Microsoft Fixes Crashing Issues in Office Apps Like Outlook and Word

In August, Microsoft confirmed that Office applications such as Outlook, Word, and OneNote were experiencing crashes while typing or during spell-checking, among other functionalities. The company indicated that these crashes could be due to outdated language packs causing compatibility conflicts. At that time, a temporary workaround was provided.

Now, Microsoft has announced that it has effectively resolved the issue and has provided a detailed explanation of the cause. The company stated:

CAUSE

The crash issue arises from a version mismatch between the Office 2016 proofing tools and the Office language packs installed as part of Microsoft 365 (M365) apps for Enterprise. This mismatch may be a result of remnants from previous installations or during an Office suite update. Running Office 2016 alongside M365 apps is unsupported due to the varied installation methods of the same version. For more information, visit Office installed with Click-to-Run and Windows Installer on the same computer isn’t supported.

The specific Office builds that address the issue are as follows:

STATUS: FIXED

This issue is resolved in the following builds:

Beta Channel: Version 2409 (Build 18021.15000)
Current Channel Preview: Version 2409 (Build 18025.20000)
Current Channel: Version 2409 (Build 18025.20000) ETA 9/24/24

If you’ve experienced these crashes, it’s highly recommended to update your Office to one of the versions listed above.

Additionally, Microsoft has elaborated on how this resolution addresses two compatibility conflict issues:

This fix resolves two problems:

Older versions of proofing tools installed with M365 Office.

Office 2016 proofing tools can be downloaded via standalone per-language installers. While they may seem to function correctly, using these tools with later versions of Office is not supported.

This fix prevents crashes in Word, Outlook, OneNote, and PowerPoint caused by this unsupported installation scenario. Users are strongly advised to uninstall the Office 2016 proofing tools if they are using a subsequent version of Office and to install the corresponding Office language packs instead, as these packs will automatically update alongside the Office version they are paired with.

Current versions of M365 Office where the language pack version does not match the main installer.

This fix also addresses issues when the M365 Click-to-Run language pack version differs from the main installer. The fix will prevent future occurrences of this issue. However, if problems persist after installing the fixed build, you may need to repair Office using the workaround guidance below.