Office 2016 / EL Capitan don't play well together

[Easttime]

the 15.15.0 Update has fixed the most common error I had, which was Excel doing the "bounce, bounce" in the dock and then crashing on startup. Now it is working OK again.

Not for me. I did not have that problem before the update, and did encounter it on one machine today.

Found a new to me problem: One of the features I really like about OSX over Windows is the ability to change a filename in Finder while the file is open in the app. But today I made the mistake of trying that with a PowerPoint file. The filename did not change in PowerPoint as it always has in the past, and I ended up with a munged presentation that I had to rebuild. Something going on with file management comms between MS Office apps and OSX methinks, but then I am not a modern day programmer.

 

[eastamherstbias]

Update- Still a disaster. I just tried to open a excel file and all of the office suite locked up so I need to force close everything. My daily routine.

 

[Easttime]

Update- Still a disaster. I just tried to open a excel file and all of the office suite locked up so I need to force close everything. My daily routine.

Are you opening files by clicking on the filename in Finder, or by using the File/Open routine within Excel? I find the latter works, but get crashes opening a mail attachment and sometimes when opening a file by clicking on the file in Finder.

 

[jeanlain]

Same here. This am, prior to applying the update, I forgot and tried to launch Word by clicking on a Word file in Finder. Crash. Then I applied the update and repeated: no problem. Launched PowerPoint the same way and called Excel from within PowerPoint: all fine. Hopefully the laggy typing in Word is gone too.

I have found that the laggy typing is due to the background spell check that never finishes. If you disable grammar check as typing, this may solve the issue.

 

[whodatrr]

El-Crap-Gate!!!!

Two of my three Macs are now unusable. I was an idiot for trusting Apple with this, and will always wait 6 months prior to updating future OSs. This is completely unacceptable!

My main 27 iMac is now pretty much useless. I earn my keep with the Offie Suite, none of which is useable. Sometimes I can get PPT or Word working for a bit, then one will crash which has had a cascading effect on the rest of my apps. That system is using El_Crap, with Office 365. Even switching back to Office 11 doesn't help. Non-Office apps are buggy as well. Prior to this update, that system has been rock, for years.

My 1 week old rMBB is also useless, because it has an El-crap OS and Office. I'm sick of this! I just ordered this machine from Apple, last week. I'm packing it up and bringing it to the Apple store today or tomorrow.

I'm now stuck using an older MBA, which sucks because it's too slow for me, and it only supports one external display.

Thank God I have a Surface Pro 3. It supports dual displays and is much faster than my older MBA. I guess this may be the straw that broke the camel's back? I'm now sitting in an office surrounded by 5 27" displays that are pretty much useless, thanks to El-Crap.

How could they ship El-Crap, knowing it had these issues?

Summary: El-Crap broke my main system. It's getting me to return the new system that I purchased from Apple, last week. And it's forcing me to use Windows 10, for my job.

 

[Steve121178]

Summary: El-Crap broke my main system. It's getting me to return the new system that I purchased from Apple, last week. And it's forcing me to use Windows 10, for my job.

Without meaning to annoy you, as you 'earn your keep' with Office, you really should have been using Windows anyway. Office runs hand-in-hand with Windows, not to mention the Windows version has always been light years ahead of the Mac version.

 

[whodatrr]

That's a serious consideration. I'm pretty locked into the Apple ecosystem with: iPads, MacBooks, iMacs, ATVs, iPhones, Time Capsule/Machine, etc. And this transition won't be a easy. But if Apple and MS continue to head in the respective paths that they appear to be on, I may have to?

Without meaning to annoy you, as you 'earn your keep' with Office, you really should have been using Windows anyway. Office runs hand-in-hand with Windows, not to mention the Windows version has always been light years ahead of the Mac version.

 

[Steve121178]

That's a serious consideration. I'm pretty locked into the Apple ecosystem with: iPads, MacBooks, iMacs, ATVs, iPhones, Time Capsule/Machine, etc. And this transition won't be a easy. But if Apple and MS continue to head in the respective paths that they appear to be on, I may have to?

I use a mixture of Windows/Mac/iOS devices and transition couldn't be easier as everything plays well together.

If you make a living with Office then Windows 10 & Office 2016 is as good as it gets.

 

[whodatrr]

Yep, probably where I'm headed.

I use a mixture of Windows/Mac/iOS devices and transition couldn't be easier as everything plays well together.

If you make a living with Office then Windows 10 & Office 2016 is as good as it gets.

 

[Alameda]

Without meaning to annoy you, as you 'earn your keep' with Office, you really should have been using Windows anyway. Office runs hand-in-hand with Windows, not to mention the Windows version has always been light years ahead of the Mac version.

