Block Office 365 but allow Office 2016

[Sims_]

Has anyone been able to block users from using Office 365 while still allowing users to install Office 2016? I've got a handful of users who want all the bells and whistles of 365 so they buy their own account and install. Our company is supposed to only be using VL Office 2016.

[sshort · Accepted solution]

Oh yeah, you can set this with a configuration profile for each Office app. ProfileCreator is an easy to create the configuration profile for this purpose. These are all defaults settings as well, so you could use a script and a policy (post Office Install) if you want to go that route.

Example: prevent Office 365 logins in Excel

0 = all logins allowed
1 = only personal Office 365 accounts
2 = only corporate Office 365 accounts
4 = no Office 365 accounts

defaults write com.microsoft.Excel SignInOptions -int 1

[Sims_]

@sshort Thank you, I'll check into this!

[k3vmo]

Happen to know if this same flag works under 2019? We just got our VL and I haven't yet got to install it.

[sshort]

@k3vmo there might be a couple of preference keys that are version specific, but those exceptions will be called out in that Google sheet. So the SignInOptions definitely work in 2019.

[richeames]

Glad I found this thread, I just started trying to figure this out today. I have what sounds like a simple question. if you push the profile to restrict sign in how does the end user license the applications on their device the first time ? I'm not sure if I should allow sign in and then push the profile out, I don't want any end user to be able to save online.

Rich

[yurypanasyuk]

Hello All! Our company still runs on Office 2016 only and the updater updates to Office 2019! How can I block this from happening? Its breaking the license and puts Office into read only mode. I need the updater to be on for security patches and for folks who are not on the latest versions of the app. We use a config profile. The only preference key we use is HowToCheck= AutomaticDownload. Or is deploying a caching server the only way (ManifestServer)? Any help is greatly appreciated!

[talkingmoose]

@yurypanasyuk, are you saying your Office 2016 installs, which have version numbers like 16.16.x, are being updated by Microsoft AutoUpdate to Office 2019, which have version numbers like 16.17 and higher? Are you using a volume license?

That's not suppose to happen. AutoUpdate is designed to recognize whether you're running version 16.16.x and only update with the latest security patches. You shouldn't need a caching server or anything else. It's designed to work that way.

[yurypanasyuk]

Yes exactly whats happening! Using volume license which works fine. If i install on a fresh OS a new copy of 16.16, AutoUpdate shows installing 2019. Had this issue a year ago but I dont remember how it was resolved within my company with all the changes. =/

[yurypanasyuk]

User: pbowden helped resolve it. Users who have installed 2019 in the past have left over autoupdate.plist files that allows the updater to jump over from2016 to 2019.

[yurypanasyuk]

User: pbowden helped resolve it. Users who have installed 2019 in the past have left over autoupdate.plist files that allows the updater to jump over from2016 to 2019.