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This might be a dead horse at this point but since the posts I see are a little old, I am going to ask anyway...  When it comes to Office 365, what is your preferred deployment method?

 

I see 3 main types:  Direct download from Microsoft and make a PKG, use Mac App Store applications, or use Jamf Catalog.  I have done a manual direct Microsoft method but am looking to more easily automate the updates for patch management purposes.

 

The only downside I know of so far for the MAS method is that when Office updates are created they are first provided by Microsoft through their own channels, then passed along to Apple for approval.  Apple might or might not approve the update in a timely manner so it may be days to weeks before the MAS version update is available.

 

I do not understand enough about the way Jamf Catalog titles are updated to know if they also go through a similar delay before updates are available.

 

At this point, I am leaning towards a small delay in update availability (MAS or Jamf Catalog) being better than dealing with PKG file uploads if it means a smoother process overall and just wondering how others are managing their own.

@jasonm There are numerous problems with MAS Office deployments. See https://macadmins.software/mas/ for details.

Jamf Catalog deployments would only be a good choice if you don't care about testing updates before releasing them to your users (there is currently no option for deferring deployment of Jamf Catalog updates)

My preferred approach is to use the BusinessPro Suite installer from https://macadmins.software, and I use the deferred updated channels (see @kevinmcox 's https://www.kevinmcox.com/2021/10/microsoft-now-provides-curated-deferral-channels-for-autoupdate/ post for details) to do phased update deployments with Microsoft AutoUpdate.

 

We deploy the Business Pro suite via Installomator. The Auto Update app does its job keeping things up-to-date (set the settings with a config profile) afterwards but Installomator could also be used to force update it monthly or so. 

Haven't had any issues so far. :-) 

We deploy the Business Pro suite via Installomator. The Auto Update app does its job keeping things up-to-date (set the settings with a config profile) afterwards but Installomator could also be used to force update it monthly or so. 

Haven't had any issues so far. :-) 


We do the same, meaning use installomator to install the label "microsoftofficebusinesspro". Then we use a configuration profile with settings from Application & custom settings > External applications and configure the keys we want for outlook, autoupdates2 and office from the pre-existing plist templates (from based) from the settings catalog that's built-in. Works like a charm! We also use a policy that runs Installomator again based on the inventory report (smart group that detects old versions) to forcibly upgrade computers that haven't updated the office version for a while.

We do the same, meaning use installomator to install the label "microsoftofficebusinesspro". Then we use a configuration profile with settings from Application & custom settings > External applications and configure the keys we want for outlook, autoupdates2 and office from the pre-existing plist templates (from based) from the settings catalog that's built-in. Works like a charm! We also use a policy that runs Installomator again based on the inventory report (smart group that detects old versions) to forcibly upgrade computers that haven't updated the office version for a while.


If you have MAU configured to automatically update Office apps with a forced install deadline, and you're seeing some Macs not updating, you should try the "AutoUpdate Reset Package" from https://office-reset.com/macadmins/ (created by @pbowden ) to see if that triggers the missing updates before you try Installomator to run the full app installer.

I upload the packages from MacAdmins to JAMF, and deploy with policies. I use MAU to update MS Apps, and quarterly will update my packages. We are on prem currently, and I prefer to just keep it simple as even repeating this only takes a few minutes 4 times a year.

 

If memory serves me right MAU wont work with the AppStore apps.

Installomator

If you have MAU configured to automatically update Office apps with a forced install deadline, and you're seeing some Macs not updating, you should try the "AutoUpdate Reset Package" from https://office-reset.com/macadmins/ (created by @pbowden ) to see if that triggers the missing updates before you try Installomator to run the full app installer.


This is handy stuff. That Paul guy does some cool stuff.

I use the suite installer from macadmins and enforce MS AutoUpdate2 through a configuration profile. 

MAS distributions will differ in version strings (build nr) and sometimes in functions. I can't remember what exactly now, it's enough to know that they are _not_ the same. 

I use Microsoft's own scripts that curl and install the latest versions.  Here are there scripts that they use for their deployments via Intune/Endpoint manager.  I use their scripts for Office, Defender, Company Portal and Edge.  You can modify them to suit your needs.  I personally removed the functions that install Rosetta.

Thank you all very much for the information.

Hi, I ran into this thread because I'm doing some updating myself. very useful information thank you. However, I work at a university so we have 2 environments. Faculty and Staff community and Student community. For the labs on campus, do we still use the same version Business Pro suite? the previous admin used 2 different version for both environments. for the Labs office 2019 with a serializer was used. I'm not finding any info on office 365 and shared devices, hoping to ping the community for any feedback. thanks in advance. 

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