fixed : MS Auto Updater warning saying I need to upgrade eventhough I am already on the latest version

Question :
every time I restart my Mac, I get an error message from Microsoft saying that I can’t update, but I can’t find what’s wrong. When I click the link provided for more information, I get a page on the Microsoft website telling that support for MS Office 2019 for macOS has ended and that I should either updagrade to MS Office 365 or MS office 2021 for macOS… but as far as I know I am already running MS Office 2021 for macOS…

What is wrong ?

Answer :
Eventhough there is a very small chance that something completely different is going on, in the majority of cases, your problem will be that you are running the MS Office apps that you primarily use (e.g. Word, PowerPoint and Excel) in the 2021 version and some of the MS Office apps that you never use (e.g. Outlook, OneNote or OneDrive) are still on the 2019 version.

To solve this problem, do this :
– open the Finder
– go to [your Mac] > Library > Application Support > MAU2.0 > Microsoft Autoupdate
– doubleclick on Microsoft Autoupdate to run the MS Autoupdate.app
– click on the pulldown-button (top-right ; the downward-pointing triangular arrowhead)
– now the pulldown list of recent updates will fold out
– in the list, spot the apps that aregiving an error
– then click on the ‘Check for Updates’-button and wait for other updating errors to appear
– if the MS Office apps that you regularly use (e.g. Word, PowerPoint and/or Excel) are giving an update error saying you need to upgrade, your version of MS Office for macOS is outdated and you should buy the newest version or switch to an Office 365 (now called Microsoft 365) subscription
– if you only get updating errors for apps that you never use (e.g. Outlook), open a new Finder window
– then, goto [your Mac] > Applications
– then, type the name of the app you are looking for (e.g. Outlook) in the search field top right
– in the list of applications that appears, select the app you are looking for
– right-click on it’s name and choose Delete from the pulldown menu
– in the warning window that appears, typ your computer password (the password you use to startup & unlock your Mac) and click OK to allow the app to be deleted from you Mac

That’s it !

Enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : calculate the number of days between 2 dates

Question :

I want to integrate a formula in my spreadsheet (in Excel or Numbers) that calculates the number of days between 2 dates that I have in other cells on the spreadsheet.

How do I do that ?

Answer :

there are 2 formulas available to do this, choose the one that works best for you in Excel or Numbers :

formula =DUR2DAYS(enddatestartdate)+1

or

formula =DATEDIF(startdate, enddate, β€œD”)+1

NOTE : the “+1” in both these formulas is only needed if you want the number of days including both startdate and enddate !

That’s it !

enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : rotate page orientation in MS Excel ( portrait / landscape )

Question :

I have to print (part of) an Excel sheet that has few lines and al lot of columns (so it’s not that height, but rather broad), so I want to print on a landscape-ed paper.

In regular macOS apps (like Preview, Keynote, etc.) I would do this by pressing [CMD]+[P] on my keyboard, so the printing window opens and I can switch the “Preview/Keynote/etc.”-dial to “Page Attributes”, so I can set the Paper Size (e.g. A4 or US Letter) and the Orientation (Portrait or Landscape).

If I do this in MS Excel, I get a similar printing window, but if I click the “Excel”-dial, the list of options doesn’t have “Page Attributes” listed… and I non of the other available options seems to have a setting to change the page orientation either…

Note : Yes, I know that Apple’s counterpart Numbers.app has a different type of printing window with the Page Orientation option listed near the top-right, but that’s to different from what I’m seeing in Excel that I see no way to lear in Numbers.app what I want to do in Excel…

What am I doing wrong ?

Answer :

Yes, Excel is different from the regular macOS-apps regarding setting the page orientation (and it’s even more different from it’s competitor Numbers.app), but the option is hidden in plain sight !

To change the page orientation in Excel, press the [ALT]+[P] key-combo, and then the print window opens, just leave the Excel-dial as-is and look a little below it… there you will see the options “Print”, “Margins” and “Orientation”… That’s it !

