So like others, I’ve acquired a license for a modern MS Office (2024 in my case) and installed parts of it so I can continue to use Excel on modern Macs with modern macOS. As users of modern Offices will know, MS also installs MS AutoUpdate (MAU) and uses that to check for updates at least weekly. Whenever it detects any available updates, it will come to the foreground and “nudge” you to install them. However, MS offers no preference to adjust that interval or to only check and update on demand.
Now you could think a simple fix to that problem is Settings > Login Items & Extensions > App Background Activity and switch Microsoft AutoUpdate to off. That, however, does not do what you want because from then on, any Office app that you launch will complain that MAU cannot run without the right settings. That dialog does not allow cancel/ignore, it just allows opening up Settings. And until you give MAU its background privilege again, this new nuisance will continue nagging away.
Now the next thing you might consider is that you just get rid of MAU. After all, it’s just an app that sits in /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/. The problem with that is that if you get rid of it entirely, you cannot update your Office apps at all. And we know that is likely a bad idea. At some point you might hear about an update with important security implications or a bug fix you actually are interested in getting. And then what? Excel for example offers no simple “update me” command under Help (like many other apps) or under its app menu or anywhere else for that matter. MS has basically set it up that you need MAU to apply updates, even those you explicitly choose for yourself, but without MAU you are essentially SOL. Obviously, we can’t have that. You paid for Office and you’re running it on your machine, so you should be able to choose and have your tools work the way you tell them too.
So finally, here’s the good news. Here’s how you get it all. Keep Background App Activity switched off. Navigate to /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/ and right click on Microsoft AutoUpdate.app to select Compress. This will create a zip with MAU on your desktop. You can move that wherever you like or back into the MAU2.0 folder to make sure you don’t lose it. Now delete Microsoft AutoUpdate.app. Moving it out of /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/ will require authentication but that is just an admin account’s TouchID away.
From now on, no more nagging when you launch Office apps. No more MAU popping up at the least convenient moment nagging you about some update you never asked for on some schedule you never got to choose. But, in the situation where you do want to check for updates or have a specific update installed, all you do is unpack that Zip, and run Microsoft AutoUpdate.app. Done. Now, you again are in charge of what is rightfully yours.
Beware that when MAU updates itself, you will likely have to archive that updated copy of Microsoft AutoUpdate.app and get rid of it again in /Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/ in order to maintain peace and quiet. And to stay in charge of your own setup — the way it always should have been.
