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I'm running Big Sur (MacOS 11.7.10) on an ancient, 9-year-old MacBook Pro.

I recently received an update notice for Microsoft Office 16.77.1, but I'm not being allowed to apply that update, because it requires MacOS 12, which I don't think is available for a Mac that's as old as mine.

It turns out that the "softwareupdate" utility no longer supports the "--ignore" flag, and therefore, it seems like I can't tell my OS to ignore any further Microsoft Office updates.

I want to continue to accept all other updates in the normal manner (at least all others that will work under MacOS 11).

Is there any way that I can tell my OS to ignore that one update?

Yes, I know I could buy a newer Mac that will accept an upgrade to MacOS 12. But that is a totally unacceptable course of action for me.

Another unacceptable course of action for me is to do nothing and constantly see the update notice for Microsoft Outlook.

Is there anything I can do (even including hacking one or more pieces of MacOS software) that can get rid of that ongoing upgrade notice for Microsoft Office?

Thank you in advance for any ideas and suggestions.

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  • 1
    Did you buy Office from the Mac App Store?
    – benwiggy
    Commented Nov 6, 2023 at 13:48
  • What version of Office is this (365 or one-time purchase or Mac App Store)? Where does the update show? Mac App Store? Microsoft Auto-update? MacOS System updates? Somewhere else?
    – jcaron
    Commented Nov 6, 2023 at 17:48

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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You can turn off Microsoft's AutoUpdate independently of your Mac settings.

/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/MAU2.0/Microsoft AutoUpdate.app

Run that & switch off. I'm in a similar position, my Mac is now too old for office updates…

enter image description here

Any updates coming from the App Store should 'know' when to stop being offered.

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  • Thank you! ... but sadly, there is no "Microsoft" subdirectory under /Library/Application Support on my Mac, and there's no file on the entire Mac which contains "AutoUpdate.app" as part of its file name. I guess I'm out of luck.
    – HippoMan
    Commented Nov 6, 2023 at 8:09
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    What are you searching with? Spotlight is terrible at finding 'hidden & system files. Try EasyFind (freeware) - just in case. It may be in ~/Library
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Nov 6, 2023 at 8:12
  • I am doing a "find" based from the root directory, running as root. And it's not in ~/Library, either.
    – HippoMan
    Commented Nov 6, 2023 at 8:12
  • That doesn't find it for me either;)
    – Tetsujin
    Commented Nov 6, 2023 at 8:14
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    Thank you! And actually, I don't even use Microsoft Outlook, so I guess I could just delete that app.
    – HippoMan
    Commented Nov 6, 2023 at 8:32

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