty your cache to force re-syncing the cache to resolve the issue for older events.
  
• Timezone information is updated. This update provides updated timezone information.
  
• Reliability is improved when you try to securely connect to your mailbox on a computer that is running Exchange Server 2007. This update fixes an issue that occurs when you try to securely connect to your mailbox on a computer that is running Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 after you upgrade to the Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 update. You receive the following warning message:
  
  Unable to establish a secure connection to mailbox_servername because the server name or IP address does not match the name or IP address on the server’s certificate. If you continue, the information you view and send will be encrypted, but will not be secure.
  
• Text in the message header is displayed correctly.This update fixes an issue that occurs when you receive messages in Japanese in Entourage 2008 for Mac, and the text in the message header displays invalid characters in Apple Mail.
• The Entourage Account Setup Assistant is improved to handle SSL and Autodiscover of Public Folders. This update fixes the following Entourage Account Setup Assistant issues:
  
  • This update fixes an issue that occurs when the Account Setup Assistant populates the Public Server field by using the internal FQDN of the Public Folder Server instead of the public URL for Outlook Web Access. You can use the URL for Outlook Web Access for the Public Server name to help publish the Public Folders for access through the Internet.
  • This update fixes an issue that occurs when the Account Setup Assistant disables Secure Socket Layer (SSL) for the LDAP Server during the automatic account configuration. The SSL option is enabled only for the Exchange and Public Folder server and not for the LDAP server. This requires you to manually edit the account settings and select this option for the LDAP server.

Prerequisites

Before you install the Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 Update, make sure that the computer is running Mac OS X 10.4.9 (Tiger) or a later version of the Mac OS X operating system. To verify that the computer meets this prerequisite, click About This Mac on the Apple menu. Additionally, you must install the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.0 Update on the computer before you install the Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 Update. To verify that the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.0 Update is installed, follow these steps:

1. On the Go menu, click Applications.
   
2. Open the Microsoft Office 2008 folder, and then start any Office application (for example, start Word).
   
3. On the Word menu, click About Word.
   
4. In the About Word dialog box, compare the version number next to Latest Installed Update.
   

How to obtain the update

The following file is available for download from the Microsoft Download Center:
Download the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 Update package now.Release Date: October 14, 2008

For more information about how to download Microsoft support files, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

119591 How to obtain Microsoft support files from online services

Microsoft scanned this file for viruses. Microsoft used the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to the file.

Updated files

For a complete list of the files that this update adds or changes, double-click the update installer, and then on the File menu, click Show Files.


Note The Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.3 Update is also available from Microsoft AutoUpdate. AutoUpdate is a program that automatically keeps Microsoft software up-to-date. To use AutoUpdate, start a Microsoft Office program. Then, on the Help menu, click Check for Updates.



For more information about resources for Office 2008 for Mac, visit the following Microsoft Web site: