Parts of Hyperlink After Ampersand Sign Are Stripped in Entourage 2008
Update: The fix for this issue has been released in the 12.1.2 Update for Office 2008 for Mac.
Here is another known issue we are working to fix these days.
Issue
Entourage 2008 users are reporting that it is stripping parts of hyperlinks (URLs) in messages they receive from other users. It always strips parts of those hyperlinks right after '&', including the ampersand sign. This is only being reported by those users who have recently upgraded to Office 2008 for Mac Service Pack 1 (SP1). Examples of stripped URLs are:
Original Link:
https://www.contoso.com/dept/sales/abc.php?ABCD=0987654321\&UID=987612345
Stripped Link:
https://www.contoso.com/dept/sales/abc.php?ABCD=0987654321=987612345
Note that '&UID' has been stripped
Original Link:
https://www.litwareinc.com/EntApp/ViewMsg.asp?MsgID=897\&SaveID=7843\~2945
Stripped Link:
https://www.litwareinc.com/EntApp/ViewMsg.asp?MsgID=897=7843\~2945
Note that '&SaveCaseID' has been stripped
Cause
This happens as '&' is not properly encoded as '&' in the message source
Resolution
Microsoft is working to release a fix for this issue in an update for Entourage 2008 but a final release date is not available yet. I plan to update this post with new information in this regard when it becomes available.