Note : there is another option to set the page orientation in Excel : goto the top menu-bar, click on “File” (top-left) and from the pull-down menu select “Page Setup” (just above “Print”) and when the “Page Setup” window opens, make sure the “Page”-tab is selected and at “Orientation” you will see radio buttons for “Portraid” and “Landscape”… That’s it !

enjoy πŸ˜‰

fixed : where are my Office 365 AutoRecovery files ?

Question :

I accidentally messed up the Office documents (Word/PowerPoint/Excel) I was working on, and I didn’t save it before, so I wanted to get the auto-saved version from the AutoRecovery-folder as I’ve done in the old days of Office 2008 and 2004.

But now I am using Office 365, and I can’t find the AutoRecovery folder anywhere… where is it ?

Answer :

You might have guessed : nowadays, the AutoRecovery-folder is located in an entirely different location on your Mac.

If you are running Office 2011 for Mac (whether as part of Office 365 or not) the correct path to the AutoRecovery-folder is this :

~/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 AutoRecovery

…and even though you might not immediately see the recovery files there, you will usually find them when when you search for hidden files in that folder [ see Note #2 below – Thank You to Kurt Pfirter for this addition ]

And if you are running Office 2016 for Mac (whether or not as part of Office 365) the correct path to the Word 15‘s AutoRecovery-folder(s) is :

~/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Word/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/

for PowerPoint 15 the correct path is :

~/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.PowerPoint/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/

and for Excel 15 the correct path is :

~/Users/username/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Preferences/AutoRecovery/

BEWARE : it’s not straight-forward to get to this folder in recent/current versions of OSX and macOS, as the user’s Library-folder is a hidden folder. So if you want to access it, the easiest way to do so is :

– in the Finder, click on “Go” in the top menu bar

– when the pulldown menu appears, press the ALT-key on your keyboard (a.k.a. OPTION-key) and an extra option named “Library” will appear in the pulldown menu

– while holding the ALT-key, click on “Library” and your personal (hidden) Library-folder will open in the Finder

– there you can navigate further using the paths listed above to find the AutoRecovery-folder you’re looking for

That’s it.

Enjoy !

πŸ˜‰

NOTE # 1 :

It is advisory to also switch on the “file overwrite protection” (or “double backup”) option as it stores the previous version of the file you are working on. In Word, you turn this feature on from Word –> Preferences –> Save and then mark the “Always create a backup copy” check box. This way, whenever you click “Save”, a backup version is made of the previous/stored version before it overwrites the stored version of the file… so with it turned on, you at least have one prior version of your file.

NOTE #2 :

If you do not see the autosave file you were expecting to find in the AutoRecovery-folder, you might need a ‘show hidden files’-app to find it. Especially Excel-autosave-files tend to be hidden.

There are various ‘show hidden files’-apps :

The FREE one in the Mac App Store is Show Hidden Files: best finder but you could also use another FREE app like Hidden Files Toggle (by ZandorSmith.nl) or Funter (by Nektony.com) or HideSwitch (by CreativeCag.com)

Just beware! that you can mess up OSX or macOS entirely is you accidentally delete or alter files that are hidden in regular use !

…or you can use a key-combo to (un)hide files, as pointed out in this post :
https://macmanus.nl/2020/02/14/fixed-quick-way-to-make-hidden-files-visible-on-macos/

[ a big Thank You to thekurrgan for discovering this and posting this find here ]

NOTE #3 :

it turns out that there’s a bug in Excel 2011 for Mac : even though the Autosave does save  a file with an .xlsx file extension, it’s not a true .xlsx file ! trying to open it will lead to an “Microsoft cannot open this file”-error. The solution is to change the file extension to either .xlsb (Excel binary format) or .xlb (older Excel backup format), to enable Excel to recognize the file and enable it to open.

[ a big Thank You to Paul Preston for noticing this problem and for Bryan P for posting the solution on Superuser.com and to Rich Michaels for posting his updated solution on answers.microsoft.com ]

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tip : get the latest versions of Word, PowerPoint and Excel for FREE, legally

If you are looking for a FREE (and legal) version of the latest version of MS Office, you just might be in luck :

Microsoft is offering the newest version of MS Office for FREE to students and staff of schools and universities that have licensed MS Office.

