Excel 2016 issue after Catalina update from 10.15.6to 10.15.7

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Excel 2016 issue after Catalina update from 10.15.6to 10.15.7

I had followed all of the suggestions in the thread on random shutdowns and restarts after the update and thought that I had fixed the problem. Recently, I have experienced problems with Excel 2016 (last available update before Microsoft ended support); variously, Excel sometimes won't launch, or won't quit, or after editing and closing a spreadsheet, it won't open a different spreadsheet or respond to any other commands. Any ideas other than buying Office 2019?

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Mar 26, 2021 3:01 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

VikingOSX

Level 10

126,864 points

Mar 27, 2021 10:27 AM in response to Stanley Kalemaris

Office 2016 for Mac would need to be updated to the 64-bit version to be supported on Catalina, and it is unlikely it was designed to work with Catalina in the first place. Now that Office 2016 is a retired product, there will be no further updates for it that might alleviate compatibility issues on Catalina.

You might consider using the current LibreOffice Suite as a solution bridge until Microsoft releases Office 2021 for Mac later this year.

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Answer 2

VikingOSX

Level 10

126,864 points

Mar 27, 2021 5:33 PM in response to Stanley Kalemaris

Apple is not taking any precautionary pains to avoid breaking Office 2016 for Mac, and with the retirement of Office 2016 last Fall, neither is Microsoft. Replacing macOS is a full installer operation, and Apple does not maintain any of these except for the last released version of Catalina, which would be 10.15.7. That is not directly available from the Mac App Store without visiting How to get old versions of macOS using exclusively the Safari browser, and an associated link to that version of Catalina in the Mac App Store.

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Answer 3

DonH49

Level 6

16,726 points

Mar 26, 2021 4:38 PM in response to Stanley Kalemaris

Seems to me to be a failed system install that's corrupted. I'd try to redo that before blowing more money on office product. 2016 should work under Catalina.

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Answer 4

VikingOSX

Level 10

126,864 points

Mar 28, 2021 5:31 AM in response to Stanley Kalemaris

Replacing the version of the operating system is an entire wipe and replace, and cannot be had by a simple restore from a point in time on a Time Machine backup. You would have had to make a final Time Machine backup of 10.15.6 — before you updated to 10.15.7, and then set that 10.15.6 Time Machine drive aside, and not use it again.

Had you achieved clairvoyance and done that, then you could boot into Recovery, and select Restore from Time Machine backup, and that 10.15.6 TM backup would have formatted your 10.15.7 boot drive, and then repaved it with the contents of that 10.15.6 drive. Not happening now.

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Answer 5

DonH49

Level 6

16,726 points

Mar 28, 2021 4:37 PM in response to Stanley Kalemaris

I just completed a Big Sur clean install and added MS Office 2016 and it runs just fine.

When you download a large install dmg pay attention to what the download is doing. They hesitate , I don't like it. I like strait through quick download and prefer that for an install.

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Answer 6

Mar 26, 2021 5:03 PM in response to DonH49

I'll give it a try. I did that previously and it did sove the random shutdowns and restarts. I'm not sure why the reinstall would have been corrupted again, but it's worth a couple of hours to avoid giving Gates more money; especially since Office ,19 will be replaced again next year.

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Answer 7

Mar 27, 2021 4:25 PM in response to VikingOSX

Office 2016 is 64-bit, and worked fine with Catalina through version 10.15.6. Other problems (failure to shut down, random restarts) began after update to 10.15.7, but did not involve Excel. Reinstalling Catalina (too bad I couldn’t figure out how to revert to 10.15.6 - any suggestions on how to do that would be appreciated) solved those problems; the Excel problem didn’t occur until a couple of months after the reinstall.

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Answer 8

Mar 27, 2021 7:48 PM in response to VikingOSX

I know how to get older operating systems, but it appears that Apple only makes the final update update of an OS available. Does anyone know get interim versions i.e. 10.15.6? Restore from Time Machine? Unfortunately, I don’t know the date that I updated to final version of Catalina. Perhaps I can find the release date for .7 and select a backup from an earlier date?

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Answer 9

Mar 28, 2021 2:04 PM in response to VikingOSX

That confirms my fears. Not what I wanted to hear, but I can stop wasting my time looking for a solution other than buying a new version of Office. (btw, I’ve had Libre Office for years and it does MOST of what I need, but not everything)

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Excel 2016 issue after Catalina update from 10.15.6to 10.15.7

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