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We have installed Office 2016 using our Office 365 subscription throughout the company. All installations are set to the Semi-Annual update channel. We are finding that computers across the network will update seemingly randomly (over a month or longer) rather than as a group (within several days of each other).

All my reading seems to indicate that the updates should be installed calculating from the release date of the update (Jan and July). We have a wide range of build versions of Office in our environment because they are actually updated on seemingly randomized schedules. I cannot find anything telling me that there is a randomizing feature for installing updates, but it seems that way.

Does anyone know: IS there a randomization feature to keep everything from updating at once? If so, what's the time frame? How do I change it? If NOT, is there something else I should know/do to get our Office installations to update in a more coordinated timeframe?

yougotiger
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All my reading seems to indicate that the updates should be installed calculating from the release date of the update.

Where did you read that?

Office 365 creates scheduled tasks to check for updates. And yes they do have a random delay. It simply would not be feasible to update large groups of computers at the same time.

Greg Askew
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  • I guess I didn't read it specifically, all the stuff I read just says that they release the patches in Jan and July. I haven't found any information regarding when installations apply them, such as a delay or the install creating scheduled tasks. Do you have an article you can point me to that would explain what you're talking about more fully? – yougotiger Feb 03 '20 at 14:41
  • @yougotiger: Office 365 releases updates for defects and vulnerabilities at least monthly, even if on the semi-annual channel. It is the *feature* updates that are released semi-annual if on the semi-annual channel. All you need to do is check the properties of the scheduled tasks to answer your question. – Greg Askew Feb 03 '20 at 17:51