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Office 365 Update Channels (Targets, Standard, Deferred Releases)

Iron Contributor

Some very general questions in trying to understand the 'update channels':

 

The link states that there are 4 channels (Monthly, Semi-Annual (Targeted), Deferred 1 and Deferred 2) and another link states about the "update rings" where we have "Targeted Release" and "Worldwide std release".

1) How does these two map? Which one out of (Monthly, Semi-Annual, Deferred 1, 2) aligns with "Worldwide Release" ? In the second link why there are no dates for "Wordwide Release"?

2) If "Semi-Annual (Targeted)" release is for targeted users (like IT Pros and Admins) then who is "Monthly Release" for?

3) Will deferred 1 and 2 both continue past January 2018? What is the frequency of updates for these deferred channels.

4) Are the Office-365 updates applicable to all Operating Systems (Win 7, Win 8, Windows 10, Mac, Linux etc) and all IE browser versions ? Most of the time the update cycle causes different issues with different OS.

5) When the new updates are released, then do users need to "explicitly' install the updates ? I ask because every time there are updates released there is sharp increase the user issues during accessing office products from SharePoint without user doing any installs on their machines. So if SharePoint server is upgraded in background (without any user knowledge) but the related client (Excel, Word etc) are left to the user's disposal then there are bound to be issues, and possibly that's the reason of large number of user issues on every roll-out ?

6) Is "Skype for Business" also part of Office-365 update channels or does it have it's own separate "rings" ?

7) Why there is mix of terminologies in microsoft, e.g. visio is termed as "Visio Pro for Office365" and MS-Projct as "Project Online Desktop Client". Hope they are all Office-365 offerings.

 

 

 

5 Replies
Hi, the two links you have provided are for two different systems. The first link is for Office Desktop and the 2nd for Office 365. My understanding is Office Desktop (Monthly) is get the updates to your office desktop first. Office 365 (Targeted Release ) is get the latest updates to your Office 365 tenant first.

Thanks.

If you go to the first link and then select 'Overview' from the left menu, then under 'Get Started' you will see 'About Office 365 ProPlus'. Read the first paragraph which explains this is about Office (i.e Desktop) that you install via Office 365.
best response confirmed by Vivek Jain (Iron Contributor)
Solution

My take on this is below:

 

1) We are talking about two different things, one is how Office 365 ProPlus is updated and another is how Office 365 features are introduced into a tenant and early access to these features like in SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Business via Targeted release (previously First Release).

 

2) Semi-Annual Channel is for the majority of your users typically, in Microsoft's best practices for enterprise managed, 89% get Semi-Annual Channel, 10% get Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) while 1% get Monthly Channel.  Overview of update channels for Office 365 ProPlus has more specifics on each channel and the Overview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management has intended audiences for each channel. 

 

Purpose of each Office 365 ProPlus update channel.png

 

3) No, deferred 2 (1701) is end of life next month, deferred 1 (1705) and the latest release 1708 become the Semi-Annual Channel.  Semi-Annual Channel gets feature updates every six months, in January and July with Monthly security updates.

 

4) Client updates may be version specific and vary like Windows desktop, Mac, mobile.  Backend updates should apply to any supported configuration but may require certain configurations to be enabled.  Just look at Focused Inbox for the desktop and how that required Exchange Online to be enabled, then a tenant change (modern auth) and a client update, all working together to provide this feature.

 

5) Generally, there is nothing to install, sometimes users will be invited to try out new features or certain features will be promoted in the interface, like the SharePoint mobile app.  

 

6) No, it's mentioned in your link "They do not apply to Skype for Business and related services."

 

7) Agreed this is confusing that's brought up here.

Hi @Cian Allner,

Thanks for all the very useful insights.

 

If we make any changes to our master pages (say seattle.master) in our collection, then does the new releases by Microsoft retain those changes/customization done? How does Microsoft manages updates to the master pages keeping the customized code intact then?

 

If we change code in master pages, then does Office-365 need/allow "restarting the server" for SharePoint Online to show our changes.

 

Thanks.

1 best response

Accepted Solutions
best response confirmed by Vivek Jain (Iron Contributor)
Solution

My take on this is below:

 

1) We are talking about two different things, one is how Office 365 ProPlus is updated and another is how Office 365 features are introduced into a tenant and early access to these features like in SharePoint Online or OneDrive for Business via Targeted release (previously First Release).

 

2) Semi-Annual Channel is for the majority of your users typically, in Microsoft's best practices for enterprise managed, 89% get Semi-Annual Channel, 10% get Semi-Annual Channel (Targeted) while 1% get Monthly Channel.  Overview of update channels for Office 365 ProPlus has more specifics on each channel and the Overview of the upcoming changes to Office 365 ProPlus update management has intended audiences for each channel. 

 

Purpose of each Office 365 ProPlus update channel.png

 

3) No, deferred 2 (1701) is end of life next month, deferred 1 (1705) and the latest release 1708 become the Semi-Annual Channel.  Semi-Annual Channel gets feature updates every six months, in January and July with Monthly security updates.

 

4) Client updates may be version specific and vary like Windows desktop, Mac, mobile.  Backend updates should apply to any supported configuration but may require certain configurations to be enabled.  Just look at Focused Inbox for the desktop and how that required Exchange Online to be enabled, then a tenant change (modern auth) and a client update, all working together to provide this feature.

 

5) Generally, there is nothing to install, sometimes users will be invited to try out new features or certain features will be promoted in the interface, like the SharePoint mobile app.  

 

6) No, it's mentioned in your link "They do not apply to Skype for Business and related services."

 

7) Agreed this is confusing that's brought up here.

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