Office update irritant

The Microsoft updater offers to close all applications before it will allow the update to proceed. Have you tried doing it that way? I have never had to manually force quit anything when applying updates from MS.

 

Must be something in your MS install.
Updates for me don't require any manual "tricks", just quitting any open Office apps.

But, I also experience a slow deterioration of performance in Office apps, particularly PowerPoint (my main use) about once a year. Just slows down a little, with minor glitches.
Deleting the Office folder, then reinstalling from original installer, doing the latest update, helps bring back Office to its usual "glory".
I wouldn't take it personally - it's just typical Microsoft "treating" you with its own unequaled style.
Try the uninstall/reinstall. Works for me! I don't even touch settings .plists or extensively "uninstall" from the various locations. Just delete the Office folder from Applications, and reinstall from original media. Only takes a few minutes (less than 10 minutes, IIRC, including updates.)