Unable to upgrade Office for Mac installation due to “Download error…” in MS AutoUpdate app

TidBITS Talk
1

Hello.

I just upgraded my client’s unsupported macOS Ventura v13.7.8 to Sequoia v15.7.1 because Apple and Microsoft dropped support recently. I’m currently unable to upgrade his installed Mac Office (university’s 365 subscription) v16.101 to v16.102. It queues the updates and then “Download error…” I tried rebooting and trying another macOS account. Nothing helped.

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AutoUpdate log showed this when trying to download and upgrade Excel app only:

…

2025-10-18 18:27:38 [Microsoft AutoUpdate] NOT.COLLECTED: {“Payload”:“XPC Call to updater: requestUpdateForApp:withReply: for App ID: XCEL2019”}
2025-10-18 18:27:38 [Microsoft Update Assistant] NOT.COLLECTED: {“Payload”:“Request for Update received for App: XCEL2019”}
2025-10-18 18:27:38 [Microsoft Update Assistant] NOT.COLLECTED: {“Payload”:“Updating Application State for App: XCEL2019 to: 5 info: (null)”}
2025-10-18 18:27:38 [Microsoft AutoUpdate] NOT.COLLECTED: {“Payload”:“Updater state changed: 4”}
2025-10-18 18:27:38 [Microsoft Update Assistant] NOT.COLLECTED: {“Payload”:“CloningTask.Begin. AppID: XCEL2019, UpdateID: 3DA880E1-4100-4DC5-A1CB-B9A1EA098D00”}
2025-10-18 18:27:38 [Helper Tool] 36EC1BE4-C598-4A23-A89A-B42A6C018053: New Cloning Connection requested from pid: 5288, application: Microsoft Update Assistant.app
2025-10-18 18:27:38 [Helper Tool] 36EC1BE4-C598-4A23-A89A-B42A6C018053: Connection request successfully verified (Cloning)
2025-10-18 18:27:38 [Helper Tool] 36EC1BE4-C598-4A23-A89A-B42A6C018053: createCloneFromApp copyItemAtPath: /Applications/Microsoft Excel.app toPath: /Library/Caches/com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper/Clones.noindex/Microsoft Excel.app
2025-10-18 18:27:43 [Helper Tool] 36EC1BE4-C598-4A23-A89A-B42A6C018053: Verifying installed app codesignature: /Applications/Microsoft Excel.app
2025-10-18 18:28:03 [Helper Tool] 36EC1BE4-C598-4A23-A89A-B42A6C018053: Completed copyItemAtPath: /Applications/Microsoft Excel.app toPath: /Library/Caches/com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper/Clones.noindex/Microsoft Excel.app
2025-10-18 18:28:03 [Microsoft Update Assistant] CloningTask.Status: {“AppNameChanged”:“NO”,“UpdateID”:“3DA880E1-4100-4DC5-A1CB-B9A1EA098D00”,“Success”:“YES”,“AppID”:“XCEL2019”}
2025-10-18 18:28:03 [Microsoft Update Assistant] ErrorsAndWarnings: {“AppID”:“XCEL2019”,“Error”:“Nil update dictionary encountered while queing download.”,“Operation”:“Download”}
2025-10-18 18:28:03 [Microsoft Update Assistant] NOT.COLLECTED: {“Payload”:“Updating Application State for App: XCEL2019 to: 9 info: Download error…”}
2025-10-18 18:28:10 [Microsoft AutoUpdate] LifeCycle.Terminate: {“SessionLength”:“53”}
2025-10-18 18:28:10 [Microsoft Update Assistant] NOT.COLLECTED: {“Payload”:“XPC Connection invalidated for com.microsoft.autoupdate2.”}
2025-10-18 18:28:28 [Microsoft Update Assistant] LifeCycle.Terminate: {“SessionLength”:“70”}

Did MS release a buggy AutoUpdate version yesterday? https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdates/release-history-microsoft-autoupdate shows it was released yesterday. I know yesterday told me my macOS Ventura was no longer supported hence the OS upgrade.

How do I fix this or is this MS’ fault? :( Thank you for reading and hopefully answering soon.

2

As coincidence would have it, I did an Office update today (from 16.101 to 16.102 too) and got Download errors as well. But I tried again this evening, and it worked fine. So I think it was Microsoft’s servers feeling poorly and it will probably work for you now.

1 Like
3

Nope, still not working right now and 13 hrs. later. :(

It seems someone else has the same problem like me in my Unable to upgrade Office for Mac installation due to "Download error..." in MS AutoUpdate app. - Microsoft Q&A thread.

4

If you’re charging people for your advice, I think you need to figure out a revenue-sharing plan for TBT members!
:-)

1 Like
5

Sure, I will give you each 1 IRR. /s Actually, it’s a family/colony member.

6

Yay, it working again right now! I didn’t do anything to fix it too. So, it was MS’ fault. :D

7

Ha. More five more updated apps at v16.102.1 for my morning’s v16.102.0 apps. MS’ QA is getting worse. :(

8

In the past, Microsoft had updated its Office packages once a month, with an occasional extra security fix now and then. The pace has increased a bit recently, with at least one month seeing three updates for some of the apps.

I’m not sure that it is a question of poor QA as much as it is a matter of Microsoft moving toward a more rapid development model. Personally, I strongly prefer a steadier, more predictable release strategy, but that clearly is not the industry’s direction.

Even on the enterprise side of things, Microsoft is dropping its semi-annual release channel in favor of a monthly enterprise update channel.

2 Likes
9

Yeah, it’s quite annoying.It’s not just MS. Even Apple has its own issues too. :(