Release notes for Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel

Article
12/01/2023

These release notes provide information about new features and non-security updates that are included in Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel updates for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, Microsoft 365 Apps for business, and the subscription versions of the desktop apps for Project and Visio.

New, or updated, features are released in Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel twice a year, on the second Tuesday in January and July.

Version 2302: November 14

Version 2302 (Build 16130.20846)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Outlook

We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly after clicking "Cancel" on the Wait on Send dialog when attachments are present.

Version 2208: November 14

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20816)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Outlook

We fixed an issue that caused the body of meeting requests to sometimes be truncated or blank after applying the August 2023 security update.

Version 2302: October 10

Version 2302 (Build 16130.20810)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Outlook

We fixed an issue where the Louder Labels sensitivity menu was not visible in the ribbon for users in the Semi-Annual Channel.
We fixed an issue where the Microsoft To Do app failed to load for some customers.
We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to exit unexpectedly when inserting a Loop component into a meeting request, as well as other meeting body issues.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where clicking on the title bar with mandatory labeling required didn't open the save dialog.

Word

We fixed an issue where running Accessibility Checker would display the error, “Image or object not inline” when using Sensitivity Labels.

Version 2208: October 10

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20796)

Security updates listed here

Version 2302: September 12

Version 2302 (Build 16130.20766)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Outlook

We fixed an issue that caused users to receive a Non-Delivery Report (NDR) when overriding the oversharing policy notification or reporting it as a false positive.
We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to fail to display PolicyTips in Outlook sessions that were launched with no internet connection.
We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly when viewing an email.
We fixed an issue that caused some users of Outlook to see a "Retrieving templates from server" dialog for a very long time when clicking on the "From" field in an email message.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue to enable the auto sensitivity label recommendation feature.

Word

We fixed an issue where some Word files were using abnormally large amounts of memory.
We fixed an issue to enable the auto sensitivity label recommendation feature.

Office Suite

We fixed an issue where broken SVG assets didn't fall back on their raster image counterparts.
We fixed an issue that prevented the description of sensitivity labels from being shown in tooltips when hovering with a mouse on a parent label.

Version 2208: September 12

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20772)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Outlook

We fixed an issue that caused some users of Outlook to see a "Retrieving templates from server" dialog for a very long time when clicking on the "From" field in an email message.

Version 2302: August 08

Version 2302 (Build 16130.20714)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where hyperlinks were not working if they contained the "#" symbol when exporting to a .PDF file.

Version 2208: August 08

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20742)

Security updates listed here

Version 2202: August 08

Version 2202 (Build 14931.21078)

Security updates listed here

Version 2302: July 27

Version 2302 (Build 16130.20694)

Resolved issues

Office Suite

This update fixes an extended range of supported characters to prevent display issues in Office apps.

Version 2208: July 27

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20738)

Resolved issues

Office Suite

This update fixes an extended range of supported characters to prevent display issues in Office apps.

Version 2202: July 27

Version 2202 (Build 14931.21076)

Resolved issues

Office Suite

This update fixes an extended range of supported characters to prevent display issues in Office apps.

Version 2302: July 11

Version 2302 (Build 16130.20644)

Security updates listed here

Feature updates

Access

Connector for Dataverse and Power Platform: While Access has been integrated with the cloud through Sharepoint and SQL, the new connector to Dataverse and the Power Platform enables totally new scenarios that unlocks benefits for developers who can now create custom apps for Mobile and MS Teams, plus automations, and chatbots built with Power Platform and Dataverse for Teams that work directly with their Access data and Dataverse.

Excel

Touch Improvements to Ribbon: We’ve improved the spacing of buttons in the Ribbon when the device is being used in Tablet posture.
Apply sensitivity labels to PDFs created with Office apps: We’re allowing you to use these labels to protect PDFs created using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for Windows.
See details in blog post
Speed-up filtering when workbook contains lots of conditional formatting rules: When your workbook contains lots of conditional formatting rules, it can slow down applying a filter such as a color filter. No longer! By optimizing the underlying data structure we’ve sped up filtering.
Improvements to Power BI Request Access: We’ve upgraded the experience for users who create PivotTables connected to Power BI datasets. Prior to the improved experience, when a user tried to refresh a PivotTable connected to a dataset that they do not have access to, they would see a generic error message. Now, a specific error dialog appears that informs the user that they do not have access to the dataset and allows them to click a link to request access from the owner. Once access is granted, the user can go back to the PivotTable and refresh to continue their analysis.
See details in blog post
PivotTable overlap improvements: We have improved the experience when PivotTables overlap other content in your workbook.
Smooth Scrolling: Scrolling in your sheet is now much smoother - no snapping to rows and columns. Learn more
Reducing unwanted fragmenting of conditional formatting rules: Check out the improved performance and faster calculations when applying conditional formatting rules to cells. We've done so by reducing fragmentation of data when pasting copied cells into that a cell range.
Speeding up Formula Entry: Excel has sped up entering a formula in a cell noticeably by reducing memory usage, making more efficient use of allocated memory, and optimizing redrawing. These optimizations are more noticeable on devices with slower Memory or slower CPU-Memory throughput as well as for larger cell ranges.
Copy Paste is more efficient: Copy/paste now uses an index-based search, rather than a linear scan, for more optimal merging. The optimizations are especially noticeable on low-end devices with constrained hardware.
New Text and Array Functions: We’ve added fourteen new text and array functions to supercharge your spreadsheets: TEXTBEFORE, TEXTAFTER, TEXTSPLIT, EXPAND, TAKE, DROP, VSTACK, HSTACK, CHOOSEROWS, CHOOSECOLS, TOROW, TOCOL, WRAPROWS and WRAPCOLS.
See details in blog post

Outlook

Improved Calendar Search: Improvements have been made to Calendar search, largest of which is the ability to more easily find the next occurrence of a series in search results.
New location for Outlook modules and apps: We’ve updated how you switch between Mail, Calendar, People, and other apps. Now your Outlook experience is more consistent with other Microsoft 365 products like Teams and Office.com.

