If you've recently upgraded to Microsoft Office 2008, you may like the productivity suite's new features, but you may also face a few conundrums: some things just don't work the way they used to, and others don't work at all. We talked to Macworld editors and scoured newsgroups and forums to find out which problems were plaguing users. Here are answers to some of the most common questions that came up.

Missing Macros

Q: Why won't my Office macros run anymore?

A: Macros, which let you perform multiple actions with a single mouse-click or keystroke, can save a lot of time. But Office 2008 doesn't support the Visual Basic for Applications engine that previous versions of Office used to run macros.

Wondering where your macros went? Office 2008 doesn't support them. You'll see this warning when you open a Word file that contains one.Now, if you open a file containing macros, you can choose to either remove or keep the (deactivated) macros (see "Macro Alert"). If you're working on a file that you know a colleague has added macros to, don't delete them--they'll still work if someone opens the file with a different version of Office.

If you truly need to use macros to get your work done efficiently, you have only two choices. Office 2008 provides limited support for AppleScript and Automator, so you can write your own scripts or workflows, or find some to download. For some sample scripts for Word, see Automating Word with AppleScript. What's your other option? Stick with Office 2004 for now. In response to complaints, Microsoft has announced that the next version of Office for Mac will support macros, but that release is likely two or three years away.

Keeping Compatible

Q: Why do my Word documents have the words "Compatibility Mode" in the title bar?

A: All the Office 2008 programs use new default file formats. In Word, for example, the default file extension is now .docx instead of .doc. If you open a .doc file in Word 2008, the program lets you know that the file format is "compatible" with previous versions of Word but that it's not taking advantage of all of Word 2008's new features.

If you plan on sharing files with people who don't have Office 2008 (or Office 2007 for Windows), they won't be able to open files that have been saved in any of the new file formats. In the programs' Save dialog boxes, you can choose which format to use, and each program displays the compatibility of the older formats. You can change the default file format that Word and PowerPoint use for new files in either program's Preferences menu. In Word, for example, go to Word: Preferences, click on Save, and then choose Word 2007-2004 Document (.doc) from the Save Word Files As pop-up menu.

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