Office 365 patches

Hi Team.

i currently planning to install Microsoft 365 on our endpoints through bigfix. upon searching fixlets and tasks, i have noticed that instead of Microsoft 365, the results are Office 365. Are these fixlets also for office 365?

we have a confusion.

No there isn’t. Read up on Office “Click to Run”.
It has it’s own update model, and there are no more MSI/EXE like legacy Office 2010, 2013, 2016.

After you read up on it, BigFix does have some fixlets & functionality that can be part of your office strategy but you may or many not want to use it.

The Office 365 fixlets will download the content and run the updates
There is nothing in them to control automatic updates (for the OS or Office).

To control automatic updates requires a number of policy settings and is something best done via GPO.

MS really want to take control of your patching and they keep adding to the determination of Win10 & Win11 to auto-patch, so the list of policy settings required does keep getting longer

Hi Dobby,

I understand your confusion regarding Microsoft 365 and Office 365 in the context of BigFix. The fixlets you’ve come across are primarily for Office 365. It’s important to note that Microsoft has transitioned to a different update model called “Click to Run” for Office applications, which includes Microsoft 365 apps. This new model has its own update mechanism and is distinct from the traditional MSI/EXE-based updates used in legacy Office versions like 2010, 2013, and 2016.

While BigFix does offer some fixlets and functionality related to Office 365, they might not directly apply to Microsoft 365. To manage automatic updates and policies for Microsoft 365, it’s usually recommended to use Group Policy Objects (GPO) for granular control. Microsoft has been actively promoting centralized control over patching, especially for Windows 10 and 11, so GPO settings are essential for managing updates effectively.

I hope this clarifies the distinction between the two and helps you plan your installation accordingly.