PowerPoint

Touch Improvements to Ribbon: We’ve improved the spacing of buttons in the Ribbon when the device is being used in Tablet posture.
Apply sensitivity labels to PDFs created with Office apps: We’re allowing you to use these labels to protect PDFs created using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for Windows.
See details in blog post
Record: Make your presentations more impactful by recording videos with narration Learn more
See details in blog post
Save Media with Closed Captions: Now when you save media to a file in PowerPoint, the closed captions associated with the media are also saved.
See details in blog post
PowerPoint Cameo on Desktop: Insert and modify camera in your slides before presentations.

Visio

See files others have shared with you: It’s now easier to find key documents in Visio. Any documents shared with you will automatically show up in your list; typically, the most relevant documents to you appear at the top of the list. Note that you'll only see the specific files people have chosen to share with you, so that their other files remain secure. To experience this feature, simply click on the Home tab or the Open tab and select Shared with Me. Now you can find all files shared with you in one place!

Word

Apply sensitivity labels to PDFs created with Office apps: We’re allowing you to use these labels to protect PDFs created using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint for Windows.
See details in blog post
Read Aloud just got better: The Read Aloud Toolbar features new, natural sounding voice options Learn more
See details in blog post
Touch Improvements to Ribbon: We’ve improved the spacing of buttons in the Ribbon when the device is being used in Tablet posture.

Office Suite

Add SketchUp files to Office creations: SketchUp is a popular 3D graphics program that makes it easy to create shareable conceptual designs, such as fully textured architectural models and other graphics used in industrial design, product design, and civil and mechanical engineering. Now, for the first time, SketchUp graphics (.skp files) can be integrated into your creations in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook!
See details in blog post
Added support for third-party storage hosts in Office: Users can now coauthor in real-time on files stored in a select set of third-party cloud storage providers using the Office desktop, web, and mobile apps. On Windows and macOS, users can provision a supported cloud storage provider using the “Add a Place” feature under File / Open. Provisioning tools for Windows and macOS are also available for IT Administrators.

Resolved issues

Access

We fixed an issue where the Query Designer may show the incorrect font until it is closed and re-opened when changing the Office Theme.
We fixed an issue where Access does not correctly validate the signature on the database when the Trust Center Macro settings are set to run only digitally signed code when using an .accdr (Access Runtime) file.
We fixed an issue where users would get an ERROR: 3155, ODBC--insert on a linked table [table name] message when inserting a new row into a linked SQL Server table that has an INSERT trigger.
We fixed an issue that may cause the error "The operating system is not presently configured to run this application." when trying to use DAO (Data Access Objects) from an application that is not a Microsoft 365 App.
We fixed an issue where OLEBD/ADODB interfaces exposed by the Access Database Engine from Excel may be significantly slower in recent versions of Office.
We fixed an issue that may cause the application to close unexpectedly when exporting from an SAS application to a Microsoft Office format.

Excel

We fixed an issue where the OneDrive server file lock was not being released immediately in certain cases when an Excel spreadsheet was closed.
We fixed an issue where Windows Shell features would stop responding when Office and certain other apps are installed.
Pivot Tables connected to Power BI datasets now have proper date support. Previously, dates were treated as strings, but they now are treated as datetime objects that allow for proper filtering and sorting of the data. If you do not yet have the feature, you will be able edit your existing PivotTable.
We fixed an issue where copying and pasting a pivot chart would cause Excel to close unexpectedly.
We fixed an issue where the application would close unexpectedly when toggling the visibility of the ribbon, when sheet tabs were hidden.
We fixed an issue where the File > Get Add-ins button hotkey had a conflict with the Save As button due to an incorrectly set keytip when opening the Control Get Add-ins button. The modified button (Get Add-ins) will use B as the hotkey.
We fixed an issue where some content could stop working and not appear correctly after zooming with touchpad.
We fixed an issue where clicking on an email notification with an @mention in a comment caused Excel to close unexpectedly if the workbook was already open in a hidden window.
We fixed an issue that compiled VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) macros more often.
We fixed an issue where formulas were not updating after adding a label.
We fixed an issue where a name conflict appeared randomly when files were opened from Teams and SharePoint sites.
We fixed an issue where a file could not be previewed in File Explorer if the file's extension included a capital letter such as XLSX, or Xlsx.
We fixed an issue where the Clipboard Locked Alert is disrupting the workflow for some users.
We fixed an issue where enlarging a TreeMap Chart to a specific size would trigger a message stating that the file could not be saved and would be opened in read-only mode.
We fixed an issue where Excel would stop responding after calling many asynchronous user-defined functions.
We fixed an issue where Excel would stop responding when selecting the Clear option under Sort & Filter from the Editing group on the Ribbon.
We fixed an issue where Power Query did not combine files that contained .xlsx type when connecting to a SharePoint folder.
We fixed an issue that caused the application to close unexpectedly when you right click on a chart and select edit.
We fixed an issue where the application would close unexpectedly when you inserted a People Graph add-in in a right-to-left language.
We fixed an issue in Word in which applying sketched outlines to pictures and saving, resulted in the file not being usable when copied and pasted into PowerPoint and Excel.
We fixed an issue where linked images would not load when using certain URLs.
We fixed an issue where the "connecting to" dialog box was shown during Save/Save-As when a UNC (Universal Naming Convention) path was set as the default save directory.

