Update Features of MS Office 2016

We have installed MS Office 2016 using the MSI installer. Our WSUS server currently just provides important and security updates, but we now noticed that some issues we have with the product were fixed with feature updates.

Now the question is how do we most effectively update our almost two year old installation to the latest build? Just enabling all updates on WSUS may result in bad user experience with multiple restarts. It looks like there is none and never will be any service pack or another cumulative update. Are there any alternatives?

Thanks

KenavR

Posted 2019-08-06T12:35:20.620

Reputation: 123

Answers

Just enabling all updates on WSUS may result in bad user experience with multiple restarts. It looks like there is none and never will be any service pack or another cumulative update.

Office 2016 and Office 2019 only recieve monthly cumaltive security updates. Office 2016 and Office 2019 do not recieve new features.

Now the question is how do we most effectively update our almost two year old installation to the latest build?

If you were using the Click 2 Run (C2R) installation all you have to do is open Word, and select, Update Options -> Update Now

Open any Office app, such as Word, and create a new document.

Go to File > Account (or Office Account if you opened Outlook).

Under Product Information, choose Update Options > Update Now.

Source: Install Office updates

Since you are using the MSI Installer you have to download and distribute the update manually.

Source: Latest updates for versions of Office that use Windows Installer (MSI)

Ramhound

Posted 2019-08-06T12:35:20.620

Reputation: 28 517

Guess I should have given more context, we are using WSUS to distribute updates, the update functionality in the Office apps is disabled, we want to centrally distribute updates without any user interaction.

Regarding your first answer, maybe my terminology is wrong, but we are at build 16.0.4xxx.xxxx and the latest one is something like 16.0.10348.xxxxx. We want to get to the latest build. – KenavR – 2019-08-06T12:55:08.563

Thanks, since there is no SP, do we have to manually install each public update? (as mentioned above we are almost 2 years behind) After reading one article to a KB they may require a restart, that's pretty bad for the user when 12 updates require a restart of the system. I kinda get the feeling that there is no good solution. – KenavR – 2019-08-06T13:49:42.780

I agree with Ramhound. Since you want to update for Office 2016 MSI version, you can download the history update KB from here. update history

Have you used SCCM? If you have a SCCM environment, it is recommended to deploy update patches with SCCM, because SCCM is more reliable, more automated, more flexible, and easier to implement than WSUS. You can use SCCM to deploy multiple patches at once.

Bella

Posted 2019-08-06T12:35:20.620

Reputation: 329

Thanks, we have a SCCM, do I understand you correctly, that I need to download each KB manually (potentially hundreds)? Is there not at least a single file for each monthly update? – KenavR – 2019-08-07T09:58:25.120

No, you don't need to download hundreds KB. The update KB of Office 2016 MSI is cumulative. Cumulative Updates come out usually every one to two months. They include all previous fixes. While Service Packs and Security Updates will be made available to users through Microsoft Update/Windows Update, Office Cumulative updates are NOT made available that way. If you’re using SCCM, I think you should download [July 2019 updates for Microsoft Office 2016] (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4509295/july-2019-updates-for-microsoft-office)

– Bella – 2019-08-08T02:59:59.037