Updating Microsoft 365 Applications on University-Owned Computers

Description

Understanding Microsoft's automatic update schedule for Microsoft 365  applications, as well as how to manually check for Microsoft 365 updates on a University-owned computer. Microsoft 365 includes applications such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, OneNote, and Outlook.

Environment

University-Owned Macs  and  University-Owned Windows PCs

Solution 

Microsoft 365 application updates are automatically downloaded and installed from Microsoft according to the schedule listed in the Automatic updates table below. You may also manually check for updates in Microsoft 365 applications by following the instructions linked in the Manual updates table:

Automatic Updates

Application	Operating System	Update schedule
Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote,	Mac, Windows/PC	Updated by Microsoft at least once per month
Microsoft Outlook	Mac, Windows/PC	Updated by Microsoft once per week

Manual Updates

Best Practices

• Restart your computer at the end of your workday to apply necessary updates to your University-owned computer.

• Update weekly on your own schedule. This will allow you to control when updates are installed and preempt the maintenance window for your college or department if needed.​​​ 

• Respond quickly to technicians who may reach out to you to remediate known issues. 

• Prepare for the unexpected. While every effort will be made to provide notifications in advance of when a device needs to restart, there may be unanticipated occasions when a restart occurs due to critical patching and the interactions between the many varied combinations of operating system versions, hardware and software used at OHIO. 

Outcome: You will now be able to manually update Microsoft 365 applications on your University-Owned Mac or University-Owned Windows PC computer.

Get Help From OIT

Mac

• Visit the  University-Owned Mac Management  page to create a ticket

Windows

• Visit the  University-Owned Windows PC Management  page to create a ticket

Additional Resources

• Microsoft Office Help and Training  has resources on many other Microsoft 365 tools such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and more.