If your Microsoft Office 2016 apps suddenly started crashing last week, you’re not alone. Fortunately, Microsoft has rolled out an emergency fix to help users get back on track after one of their security update caused Outlook and other Office 2016 apps to stop working.
The troubles started began after a recent Patch Tuesday update (KB5002457), part of the April 9 cumulative release. Instead of patching a security hole, the update caused Outlook and other Office 2016 programs to crash when users opened emails or tried to perform certain tasks.
Microsoft says the crashes were related to a memory handling issue triggered by the April update but hasn’t explained how this widespread bug wasn’t detected during their testing of the patch.
In response, Microsoft has now issued a new update (KB5002459) to address the problem. This emergency patch, released over the weekend, is available through the Microsoft Update Catalog and should stop the crashes affecting Outlook 2016 and other apps in the Office suite.
Users are encouraged to install the fix manually if they’re still experiencing issues, since the faulty update may have disrupted daily work.
Both updates KB5002700 and KB5002623 must be installed to get Office 2016 working again.
To apply the solution on an MSI install of Office 2016, head to the Microsoft Update Catalog and download the correct version (64 or 32-bit for your system.
For ‘Click to Run’ CtR installs, force an update to Office 2016. The software should have automatically updated but it can’t hurt to make sure.
A reminder that Office 2016 ends support in October this year.
