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Keeping Microsoft Software Products Up-To-Date

Article ID = 11
Article Title = Keeping Microsoft Software Products Up-To-Date
Article Author(s) = Graham Needham (BH)
Article Created On = 15th June 2011
Article Last Updated = 11th November 2020
Article URL = https://www.macstrategy.com/article.php?11

Article Brief Description:
A guide to keeping your Microsoft software products up-to-date

Primary Microsoft Software List (for Mac users):

Office 2019/Microsoft 365 subscription
For more useful information about Microsoft Office 2019 for Mac please see our article about the software suite.
NOTE: Microsoft Office 2019 (including 2019 versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) support will end on 10th October 2023
  • Check for an update now: Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook and select "Check for Updates" from the 'Help' menu. When the Microsoft AutoUpdate window opens click the "Check for Updates" button.
  • Turn on Automatic Updates: Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook and select "Check for Updates" from the 'Help' menu. When the Microsoft AutoUpdate window opens make sure "Automatically keep Microsoft Apps up to date" is TICKED.
  • NOTE: As of November 2016 (Update 15.28.0 + AutoUpdate 3.8.1 or later) updates can be set to install automatically without the need for an administrator password.
    NOTE: The Microsoft AutoUpdate application does not check for updates to Microsoft Teams, Microsoft To Do, Remote Desktop Connection, Windows Media Components for QuickTime or the Silverlight web browser plug-in.
  • Download updates manually from the Microsoft Update history for Office for Mac web site.
  • Installing Office Updates Manually
    1. Office 2019 / Microsoft 365 16.78.1 - indvidual "update packages" are available from the Microsoft web site - these will update any earlier version of Office 2019 to 16.78.1
Microsoft Office Suites and Applications No Longer Supported
  • Microsoft Office 2019 (including 2019 versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) support ended on 10th October 2023
  • Microsoft Office 2016 (including 2016 versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) support ended on 13th October 2020
  • Microsoft Office 2011 (including 2011 versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) support ended on the 10th October 2017
  • Microsoft Office 2008 (including 2008 versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Entourage) support ended on the 9th April 2013
  • Microsoft Office 2004 (including 2004 versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Entourage)
  • Microsoft Office v.X (including v.X versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Entourage)
  • Microsoft Office 2001 (including 2001 versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
  • Microsoft Office 98 (including 98 versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
  • Microsoft Office 6.x (including Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
  • Microsoft Office 4.x (including Word, Excel, Powerpoint)
If you are going to continue using one of the unsupported versions of Office listed above do not open Office documents from untrusted sources especially as email attachments or downloads from the internet – this includes but is not limited to the following document types:
  • Word (.doc / .docx / .dot / .dotx / .docm / .dotm)
  • Excel (.xls / .xlsx / .xltx / .xlsm / .xltm / .xlsb / .xlam / .xll)
  • PowerPoint (.ppt / .pptx / .pptm / .potx / .potm / .ppam / .ppsx / .ppsm / .sldx / .sldm)
Office 2016
Office 2016 is no longer supported as of 13th October 2020 and no new security updates will be issued - do not use this software or use it with extreme caution! If you are going to continue using Office 2016 do not open Office documents from untrusted sources especially as email attachments or downloads from the internet.
  • Check for an update now: Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Entourage and select "Check for Updates" from the 'Help' menu. When the Microsoft AutoUpdate window opens click the "Check for Updates" button.
  • Turn on Automatic Updates: Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook and select "Check for Updates" from the 'Help' menu. When the Microsoft AutoUpdate window opens make sure "Automatically keep Microsoft Apps up to date" is TICKED.
  • NOTE: The Microsoft AutoUpdate application does not check for updates to Microsoft Teams, Microsoft To Do, Remote Desktop Connection, Windows Media Components for QuickTime or the Silverlight web browser plug-in.
  • Download updates manually from the Microsoft Update history for Office for Mac web site.

