Jamf Pro - Detecting Office versions on Macs in Jamf Pro

Microsoft Office has several different licenses in use. This page will explain how to which version of the applications and which version of the license is installed on Macs enrolled in Jamf Pro.

License types

Office 365 — this is Microsoft's user-based rolling license. The 365 license always provides the latest features and updates. Any user who logs into Microsoft Office apps such as Word or Excel will automatically see their license upgraded to Office 365.

Office 2024 LTSR volume license — This is the latest device-based license, and the default for new computers enrolled in Jamf. Office 2024 LTSR will continue to receive updates and support until October 2029.

Office 2021 LTSR volume license — the previous device-based license before 2024. Office 2021 LTSR will reach end-of-life in October 2026, at which point users will need to upgrade to 2024 or O365 to continue receiving important security updates.

Office 2019 LTSR volume license — End of life. Users should upgrade to 2024 or Office 365.

Viewing active license in Jamf Pro

In a computer's inventory record, navigate to the "Extension Attributes" section, then scroll down to "Office License Type". This will show you which version of the volume license is installed (if any), and whether the Office 365 license is active. Note that if both a volume license and the O365 license are in place, the O365 license will take priority.

Any Mac showing an Office 365 license or a 2024 license is in a good state. If you have machines showing only a 2021 or 2019 license, then you should plan to upgrade them, either by pushing out the "Microsoft_Office_LTSC_2024_VL_Serializer.pkg" package in Jamf, or by instructing the users to log in to Microsoft Word.

Application versions

Microsoft Office 2019, 2021, 2024, and O365 use the same applications. You will need to make sure that you have a compatible version of the applications installed for your license type.

Microsoft Office 2019 started with version 16.17, increasing up to 16.78.

Microsoft Office 2021 started with 16.53 and will continue receiving updates until October 2026.

Microsoft Office 2024 started with 16.89 and will continue receiving updates until 2029.

License type Smart Groups

Office 365 Smart Group

• Create a new Smart Group.
• Under Criteria, click Add and select "Office License Type"

  You may need to click "Show Advanced Criteria" to see Office License Type

  .

• Configure it as
  
  Example image:
  

Office 2024 Smart Group

• Create a new Smart Group.
• Under Criteria, click Add and select "Office License Type"

  You may need to click "Show Advanced Criteria" to see Office License Type

  .

• Configure it as
• Click Add and select "Office License Type" again
• Configure it as
• Select the open and close parentheses around these first two criteria.
• Click Add and select "Office License Type" again
• Configure it as
  
  Example image:
  

Office 2021 Smart Group

• Create a new Smart Group.
• Under Criteria, click Add and select "Office License Type"

  You may need to click "Show Advanced Criteria" to see Office License Type

  .

• Configure it as
• Click Add and select "Office License Type" again
• Configure it as
• Click Add and select "Office License Type" again
• Configure it as
  
  Example image:
  

Office 2019 Smart Group

• Create a new Smart Group.
• Under Criteria, click Add and select "Office License Type"

  You may need to click "Show Advanced Criteria" to see Office License Type

  .

• Configure it as
• Click Add again, and select Office License Type again.
• Configure it as
• Click Add again, and select Office License Type again.
• Configure it as
• Click Add again, and select Office License Type again.
• Configure it as
  
  Example image:
  

Office (any version) Smart Group

• Create a new Smart Group.
• Under Criteria, click Add and select Application Title.
• Configure it to:

Computers without any Office version Smart Group

• Create a new Smart Group.
• Under Criteria, click Add and select Application Title.
• Configure it to:

All of these will only detect Office installations that include Excel. If someone installs only, for example, Microsoft Outlook, it will not be detected properly by these Smart Groups. You can add additional criteria to look for any other apps by setting each line's first column to "OR"

Contact

If you need assistance creating policies or smart groups, please contact the Endpoint Management team at euc-help@mit.edu.

Related articles

See Jamf Pro - Software Deployment for more information on how to create deployment policies.
See [Jamf Pro - Third-party software patching] for information on deploying new updates as they are released.
See Jamf Pro - Installing and updating Microsoft Office