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How can I use Office on a Mac without AutoUpdate running all the time?

Jimmy B 0 Reputation points
2025-12-13T03:58:07.63+00:00

Hello!

I want to use Office 365 on my Mac. I do not want the AutoUpdate process running all the time when I am not using Office. So, I have disabled AutoUpdate from running in the background. Every time I open an Office application, a message box pops up telling me that I need to allow AutoUpdate to run in the background to if I want the message popup go away. I do not want to allow it to run all the time in the background and so I force quit AutoUpdate and that makes the message box go away until the next time I use Office. When I try to manually update Office, it doesn't work. It seems that AutoUpdate is preventing me from getting updates unless I consent to its demand of always running on my computer. This seems ironic because I think the intent is to encourage, not prevent, more frequent updates.

Why does Office demand that customers allow AutoUpdate to run all the time on their computers or else punish them by denying any updates to the software?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Other
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  1. Jhun Buala 2,720 Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2025-12-13T04:59:24.7033333+00:00

    Hi Jimmy Bucklen,

    Good day. I'm Jhun an independent advisor. In regards with automatic updates, the AutoUpdate background agent requires to run in order to function at all, including manual updates. If the agent is blocked, Office treats updates as unavailable and shows the warning every time.

    If the background agent is disabled, the Microsoft Auto Update (MAU) is considered non-functional. Allowing "manual updates" without the agent would create, partial installs, permission failures, corrupted Office bundles and etc. Instead of risking all of those, Microsoft would rather enforces an all-or nothing policy. This is why it feels like a punishment, but on a good side it serves as a guardrail.

    I hope this explains well

    Regards,
    Jhun

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  2. Bob Jones AKA CyberTaz MVP 430.1K Reputation points
    2025-12-13T16:23:32.8666667+00:00

    Apply the updates & MAU will not continue to notify you until new updates are available. Typically Office updates are shipped monthly.

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