Skip to content
Thoughtful, detailed coverage of everything Apple for 33 years
and the TidBITS Content Network for Apple professionals

TidBITS Watchlist: Notable Software Updates for 18 January 2016

Microsoft Office 2016 15.18 and Office 2011 14.6.0 — Microsoft has issued version 15.18 of its Office 2016 suite with a couple of security patches as well as several minor improvements to individual apps. The update adds support for full screen mode in Outlook and improves searching for meeting rooms, adds the capability to save PDF files to flash drives from Word, and improves the selection pane in Excel and PowerPoint. According to this security bulletin, the update also patches critical vulnerabilities within Excel, Word, and
PowerPoint that could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted Office file. Be warned that some users are experiencing slowdowns with this update; it’s worth waiting until there’s some indication that the problem has been resolved. The older Office 2011 14.6.0 receives the same security updates. ($149.99 for one-time purchase, free update through Microsoft AutoUpdate, release notes, 10.10+)

Read/post comments about Microsoft Office 2016 15.18 and Office 2011 14.6.0.

Fantastical 2.1.5 — Flexibits has released Fantastical 2.1.5 with improved search speed and improvements for text alignment on Retina displays. The calendar app also fixes a bug that would cause the new event preview to get stuck in the week and month views, resolves a visual glitch in the date picker when the region is set to Canada, fixes a bug related to editing Google Calendar events with zero duration, and avoids a crash that occurred when some servers returned invalid data. Fantastical 2 has a 21-day free trial and is available from either the Flexibits Store or the Mac App Store. Note that the price has increased to $49.99 after several extensions to Flexibits’ initial launch sale, and the company is ending support for Fantastical 1 (see this blog post for information on downloading the final update, version 1.3.19). ($49.99 new, free update, 11.8 MB, release notes, 10.10+)

Read/post comments about Fantastical 2.1.5.

Boom 2 v1.4 — Global Delight has released version 1.4 of its Boom 2 volume booster and equalizer app with a few key fixes. The update resolves a bug that caused distorted audio for some users, enables you to replace the default equalizer presets with your own, and fixes an issue that caused audio to mute in and out when using the Mac’s dictation feature. ($14.99 new from Global Delight with a 25 percent discount for TidBITS members, free update, 11.7 MB, 10.10+)

Read/post comments about Boom 2 v1.4.

Mailplane 3.6 — Uncomplex has released Mailplane 3.6 with added support for accessing Google Inbox within its own tab (though attachments viewed in Inbox still cause Mailplane to freeze, a known issue that Uncomplex hopes to resolve soon). The Gmail-specific email client also now enables you to return to regular zoom level more easily (View > Actual Size), fixes a crash related to printing from Google Inbox, deletes pending download history items when quitting Mailplane, and fixes a number of bugs and visual glitches in OS X
10.11 El Capitan. ($24.95 new, free update, 21.5 MB, release notes, 10.9+)

Read/post comments about Mailplane 3.6.

Subscribe today so you don’t miss any TidBITS articles!

Every week you’ll get tech tips, in-depth reviews, and insightful news analysis for discerning Apple users. For over 33 years, we’ve published professional, member-supported tech journalism that makes you smarter.

Registration confirmation will be emailed to you.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA. The Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.