OFF98: Error Message: The Item "<Office Program Name>" Could Not Be Opened ... (244101)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition, when used with:
    • the operating system: Mac OS 7.0
    • the operating system: Mac OS 7.1
    • the operating system: Mac OS 7.5
    • the operating system: Mac OS 8.0
    • the operating system: Mac OS 8.1
    • the operating system: Mac OS 8.5
    • the operating system: Mac OS 8.6
    • the operating system: Mac OS 9.0
    • the operating system: Mac OS (all versions)
    • the operating system: Mac OS 6.0.7
    • the operating system: Mac OS 6.0.8
    • the operating system: Mac OS 6.x
    • the operating system: Mac OS 7.5.2
    • the operating system: Mac OS 7.6.1
    • the operating system: Mac OS X
This article was previously published under Q244101

SYMPTOMS

When you try to start one of the Office programs, you may receive one of the following error messages:
The item "<Office program name>" could not be opened. (It cannot be found.)
-or-
The alias "<Office program name>" could not be opened, because the original item cannot be found.
When you click OK, the program does not start.

CAUSE

The error messages in the "Symptoms" section of this article may appear if the following are true:
  • You are logged on as either a Limited user or a Panels user. -and-

  • An Administrator installed Office onto the Desktop.
When you have multiple users enabled on Mac OS 9, each user has his or her own Desktop settings. The aliases that are created in this scenario point back to the Desktop folder owned by the Administrator/owner account. Limited and Panels users do not see this folder when they are logged on.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, you need to uninstall Office and then reinstall Office to your hard disk.

For additional information about this issue, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

179861 OFF98: How to Remove Microsoft Office 98 from Your Computer

179214 OFF98: How to Perform a Drag-and-Drop Installation of Mac Office

Please see your Administrator to perform these procedures, because you may not have the necessary permissions.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

In this scenario, the aliases to the Office programs point to the programs in the following location:

<computer name>:<hard disk name>:Desktop Folder:Microsoft Office 98

When you log on as a Limited or Panels user, you do not have access to this location. Each user has his or her own Desktop folder with items that are unique to that account.

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/27/2005
Keywords:kbbug kbpending KB244101
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