OneNote

We fixed an issue where users were unable to scroll using touch screen.

Outlook

We fixed an issue where Outlook would close unexpectedly when forwarding a large email with an SVG file if “Spell check before sending” was enabled.
We fixed an issue that caused users to experience the application to close unexpectedly when switching views in the calendar module.
We fixed an issue that caused the application to close unexpectedly when using Add-ins that were triggered by a FromChanged event.
We fixed an issue that caused users to see an empty From field drop down when their profile included an SMTP address with an asterisk in it.
We fixed an issue that caused users with an Outlook.com account in their profile to be prompted for their password and to receive the following error message: "You cannot log in with a personal account. Use your work or school account."
We fixed an issue that caused emails to get stuck in the outbox for some profiles that had multiple Exchange accounts configured.
We fixed an issue that caused users to receive an unclear error message when sending an email to a recipient with a very large certificate.
We have resolved an issue affecting users of the Label Inheritance feature, which led to incorrect sensitivity label extraction from unencrypted files when co-authoring was enabled.
We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly when using Loop Components in an email.
We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly when opening emails with a Data Loss Prevention policy applied.
We fixed an issue where some settings did not roam between machines when switching to Focused Inbox.
We fixed an issue that caused users in Government Community Cloud tenants to be unable to launch To-Do in Outlook.
We fixed an issue that caused the Sub-folders search scope to be broken when searching in the Online Archive.
We fixed an issue that caused users to see an inaccurate count of the number of new notifications present when opening the notification pane.
We fixed an issue that caused the focus on the message list to be lost when using CTRL+Tab to navigate from a folder in one mailbox to a folder in another mailbox.
We fixed an issue that caused the application to close unexpectedly when clicking on non-HTTP links.
We fixed an issue that caused users to see the message body flash white when closing a message.
We fixed an issue that caused the application to close unexpectedly when bringing up persona cards.
We fixed an issue that caused users to experience the application to close unexpectedly shortly after boot.
We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly when submitting feedback.
We fixed an issue that caused users who disabled service notifications to see a deprecated user interface.
We fixed an issue that caused the Suggested Replies feature to not be disabled when connected experiences are disabled.
We fixed an issue where the Organization tab of people cards was stuck in a "Loading" state indefinitely.
We fixed an issue where the “From” field and Signatures were not working while using Google Workspace Sync for Microsoft Outlook.
We fixed an issue that caused the new labels to fail to appear for some users of the Label Inheritance feature.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where Windows Shell features would stop responding when Office and certain other apps are installed.
We fixed an issue in Word in which applying sketched outlines to pictures and saving, resulted in the file not being usable when copied and pasted into PowerPoint and Excel.
We fixed an issue where PowerPoint would hang for a few seconds when the user clicks on an extremely complex shape.
We fixed an issue where users were not be able to add or copy/paste a new slide into a presentation.
We fixed an issue with updating links when the linked file is already open.
We fixed an issue where the "connecting to" dialog box was shown during Save/Save-As when a UNC (Universal Naming Convention) path was set as the default save directory.
We fixed an issue where Proofing was not working for inserted Excel XML tables.

Project

We fixed an issue where upon opening an MPP file, you see the following error:

"An import error occurred.

Check row 1 column 5.

To continue importing with additional error messages, click Yes. To continue importing with no error messages, click No. To stop importing, click Cancel."
We fixed an issue that caused a manually-scheduled task’s start date to be after its finish date when an XML file was opened in Project.
We fixed an issue where Project was unable to connect to Project Server when forms-based authentication was used.
We fixed an issue where the task pane add-in API for Microsoft Project was not returning the proper value for the Summary, Milestone, and Active properties.

Visio

We fixed an issue where Autocad drawings would not open in Visio Plan 2.

Word

We fixed an issue in which users might see a dialog with the message "Contacting the Server" when attempting to open a file.
We fixed an issue where Windows Shell features would stop responding when Office and certain other apps are installed.
We fixed an issue where changing the reading speed for Read Aloud would cause Word to stop working.
We fixed an issue where the Read Aloud feature was not available when Microsoft 365 was deployed on Windows Server 2016.
We fixed an issue where the "connecting to" dialog box was shown during Save/Save-As when a UNC (Universal Naming Convention) path was set as the default save directory.
We fixed and issue in the Word dark mode theme where users were unable to see editable text in documents with restricted editing because the highlight color was too similar to the text color.
We fixed an issue where drafting a new email and @mentioning an Outlook contact group (a contact group that is created locally) in the email body wouldn't add the contact group to the ‘To’ field.
We fixed an issue where the tab stop marker would not work using the ruler.
We fixed an issue when using the Admin Managed Plugin and utilizing the Group Policy "Block all unmanaged add-ins", the registry key name was case-sensitive.
We fixed an issue where the header alignment was incorrect for sensitivity labels, causing the content to be cut off when printing.
We fixed an issue where choosing the Keep Source Formatting option when pasting content would result in characters such as a question mark (?) or a blank square being displayed.
We fixed an issue in the Shape.ZOrder method for objects.
We fixed an issue where the error message "The last time you opened filename, it caused serious error. Do you still want to open it?" may appear when creating Word documents through automation using templates.
We fixed an issue where a file could not be opened when using the command "update linked information in a Word source document" on documents saved in the cloud.
We fixed an issue where a dialog asking "This document contains links that may refer to other files. Do you want to update the document with the data from the linked files?" wouldn't appear for files with shortcuts.

