Forum Discussion

Joe McGowan's avatar
Joe McGowan
Iron Contributor
Jun 11, 2018

Downloading Office 365 Pro Plus in portal....what determines the version that downloads?

Is the version determined by the current channel of Office you're in or by first release settings?   My account is enabled for first release in my Office 365 tenant and it tells me that when I go t...
Cian Allner's avatar
Cian Allner
Silver Contributor
Jun 11, 2018

Globally, it's controlled by your Office software download settings in admin center, under Service Settings and Services & add-ins:

 

 

However, like you have noticed for those enabled with Targeted release (First Release):

 

"You can also provide users with Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) by selecting them for the Targeted release program for Office 365. If you do this, those users can install Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) directly from the Software page in the Office 365 portal."

 

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/overview-of-update-channels-for-office-365-proplus

  • Joe McGowan's avatar
    Joe McGowan
    Iron Contributor
    Jun 11, 2018

    Thanks for the reply.  It kinda answers my question but also creates more confusion.

     

    Under "How often do you want users to get feature updates for Office 2016 apps?", our tenant has "Every 6 months (Semi Annual Channel).  But when I downloaded from the portal, I was able to get the Monthly Channel 1805 version of Office.  Again - I'm already setup for Monthly Channel but we have been having issues with SCCM distribution of the Monthly updates so I was testing some other ways to get the latest version.

    • Cian Allner's avatar
      Cian Allner
      Silver Contributor
      Jun 11, 2018

      That's interesting, Semi-Annual Channel is the default for Office 365 ProPlus, for Office 365 Business subscribers the default is the Monthly Channel.  There can be other factors like when Visio Pro for Office 365 is installed (or Project Online Desktop Client) they have to be on the same channel.  

       

      With downloading the Office365 ProPlus monthly channel version from the portal, when it's not set at the tenant level, I'd wonder if it's not being configured somewhere post-installation (Config Manager or Group Policy). The latest version available when Targeted release for Office 365 is enabled for users would be Version 1803 on Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) release with those defaults as I understand it.

      • Joe McGowan's avatar
        Joe McGowan
        Iron Contributor
        Jun 11, 2018

        You are correct, we do control the update channel using a Group policy and I'm setup for the Monthly channel.  We have an Office 365 E3 subscription. 

         

        So I assume is somehow determines your channel and downloads/installs the same version from the portal.