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Microsoft Working on Fix for Office Bugs in OS X El Capitan

Monday October 5, 2015 10:06 am PDT by Juli Clover
Since OS X El Capitan was released to the public last week, Microsoft Office users have noticed some serious bugs when attempting to use the software. MacRumors has received multiple emails from people having issues with Office 2016, and there are several threads about the problem on our forums.

Word, Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint are crashing for many Microsoft users who have installed Office 2016, and Office 2011 users are also noticing problems with Outlook.

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Microsoft is aware of the problems with its software and has been responding to customer complaints. In a thread on the Microsoft forums, Microsoft Program Manager Faisal Jeelani said the company is working with Apple to resolve the issues, but said there is no timeline for a fix. Microsoft also gave Computerworld a similar statement:
"We know that some users may be experiencing issues with Office 2016 for Mac running on El Capitan," the statement read. "We are actively investigating the matter with Apple. Until there is a fix, we recommend people install the latest updates to Office 2016 for Mac using Microsoft AutoUpdate."
Customers who are running Office 2016 are running into a wide variety of problems. Some are seeing only occasional crashes with the software, while others are unable to open any Office 2016 apps at all. Many who use Outlook for email are unable to access their inboxes, and this particular issue affects both Office 2016 and Office 2011.
I even did a fresh install of El Cap and then did a fresh install of 2015 Office. The whole office suite just bounces when I try to load a file. The programs freeze when using them and then crazy. I just keep sending the crash reports to Microsoft. I thought it was more widespread but apparently it is just me. I uninstalled 2016 office and went back to 2011.
Microsoft's first support replies came shortly after OS X El Capitan was released, which means the company has been working on a fix for several days now, but it is not clear when a patch might be released. Many customers on the Microsoft forums are growing angry with the company because Microsoft had several months to work out crashing issues ahead of OS X El Capitan's release. Crashes and Office 2016 problems were first reported during the beta testing period but remain unresolved.

Update: A Microsoft spokesperson has told MacRumors that a fix is in the works.
"We know that some users of Office 2016 for Mac are experiencing issues as a result of upgrading to Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan. We are actively working with Apple towards resolution."


Tags: Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Office 2016 for Mac
[ 199 comments ]


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Fuchal
51 months ago
Fancy that, of all the software I use, Office is the only one with issues.
Rating: 16 Votes
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mihirkamat
51 months ago
Yeesh. This is the first time I haven't updated on release day, and it sounds like it was a good decision.
Rating: 9 Votes
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mdlooker
51 months ago
Whats the use of releasing a beta if there are major hurdles to fix after the public release?
Rating: 8 Votes
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btrach144
51 months ago

Whats the use of releasing a beta if there are major hurdles to fix after the public release?

Two things:

1. developers can't really start debugging till the GM is released as each BETA build might break a fix that someone spent all day on so it's kinda pointless. Also, I believe the GM was out for like 1.5 week so not much time to fix bugs.

2. Office 2016 was just released a few weeks ago and has it's own bugs that need fixing. I don't think the office team needed a new OS to introduce even more bugs at this point.

Please note that my views and opinions do not officially represent Microsoft. I partake in this forum as I appreciate the community.
Rating: 5 Votes
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H2SO4
51 months ago

Fancy that, of all the software I use, Office is the only one with issues.

Or, you could switch that up.
Of all the versions of Office I use, (2011 for 10.10 and 10.11, 2016 for 10.10, 2010 and 2007 on various flavours of WIndows), El Capitan is the only one that produces crashes?
Rating: 4 Votes
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DotCom2
51 months ago
How ironic for me that I switched to Mac to avoid Microsoft and now here I am avoiding updating until a fix from Microsoft. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!
Rating: 4 Votes
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JeffyTheQuik
51 months ago
Good for Microsoft!

Find it now, Fix it now!
Rating: 4 Votes
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tombiscuit
51 months ago
And did you know that LibreOffice is now in the Mac App Store?

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/libreoffice-vanilla/id921923693?mt=12
Rating: 4 Votes
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heeloliver
51 months ago
Microsoft had months to beta test El Cap and test Office. They blew it.
Rating: 3 Votes
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Xenomorph
51 months ago
I like how Microsoft, a software company, whose job it is to make software, that sells a product made for OS X, didn't actually bother testing its software on OS X...

Microsoft just now found out about El Capitan?
Rating: 3 Votes

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