Office Suite

We fixed an issue that caused sync and co-authoring to not work properly in some applications.
We fixed an issue where spaces were not inserted properly when inserting text with dictation.
We fixed an issue where Office will stop responding when Narrator is used in a comment.
We fixed an issue preventing the font dropdown's scroll bar from correctly appearing in Office 2016 and Office 2019.
We fixed an issue to block macros by default from executing from the Internet.
We fixed an issue related to text selection when using an Input Method Editor for East Asian languages.
We fixed an issue in which SlideShow slide transitions would draw incorrectly when displayed on a very high resolution display.
We fixed an issue with URL handling by Visual Basic macros.
We fixed an issue where users couldn't see the sensitivity label applied to an email when the label wasn't included in their label policy.
We fixed an issue where a manually applied sensitivity label could be overridden by an automatic label if the automatic label has higher priority.
We fixed an issue that prevented the description of sensitivity labels from being shown in tooltips when saving a new file.
We fixed an issue where users couldn't see the sensitivity label applied to an email on louder label anchor when the label wasn't included in their label policy.
We fixed an issue where a digital signature that used a timestamp authority would be erroneously shown as invalid on a document if the end-user signing certificate was revoked.

Version 2208: July 11

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20706)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Access

We fixed an issue that may cause the application to close unexpectedly when exporting from an SAS application to a Microsoft Office format.

Excel

We fixed an issue where Windows Shell features would stop responding when Office and certain other apps are installed.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where Windows Shell features would stop responding when Office and certain other apps are installed.

Word

We fixed an issue where Windows Shell features would stop responding when Office and certain other apps are installed.

Version 2202: July 11

Version 2202 (Build 14931.21040)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Excel

We fixed an issue where Windows Shell features would stop responding when Office and certain other apps are installed.
We fixed an alert to better communicate our text support for picture to drawing object conversion.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where Windows Shell features would stop responding when Office and certain other apps are installed.

Word

We fixed an issue where Windows Shell features would stop responding when Office and certain other apps are installed.
We fixed an alert to better communicate our text support for picture to drawing object conversion.

Version 2208: June 13

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20680)

Security updates listed here

Version 2202: June 13

Version 2202 (Build 14931.21024)

Security updates listed here

Version 2208: May 09

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20660)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Excel

We fixed an issue where copying and pasting a pivot chart would cause Excel to close unexpectedly.
We fixed an issue where Excel would stop responding when selecting the Clear option under Sort & Filter from the Editing group on the Ribbon.
We fixed an issue where Excel would stop responding after calling many asynchronous user-defined functions.
We fixed an issue where a name conflict appeared randomly when files were opened from Teams and SharePoint sites.
We fixed an issue where linked images would not load when using certain URLs.

Office Suite

We fixed an issue related to text selection when using an Input Method Editor for East Asian languages.

Version 2202: May 09

Version 2202 (Build 14931.21000)

Security updates listed here

Version 2208: April 11

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20626)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where PowerPoint was not responding and then closed unexpectedly when using the Compare function in the Review menu.
We fixed an issue where the document was perceived as updated when handling encrypted documents and document properties. This led to the user being prompted to save changes when closing the document, even if they had not made any modifications.

Word

We fixed an issue where attempting to open an .odt file with a table would result in an error message, "Word found unreadable content. Do you want to recover this document?”

Version 2202: April 11

Version 2202 (Build 14931.20964)

Security updates listed here

Version 2208: March 14

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20578)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Excel

We fixed an issue where Charts in PowerPoint or Word were not being updated to the data series set by other users during coauthoring sessions.

Outlook

We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to close intermittently.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue that forced users to save a copy when trying to close a file that was attached to an email.
We fixed an issue that could intermittently cause PowerPoint to close unexpectedly when navigating through slides.
We fixed an issue that could intermittently cause the slide to fail to render when navigating through slides.
We fixed an issue where presentations with redundant custom XML datastore items and an encrypted label failed to open.

Office Suite

We fixed an issue where links to comments could fail to open.
We fixed an issue where users couldn't see the sensitivity label applied to a document when the label wasn't included in their label policy.

Version 2202: March 14

Version 2202 (Build 14931.20944)

Security updates listed here

Version 2208: February 14

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20538)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Access

Fixed an issue that could cause Access Database Compare to fail to open the database.

Excel

We fixed an issue when enlarging the size of TreeMap Chart to a certain size in PowerPoint the user receives a message that the file could not be saved, and the file will be opened in read-only mode.

Outlook

We fixed an issue that caused S/MIME users to receive an NDR when selecting the "Send Unencrypted" option.
We fixed an issue that caused users to experience the application to close unexpectedly at unpredictable intervals when using some add-ins.
We fixed an issue where the time slots of calendars in side-by-side view do not line up correctly.
We fixed an issue that caused attachment size limits to not be evaluated when drag/dropping an attachment into a mail message.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where PowerPoint would close unexpectedly when loading a file with Web addin and shared runtime.
We fixed an issue where user is not able to add a new slide to the presentation.

