Solved Office 2016 Professional Updates Query

[Iain]

I've been running Office 2016 on my X64 machine since it became available in 2016.

I 'm also running Office 2010 Pro on my 32-bit machine.

Office 2010 installation is updated via Microsoft Update, whilst Office 2016 is updated via the new mechanism which I'm not keen of because I have no control over what it does.

Is there any way to revert to Microsoft Update method for the Office 2016 installation?

 

[fireberd]

I asked that question on the tenforums.com and the short answer is no. In Win 10 there is an option on the updates panel to "give me updates for other Microsoft products too" and Office will not update. It has its own update mechanism.

 

[Ranger4]

Iain. What fireberd has said is correct.

Office 2016 is the same as Office 2013 which I have been using for the past 4 years & Updates occur automatically. This has not been a problem & you can check on when it was last updated by looking in Control Panel, Programs & Features then scroll down to Microsoft Office 2016 & see the 'Installed on" date & the Version.

If you wish to see if an Update is needed you can open any Office program, such as Excel, select File up on the top LH edge, then click on Account, this will show a box that says Update Options, click on that & select Update Now. This will do a check & if updating is needed it will start the update, which will run in the background if you wish to do other work on the computer.

 

[Iain]

I asked that question on the tenforums.com and the short answer is no. In Win 10 there is an option on the updates panel to "give me updates for other Microsoft products too" and Office will not update. It has its own update mechanism.

Iain. What fireberd has said is correct.

Office 2016 is the same as Office 2013 which I have been using for the past 4 years & Updates occur automatically. This has not been a problem & you can check on when it was last updated by looking in Control Panel, Programs & Features then scroll down to Microsoft Office 2016 & see the 'Installed on" date & the Version.

If you wish to see if an Update is needed you can open any Office program, such as Excel, select File up on the top LH edge, then click on Account, this will show a box that says Update Options, click on that & select Update Now. This will do a check & if updating is needed it will start the update, which will run in the background if you wish to do other work on the computer.

Thanks for the input.

Attached is a Control Panel image showing Microsoft Update method is in use here. I've always wondered why it didn't work as expected for Office 2016.

The Office 2016 manual update method is better than automatic updates, but it still doesn't explain what specific product (Access, Outlook etc.) updates occured. For troubleshooting, that would be nice to know if the Office update went wonky.

 

[fireberd]

The current Office update method doesn't state what it does. However, Brink (one of the forum guru's and moderators) usually posts a notice about what is in the current update.

Here is Brink's forum post on the Aug 8 Office update

August 8, 2017, update for Microsoft Office - Windows 7 Help Forums

 

[Ranger4]

Iain. You can see what Office updates have occurred by using what I suggested in Post #3 concerning Automatic Updates. When you have opened File, then Accounts, click on Update Options & the drop down menu has an option of View Updates. Select that & you will be taken to an MS website & you can see what updates were installed & when & you can also view the particular KB numbers if you wish.

Office 2013 & Office 2016 are what MS calls Click to Run, which means that most of the installation gets installed via the internet & not from the DVD that comes with it's purchase. So when you install it you get the latest version rather than having to install it & then go through an update process. As I mentioned above I have been using Office 2013 Pro for the last 4 years & I have not had any problems with it or any updates. As you probably know the Pro version includes Access which I use, & some other programs that the Standard version does not have.

 

[Iain]

Iain. You can see what Office updates have occurred by using what I suggested in Post #3 concerning Automatic Updates. When you have opened File, then Accounts, click on Update Options & the drop down menu has an option of View Updates. Select that & you will be taken to an MS website & you can see what updates were installed & when & you can also view the particular KB numbers if you wish.

Office 2013 & Office 2016 are what MS calls Click to Run, which means that most of the installation gets installed via the internet & not from the DVD that comes with it's purchase. So when you install it you get the latest version rather than having to install it & then go through an update process. As I mentioned above I have been using Office 2013 Pro for the last 4 years & I have not had any problems with it or any updates. As you probably know the Pro version includes Access which I use, & some other programs that the Standard version does not have.

I saw that web site a few days ago, but all it displays are Microsoft adverts for something called Office 365. Not sure what that is, but it's irrelevant to me and it obfuscates the issue.

 

[fireberd]

I have Office 365 but it contains Office 2016 apps. e.g. I have MSWord 2016.

 

[Ranger4]

Iain. Your screen shot shows that you do not have Office set for Automatic Updates. You should definitely have it set for Automatic Updates, which you can select by clicking on that button & selecting Enable Updates. Once you have it set for Auto Updates, you can select Update Now & it will update you Office installation. Then you can follow what I explained in Post #6 to see the explanation of updates.

Below is a screen shot of how I have office 2013 updates set.

 

[Iain]

The current Office update method doesn't state what it does. However, Brink (one of the forum guru's and moderators) usually posts a notice about what is in the current update.

Here is Brink's forum post on the Aug 8 Office update

August 8, 2017, update for Microsoft Office - Windows 7 Help Forums

Iain. Your screen shot shows that you do not have Office set for Automatic Updates. You should definitely have it set for Automatic Updates, which you can select by clicking on that button & selecting Enable Updates. Once you have it set for Auto Updates, you can select Update Now & it will update you Office installation. Then you can follow what I explained in Post #6 to see the explanation of updates.

Below is a screen shot of how I have office 2013 updates set.

View attachment 400371

I changed from automatic updates to manual updates a few days ago, as that setting gives a bit more control over my Office installation. I choose the time for updates rather than have some impersonal machine make that choice for me.

If that update goes awry, then I'll have Brink's website to refer to.

Still, I would rather have Microsoft Update involved in the update, as it's the ultimate in flexibility.