This would occur if after installation of Office, the customer chose Don't Make Changes instead of Use Recommended Settings or Install Updates Only, which would add the Microsoft Updates for Office feature to Windows Update:
A lot of instructions out there tell you to go to the File menu in Word or Excel, click Help, then Check for Updates:
But when you click on that, you get a dead-end message in your browser telling you to use Windows Update:
But, as you already know, Windows Update doesn't give you any Microsoft Update options. So what do you do??
Its actually incredibly easy - I finally found this website: http://www.msoutlook.info/question/363 that tells you to click the "Find out more" link next to "Get updates for other Microsoft products" on the main windows of the Windows Update page:
Clicking the link downloads and installs the Microsoft Update feature for Windows Update. Re-check for updates and now you will see Office updates among your Windows Updates!
The website above gives you specific instructions for Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP.
