This article will explain how our auto-update system works and how it may benefit you.
What is auto-update?
UpSlide releases a new version in production for its users every other week. This new version will be retrieved automatically in the background by UpSlide if auto-update is activated.
Auto-update allows your users to always be up to date with our latest features and bug fixes.
How does it work?
When UpSlide starts, it checks our server if a new version is available. It will download and start installing it in the background if there is. The installation will be completed when the user restarts all Office applications.
To communicate with our server, UpSlide makes web requests (HTTPS: GET) through the host application (Excel, Word or PowerPoint) on port 443 to the endpoint autoupdate.upslide.net.
- UpSlide sends a request containing the contract ID and the user email to our server.
- The server will answer with the URL of the latest update compressed as a .zip file.
- UpSlide uses Microsoft BITS protocol to download the .zip file in the installation folder.
- To install this new version, UpSlide will replace the Binaries folder typically found in %ProgramData%\UpSlide\ with the .zip content.
All data is exchanged using TLS 1.2 and AES 256 encryption on top.
Why should you activate auto-update?
Microsoft Office compatibility
We make sure UpSlide is always compatible with the latest Microsoft and Office updates, and we highly recommend activating UpSlide auto-updates. Having the latest UpSlide version installed helps avoid compatibility issues when Microsoft makes changes to Office.
New features and latest fixes
Upgrading UpSlide with our auto-update system allows users to access the latest features. You may notice elements you have requested in the past, and you will also get the latest fixes and security improvements.
No additional deployment
Without auto-update, your IT team will have to redeploy a new setup to all users if you want to access new features or if any issue arises. Instead of being automatically retrieved by UpSlide, this will postpone their availability and add additional work to your team.
With auto-update, your users will always get the latest versions without any IT intervention needed.
Auto-update scenarios
We recommend having the auto-update activated for all users by default, but our auto-update system is flexible and customized to fit your roll-out processes.
For example, you can decide to have only a small set of users updating automatically while the rest of your users will stay on the same version until you are ready to upgrade them. Upgrading those users can be done using our license management platform in one click.
Don't hesitate to contact us if you have questions. We will be happy to tailor our system to your needs.
Security
For more information on the security of our auto-update endpoints, please check this article: Security of UpSlide endpoints