This applies mostly towards Microsoft 365 or Office 365 installs.

Like with all software. Microsoft Office has it’s days where it doesn’t like to play nice. So, when something breaks - as a result of fate or no QA - Office needs to be rolled back to the previous version. Software is software. It’s going to break. But, hopefully this will be useful should issues pop up as a result of an update.

Does it work every time? No. But, it does help when troubleshooting and you’re under the suspicion it’s related to a Microsoft Office update.

Microsoft provides a place on the Internet where it lists all changes for Microsoft Office. There are other ones available. But, what matters here is the channel you’re on, the Office version, and the Office Build number.

To determine the channel and Office version for Microsoft Office. The following process can be followed in most Office applications.

  1. Click File.
  2. Click Office Account.

In the “About” section there will be the version, build, and channel of the application being reviewed. Just need to go back to the link above and go back to a previous build version and notate it.

In this case. The previous version is from April 04, 2023 and the build version is 16227.20258. That will be used soon.

The method I’ve seen to work with the most consistency is using the Click 2 Run client. Others on the Internet have recommended using the Office Deployment Tool. But, it hasn’t been the most reliable way to roll back to a previous version of Office. (I’ll need to do some research on that.)

One thing I do before performing this task is closing all Microsoft Office applications.

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun\Officec2rClient.exe" /update userupdatetoversion=16.0.BUILD.NUMBER

The following command can be reviewed below as an example. In this case it will be 16227.20258.

"C:\Program Files\Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun\Officec2rClient.exe" /update userupdatetoversion=16.0.16227.20258

Then Click2Run will pop up saying its updating Office. This may take some time while it performs the operation. When it’s done. Close it and open Outlook, Excel, etc. and check the version again to verify it’s on the build version that has been specified.

Make sure you check that the issue that’s being “fixed” is gone. (;

One more thing. If we’re attempting to fix an issue caused by an update. It would be prudent to disable updates until an Office build is released that fixes the issue.