I just don't think that's true. I work in a corporate environment that's all Windows. The IT Department has a sort of loophole for remote salespeople to own their own computers, but it applies to everyone. So instead of the Lenovo ThinkPad, I use my personal MacBook Pro. I use Office 2011 and Outlook through a VPN to the Exchange Server, and it all works. I've done this for about four years. My work consists of Word/PowerPoint/Excel/Outlook, like most basic enterprise workers.

So, how does it work? I exchange e-mail, PowerPoints, and Word documents with my Windows-based colleagues all day long, every day. Never a problem, except when I tried to remove a bunch of unnecessary fonts (they turned out to be necessary after all).

When I upgraded to El Capitan, I was surprised that Outlook 2011 couldn't operate at all. It really surprises me that Apple would release an OS update without testing against Office. As many know, if Apple wants Macintoshes in the enterprise, they have to work with MS Office. And, frankly, I think that Apple's productivity apps are not especially good. If Apple made them all file format compatible with MS Office, they'd really have something.

With the latest 14.5.7 patch, Office 2011, including Outlook, is very solid.

I just downloaded Office 2016, but I am not going to install it until I get the "All Clear" from some other folks here on MacRumors.

 

[newellj]

Without meaning to annoy you, as you 'earn your keep' with Office, you really should have been using Windows anyway. Office runs hand-in-hand with Windows, not to mention the Windows version has always been light years ahead of the Mac version.

And, fwiw, the keyboard and keyboard shortcuts work better with Windows. I use both, but as you say the Windows version just works better (big surprise? ).

 

[flowrider]

When I upgraded to El Capitan, I was surprised that Outlook 2011 couldn't operate at all. It really surprises me that Apple would release an OS update without testing against Office. As many know, if Apple wants Macintoshes in the enterprise, they have to work with MS Office. And, frankly, I think that Apple's productivity apps are not especially good. If Apple made them all file format compatible with MS Office, they'd really have something.

Isn't this the Tail wagging the dog? IMHO, it is the software developer's job to get his software running on the OS it's designed to run on and that the developer lists as System Requirements. Apple certainly gave everyone time to get on board.

And we know that Microsoft has and is working to solve the issues, not Apple.

Lou

 

[simon lefisch]

When I upgraded to El Capitan, I was surprised that Outlook 2011 couldn't operate at all. It really surprises me that Apple would release an OS update without testing against Office.

It wasn't up to Apple to test compatibility of Office, it was Microsofts responsibility. Apple had the OS available for devs to test for almost a year. MS dropped the ball by not having its software updated.

To give you an example, VMWare had Fusion ready for El Capitan. Many people use Fusion to run whatever Windows based OS they use in an enterprise environment. MS failed to play catch up.

 

[sracer]

Isn't this the Tail wagging the dog? IMHO, it is the software developer's job to get his software running on the OS it's designed to run on and that the developer lists as System Requirements. Apple certainly gave everyone time to get on board.

And we know that Microsoft has and is working to solve the issues, not Apple.

Lou

We know that?

"Microsoft informed customers it was aware of the problem nearly two weeks ago and said it was "actively working with Apple" on a fix, hinting the problem was on Apple's end and wasn't something Microsoft could fix alone."

 

[eastamherstbias]

Are you opening files by clicking on the filename in Finder, or by using the File/Open routine within Excel? I find the latter works, but get crashes opening a mail attachment and sometimes when opening a file by clicking on the file in Finder.

I get crashes both ways.

Today I hit Save and the whole suite, just crashed.

 

[eastamherstbias]

El-Crap-Gate!!!!

Two of my three Macs are now unusable. I was an idiot for trusting Apple with this, and will always wait 6 months prior to updating future OSs. This is completely unacceptable!

My main 27 iMac is now pretty much useless. I earn my keep with the Offie Suite, none of which is useable. Sometimes I can get PPT or Word working for a bit, then one will crash which has had a cascading effect on the rest of my apps. That system is using El_Crap, with Office 365. Even switching back to Office 11 doesn't help. Non-Office apps are buggy as well. Prior to this update, that system has been rock, for years.

My 1 week old rMBB is also useless, because it has an El-crap OS and Office. I'm sick of this! I just ordered this machine from Apple, last week. I'm packing it up and bringing it to the Apple store today or tomorrow.

I'm now stuck using an older MBA, which sucks because it's too slow for me, and it only supports one external display.

Thank God I have a Surface Pro 3. It supports dual displays and is much faster than my older MBA. I guess this may be the straw that broke the camel's back? I'm now sitting in an office surrounded by 5 27" displays that are pretty much useless, thanks to El-Crap.

How could they ship El-Crap, knowing it had these issues?

Summary: El-Crap broke my main system. It's getting me to return the new system that I purchased from Apple, last week. And it's forcing me to use Windows 10, for my job.

