Is it just me or is anyone else having problems with Word 2011?

I installed it yesterday, uninstalled word 2008 and thought I was good to go. But 2011 is acting strange. For example, when I try to open a new Word document in Normal style the background is blue and the text is white. I haven't been able to change it. Figuring I could live with that until I could work it out I proceeded with a new document and was about 30 mins into it when it unexpectedly disappeared. Also I had enabled the backup function for every 10 mins, it was not there. Frusrataed, I went to Trash, opened Word 2008 and started again. Same thing. The document I was working on just disappeared and nothing in backup. I have uninstalled 2011 and am wondering if I need to do the same with 2008, then reinstall 2008 from the disc?

MS Support is useless and I have been able to find any documentation on 2011 except on the MS site and i find it incomplete.

NeoOffice

I was thinking the same thing, but I've seen a lot of complaints about the last several updates, so I'm sticking with my trusty rusty 2.2.5. Caveat ~ If you've been a power Word user (no oxymoron intended), NO isn't even close to intuitive. But for basic stuff? It's been my favorite (purchase with a donation, peeps) for years.

Oh! Oh! For the first time ever, I had to open up some Excel spreadsheets, lovingly prepared by a PC friend (none of the Mac recipients were having any luck with their versions of Office). Smooth as butter.

Uninstall both versions of Office.

Throw out anything, files and the Microsoft folder, in your user's Preferences folder that has Microsoft or anything related, Word, Excel etc, in the name. Quit Office before doing that. There is also a Microsoft folder in HD/Library/Application Support you can trash.

If you're not using Entourage (Outlook) you can trash the Microsoft folder in your user's Documents folder. If you do use them trashing that will trash your mail.