[UPDATED 2] Critical: Office Update breaks Access — Query is corrupt

We’ve gotten reports from our clients, our colleagues and other posters that there is a huge problem with the Office 365 update that was released yesterday (November 12, 2019). The update causes an error where it may say:

"Query "" is corrupt"

This post deals with both preventive and restorative measures. Microsoft has acknowledged this is an issue and has promised a fix upcoming in next month. The issue is detailed here.

Depending on your setup & circumstances, there are 3 sections to help you out. The first two sections are applicable only if you have Office 365. The last section is applicable only if you do NOT use Office 365 (e.g. Office 2010, 2013 or 2016). Read all sections, determine which ONE of the 3 sections applies and act accordingly. If you need assistance, you may contact us.

UPDATE 4

Microsoft has released updates to fix both 2010 and 2013 MSIs:

2013 Update
2010 Update

UPDATE 3

If you are on Office 365 semi-annual channel, you can use the update, as per the update #2, except that the build would be `11328.20480`. instead.

UPDATE 2

If you are on Office 365, you now can use the updates to update the build. If you have disabled the Office update, you should enable it again, then perform update(s). Ensure that you are updated to at least `12130.20390`. You may need to perform multiple updates, especially if you are on a version that is not affected; updating may land you on the affected build in which case you should update again to get the corrected build.

UPDATE

If you are on Office 2016 MSI (NOT Office365), you can now download & install the fix here.

If you have not updated Office since 2019-11-12:

Disable the updates for a month at least to allow Microsoft to correct the issues. You can do this by going from File -> Account and disabling the updates as shown:

If you already have updated and you are having problems with your application AND you are using Office 365:

Update: Some of our client has reported that the below article did not work for them. They tried an alternative method which seems to have worked:

Using an administrator-elevated command prompt:

cd %programfiles%\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\ClickToRun
officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.12130.20272


Note: The 16.0.12130.2272 may not work if you are on different channels. Refer to 2nd link below for correct build version to use.

Original recommendation

You must revert the update by following the steps outlined in the article link below. You will need to know which build version to revert to, which is provided in the 2nd link. Note that the exact build number also depends on which channel you are on.

Full instruction on reverting an update on Office 365

Listing of builds by channels, required for step one in support article linked above

Here is a sample completed config.xml that can be used and has been shown to work on Monthly (Targeted) Channel:


<Configuration>
<Updates Enabled="TRUE" TargetVersion="16.0.12130.20272" />
</Configuration>


IMPORTANT: after you complete the reversion, disable the update as per first section of email.

If you already have updated and you are having problems with your application AND you are using Access runtime or Access 2010, 2013 or 2016 perpetual licenses (NOT Office365):

UPDATE: As per Shane’s comment, this KB article was not in original listing and may need to be uninstalled as well.

You can try uninstalling the KB updates which should work around the issues; reported to work for Microsoft Access runtime:

Note the KB number and locate via Windows Update to remove:

Office 2010: KB4484127
Office 2013: KB4484119
Office 2016: KB4484113
Office 2016: KB3085368

Microsoft has promised a fix in December 2019.