Office 2016 Updates

[jgidlund]

What is everyone doing to remotely update Office 2016? The biggest problem I am seeing is that right now Word/Excel are on version 15.23.16061700 and Outlook/PowerPoint/OneNote are on version 15.23.16061100 which can be downloaded here: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/3165798

I can't find a download for the Word/Excel version 15.23.16061700 anywhere.

[Josh_Smith]

Microsoft has made this site available for MacAdmins to more easily download the versions we need: http://macadmins.software

I would probably install the latest full suite then apply the word/excel patches, with the expectation that I can switch back to just installing the full suite next month. Not very bandwidth efficient in the short term, but it keeps the process simple.

[jgidlund]

Thanks for the response. Although that page looks slightly shady it does seem to be legitimate. The links are at least coming straight from Microsoft.com. The WhoIs on the domain shows it is registered to a Paul Bowden who is apparently the Principal Engineer in the Apple Platform Experience (APEX) team at Microsoft. So unless someone did their homework and faked the WhoIs...

[Josh_Smith]

Yes Paul Bowden setup the site for us. He engages with the Mac Admin community on Slack in the #microsoft-office channel on a regular basis, you're welcome to join in: macadmins.org

[talkingmoose]

@jgidlund, the reason you're seeing a version discrepancy between the apps is because Microsoft has released hotfixes for some of the apps.

Office 2016 for Mac updates have a difference release cadence from earlier versions of Office. Instead of a major update every 3-4 months, Microsoft now releases updates monthly (approximately every second "Patch" Tuesday).

An update may include a new feature or two and will fix some product issues too. And due to the new architecture of the Office apps, when Microsoft identifies an issue that warrants a quick fix, they have the ability to target one app instead of having to update all of them.

It may seem confusing, but in the long run they can be a lot more agile with releasing new features and quickly fixing issues this way.

[venturethree]

@Josh.Smith Thanks for the link to the website, i have swiftly enrolled myself in the free course on their, looks pretty cool and useful.

for anyone else i have been simply using a script i created to check certain versions, please forgive me if im wrong/awful at scripting as i haven't been using Casper scripts all that long, maybe a month or so. No nerdy judgements or i could of done better, if you like the idea change it to suit you guys.

For example i use this for my adobe acrobat DC app to auto update machines once a month. Please bare in mind that i create a policy called 'standard updates' it contains the script below but for all apps i want to update, i then create a policy with custom triggers (which run in the script) for each app and just add the latest TESTED package i believe works with our system.

Setting Version variable for application - this finds the version string and creates it as a variable

DCVer=$(defaults read /Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app/Contents/Info.plist CFBundleShortVersionString)
echo $DCVer

Checking version of the older Adobe Pro 9 and if its present

if [ ! -e /Applications/Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro/Adobe Acrobat Pro.app ]
then echo ; echo "Adobe Pro 9 does not exist" ;

Checking the app exists=""

else [ -e /Applications/Adobe Acrobat DC/Adobe Acrobat.app ]
echo ; echo "Acrobat DC App Installed ... Checking Version" ;
fi

Difference in version found, alerting.

if [ $DCVer == 15.020.20039 ] && [ ! -e /Applications/Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro/Adobe Acrobat Pro.app ]
then echo ; echo "Version differs and no Adobe Pro 9 installed .... Installing Latest DC"

Running policy - Custom trigger which will now 'Install' the latest version i have added to the adobe DC package

sudo jamf policy -event installadobedc
fi*

i plan to do this for microsoft updates, 4 individual 'Install' policys triggered by a single script like above.

im sure there is an easier way so if there is, please show me your ideas!