Microsoft says it’s made changes to the way 365 apps update themselves automatically when computers are locked or idle, so as not to bother users.
Depending on the setting, software updates on Windows can be suspended when computers are locked or idle, making it difficult to keep corporate networks secure and compliant with government regulations. At the same time, the constant drumming of dialogs regarding updating devices can annoy users and disrupt their work.
Microsoft now says it has a fix for these issues. An update rolls out that automatically applies updates to Microsoft 365 apps when the app is running, closed, or in sleep mode.
This feature is called Update Under Lock, and it’s built into Microsoft Click to play technology.
According to Julie Lieberman, Microsoft Product Manager, the update under lock ensures compliance within required deadlines while saving end users from interruption. It also reduces the need to force updates suddenly and makes updates more reliable by saving the state of the application before closing.
If Office applications are running during the update, this feature will close them when it is safe to lose data, apply the necessary update, and then restore the closed applications to their previous state. It takes four seconds, Lieberman said.
“It is a common scenario for users to keep apps open on their devices for extended periods of time,” he wrote. advice. “For example, if a user is working on a Word document at the end of the day, they can leave the document open and lock the machine, intent on continuing with it the next day.”
When documents are open this way, Office usually can’t apply updates. Under the update, however, Lieberman wrote, “the user will revert to a device in its previous state, but it will run on the latest bits.”
This feature does not close applications when macros are running or if there are unsafe changes, such as unsaved changes. If this happens, the apps will not stop and updates will be applied as normal.
On curbing this behavior, Lieberman said:
The update will start on Windows devices with a Microsoft 365, Visio, or Project subscription, but not Teams with its own update process. It will also arrive on Windows PCs with retail consumer and perpetual licenses for Office 2016, 2019 and 2021.
For all devices, see the tips above for the correct version numbers and release channels to initiate changes. ®