  • NOTE: Depending on which version of Office 2016 you currently have you must install manual updates in the correct order:
    1. Office 2016 16.16.27 October 2020 updates (these individual update packages will update any version of OFfice 2016 to 16.16.27)
Office 2011
Office 2011 is no longer supported as of 10th October 2017 and no new security updates will be issued - do not use this software or use it with extreme caution! If you are going to continue using Office 2011 do not open Office documents from untrusted sources especially as email attachments or downloads from the internet.
  • Check for an update now: Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Entourage and select "Check for Updates" from the 'Help' menu. When the Microsoft AutoUpdate window opens click the "Check for Updates" button.
  • Turn on Automatic Updates: Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook and select "Check for Updates" from the 'Help' menu. When the Microsoft AutoUpdate window opens make sure "Automatically" is set with your preferred recurrence timeframe.
  • NOTE: The Microsoft AutoUpdate application does not check for updates to Remote Desktop Connection, Lync for Mac 2011, Windows Media Components for QuickTime or the Silverlight web browser plug-in.
    NOTE: Depending on which version of Office 2011 you currently have you must install manual updates in the correct order:
    1. Office 2011 14.1.0 aka Service Pack 1 (this will update version 14.0.9 or any earlier version to 14.1.0)
    2. Office 2011 14.7.7 update aka Service Pack 2+3 (this will update 14.1.0 or later to 14.7.7)
Office 2008 including Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition
Office 2008 is no longer supported as of 9th April 2013 and no new security updates will be issued - do not use this software or use it with extreme caution! If you are going to continue using Office 2008 do not open Office documents from untrusted sources especially as email attachments or downloads from the internet.
  • Check for an update now: Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Entourage and select "Check for Updates" from the 'Help' menu. When the Microsoft AutoUpdate window opens click the "Check for Updates" button.
  • Turn on Automatic Updates: Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook and select "Check for Updates" from the 'Help' menu. When the Microsoft AutoUpdate window opens make sure "Automatically" is set with your preferred recurrence timeframe.
  • NOTE: Although Office 2008 may install them the Microsoft AutoUpdate application does not check for updates to MSN/Microsoft Messenger, Remote Desktop Connection, Windows Media Components for QuickTime or the Silverlight web browser plug-in.
    NOTE: Depending on which version of Office 2008 you currently have you must install manual updates in the correct order:
    1. Office 2008 12.1.0 aka Service Pack 1 (this will update version 12.0.9 or any earlier version to 12.1.0)
    2. Office 2008 12.2.0 aka Service Pack 2 (this will update any version 12.1.0-12.1.9 to 12.2.0)
    3. Office 2008 12.3.6 (this will update any version 12.2.0 or later to 12.3.6)
NOTE: If you have already installed Entourage 2008 Web Services Edition the latest Office 2008 updater will automatically update the Web Services Edition.
Office 2004
Office 2004 is no longer supported and no new security updates will be issued - do not use this software or use it with extreme caution! If you are going to continue using Office 2004 do not open Office documents from untrusted sources especially as email attachments or downloads from the internet.
  • Check for an update now: Go to Macintosh HD > Applications > Microsoft AutoUpdate and click the "Check for Updates" button.
  • Turn on Automatic Updates: Open Word, Excel, PowerPoint or Outlook and select "Check for Updates" from the 'Help' menu. When the Microsoft AutoUpdate window opens make sure "Automatically" is set with your preferred recurrence timeframe.
  • NOTE: Although Office 2004 may install them the Microsoft AutoUpdate application does not check for updates to MSN/Microsoft Messenger or Remote Desktop Connection.
    NOTE: Depending on which version of Office 2004 you currently have you must install manual updates in the correct order:
    1. Office 2004 11.6.0 (this will update version 11.5.9 or any earlier version to 11.6.0
    2. Office 2004 11.6.1
    3. Office 2004 11.6.2
    4. Office 2004 11.6.3
    5. Office 2004 11.6.4
    6. Office 2004 11.6.5
    7. Office 2004 11.6.6
Office 2004 XML Converters
Office 2004 XML Converters are no longer supported and no new security updates will be issued - do not use this software or use it with extreme caution!
  • There is no automated update facility for the Office 2004 XML Converters.
  • Download the last XML converter version (1.2.1) manually from the Microsoft Mac web site.
Skype / Skype for Business
NOTE: As of 2020 Skype requires OS X 10.10 Yosemite or later.
