Microsoft Is Changing the Way It Delivers M365 Enterprise App Updates

Mary Jo Foley is the Editor in Chief at Directions on Microsoft. Before joining Directions, Mary Jo has worked as... more

Blue and yellow stylized image of a laptop running Office apps — Credit: Microsoft

Microsoft is warning Microsoft 365 enterprise customers of some changes coming in July 2025 that could affect how and how often organizations will get Office app updates on Windows desktops. Organizations that have been juggling updates via the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel in a way that allowed them to only update their apps once a year are going to be forced to update twice annually, thanks to the coming new policies.

Microsoft published information on pending update changes to the Microsoft 365 Message Center (MC1087098) on June 2. Administrators need to take action quickly to ensure desktops continue to get regular feature and security updates.

Microsoft officials said they are making the changes in order to “streamline updates and align with customer needs.” In other words: We are rolling out new features, especially AI/agentic ones, at a fast clip and we want customers to get access (and pay us, if possible) as soon as possible.

Currently, Microsoft offers three primary update channels for M365 Enterprise App customers: The Current Channel; Monthly Enterprise Channel; Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel. (It also has a Semi-Annual Enterprise Preview Channel and Semi-Annual Enterprise Extended Channel.) Microsoft uses these channels to provide both feature updates and security and non-security updates for Microsoft 365 desktop apps.

Up until now, those who opt for Current Channel get new Microsoft 365 Apps features as soon as they’re ready, which means typically at least once a month. Monthly Enterprise channel gets new or updated app features on the second Tuesday each month. Those in the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel also get feature updates on the second Tuesday, but only in January and July. Semi-Annual Channel Preview is for customers who want to preview new features coming to the Semi-Annual Channel ahead of deploying them. The Semi-Annual Extended Channel is for updates delivered to subsequent releases of previous forks.

What’s Happening When

Beginning in July 8, 2025, Microsoft will no longer provide updates via the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel Preview. Officials said organizations should move devices on this channel to another supported channel if they want to keep getting early access to new features and security updates. And as of March 10, 2026, it is dropping support for Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel Extended.

Microsoft is making other channel changes starting in July 2025. The Monthly Enterprise Channel will get rollback support for two months, up from one. The Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel will be supported for fewer months — from 14 months to 8 months. (The eight months includes 6 months of regular support plus the 2-month rollback period.)

The Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel will be meant for unattended devices, going forward, according to Microsoft. (Up until now, Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel was for “non-interactive devices and those running specialized or business critical workloads that require extensive testing” before new features are implemented.)

“Bottom line: You have to deploy new Office versions twice a year if you are on the Semi-Annual Enterprise channel – up from once,” said Directions on Microsoft analyst Rob Helm.

Currently, via the Semi-Annual channel, Microsoft supports new Office app releases for 14 months. That means that enterprises can deploy new versions of Microsoft 365 Enterprise apps in January, ignore the July updates and then deploy the newest versions the following January. The supported roll-back window meant if there were any issues with the new Office apps, companies could revert to a version that was more than a year old until the problems were fixed or a newer version of the apps was available.

Organizations can change the Microsoft 365 Apps update channel for their devices using Group Policy, the Office Deployment Tool (ODT), Configuration Manager, Intune Administrative Templates, and/or the Microsoft 365 Apps Admin Center.