However as Lanny was implying the current version of El Capitan is now 10.11.4 which is the version you should be using and is the onlyversion you can download from the Mac App Store. Saying all the above this does not mean El Capitan 10.11.4 and the latest Office 2016 which is now I believe 15.21.1 are completely perfect. '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. OFFICE 2016 and El Capitan are totally unusable together. 2011 OFFICE is fine. I just deleted 2016 OFFICE and reinstalled 2011. I was plagued with constant crashes on opening files in the entire suite of programs, saving files and printing files but 2011 OFFICE works just fine. It is kinda annoying but not the end of the world.
Introduction
This article describes the Office 2016 for Mac update KB3098225 that was released on September 23, 2015. The update provides bug fixes and feature improvements to Microsoft Outlook 2016 for Mac. This update has a prerequisite.
Summary
This update provides the following fixes to improve Mac OS X El Capitan compatibility:
The Folder Pane, Message List, and Reading Pane now render correctly on startup and when you switch between views.
The green window button now performs the 'zoom' behavior instead of entering Full Screen mode. Full Screen mode is not yet supported in Outlook.
How to obtain the update
AutoUpdate
This update is available for manual download and installation from Microsoft AutoUpdate for Mac:
Virus-scan claim
Microsoft scanned this file for viruses by using the most current virus-detection software that was available on the date that the file was posted. The file is stored on security-enhanced servers that help prevent any unauthorized changes to it.
About Microsoft AutoUpdate for MacAutoUpdate is provided together with Office. It automatically keeps Microsoft software up-to-date. To use AutoUpdate, start a Microsoft Office program, and then click Check for Updates on the Help menu.
PrerequisitesTo apply this update, you must be using Mac OS X Yosemite (version 10.10) or a later version, and you must have a valid Office 365 Subscription. See more information about Office 365 Subscription options.
Note If you already have Office for Mac 2011 installed, you can run Office 2011 and Office 2016 side-by-side.
Restart requirementYou don't have to restart the computer after you install this update.
Update replacement informationThis update replaces the Outlook 2016 for Mac release 15.14.
It appears users of Microsoft Office 2016 are experiencing a high incident of the applications crashing since they upgraded to OS X El Capitan. Microsoft has acknowledged the problem and has indicated they are working closely with Apple to come up with a solution but have not indicated when that might be released.
Emails released by Microsoft have acknowledged the issue and one senior program manager, commented:
“We are aware of the issue with Outlook 2011 on El Capitan and of Office 2016 on El Capitan,” “We are working on a fix for 2011, and for 2016, we are working closely with Apple to resolve this issue as soon as possible,” “Unfortunately, we do not have any timelines for either fix, please stay tuned and thank you for your understanding.”
These problems may not be coming as a surprise to some as a review of message boards shortly after the release of the first public beta of OS X El Capitan in late July made mention of these issues.
A support discussion on Microsoft’s site (currently) goes on for 25 pages with close to 250 messages about the issue. Here is a link to the Microsoft Support Page so you can read some of them yourself.
No one is saying whether Microsoft had access to the pre-release versions of OS X El Capitan prior to its release on September 30th but given the popularity of the office suite, and the fact that Apple regularly makes their software available to third parties prior to a release, we would expect that they did get a copy. Beyond that, we suspect that at least some of the nearly 120,000 Microsoft employees obtained a copy of the pre-release software as part of Apple’s public beta program and certainly cold have done their own testing.
Until a solution is presented it will be hard to know whether this issue is caused by a problem with Microsoft’s application or something within the OS X El Capitan operating system. Regardless, absent evidence of other applications having a similar issue or more widespread crashes across the OS X El Capitan platform, we see this as Microsoft’s problem to fix.
One frustrated Microsoft user posted:
“You cannot blame Apple for this. It is down to Microsoft to test and update their own software to run on updated operating systems,” “How would Apple have access to the development code for a Microsoft product?”
Testing of the first maintenance release of El Capitan (10.11.1) is already in the hands of beta testers and no one is saying whether a fix for this issue is, or will be included in that release.
The Bottom Line
Our suggestion is, at least for the time being, if you are thinking of upgrading to Office 2016 for Mac, wait until this issue has been address and fixed. If you are using an older version of the Office suite, you should be OK. If you have already upgraded to Office 2016 for Mac and are experiencing issues, you may want to consider uninstalling the office suit and reverting back to an older version or using an alternative suite of applications.
If you are using a newer Mac, you should already have access to Apple’s Pages, Numbers and Keynote applications, all of which can save files in an Office compatible format.
Another option is one of the free, Open Source Office alternatives like Apache Open Office or Libre Office just to name two.
We’ll continue to follow this situation and provide an update when a solution is finally provided.
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UPDATE – 10/8/2015
Microsoft has released a partial fix for this issue. On September 7, 2015, Microsoft released Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 14.5.6 update and they state on their web site:
The hang situation that occurs during an account sync operation in Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011 is fixed.
Microsoft is still researching the issues associated with Microsoft Office for Mac 2016 which affects the entire Microsoft Office suite of applications. No estimate has been provided as to when that fix may be available.
Apple Tech Talker
Office 2016 For Mac El Capitan
