Carry over assignments

When IntuneBrew updates an app, it uploads the new version as a new app in Intune, next to the previous one. A new app has no assignments, so without carry-over nobody receives the update until you assign it. Carry-over moves the assignments of the previous version to the new one as part of the update.

Turn it on

Go to Settings → App Updates and switch on Preserve assignments when updating apps. It is off by default.

The setting belongs to your own account, not to the whole team. Each person who publishes updates chooses it for themselves.

You can also decide per update:

• Update uses your setting.
• Update now (keep assignments) in the Update button's menu always carries assignments over.
• When you update several apps at once, the Keep assignments checkbox starts from your setting and can be changed for that batch.
• Publish to ring… never carries assignments over. See Update rings.

Check before you publish

Before anything changes, the Review Tenant Change dialog shows whether assignments will be carried over and lists the groups that will receive the new version. Nothing happens in Intune until you confirm.

If someone changes the previous version's assignments in Intune after you opened the review, IntuneBrew notices the difference and leaves all assignments as they are.

What gets moved

For every assignment of the previous version, IntuneBrew creates the same assignment on the new version and only then removes it from the previous version. If creating it fails, the original assignment stays where it is.

Assignments with other settings stay on the previous version, and the update finishes with a Previous versions preserved notice so you can move them yourself.

Which version assignments come from

IntuneBrew takes assignments from a previous version only when it is sure it is the same app:

• It has the same display name and is a PKG or DMG app. Apps managed through Apple VPP or other app types are never touched.
• Its bundle ID matches the catalog app.
• If you updated from the dashboard, it is the version shown in the review. If that copy has no assignments but exactly one other copy of the app does, assignments come from that copy.

If two or more copies have assignments, or a copy can't be verified, IntuneBrew doesn't guess. It uploads the new version and leaves every assignment unchanged.

When it happens

Assignments are moved only after Intune confirms the new version is fully uploaded and published. If the upload fails at any point, the previous version and its assignments are untouched.

Removing previous versions

Remove previous versions after updating, in the same settings section, deletes older PKG and DMG copies of the app once the update succeeds:

• With carry-over on, a previous version is deleted only if it has no assignments left after the move. Copies that still have assignments, or that can't be checked, are kept.
• With carry-over off, every older PKG and DMG copy with the same name is deleted, including copies that are still assigned. Devices then stop receiving the app through those assignments.

Notices after an update

When the new version uploads fine but assignments couldn't be handled completely, the update still counts as successful and shows an amber notice:

If you turned on publish alerts in Notifications, you also get a Publish incomplete email.

With the PowerShell tool

Use -PreserveAssignments (or -CopyAssignments) with the PowerShell tool. It moves the assignments of the previous version the same way and keeps the previous app.