The regular updates of Microsoft 365 contain new features and other intended changes, but sometimes they also come with problems and bugs. To a certain extent, you can control the updates by choosing a suitable update channel, i.e. the interval and the "maturity" of the updates. Since selecting and changing channels is not straightforward, we want to provide the relevant information.
Current | Monthly Enterprise | Semi Annual (Preview) | Semi Annual | |
New Features and Updates | as soon as they are available, at least once a month, usually more often, no set schedule | on 2nd Tuesday of each month | twice a year, on 2nd Tuesday of March and September, 4 months before they hit Semi-Annual channel | twice a year, on 2nd Tuesday of January and July |
Support | until next version, i.e. support for v2401 will end when v2402 comes out | 2 months | 6 months, until the next update, i.e. when 2403 comes out, support for 2309 ends | 14 months |
Notes | This is the default channel for all Microsoft 365 plans and recommended by Microsoft. |
Beta | Current (Preview) | |
New Features and Updates | Includes features and updates still in development, installed on a weekly basis. | Features in final stage of development, a few times per month without set schedule. |
Support | No support by Microsoft given. | until next version, i.e. when v2401 comes out, support for v2312 ends |
Valid for all channels
Security and non-security updates (aka bug fixes) will be installed on a monthly basis, on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. Severe security issues or bugs causing major problems will be fixed outside scheduled updates.
Our recommendations
If you manage an application in Microsoft Access, you should be concerned about stability of the environment. Rule of thumb is that the majority of users should use the slowest update channels the business is comfortable with. This allows the majority of bugs to be found and fixed before the users get an update to their Access installations.
You may wish to consider having a few users of your application in an environment one phase newer than the general users, to allow identification of any application specific issues prior to the wider population rollout.
Insider channels should be used only in test environments and by a small group of selected users, such as IT staff or application developers.
How to join a specific channel
If not assigned differently by your administrator, new Office installations will always be in Current Channel. There are various methods to change from a channel to a different one.
1. Personal and Family Subscriptions only
Personal and Family Subscriptions have the option to join the Insider channels Beta and Current Channel (Preview) by the In-App Button:
For all other versions and channels, the following methods of switching between Update Channels are available.
Following registry script will add an In-App button to your version of Office (elevated permissions required):
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Office\16.0\common\officechannelexposure]
"insiderfast"=dword:00000001
"firstreleasecurrent"=dword:00000001
"current"=dword:00000001
"monthlyenterprise"=dword:00000001
"firstreleasedeferred"=dword:00000001
"deferred"=dword:00000001Registry script as download:
The result after executing this script will be visible under File -> Account after Access is restarted:
Clicking the "Update Channel" button will show the channel choice, after confirming "I will manage my Microsoft 365 apps update channel":
3. Registry Command
The following command (when run from an elevated Command Line window) will prepare Office to setup the desired version next time an Office update is due, in this example "Current Channel (Preview)":
reg add HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\common\officeupdate /v updatebranch /t REG_SZ /d CurrentPreviewThe update can be triggered manually from within Access (or other Office applications) under File -> Account -> Update -> Update Now.
For the list of channels see below.
4. Office Deployment Tool (ODT)
Download ODT and extract to a folder of your choice. You will see setup.exe and some configuration samples (XML files) for different types of installations, with choice from 32-/64-bit, channel and Office product.
Run the setup command from either a command line window or Run (Windows+R):
setup.exe /configure configuration.xmlConfiguration.xml holds instructions for ODT. It can be a valid XML file of any name.
Configuration sample for a new setup of Office Pro Plus 64-bit in Current Preview channel:
<Configuration>
  <Add OfficeClientEdition="64" Channel="CurrentPreview" >
    <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail">
      <Language ID="en-us" />
    </Product>
  </Add>
</Configuration>Configuration sample for updating the channel of an existing Office installation to Monthly Enterprise Channel:
<Configuration>
  <Updates Channel="MonthlyEnterprise" />
</Configuration>XML sample files as download:
Microsoft also provides an Office Customization Tool (OCT) which allows you to specify a configuration and lets you generate and export the XML. The fastest channel supported by OCT is Current Channel Preview.
Note: This procedure will switch the update channel on your system temporarily until the next scheduled update, the next Patch Tuesday at the latest. To tell your system to stay in this channel you must execute the Registry Command (option 3).
Explanation of the important parameters
OfficeClientEdition The numbers "32" and "64" represent the x86 and x64 versions of Office.
Channel These are the channel IDs to use:
Current
MonthlyEnterprise
SemiAnnualPreview
SemiAnnual
CurrentPreview
BetaChannel
Product ID There's a long list of product IDs. These are relevant for Access:
M365
O365ProPlusRetail
O365BusinessRetail
AccessRuntimeRetail
Non-M365
AccessRetail
Access2019Retail
Access2021Retail
Access2019Volume
Access2021Volume
Language ID
The list of languages shows available languages/culture combinations for Office. The format of the list is ll-CC (language-CULTURE), e.g. en-US. The configuration file requires both language and culture in lower case, i.e. en-us.
5. Additional Options for Administrators
Administrators have more options to allow or disable channel updates using admin tools: