Intune Support Tip: Using ADMX for the Office Channel

by Contributed | Jan 12, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

By Mike Danoski – Sr. Program Manager | Microsoft Endpoint Manager – Intune

We have received a few support cases recently on the availability of the Administrative Templates (ADMX) settings for Office Channel with the new channel values such as the Monthly Enterprise Channel. This post will walk you through some background information and then provide three different approaches you can take to manage the updated Office Channels using Intune. We are working through changing the channel names and adding support for the additional Monthly Enterprise Channel value in our Administrative Templates policy, but in the meantime, I wanted to provide some alternatives if channel config via Administrative Templates in Intune is blocking your deployment.

Background: Changes to update channels for Microsoft 365 Apps – Deploy Office | Microsoft Docs

Since I will be covering making changes to the Office Update Channel, I am providing some articles that should be reviewed before making changes in production.

• 
  

  How to change the channel for Office.
  Change the Microsoft 365 Apps update channel for devices in your organization – Deploy Office | Microsoft Docs

  
  


• 
  

  Considerations when changing channels.
  Change the Microsoft 365 Apps update channel for devices in your organization – Deploy Office | Microsoft Docs

  
  


• 
  

  Simplest XML for changing channel via Office Deployment Tool (ODT).
  Here is the simplest XML for a device that already has Office.
  Change the Microsoft 365 Apps update channel for devices in your organization – Deploy Office | Microsoft Docs

  
  


• 
  

  Channel Attribute reference
  Configuration options for the Office Deployment Tool – Deploy Office | Microsoft Docs

  
  


• 
  

  Network load considerations

  
  

  Here is some guidance for managing network load via Delivery Optimization and Win10.
  Delivery Optimization and Microsoft 365 Apps – Deploy Office | Microsoft Docs

  
  

If you would like to move to any channel other than the Monthly Enterprise Channel (MEC) via Intune Administrative Templates (ADMX):

Use this mapping to navigate the visual channel changes in our current ADMX policy.

Below are three different options to update the channels depending on your configuration. We also always recommend you test any changes with a test group before making the change in production so you can see the change in end-user experience.

Option 1: If you would like to move to Monthly Enterprise Channel AND use ODT (Office Deployment Tool) via Intune.

Overview: Add Microsoft 365 apps to Windows 10 devices using Microsoft Intune | Microsoft Docs

Use this procedure if you have deployed Office Click-To-Run manually using ODT or from Intune.

NOTE: If there are conflicting settings, ADMX via MDM will win over settings via ODT. If you already have the channel setting set via ADMX, the new policy in ODT will not take effect until you remove the ADMX configuration.

Procedure:

1. 
   

   Set the channel setting in your Microsoft 365 Apps section to the MEC channel.

   
   
   
   
   1. 
      

      This can be done through the configuration designer or XML.

      
      
   
   
   
   


2. 
   

   Change the setting in the ADMX policy to “Not Configured”.

   
   
   
   
   1. 
      

      Setting this value to “Not Configured” will remove the command on the next MDM sync session.

      
      
   
   
   
   


3. 
   

   Once both settings are changed, the next time Click-to-Run runs, it will rationalize the change and move to the channel specified by ODT once the ADMX policy is removed.

   
   

Option 2: If you would like to move to Monthly Enterprise Channel AND you prefer to use policy and not ODT.

Setting the Office update channel via Custom policy (OMA-URI)

Create and deploy two settings in one profile.

To avoid conflict, set any existing Administrative Templates Office Channel settings targeted to the same group to “Not Configured”. Once this new customer policy setting is in place, please do not use the setting in Administrative Templates until it is updated, at which time you can set it back to the MEC channel and remove the custom OMA-URI policy.

Additional Info on deploying ADMX via Custom policy: Deploy Custom GPO via Microsoft Intune – Microsoft Tech Community.

Installing the ADMX

• ADMX Install URI: ./Vendor/MSFT/Policy/ConfigOperations/ADMXInstall/Office/Policy/L_UpdateBranch


• Value Type: String


• Setting value:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?>
<policyDefinitions revision="1.0" schemaVersion="1.0">
    <policyNamespaces>
        <target prefix="office16" namespace="office16v02.Office.Microsoft.Policies.Windows" />
        <using prefix="windows" namespace="Microsoft.Policies.Windows" />
    </policyNamespaces>
    <supersededAdm fileName="office16" />
    <resources minRequiredRevision="1.0" />
    <categories>
        <category name="L_MicrosoftOfficemachine" displayName="$(string.L_MicrosoftOfficemachine)" />
        <category name="L_Updates" displayName="$(string.L_Updates)">
            <parentCategory ref="L_MicrosoftOfficemachine" />
        </category>
    </categories>
    <policies>
        <policy name="L_UpdateBranch" class="Machine" displayName="$(string.L_UpdateBranch)" explainText="$(string.L_UpdateBranchExplain)" presentation="$(presentation.L_UpdateBranch)" key="softwarepoliciesmicrosoftoffice16.0commonofficeupdate">
            <parentCategory ref="L_Updates" />
            <supportedOn ref="windows:SUPPORTED_Windows7" />
            <elements>
                <enum id="L_UpdateBranchID" valueName="updatebranch" required="false">
                    <item displayName="$(string.L_UpdateBranch_Current)">
                        <value>
                            <string>Current</string>
                        </value>
                    </item>
                    <item displayName="$(string.L_UpdateBranch_CurrentPreview)">
                        <value>
                            <string>FirstReleaseCurrent</string>
                        </value>
                    </item>
                    <item displayName="$(string.L_UpdateBranch_MonthlyEnterprise)">
                        <value>
                            <string>MonthlyEnterprise</string>
                        </value>
                    </item>
                    <item displayName="$(string.L_UpdateBranch_SemiAnnual)">
                        <value>
                            <string>Deferred</string>
                        </value>
                    </item>
                    <item displayName="$(string.L_UpdateBranch_SemiAnnualPreview)">
                        <value>
                            <string>FirstReleaseDeferred</string>
                        </value>
                    </item>
                    <item displayName="$(string.L_UpdateBranch_Beta)">
                        <value>
                            <string>InsiderFast</string>
                        </value>
                    </item>
                </enum>
            </elements>
        </policy>
    </policies>
</policyDefinitions>

Second setting: Configuring the new ADMX setting

Note: this may report as Error until the 1st setting successfully writes to the device. If this is an issue, you can split these into separate policies and deploy this configuration after the ADMXInstall reports as a success.

• Configuration URI (for pushing the configured setting value down: ./Device/Vendor/MSFT/Policy/Config/Office~Policy~L_MicrosoftOfficemachine~L_Updates/L_UpdateBranch


• Value Type: String


• Setting value: 

  <enabled/><data id="L_UpdateBranchID" value="MonthlyEnterprise"/>​

Let us know if you have any additional questions on this by replying back to this post or tagging @MikeDanoski or @IntuneSuppTeam out on Twitter.

New Microsoft Dynamics 365 learning paths: December 2020 roundup

by Contributed | Jan 12, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

We’re continually adding to our training and certification portfolio to help you build and validate your skills, demonstrate those skills to employers or colleagues, and help you advance your career. Explore the new role-based learning paths and modules released on Microsoft Learn in December 2020. Look at the latest free, online training that you can work through at your own pace. And check out our new learning paths and modules on fraud protection, expense management, and application development best practices. If you aren’t sure which training to take, explore the Microsoft Learn Dynamics 365 landing page, where you’ll find useful collections, learning paths to get you started, and popular modules.

The following learning paths and modules were released in December 2020. 

Project Operations

Business Central

Fraud Protection

Power Automate Desktop