This program has run in the US since 2013 under the moniker “Student Advantage”, and is now available in the Netherlands also.

What you get is a FREE one year license to Microsoft’s online cloud service “Office 365”, in the “Pro Plus”-version,Β including FREE downloads of the latest versions of Office to be installed on maximum 5 Macs or PCs and on maximum 5 Android or iOS devices (like iPhones and iPads).

These latest versions are Office 2011 for MacΒ and Office 2013 for Windows, both including Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Skype and OneDrive (Microsoft’s cloud-drive formerly known as SkyDrive).

In the Netherlands, these FREE versions are available for two specific groups :

1- (parents of) students of the primary schools [“basisschoolleerlingen” in Dutch]Β https://www.surfspot.nl/officeleerling

2- students of (some) higher education [“Hogescholen en Universiteiten” in Dutch]Β https://www.surfspot.nl/officestudent

The procedure to get this (nearly) FREE software, is quite complex, but it’s well worth the hassle :

– first you need an account at Surfspot.nlΒ (the website for educational discounts)

– then, you need to ‘buy’ the FREE version of Office 365 Pro Plus

– with that, you’ll get a voucher (which might take several days due to popular demand)

– using that voucher, you can activate Office 365 at Microsoft, and you will get FREE download-links to the latest versions of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Skype, OneDrive, etc.

– Β those apps you can install on maximum 5 Macs or PCs and 5 iOS or Android devices

 

…as mentioned : it’s a hassle, but it’s well worth it !

Enjoy !

πŸ˜‰

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fixed : where are my Office 2011 AutoRecovery files ?

UPDATE : the updated version of this post for Office 2016 / Office 365 (Word 15 / PowerPoint 15 / Excel 15) can be found here :

fixed : where are my Office 365 AutoRecovery files ?


Question :

I accidentally messed up the OfficeΒ documents (Word/PowerPoint/Excel) I was working on, and I didn’t save it before, so I wanted to get the auto-saved version from the AutoRecovery-folder as I’ve done before in Office 2008 and 2004.

I forgot where to find the AutoRecovery-folder, so I used Office 2011’s build-in Help-option to get a hint. It told me I would be able to find theΒ folder via this pathΒ :

~/Users/username/Documents/Microsoft User Data/Office 2011 AutoRecovery

But when I open that folder I have a “Office 2004 AutoRecovery” and a “Office 2008 AutoRecovery”-folder, but there’s no such folder for Office 2011…

I checked in the Office 2011 Preferences to make sure Auto-saving is switched on, and it is… so whereΒ didΒ the folder goΒ ? where are my auto-save documents ?

 

Answer :

You might have guessed : there’s a fault in the Office 2011 Help file. Nowadays, the AutoRecovery-folder is located in an entirely different location on your Mac. The correct path is this :

~/Users/username/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Office 2011 AutoRecovery

But there is yet another tiny hurdle to get to it : in the current version of OSX, the user’s Library-folder is a hidden folder. So if you want to access it, the easiest way to do so is :

– in the Finder, click on “Go” in the top menu bar

– when the pulldown menu appears, press the ALT-key on your keyboard (a.k.a. OPTION-key) and an extra option named “Library” will appear in the pulldown menu

– while holding the ALT-key, click on “Library” and your personal (hidden) Library-folder will open in the Finder

– there you can navigate toΒ Application Support–>Microsoft–>Office to find the “Office 2011 AutoRecovery”-folder you are looking for

That’s it.

Enjoy !

πŸ˜‰

Note : It is not clear if this problem is due to OSX 10.9 “Mavericks” or that it is occurring with all installations of Office 2011 for Mac.Β Either way, the solution is as mentioned above.

UPDATE :

it turns out that there’s a bug in Excel 2011 for Mac : even though the Autosave does save Β a file with an .xlsx file extension, it’s not a true .xlsx file ! trying to open it will lead to an “Microsoft cannot open this file”-error. The solution is to change the file extension to either .xlsb (Excel binary format) or .xlb (older Excel backup format), to enable Excel to recognize the file and enable it to open.

[ a big Thank You to Paul Preston for noticing this problem and for Bryan P for posting the solution on Superuser.com ]

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