Word

We fixed an issue where Word opened in read-only mode when remember my credentials was checked and Certificate required.
Resolved an issue where shapes would not have a selection handle when document is opened in compatibility mode.
We fixed an issue where a paragraph before non-editable content could not be deleted.
We fixed an issue in which Word would close unexpectedly when autosaving a template with a building block that contains a Rich Text content control with an image.

Office Suite

We fixed an issue where Editor would close unexpectedly.
Fixed an issue where a dialog box saying "Trying to connect" would appear for multiple minutes while trying to save a new file to a network share, e.g., while using Save As or Browse in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. This issue also affected saving email attachments to a network share.

Version 2202: February 14

Version 2202 (Build 14931.20926)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Outlook

We fixed an issue that caused users to experience the application to close unexpectedly at unpredictable intervals when using some add-ins.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where user is not able to add a new slide to the presentation.

Version 2108: February 14

Version 2108 (Build 14326.21336)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Outlook

We fixed an issue where references and reply-to headers were removed when replying to an email and the subject was changed.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where user is not able to add a new slide to the presentation.

Version 2208: January 10

Version 2208 (Build 15601.20456)

Security updates listed here

Feature updates

Excel

Optimal loading of font libraries to speed up Excel launch.: Postpones the loading of uncommonly used fonts until they are needed.
Copy data from the status bar: Quickly copy information from aggregations like "Sum," "Average," and "Count" from the status bar
See details in blog post
Find your data faster: The AutoFilter function is now noticeably faster! These improvements were achieved by reducing memory usage and optimizing the calls made by the filter’s comparison algorithm. The optimizations are especially noticeable on low-end devices that have less memory or slower CPU-memory throughput. Learn more
Lambda: Helper Functions: 7 new functions which make use of lambdas and provide help when authoring lambda solutions! See details in blog post

Outlook

One-click writing suggestions: Apply writing suggestions with a single click. Editor corrects spelling and grammar and gives you ideas for refining your writing. Learn more
See details in blog post
Grammar checking's got your back: Outlook marks grammar errors as you type, so you can apply suggestions with a single click. Learn more
See details in blog post
Use suggested replies in Outlook: When you receive an email message that can be answered by a short response, Outlook can suggest three responses you can use to reply with just a couple of clicks. Learn more
See details in blog post
Turn off Suggested Replies: Outlook makes it easy to reply faster to emails by offering short suggested replies for messages that can be answered with just a few words. Some users may not want to see this option, so it’s now possible to turn the feature off. To do so, select File > Options > Mail, go to the Replies and Forwards section, and clear the Show suggested replies check box.
Show multiple mini-months in Calendar To-Do Bar: This feature allows you to show multiple mini-months both horizontally and vertically in the Calendar To-Do bar.

Word

One-click writing suggestions: Apply writing suggestions with a single click. The updated Editor pane makes it easy to navigate between suggestions. Learn more
See details in blog post
Track just your changes in your documents: Sometimes when you're collaborating, you only want your own changes to be tracked, without forcing this setting on others. To track only your changes, go to Review tab, select Track changes, and choose Just Mine.
See details in blog post
Say it another way: When you want to say it differently, Rewrite is there to help. Rewrite offers alternatives for finessing your phrases.
See details in blog post
Proofread selected text with Editor: Review spelling, grammar, and get writing suggestions for just the selected text in your document.
See details in blog post

Resolved issues

Access

We fixed a recent regression where some users were unable to use DoCmd.TransferText with existing import/export specifications.
We fixed an issue that was prompting the "No current record" error and other messages.
We fixed an issue where localized decimal separators were not working correctly.
We fixed an issue where dataverse was showing in 2019 ribbon.
We fixed an issue that could cause the application to close unexpectedly when using the Access Database Engine OLEDB API with a database containing links to SharePoint lists.
We fixed an issue caused while attempting to support Unicode character in unique identifier column.
We fixed a performance issue where existing code from a user previously ran in a second in SA channel was taking 13 minutes to run in current channel.
We fixed an issue when opening an ACCDE/MDE file. Users may receive an error message with the text “Requested type library or wizard is not a VBA project.” Learn More
When a table with an Attachment or multi-valued field is selected, launching the Report, Label, or Query Wizard could cause Access to become unresponsive. This update fixes the issue so that these wizards work correctly again with all tables.
We fixed a recent issue where some users were unable to use DoCmd.TransferText with existing import/export specifications.
We fixed an issue that could cause memory issues when iterating over DAO recordsets in VBA code in Excel.
We fixed an issue that could cause memory usage of an application that uses DAO or OLEDB interfaces to read Access databases to grow rapidly. In some cases, this could cause abnormal program termination.

