Office 2016 is having trouble staying alive on El Capitan

By Brad Bourque Published October 5, 2015

Apple computers have become an increasingly large part of the modern workplace, and for good reason. The versatile systems are perfect for some users’ workflow, and software support is better than ever. The newest version of Microsoft Office 2016 for Mac will have some users pulling their hair out, however, as those who have upgraded to El Capitan have reported frequent crashes, according to PCWorld.

Microsoft issued a statement regarding the errors, confirming reports from users concerning the problem. “We know that some users may be experiencing issues with Office 2016 for Mac running on El Capitan, 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.”

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We’ve confirmed the issue on our own El Capitan test systems, determining that not only does the software frequently crash, but the error caused by the failure is so critical that even auto-recover can’t save your documents. In addition to Office 2016, users are claiming that Outlook 2011 has the same fatal bug that’s causing it to crash as well.

Issues with a game on launch day are frustrating, but typically not detrimental to business. A whole section of users unable to access one of the most used productivity suites in the world is likely to ruffle some feathers, and a lot of those users are understandably looking for somewhere to lay blame.

With plenty of reports over the past few months of issues with Office 2016 and El Capitan, someone at either company should’ve paid attention to this before the official release, though ultimately software developers need to be responsible for making sure their product is compatible with each new OS release.

In an age of increasingly rapid software and OS updates, it’s vitally important that developers listen to user feedback to identify and solve issues. Both Apple and Microsoft are far more open with code and process than ever before, so there’s really no excuse for a fatal bug like this making its way to release. There’s no timeline on a fix yet, and in the meantime, Microsoft suggests waiting for updates through the auto-updater.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Brad Bourque is a native Portlander, devout nerd, and craft beer enthusiast. He studied creative writing at Willamette…

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