Welcome to my world. It is really unusable. I never know when a crash will wipe out all my work. I basically have it saving every minute to reduce me throwing the laptop on the ground. This is totally Microsoft's fault.... 100%.

 

[whodatrr]

I'm with you for the first part, but Office 2011 is broken as well. That sort of backward app compatibility is an OS vendor's job.

I'd go a month or more without rebooting, with office 2011, prior to El Crap. So I don't think this was Redmond's fault.


What angers me most is WTF? What the F was so compelling about El Crap that Apple though it worth pushing down our throats, despite the fact that doing so would negatively impact so many people's productivity? Sorry, but Win 8-like split screens or a cursor that enlarges when shaken isn't worth me not being able to check my work email or edit a spreadsheet! WTF was Apple thinking?

Welcome to my world. It is really unusable. I never know when a crash will wipe out all my work. I basically have it saving every minute to reduce me throwing the laptop on the ground. This is totally Microsoft's fault.... 100%.

 

[eastamherstbias]

I'm with you for the first part, but Office 2011 is broken as well. That sort of backward app compatibility is an OS vendor's job.

I'd go a month or more without rebooting, with office 2011, prior to El Crap. So I don't think this was Redmond's fault.


What angers me most is WTF? What the F was so compelling about El Crap that Apple though it worth pushing down our throats, despite the fact that doing so would negatively impact so many people's productivity? Sorry, but Win 8-like split screens or a cursor that enlarges when shaken isn't worth me not being able to check my work email or edit a spreadsheet! WTF was Apple thinking?

it is really a Microsoft issue that their Office suites are not playing well with El Cap. This happens when a new iOS comes out every year. The developers use the betas to make their apps stable by release. It seems like Microsoft did not care or thought it was only a small % who were going to have this issue. You don't know how much you take a stable Office Suite for granted until it crashes and you lose your work a couple times a day.

 

[Steve121178]

I just don't think that's true.

It is true. Windows & Office will always be a better experience than Mac & Office. Always.

 

[Alameda]

It is true. Windows & Office will always be a better experience than Mac & Office. Always.

Windows itself is a poor experience.

 

[Steve121178]

Windows itself is a poor experience.

Anyone can use it therefore Windows offers an exceptional experience.

 

[Alameda]

I'm with you for the first part, but Office 2011 is broken as well. That sort of backward app compatibility is an OS vendor's job.

I'd go a month or more without rebooting, with office 2011, prior to El Crap. So I don't think this was Redmond's fault.


What angers me most is WTF? What the F was so compelling about El Crap that Apple though it worth pushing down our throats, despite the fact that doing so would negatively impact so many people's productivity? Sorry, but Win 8-like split screens or a cursor that enlarges when shaken isn't worth me not being able to check my work email or edit a spreadsheet! WTF was Apple thinking?

Run the Update feature inside one of your Office 2011 apps and your stability will be restored. It's Office 2016 that still has the problems.

I agree with you that Apple's management is incompetent for releasing an OS update that crashes Office.

 

[Alameda]

Anyone can use it therefore Windows offers an exceptional experience.

Anyone can pound nails using their forehead instead of a hammer, but that doesn't make it a good experience.

 

[Steve121178]

Anyone can pound nails using their forehead instead of a hammer, but that doesn't make it a good experience.

I refuse to get into a Windows/OS X debate because I am above all that nonsense.

 

[Alameda]

It wasn't up to Apple to test compatibility of Office, it was Microsofts responsibility. Apple had the OS available for devs to test for almost a year. MS dropped the ball by not having its software updated.

If Apple believes that it is important for MacOS to maintain and grow its foothold in the Enterprise market, then they shouldn't ship an OS that doesn't work with MS Office. Pointing the finger doesn't help the customer. As you know, the customers were all using MS Office, they install the OS update, and then the computer crashes.

I refuse to get into a Windows/OS X debate because I am above all that nonsense.

Why would anyone get into a Windows/OS X debate on a Mac forum?
My company bought me a brand new i5 Lenovo ThinkPad with a docking station and SSD and 8 GB of RAM, then they installed the standard corporate firewall, disk encryption, remote backup, virus and whatever-else software, and the laptop runs very, very slowly. And I don't like the trackpad at all. And it boots slowly, and resumes from sleep slowly.

So a friend sold me his used MacBook Air, and I bought Office for Mac at a ridiculously low price through an employee program. And it boots almost instantly, and resumes from sleep instantly. And all of my co-workers are amazed that Macs can just wake up instantly, and the windows move around quickly. Maybe it's the Lenovo laptop, but I think it's the same basic Intel hardware that my MacBook had.

I don't want to debate it with you, either. I mean, I know that a billion people love Windows and I don't need to convince any of them. And maybe there are ways to make Windows faster, but I don't really need to burn any more cycles over it. I'm just telling you why I am super happy using a Mac for my work instead of Windows.