Office Deployment Tool (ODT) 2019 Download Updates Only

I've successfully downloaded the Office 2019 using Office Deployment Tool (ODT) 2019, but when an update was available, the script re-downloaded a complete new (but updated) Office 2019.

I don't want the script to download all the files when updates are available. I want it to download the updates only, so I can save bandwidth.

Please help. Thanks.

Configurations.xml file:

<Configuration> <Add OfficeClientEdition="64" Channel="PerpetualVL2019"> <Product> <Language /> </Product> <Product> <Language /> </Product> <Product> <Language /> </Product> </Add> <Updates Enabled="TRUE" /> <Display Level="Full" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />
</Configuration>

Command (in a batch-file):

Setup.exe /download Configurations.xml

Example: If office has 3 files, I want ODT to download and update File 3 only, instead of downloading all the 3 files:

Note: I posted this question with a bounty previously on StacksOverflow, but did not get an answer.

Thanks.

2 Answers

There is no such configuration options for ODT to set to download update files only.

I do not think running ODT with configuration file could just download the update files for other versions, it would download whole installation content.

The ODT would download only the missing files instead of whole installation content when you download Office to a source path, the folder that already contains one specificed version. More information, please refer to following screenshot from "SourcePath attribute (part of Add element)"

To achieve your needs of downloading update files only, it's recommended to use commands to invoke Office's own process (Such as OfficeC2RClient.exe or OfficeClickToRun.exe.) to check updates.

Here is the documentation about Office 2019 updates, "Update Office 2019 (for IT Pros)". It says, there is a scheduled task named “Office Automatic Updates 2.0 ”, and it would start a program "OfficeC2RClient.exe" to updates, and Office would download what’s needed to update Office 2019 to the latest version.

Sometimes, we could enter "C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun\OfficeC2RClient.exe" /update user updatetoversion=16.0.xxxxx.xxxxx in Run dialog to update Office.

"xxxxx.xxxxx" means the build number, for example, Version 2104 (Build 13929.20386), we could write "13929.20386".

The Microsoft articleOverview of the Office Deployment Toolexplains how to use the ODT to update an installation to a newer version from a folder.

This is covered in the sectionUpdate Microsoft 365 Apps:

Update Microsoft 365 Apps

You can use the Office Deployment Tool to make updates to your client computers after installing Microsoft 365 Apps. There are two ways to make the updates:

• Use the ODT to install Microsoft 365 Apps again, which will update Office to the newest version. Only the files that have changed in the new version will be updated.

• Use the ODT to download the Office installation files and then point your client computers to that location to receive their updates. (By default, clients are updated directly from the Office Content Delivery Network (CDN).)

To change where your client computers receive their updates, run the ODT in configure mode and specify an update path in the configuration file. For example, to have Microsoft 365 Apps get updates automatically from a network share called \\server\updates, include the following line in your configuration.xml file:

<Updates Enabled="TRUE" UpdatePath="\\server\updates" />

To use configure mode, use the command:

setup.exe /configure installconfig.xml