Excel

We fixed an issue when editing a newly created file a business bar label did not upload correctly.
Fixed an issue where the OneDrive server file lock was not being release immediately in certain cases when an Excel spreadsheet was closed.
We fixed an issue where the app closed unexpectedly when interacting with fonts.
We fixed an issue where the letter "j" was not being properly inserted.
In Office 2016 and Office 365 with Visual Refresh, the visibility of hovered and pressed sliders in Colorful and White themes has been improved in task panes and dialogs. In Office 365 with Fluent visuals enabled, the visibility of hovered and pressed sliders in Dark Gray and Black themes has been improved in task panes and dialogs. In Office 365 with Visual Refresh Darky Gray theme, an issue preventing the border of the scroll buttons from appearing in the Ribbon Font Picker dropdown has been resolved.
We fixed an issue that provides more information when a person attempts to use a map chart in an unsupported region.
This updates Excel 3D Maps connections to use TLS 1.2 and deprecate usage of TLS 1.1. For more details see Enable support for TLS 1.2 in your environment for Microsoft Entra TLS 1.1 and 1.0 deprecation.
We fixed an issue in which the "Show details" option was missing from the context menu for PivotTables in the data area.
We fixed an issue where the password caching function did not work with MSQuery x64 build.
We fixed an issue which could affect performance in some cases when there are cells that have Data Validation rules.
We fixed an issue where cell references in charts were displaying incorrectly.
We fixed an issue which caused Excel to close completely when choosing File > Close or pressing Ctrl+W to close the last workbook.
We fixed an issue where Excel could use an unexpectedly high amount of CPU when freeze panes were enabled, but not every freeze pane was on the screen.
We fixed an issue where shared workbooks in .xls format may improperly merge changes.
We fixed an issue where an AMSI scan would cause the app to close unexpectedly.
We fixed an issue where Excel could show a message bar indicating that a mandatory sensitivity label is required, even though the file already has a label.
We fixed an issue where a recovered file would be opened as read-only.
We fixed an issue that caused Excel to consume excessive memory.
We fixed an issue where running a VBA script / addin on a workbook with chart sheet may cause Excel to close unexpectedly.
We fixed an issue where signatures on sign workbooks would get invalidated upon zooming if the signature was currently focused.
We fixed an issue where users were unable to insert Word as OLE object in Excel when the Word file is saved on OneDrive for Business.
The old version of the custom autofilter dialog in Excel was not using the Windows settings for decimal separators and other custom number format options, but was instead using the defaults for the system region, even if the user overrode those defaults in Windows with their own options. This means that, for example, for a user using the Germany locale who then set their decimal separator in Windows to a dot (.), overriding the default of a comma (,), Excel would still think the normal decimal separator was a comma and that a number with a dot in the middle would correspond to a date, and the autofilter would assume a number like 1.23 was a date (January 1, 2023) and filter according to the numerical value of that date.

The new version of the custom autofilter dialog does not have these problems, and this fix activates the new version of the dialog so that it uses the correct decimal and digit grouping symbols from Windows when parsing numbers.
We fixed an issue where a small amount of random formulas were stuck in a state where they were not recalculated as they should be.
We fixed an issue in which an error could occur when trying to refresh data using Power Query from a large XML data source.
We fixed an issue for non-English locales, where the locale specific value of the General number format was being computed incorrectly.
We fixed an unexpected stop responding in Office rendering code.
We fixed an issue with rendering in Excel and Project when using certain older builds of Windows 11.
We fixed a visual glitch in the Formula bar.
We fixed an issue in Word in which applying sketched outlines to pictures and saving, resulted in the file not being usable when copied and pasted into PowerPoint and Excel.
We fixed an issue in Excel for images contained in filtered or hidden cells.
We fixed an issue that caused Excel to close unexpectedly when showing live preview of a chart.

OneNote

We fixed an unexpected stop responding in Office rendering code.
We fixed an issue that was causing the app to close unexpectedly.

Outlook

We fixed an issue that provides more information when a person attempts to use a map chart in an unsupported region.
We fixed an unexpected stop responding in Office rendering code.
We fixed an issue to help users find the correct settings for managing the default online meeting options for third party meeting providers.
We fixed an issue that caused some customers to see a grey box when trying to open the Viva Insights add-in.
We fixed an issue where the app closed unexpectedly when replying or forwarding an email while an Event-Based Add-In is running in the background.
We fixed an issue that prevented Outlook Event-Based Add-Ins from functioning properly.
This change enables the Every Meeting Online option for third party meeting applications.
We fixed an issue that caused the "Move to Other" functionality to stop responding properly.
Previously, when web add-ins registered for an event in an unsupported scenario, we would simply ignore the registration and return a success. We changed that behavior to return a failure, which ended up impacted existing add-ins, so we have reverted to the previous behavior.
We defined a registry key that when set fixes an issue that prevented messages from being sent when Outlook is running with multiple Exchange accounts and at least one of them is in Online mode (as opposed to cached mode.)

HkCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\16.0\Outlook\RPC REG_DWORD UseInclusiveGlobalOfflineCapabilities Default: 0

