If you are using a Mac computer, such as a MacBook Pro or Air, chances are high that you immediately installed Microsoft Office. This is a software package which includes Word, PowerPoint and Excel mainly, and these are very popular applications for personal and professional use.
Microsoft Office will be installed on your Mac together with an additional program you may not have expected: Microsoft AutoUpdate. This is a small additional program which will allow you to keep your Microsoft application up to date with the latest releases – these updates may include bug fixes or introduce even new functionalities.
The Microsoft AutoUpdate will be displayed in your Dock on your Mac device, and it will display a notification badge with the number of available updates. In the screenshot that is shown here, you will see there are in total 5 updates available.
Method 1: enable automatic updates
Given that it is typically a good idea to update your applications to the latest version (for security reasons and more), you may want to enable the Microsoft applications to update automatically. When you select this option, the updates will no longer be queued and no notification will be shown because the updates are done automatically in the background while you are using your computer.
To enable the automatic updates, open the Microsoft AutoUpdate window and enable the checkbox: Automatically keep Microsoft apps up to date.
Method 2: remove the AutoUpdate application from your computer
The second method to get rid of the AutoUpdate application and related notifications, is to fully remove the application. Note that there will be no updates applied for none of your Microsoft apps.
- Open Finder
- Press the following key combination: Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + G
- Enter this folder location into the text box: /Library/Application Support/Microsoft
- Open the MAU2.0 folder, then delete the app Microsoft AutoUpdate.app
I would recommend, instead of deleting the .app file, to move it to a backup location just in case you run into problems later on.
Another options without delete …
launchctl domain/service.plist
launchctl disable user/501/com.microsoft.update.agent.plist
launchctl disable user/501/com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdater.plist
sudo launchctl disable system/com.microsoft.OneDriveStandaloneUpdaterDaemon.plist
sudo launchctl disable system/com.microsoft.OneDriveUpdaterDaemon.plist
sudo launchctl disable system/com.microsoft.autoupdate.helper.plist
OMG Thank you so much for this. The auto updater kept crashing my computer.