OFF98: "Cannot Load Shared Libraries" Message Appears When Starting an Office 98 Program After Removing a Program

When you start a Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh edition program, you may receive the following error message:

This problem may occur in the following scenarios.

Scenario 1

This problem will occur if you have moved the application file for the Office 98 program that you are trying to start out of the Microsoft Office 98 folder.

Scenario 2

This problem occurs because the installation program for the stand-alone program that you have removed also removes files that the other stand-alone program requires.

When you run the Installer program for any of the programs listed at the beginning of this article, and then click Remove, the following message appears: However, if you click Remove, any Office 98 programs that remain on your computer do not work.

The information in the Installer dialog box is incorrect. When you click Remove in the installer program for any stand-alone Office 98 program, certain files that are required by the remaining stand-alone Office 98 programs are removed.

To work around the problem, follow the steps appropriate to your situation.

Scenario 1

If you have moved one or more of the application files for the Office 98 programs out of the Microsoft Office 98 folder, you must move them back to the Microsoft Office 98 folder. If you want to have access to an icon for an Office 98 program somewhere else on your computer, create an alias for the program. The following steps illustrate how to create an alias for Microsoft Word:

1. Open the Microsoft Office 98 folder on your hard disk.
2. Click to select Microsoft Word.
3. Click Make Alias on the File menu.

An alias for Microsoft Word is created. You can move this alias to the Desktop, or to any location on your hard disk. When you double-click the alias, Microsoft Word will start.

Scenario 2

To work around this problem, reinstall the affected programs. Because some of the program files already exist on your computer, run the Installer program for each affected program instead of performing a drag-and-drop installation.

Scenario 1

The behavior is by design of the Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition programs.

Scenario 2

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

When you click Remove in the Installer program for one of the stand-alone Office 98 programs, the icons for other Office 98 programs in the Microsoft Office 98 folder are not deleted. This gives the impression that the programs still function. However, several crucial files in the Microsoft Office 98:Office folder are deleted (by design). The absence of these files prevents any remaining Office programs from starting.