Value 1 = Adjusts the Global Offline Capabilities for profiles with Exchange accounts, so that they are less restrictively aggregated/computed.
We fixed an issue that caused messages using the Encrypt Only and Do Not Forward templates to return unexpected permissions through the object model.
We fixed an issue that caused Modern Groups related dialogs to be heavily broken.
We fixed an issue that caused some toggle-type options to sync incorrectly when using Cloud Settings.
We fixed an issue where Outlook can sometimes close unexpectedly when right-clicking on an app in the new app bar.
We fixed an issue that caused users to see the Journal module in their left rail navigation bar.
We fixed an issue that caused EU users to see information missing from person cards.
We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly during launch when connected to a OneDrive for Business endpoint with no service URL.
We fixed an issue that caused users to see the error "Cannot perform the requested operation..." when attempting to expand a local contact group.
We fixed an issue that caused users to experience a close unexpectedly on bringing up some persona cards.
We fixed an issue that caused the Customization Quick Access Toolbar file (.exportedUI) to not import when the simplified ribbon is in use.
We fixed and issue that caused users to experience the application to close unexpectedly shortly after boot.
We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to close unexpectedly when submitting feedback.
We fixed an issue that caused users to expect a stop responding in Outlook in some diagnostic scenarios.
We fixed an issue that caused users to experience a close unexpectedly when clicking on "Feedback."
We fixed an issue that caused users who disabled service notifications to see a deprecated UI showing notifications service disabled.
We fixed an issue that caused users to receive an authentication prompt when submitting feedback or contacting support.
We fixed an issue that caused users to see copies of all of their sent items appearing in their Outbox folder.
We fixed an issue that was causing users to see multiple copies of a shared calendar rendered in certain circumstances.
We fixed an issue that caused users to see only a subset of the messages to get moved when moving multiple mail items from Focused to Other or Other to Focused.
We fixed an issue where references and reply-to headers were removed when replying to an email and the subject was changed.
We fixed an issue that caused mails outside of the client sync window to be lost when moving a folder from a cached Outlook profile to the Online Archive.
We fixed an issue that caused users of Outlook Desktop in the Semi Annual Channel (version 2202) to experience a profile corruption issue that results in symptoms such as synchronization failures in shared folders and calendars, receiving NDRs for messages that have been delivered, and search failures in shared folders. Users experiencing this issue will need to re-create their profile to restore normal operations.
We fixed an issue that caused users to experience a close unexpectedly when trying to respond to certain contacts.
We fixed an issue that caused "No response required" to show on all forwarded meeting invites for delegates of room mailboxes when the Shared Calendar Improvements feature is enabled.
We fixed an issue that caused delegates to be unable to open a shared contacts folder despite having the correct permissions.
We fixed an issue that caused Exchange 2019 users to see Outlook not display the reply indicator icon on messages in search results.
We fixed an issue that caused users to be unable to load linked images when replying to or forwarding a message.
We fixed an issue that caused users to see multiple copies of a shared calendar rendered in certain circumstances.
We fixed an issue that prevented the Room Finder from loading in the GCC-High environment.
We fixed an issue that caused users to see the error message, "The attempted operation failed. An object could not be found" when searching an LDAP address book.
We fixed an issue where users were not able to add room mailboxes to the calendar.
We fixed an issue where calendars were not selected in the navigation pane when using "Open Shared Calendar."
We fixed an issue that caused shared calendars to be in an unselected state after adding them.
We fixed an issue that caused users to experience a close unexpectedly when deleting a folder.
We fixed an issue that caused Outlook to fail silently when adding a Modern Group as a shared calendar instead of displaying a sensible error message.

PowerPoint

We fixed an issue where changing the sensitivity label on a document while coauthoring with others might lose the picked sensitivity label.
In Office 2016 and Office 365 with Visual Refresh, the visibility of hovered and pressed sliders in Colorful and White themes has been improved in task panes and dialogs. In Office 365 with Fluent visuals enabled, the visibility of hovered and pressed sliders in Dark Gray and Black themes has been improved in task panes and dialogs. In Office 365 with Visual Refresh Darky Gray theme, an issue preventing the border of the scroll buttons from appearing in the Ribbon Font Picker dropdown has been resolved.
We fixed an issue that provides more information when a person attempts to use a map chart in an unsupported region.
We fixed an unexpected stop responding in Office rendering code.
We fixed an issue in Word in which applying sketched outlines to pictures and saving, resulted in the file not being usable when copied and pasted into PowerPoint and Excel.
We fixed an issue where users were unable to change the caption of a PDF object more than once.
We fixed an issue where the method Slides.AddSlide does not insert slide at the right index.
An issue preventing web add-in settings to propagate in a co-authoring session is fixed.
We fixed an issue where mandatory sensitivity labeling was not required for save-as when using browse to a location.
We fixed an issue where the user could not exit the app due to encryption rights.
We fixed a problem with exporting or saving a PDF from PowerPoint and Excel, where text or WordArt objects with a text fill that is not an opaque, solid color can't be read with a screen reader.
We fixed an issue with updating links when the linked file is already open.

Project

We fixed an unexpected stop responding in Office rendering code.
We fixed an issue which caused the app to close unexpectedly when the user was unable to open projects.
We fixed an issue where the app stop responding when leveling does not complete.
We fixed an issue where mask separator used an asterick if it matched with list separator. In filters asterick is used for regular expressions which caused errors and unexpected behavior if value contained it. A pipe (|) is now used.
We fixed an issue where the application opened onto a screen that is no longer available making the project hidden.
We fixed an issue for when assignment timephased actual cost values were viewed and reported on. The sum of these values may not have been equal to the scalar value (the value you see in a sheet view). As the timescale granularity went from very detailed such as daily to less detailed such as yearly, the differences between the summed and scalar values could be significant.
We fixed an issue where projects that worked properly before can no longer be opened. In this circumstance, Project closed unexpectedly.
We fixed an issue where the message "This project contains links to one or more data sources that may be unsafe and have been disabled. Would you like to enable these data sources? Only do this if you trust the source of the file." may appear when opening a project. The message appears even when the project doesn't have any active paste-links. Additionally, no active embedded objects are found in Gantt type views.
We fixed an issue where Project was unable to connect to Project Server when forms-based authentication was used.

Visio

We fixed an unexpected stop responding in Office rendering code.
We fixed an issue in Visio that caused the application to stop responding when repeatedly zooming in and out.

