Skype for Business 2016 MSI client doesn’t display emoticons or emojis

Consider the following scenario:

• You have the Microsoft Skype for Business 2016 MSI client installed.
• You have the October 2, 2018 update or a later update installed (.exe file version 16.0.4756.1000 or a later version).
• You send or receive an IM that contains an emoticon or emoji.

In this scenario, you experience the following behavior:

• The emoticon or emoji doesn’t appear at all when you send or receive the IM.
• Other IM messages in the conversation window are no longer displayed.
• The conversation history of the conversation continues to show the contents of all messages that were sent and received, as expected.

This issue occurs because of a missing prerequisite update.

To resolve this issue, install the following Microsoft Office update:

October 2, 2018, update for Office 2016 (KB4011669)