If you have Office for Mac 2008 installed on your Apple Mac, you’ll have an email application called Entourage (it’s essentially Outlook for Mac). With the recent upgrade of Imperial College’s email system, you need to ensure you’re running the most recent and correct version of Office for Mac 2008 or higher. (If you use Mac Mail, then you do not need to follow this, but check your Mac Mail version here)
Note:
- If you are running Office for Mac 2011 then you do not need to upgrade
- If you have Office for Mac 2004 you need to upgrade to Office 2008 (from the ICT Software Shop)
To check which version you have, open Entourage and then go click ‘Entourage’ on the top left (next to the apple icon) and click ‘About Entourage’ and a window similar to the one shown below will open.
The different versions of Office for Mac 2008 (also know as Office v12) are:
- 12.0 – the original if you haven’t updated since installing
- 12.1 – with Service Pack 1
- 12.2 – with Service Pack 2
- 12.2.8 – with updated Service Pack 2
- 12.2.9 – newer version of 12.2.8
- 13.0 – this is also known as the ‘Web Services Edition’
- 13.0.9 – an update to the Web Services Edition
Pay special attention to the first line where it tells you which version you have. If yours looks exactly like the one above then you do not need to change or upgrade your Office for Mac.
If your version reads 12, 12.1, 12.2 or 12.2.8/9 then you need to upgrade to version 13 – also known as the ‘Web Services Edition’ – this upgrade is a available as a free download from the Microsoft website. In order to upgrade to version 13, you also need to install the Service Packs that have come out since your version. If you have version 12.0 then you need to install 12.1, 12.2, and then version 13.
There is currently an issue with Microsoft that causes an error upgrading from 12.2.9 to version 13, so if you want version 13.0.9 then upgrade from 12.2.8 or 12.2.
Download Microsoft Office for Mac 2008 updates from here: Microsoft Updates for Office for Mac
Direct links:
- 12.1 Update – download here
- 12.2.9 Update – download here
- 13.0.9 Update – download here

The screen show above shows that the Mac is running version 10.6.6 (which is known as Snow Leopard). This means that Mac Mail is also version 10.6.