Word

We fixed an issue for rare coauthoring instances where some replies to comments aren’t shown until the next time a document is opened.
We fixed an issue where UI sometimes stops working to render on arm64 devices.
In Office 2016 and Office 365 with Visual Refresh, the visibility of hovered and pressed sliders in Colorful and White themes has been improved in task panes and dialogs. In Office 365 with Fluent visuals enabled, the visibility of hovered and pressed sliders in Dark Gray and Black themes has been improved in task panes and dialogs. In Office 365 with Visual Refresh Darky Gray theme, an issue preventing the border of the scroll buttons from appearing in the Ribbon Font Picker dropdown has been resolved.
We fixed an issue where digital signatures for VBA projects were not recognized when loading PowerPoint files using the 97-2003 file format.
We fixed an issue that provides more information when a person attempts to use a map chart in an unsupported region.
We fixed an unexpected stop responding in Office rendering code.
We fixed an issue where the Office "Insert Screenshot" shows blank/incomplete screenshots for Office Apps; we fixed an issue where some Windows Taskbar thumbnails screenshots for Office Apps may appear blank.
We fixed an issue with displaying embedded Excel spreadsheets in other applications.
We fixed an issue causing an intermittent stop responding in Word.
We fixed an issue where the Read Aloud feature was not available when Microsoft 365 was deployed on Windows Server 2016.
We fixed an issue where opening a file might be slow on virtual disks on UNC paths.
We fixed an issue where user was unable to copy rows of a table from older versions in Version History to the current version.
We fixed an issue where Outlook couldn't open a message that was sent using Outlook on the web and contained a comment that was copied from Word.
Resolved an issue when using Dark Mode in Word, editable text in documents with restricted editing was not visible due to low contrast.
We fixed an issue where an Outlook (WordMail) message would flash with a white background while zooming in or out.
We fixed an issue where nested fields in headers display incorrectly while scrolling.
We fixed an issue where printing pages with index may not print.
We fixed an issue where an alternative font is displayed for certain special characters when exporting to PDF with Chinese (Traditional) Windows display language.
We fixed an issue where after splitting document window, lower window does not scroll to expected position below cursor.
We fixed an issue in which the document would scroll to the end after deleting a paragraph mark.
We fixed an issue to ensure unmanaged add-ins are not blocked if they don't follow the same progid as in the registry.
We fixed an issue where "paste as link" might not update automatically.
We fixed an issue that reduces merge conflicts with documents with the same hyperlink.
We fixed an issue where header styles were removed upon co-authoring.
We fixed an issue where pasting keep source formatting results into content controls would display characters such as a question mark (?) or a blank square.
Resolved an issue where Outlook would close unexpectedly when clicking on certain email messages with Word document attachments and the reading pane is set to "Right".
Resolved an issue where lists with styles were losing indentation when co-authoring files.
We fixed in issue where copy and paste numbered list might not result in proper numbering.
We fixed an issue that prevented files saved to the cloud from opening when using the Update linked information in a Word source document command.
We fixed an issue where Word may not show right file when all opened files windows are minimized.
We fixed an issue where links are not automatically updated to the embedded Word documents.

Office Suite

We fixed an issue that addressed a number of cases where opening Word, Excel or PowerPoint documents from OneDrive or SharePoint would yield a close unexpectedly.
We fixed an issue that caused contact cards to not show properly.
We fixed an issue when opening up the font dropdown in Excel; the highlighted font was not the one currently selected in the document.
We fixed an issue where the font dropdown would not accurately reflect what font was selected in a shape.
We fixed an issue where font download requests for endpoints that don't support font service were being issued. These requests are known to stop working for those endpoints so we should not even try to issue them for unsupported endpoints.
We fixed an issue where we attempt font downloads in cases they are known and expected to stop working during downloading, which results in unnecessary resources being used.
We fixed an issue where the video to introduce the new visuals was not displaying.
We fixed an issue in Color Picker text selection scenarios with Shapes and SmartArt.
We fixed an issue where operations would reinstall Office.
We fixed an issue when users were unable to install M365 apps when PowerShell was disabled.
We fixed an issue that was causing a "Publish Package Failed" error during an update, which would cause a file-type association to be lost.
We fixed an issue to default blocking macros from the Internet from executing.
We fixed an instability issue related to animations for the user interface.
We fixed an issue to allow a gradient stop to be added when clicking along the slider.
We fixed an issue related to multi-threading for Direct2D and Direct3D interoperability.
We fixed an issue related to text layout within SVG graphics.
We fixed an issue with SVG objects to handle text-anchor, end attributes and correctly maintain the current text position.
We fixed an issue related to rendering SVG graphics in Outlook.
We fixed an issue with URL handling by Visual Basic macros.
We fixed a stability issue when stopping a recording of a Slide Show.
We fixed a stability issue when recording a Slide Show.
We fixed an issue when recording a presentation where an error would occur and recording would stop.
We fixed an issue where settings in web add-ins may be lost during file save.
Performance improvement for user with add-in commands on application boot.

Version 2202: January 10

Version 2202 (Build 14931.20888)

Security updates listed here

Resolved issues

Word

We fixed an issue where the Read Aloud feature was not available when Microsoft 365 was deployed on Windows Server 2016.

Version 2108: January 10

Version 2108 (Build 14326.21286)

Security updates listed here

Note

If you need help with an issue with using Office, we recommend that you post your question on Microsoft's Answers forum or Tech Community, or you can contact support.