Why does the "Restart Office to apply privacy settings" not go away

Dear RennieSchmid

We received a response from a user who was able to get back to normal after rolling back Office to version 16.0.17328.20142. We are currently testing this method, but we have received feedback from a user that it resolved the issue, so we suggest you try it.

1. Close all Office software, search for "Command Prompt" (or "cmd") in the "Start Menu", and right-click the mouse and select "Run as administrator";
2. In the command prompt enter the following code: cd %programfiles% \Common Files\microsoft shared\ClickToRun, and then press Enter;
3. And then enter: Officec2rclient.exe /update user updatetoversion=16.0.17328.20142

17328.20142 is the internal version number of the version you want to install, you can also choose an earlier version. Please refer to this link for the specific version number:

Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps (listed by date) - Office release notes | Microsoft Learn (In English)

We hope you find the above information helpful. Whether or not it works, please let us know by replying. Thank you for your understanding.

Best Regards,

Tracy | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Gave it a try Didn't work for me. I keep receiving this annoying privacy issue - and as of today I get it on each of my laptops.

Dear BillYang

The Office you have is an enterprise version, it is recommended to contact the company IT staff or post a question in the enterprise version, as the enterprise version involves different settings and profiles than the version for personal use.

Best Regards.

Tracy | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Dear gbz gbz

Unfortunately, the way back to Office can't be solved, because at the moment I didn't receive feedback that some users solved the problem by this method, if this solution doesn't work for you, we recommend you submit this issue through the feedback platform.

We are investigating this issue and would like you to follow Microsoft's official updates for the latest information.

You can post a question on the Feedback Platform (please provide as many details as possible, including images, copy videos, etc. if convenient), where a dedicated developer will follow and comment on your feedback.

After sending your feedback, you can share the feedback link in this forum, so that other users with similar problems, including me, can vote for your feedback, the more votes the more likely to get the attention of the development team, thank you for your cooperation.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best Regards,

Tracy | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Dear gbz gbz

I'd like to add some more information, may I ask if the Office update appeared when you reinstalled an older version of Office? If you can, we recommend that you try the reinstallation again and suspend the update immediately after the installation (click on File - Account - Product Information - Update Options - Stop Updates) and check the situation later.

Best Regards,

Tracy | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Dear gbz gbz

I'd like to add some more information, may I ask if the Office update appeared when you reinstalled an older version of Office? If you can, we recommend that you try the reinstallation again and suspend the update immediately after the installation (click on File - Account - Product Information - Update Options - Stop Updates) and check the situation later.

Best Regards,

Tracy | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

Dear Tracy,

I tried applying your suggestion to RennieSchmid, to try and roll back to version 16.0.17328.20142, and I did get an update message immediately after the rollback. I clicked "yes". The download window said I can open Office during download and update. I opened one of my files, and the privacy issue message still appeared. But after installing the update and reopening files, this message did not show up. So I guess this suggestion works, at least for me.

Thank you!