My Mac will randomly uninstall and reinstall all the programs in Microsoft Office, even when in use. For example, I will be on a Teams call, and it will quit and reinstall. This has happened several times. I have auto updates turned off. Any help would be appreciated.

mojo47 Short Update: I manually disabled my apps from spotlight indexing (mdutil -i off applications/) and restarted the device (checking in again). The office app status in the endpoint manager instantly changed to „install pending“. I don’t know if I changed it back too early, but the apps didn’t get uninstalled and reinstalled again but stayed as they are.But I can tell now there is definitely a relation to the spotlight index.

Microsoft support so far: "Since issue does not occur when application indent is set to Available, this means that the uninstall (or to be more precise, the Re-install) command, is not coming from Intune.A possible reason could be corrupted or not completed indexing. As far as I know, in MacOS indexing is performed/handled by Spotlight, so it is worth looking in this direction."

And after trying to escalate the case:The escalation team had already been contacted before I send you my previous email.The detection method depends on the Operating System's structure and limitations. In Windows, for example, can be a file on a specific location or an entry in the registry etc. Since MacOS uses spotlight for indexing/searching this is the only option Intune has to detect the app.

That’s interesting. I deploy a couple of mandatory Apps using a shellscript by checking on the location if it’s installed yet or not. So basically it’s possible to check on the location if an app is installed or not.If the error was not related to intune at all, wouldn’t some of my apps (or o365 at least) uninstall themselves also without using intune? So many things to question.Thank you very much for escalating this at Microsoft.

I have a Client with what appears to be the same issue.It's happening on 4 out of 34 deployed Macs.They are all fully updated, and all Apple Silicon (both M1 and M2).3 of the 4 are Enrolled in Intune, So I'm not convinced it's a Policy issue.We've tried:Disabling auto updateRemoving the Apps and removing any left over application data before reinstallingCreating a new user profile

Mac Auto Install | Microsoft Community Hub

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Markus vickery
Copper Contributor
Mar 29, 2023
Similar issue. Office suddenly uninstalls and reinstalls every couple of weeks/months. Matches with last install date in MEM. Microsoft support thought it was due to mixed user/device assigment, but stille happening a month after making it user-only assignment.
Have been seeing the issue since December 2022.
Alan_Bell
Copper Contributor
Mar 24, 2023
I have a Client with what appears to be the same issue.

It's happening on 4 out of 34 deployed Macs.
They are all fully updated, and all Apple Silicon (both M1 and M2).
3 of the 4 are Enrolled in Intune, So I'm not convinced it's a Policy issue.

We've tried:
Disabling auto update
Removing the Apps and removing any left over application data before reinstalling
Creating a new user profile
- ElijahEdmunds
  Copper Contributor
  Mar 29, 2023
  We're seeing the same issue and I opened a thread here about it. Also tried the things you have listed. I did some more digging and I think I sussed it out. Note that we are running some older Intel Macs alongside the M1s and are seeing the behavior pop up on both models.
  
  Pasted from my other thread :
  I believe I may have found a likely cause. From further research it appears that Intune uses the Spotlight index in MacOS as the detection method for application installs. While the Office Suite is assigned as a Required application if this index is corrupted or in the process of regenerating (likely to happen after an OS update from perusing the Apple forums) I'm thinking that Intune believes the application is missing so launches an installer. Since the installs bypass any user feedback active applications just shut down and are reinstalled.
  
  I've removed Office as a Required app and left it advertised in Company Portal for the time being. We deploy so few of them that the extra manual step to install the office suite isn't likely to cause a huge impact.
  https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/1193963/intune-enrolled-macos-device-reinstalling-office-w
  - mojo47
    Copper Contributor
    Apr 14, 2023
    ElijahEdmunds I have the same problem. I figured out my scope tags were inconsistent (app had tag A assigned, devices tag B) and fixed that, but I don’t know if it helps since the problem occurs randomly.
    (btw how did the app got installed in the first place when the scope tags were wrong?!)
    
    if it’s based on the spotlight index I would consider deploying a script for reindexing on a daily base probably.
    
    Did anyone find a way to force/reconstruct the issue?

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Mac Auto Install

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