While Microsoft updated Office 2016 for Mac on Tuesday, Oct. 13, with security fixes and minor feature changes, the software giant failed to release patches on the recurring glitches on OS X El Capitan.
Nonetheless, the company assured customers that an update will ship for El Capitan, also known as OS X 10.11, somewhat arrowing the accountability to the Mac maker.
"We released an update to Office 2016 for Mac containing great new features, security fixes, and stability improvements. This update doesn't address the issues experienced by Office customers with OS X 10.11 El Capitan. We are actively working with Apple to ensure resolution with the next update of OS X 10.11 El Capitan," wrote Microsoft on its Office 2016 for Mac forum.
"To fix issues with Office for Mac 2011, you'll need to install an update. To get it, you can use Microsoft AutoUpdate or download the update manually. For more information, see Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.5.6 update."
Microsoft has been receiving threads of inquiries on the forum since Apple released El Capitan on Sept. 30.
A thread that started in July — following the shipping of the final Office 2016 for Mac and the issuance of the first public beta of El Capitan — has close to 600 messages posted.
"I finalized the El Capitan upgrade this morning and since then I can't use my mac with office 2016 any longer ... Multiple random crashes from any of the Office 2016 apps," shared a user with the community.
Another user named bluedoplhin joked on the Microsoft forum.
"It's called Office '2016' because that's the expected date it 'might' work, although when in 2016 is not clear, assuming we are using the Gregorian calendar!" bluedoplhin posted, pointing out Microsoft's official statement, which says that "Office 2016 is compatible with Windows 7 or later, and Mac OS X 10.10."
Outlook is involved in majority of the crashes while Excel, PowerPoint, and Word periodically drop dead — either separately or together with Outlook.
The update on Tuesday — available to clients or establishments subscribed to the Office 365 plan — was labeled a security rollout. Nonetheless, it was packed with few non-security glitch fixes and ramps up to Outlook, Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
Although Microsoft claims that the latest update does not include fixes for Office 2016 for Mac troubles, users who had installed the update reported that their applications had stopped dying. Others, however, counter with their own experience.
"I thought I was past the lockups after working with the 15.15 patches for about 4 hours, but I just clicked Delete on an email message (in an Office 365 for business account) from the messages list and got the spinning wheel of death," commented someone identified only as "mogrefy" late Tuesday.
