April’s security update for older Office version is causing app crashes

Yesterday, Microsoft rolled out a new batch of security updates for several of its apps and operating systems, including KB5055523 for Windows 11 24H2 and KB5055518 for Windows 10. But they haven’t been without faults. Microsoft’s updates may have closed critical vulnerabilities, but they’ve also caused problems for older software.

Windows Latest reports that the KB5002700 update for Office 2016—both Windows 10 and Windows 11 versions—is reportedly causing several apps in the suite to crash. Users on Reddit are reporting that Word and Excel crash when they try to create new documents and spreadsheets. Opening the calendar view in Outlook also causes that app to crash.

Microsoft hasn’t yet posted anything about the problems on the update’s support page. And given that the software is almost 9 years old now, it may not be a top priority for the company.

If you’re still using Office 2016 and affected by these issues, you’ll have to wait for Microsoft to push another patch—but who knows how long that could take. Alternatively, you can upgrade to either Office 2024 or a Microsoft 365 subscription. Learn more about choosing between Office 2024 and Microsoft 365 in our comparison guide.