# Scheduling automatic updates

You can configure Eclipse update to search for updates to the installed features on a periodic basis automatically. You can configure how these updates are scheduled and performed from the Install/Update > Automatic Updates preference page.

### Scheduling options

Each time an Eclipse-based product starts, the update scheduler will activate based on the chosen scheduling. You can choose between the following update policies:

- No automatic search
- On each startup (default)
- Every day at a specific time (i.e. 3:00PM) *
- On a scheduled day of the week at a specific time (i.e. Monday 8:00AM) *

* assuming the application is active. If the application is not active at a scheduled time and the search is past due, it will immediately start on the next startup

### Download options

Scheduling options define when searches are performed but do not define what actually happens when updates are found. Download options control this behavior (this set of options is disabled if automatic search is turned off). You can choose between:

- Search for updates and notify when they are available (default)
- Download new updates automatically and notify when ready to install them

In both cases, the update scheduler will execute in the background when necessary based on the scheduling options. There will be no messages if no updates are found. If there are updates, the behavior will depend on the chosen download option.

#### Search and notify

If search only is selected, a message box will open to notify you when updates are found:

New updates have been found for this product. Do you want to download them?

[Yes] [No]

If Yes is pressed, an update wizard will show a list of detected updates. The same wizard is used when you search for updates manually using Help > Software Updates > Find and Install....

If No is pressed, the dialog closes and the updates are ignored.

#### Download new updates

If the second option has been selected (download updates automatically), the search will be scheduled as before, but when new updates are found, the download will commence immediately. When all the features have been successfully downloaded, a different message box will show up:

New updates have been found and downloaded. Do you want to install them?

[Yes] [No]

If No is pressed, the dialog will close and no updates will occur. If Yes is pressed, installation of the new updates will proceed.

If you choose not to install the downloaded features, but later launch the Help > Find and Install... wizard for updating, the downloaded files will be reused, unless there are newer versions on the server or you have restarted eclipse.

Updating features with the update manager