Microsoft today released updates for each of its Office 2016 apps, introducing feature improvements, security enhancements, and bug fixes to Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. All apps have been updated with a security fix for vulnerabilities that could allow remote code execution should a user open a specially crafted Office file.
All of the apps have also gained new Chinese and Japanese default fonts and improvements to the Visual Basic Editor that allows users to add modules and references and use debug shortcuts. Other fixes and improvements are listed below:
Outlook
- Improved VoiceOver support for weather in the Calendar feature.
- Email address is now included in the default message attribution when you reply and -forward.
- Message list is now displayed correctly when you switch folders by having the Reading Pane turned off.
- Improved Reminders functionality to reduce CPU consumption.
- Improved use of advanced search operators for non-English languages.
Word
- Ribbon extensibility. Use ribbon customization XML to customize the ribbon the way that you want it.
- Custom paper sizes in Page Setup are now supported.
- Find/Replace is corrected to move to the next matched word when Track Changes is turned on.
- Fixed crashes that occur when you use Mail Merge together with Outlook.
- Headers/Footers: Page numbering: Number of Pages option is corrected to display numbers greater than two digits.
Excel
- Ribbon extensibility. Use ribbon customization XML to customize the ribbon the way that you want it.
- Improved support for pasting from external applications.
- Scroll bars now correctly respect OS X scroll bar settings
PowerPoint
- Ribbon extensibility. Use ribbon customization XML to customize the ribbon the way that you want it.
It is not clear if today's Office 2016 update fixes problems that Office users have been having with Office 2016 and OS X El Capitan, as Microsoft does not outline specific fixes for those issues in the software release notes. Problems with Office 2016 and OS X El Capitan include frequent crashing, inaccessible email, and an inability to open some apps.
Microsoft has also released an update for Office 2011 that preserves ribbon customization in documents and allows calendar events with online meeting details to be edited in Outlook for Mac and opened in Outlook for Windows. Microsoft previously released an Office 2011 update that fixed issues users were having with OS X El Capitan.
The updates can be downloaded through Microsoft's AutoUpdate tool which is available within each app. The updates are available for OS X Yosemite and later.
Update October 14 11:18 AM: Microsoft has posted a support document acknowledging that this update does not address the crashing issues under OS X El Capitan and suggesting the fixes will require an update to El Capitan itself.
On October 13, 2015, 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.
Top Rated Comments
I work at IBM and we actively encourage using Lotus Symphony instead of Office. We also use Open Office and iWork. Google Drive is the only thing that we say you absolutely should not use (because Google scrapes the documents).
And IBM moves at glacier speeds. If IBM not only allows, but encourages, using alternatives to Microsoft Office, I think that most companies have probably stopped considering Microsoft Office to be a must-have.
"I am el nino which is spanish for the nino"