  • Check for an update now: Open Skype and select "Check for Updates…" from the 'Skype' menu.
  • Turn on Automatic Updates: Open Skype and select "Preferences" from the 'Skype' menu > TICK "Always keep Skype up to date".
  • Download updates manually from the Microsoft Skype web site.
Remote Desktop Connection
Silverlight (web browser plug-in)
Silverlight 2.x or later is no longer supported on Apple PowerPC computers. If you still use a PowerPC computer for browsing the internet you are now strongly recommended to remove Silverlight completely.
  • There is no automated update facility for Silverlight 3.x for Mac or earlier but you can check if you are running an outdated version by going to either Mozilla Plug-in Checker or the Microsoft Silverlight web site.
  • If you are running Silverlight 4.x for Mac or later you can go to Macintosh HD > Applications > Microsoft Silverlight (this is actually an alias to the Silverlight Preferences utility found in Macintosh HD > Library > Internet Plug-Ins > right/control click on Silverlight/plugin > select "Show Package Contents" > Contents > Resources). On the "Updates" tab set the "Check for updates but let me choose whether to download or install them" option.
  • Download updates manually from the Microsoft Silverlight web site.
Windows Media Components for QuickTime (Flip4Mac) Version 3
As of 01/05/2014 Flip4Mac Windows Media Components for QuickTime are no longer free - if you are not going to pay for the upgrade it is recommended that you remove the plug-in/software.
Flip4Mac version 3 or later is no longer supported on Apple PowerPC computers or any Mac with Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier. If you still use a PowerPC computer/Mac OS X 10.6 or earlier it is recommended that you remove the plug-in/software.
  • Check for an update now: Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Flip4Mac > Update tab > click the "Check Now" button.
  • Turn on Automatic Updates: Go to Go to Apple menu > System Preferences > Flip4Mac > Update tab and set the "Check For Updates" pop-up menu to Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
  • Download updates manually from the Microsoft Windows Media Components for QuickTime web page.
How To Remove The Flip4Mac Software
Go to Macintosh HD > Applications > Flip4Mac folder and run the "Flip4Mac Uninstaller.pkg"
To manually remove the Flip4Mac software delete the following files and folders:
  • Macintosh HD > Library > Internet Plug-Ins > delete "Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin" (computer admin password may be required)
  • Also check Macintosh HD > Users > ~user's home folder~ > Library > Internet Plug-Ins > for the "Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin" file in each user account
  • Macintosh HD > Library > PreferencePanes > delete "Flip4Mac WMV.prefPane" (computer admin password may be required)
  • Also check Macintosh HD > Users > ~user's home folder~ > Library > PreferencePanes > for the "Flip4Mac WMV.prefPane" file in each user account
  • Macintosh HD > Applications > delete "Flip Player" (computer admin password may be required)
  • Macintosh HD > Applications > delete "Flip4Mac" folder (computer admin password may be required)
  • Macintosh HD > Users > ~your home folder~ > Library > Preferences > delete all files beginning with "net.telestream."
Microsoft Messenger
Messenger was discontinued on 15/03/2013 and all services have been moved to Skype - if you wish to continue using Messenger services install and setup Skype instead.
As of 08/04/2013 Messenger v8 is no longer supported and all services have been moved to Skype - if you wish to continue using Messenger services install and setup Skype instead.
As of July 2014 all prior versions to Skype 6.15 no longer work and are not supported. Skype 6.15 or later requires OS X 10.9 Mavericks or later.
Windows Media Components for QuickTime (Flip4Mac) Version 2 or earlier
v2 and earlier are no longer supported and no new security updates will be issued - do not use this software - it is recommended to remove the software (see below).
Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer for Mac is no longer supported and no new security updates will be issued - do not use this software or use it with extreme caution!

For those Mac users who are using Windows in a virtualised environment

Virtualisation software:
Windows operating system
  • Check for an update now: Go to Start menu > Windows Update.
  • Turn on Automatic Updates.
  • We don't recommend downloading updates manually from Microsoft - use the automated features listed above.
Internet Explorer


Article Keywords: Microsoft Office Mac Macintosh 2001 v.X vX 2004 2008 2011 2016 365 software update updates security Word Excel PowerPoint Entourage Outlook Communicator Messenger Silverlight Remote Desktop Connection uptodate up-to-date up to date

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