Topics in this chapter   Creating an Administrative Installation Point     Customizing the Office Installation     Customizing How Setup Runs     Customizing Office Features and Shortcuts     Customizing User-defined Settings     Including Additional Packages in the Office Installation     Customizing Removal Behavior     Distributing Office to Users' Computers     Deploying a Service Release

Customizing User-defined Settings

Microsoft Office applications are highly customizable. Users can change how Office functions by setting options or adding custom templates or tools. For example, a sales department can create a custom template for invoices or a custom dictionary with industry-specific terms. Users can change everything from the screen resolution to the default file format for saving documents. Most of these user-defined settings are recorded as values in the Windows registry.

If you are an administrator in a large organization, you can customize user-defined settings and distribute a standard Office XP configuration to all users. To do this, you first install Office XP on a test computer and then customize toolbars, settings, templates, custom dictionaries, and any other options. Then you run the Profile Wizard to create an Office profile settings file (OPS file) that captures all of these configuration options. If you add the OPS file to a transform (MST file), your customized settings are included when Office XP is installed on client computers.

The Custom Installation Wizard also allows you to customize user-defined settings directly in the transform. You can set user options and add or modify registry entries. You can even add the Profile Wizard to a transform and run it separately to distribute new default settings. When Office is installed, your customizations modify values in the Windows registry, and your settings appear as the defaults on users' computers.

Methods of customizing user settings

The method you choose to customize user-defined settings depends on the following:

• How extensively you want to configure Office XP.

  You can create a custom configuration for all of Office XP or preset just a few key options.

• How complex your deployment scenarios are.

  You can distribute the same custom settings to all the users in your organization, or you can configure Office XP applications differently to meet the needs of different groups of users.

• How and when you deploy Office XP applications.

  If you are staging your Office XP deployment, you can customize only the applications that you are installing at a given time. Or, if you have already deployed Office, you can distribute a standard configuration to all Office XP users.

• Whether you want to enforce your custom settings.

  Settings that you distribute through a transform(MST file) or Office profile settings file (OPS file) appear to users as the default settings — but users can choose different options for themselves. By contrast, using Office XP system policies ensures that your settings are always applied.

The following table lists typical scenarios for customizing user settings and the recommended methods and tools to use in each case.

Resolving conflicting settings

Most customized user options correspond to entries in the Windows registry. If you define conflicting values for the same setting, Windows Installer must determine which value to use. In most cases, a setting applied later in the installation process overwrites any settings applied earlier.

Settings for user options are applied in the following order:

1. Settings in an OPS file included in a transform.
   
   
2. Settings specified in a transform.

   These settings can be entered on the Change Office User Settings, Specify Office Security Settings, or Outlook: Custom Default Settings pages of the Custom Installation Wizard.

3. Registry values specified in a transform.
   
   
4. Settings applied by running the Profile Wizard during Setup.
   
   
5. Settings that migrate from a previous version of Office.
   
   
6. Settings applied by using the Profile Wizard or Custom Maintenance Wizard after Office is installed.

   This precedence assumes that users have already started each Office XP application and any migrated settings have already been applied.

7. Settings managed through system policies.

Using the Office Profile Wizard

The Office Profile Wizard saves and restores user-defined settings in Office XP applications. Most user-defined settings can be stored in an Office user profile. When you run the Office Profile Wizard to save a user profile, you create an Office profile settings file (OPS file). Setup uses the OPS file to apply default settings when Office XP is installed.

Note   If an OPS file contains settings for an application that is not installed, those settings are still written to the registry.

By design, the Profile Wizard excludes some settings, including user-specific information such as the user name and Most Recently Used file list (File menu). For example, the Profile Wizard does not capture the following Microsoft Outlook 2002 settings:

• Profile settings, including mail server configuration
  
  
• Storage settings, such as default delivery location and personal folder files (PST files)
  
  
• E-mail accounts and directories (Tools|Options|Mail Setup|E-mail Accounts)
  
  
• Send/Receive groups (Tools|Options|Mail Setup|Send/Receive)
  
  
• Customized views; for example, the fields displayed in the Inbox or another folder
  
  
• Outlook Bar shortcuts
  
  
• Auto-archive options set for a particular folder, which you set by right-clicking the folder, clicking Properties, and choosing options in the AutoArchive tab
  
  
• Delegate options (Tools|Options|Delegates)
  
  
• In addition, the following Outlook 2002 settings are not captured in an OPS file:
  
  
• Send Immediately when connected check box (Tools|Options|Mail Setup)
  
  
• When forwarding a message option (Tools|Options|Preferences|E-mail Options)
  
  
• Mark my comments with option (Tools|Options|Preferences|E-mail Options)
  
  
• Request secure receipt for all S/MIME signed messages check box (Tools|Options|Security)
  
  
• Show an additional time zone check box (Tools|Options|Preferences|Calendar Options|Time Zone)
  
  
• Automatically decline recurring meeting requests check box (Tools|Options|Preferences|Calendar Options|Resource Scheduling)
  
  
• Automatically decline conflicting meeting requests check box (Tools|Options|Preferences|Calendar Options|Resource Scheduling)
  
  
• Automatically accept meeting requests and process cancellations check box (Tools|Options|Preferences|Calendar Options|Resource Scheduling)

Toolbox   The Office XP Resource Kit includes the Office Profile Wizard, which is installed by default when you run the Office Resource Kit Setup program. The wizard includes a detailed Help file. For more information, see Office Profile Wizard in the Toolbox.

Add an OPS file to a transform

Adding an OPS file to a transform is a convenient way to deploy a collection of custom settings throughout your organization. Settings contained in the OPS file are implemented when users install Office, and those settings apply to every user who logs on using that computer. However, any other method of customizing user options — including specifying user settings elsewhere in the transform or choosing to migrate settings from a previous version of Office — overwrites default settings in the OPS file.

To customize default options for users in this way, follow these general steps:

1. Use the Profile Wizard to create an OPS file that contains your default settings for Office application options.
   
   
2. Use the Custom Installation Wizard to create a transform (MST file) that contains the OPS file.
   
   
3. Install Office XP on users' computers with your transform.

Create an OPS file

Before you create an OPS file, you must start each Office application on a test computer and set all the options you want for your users. You can set most options by using the Options command (Tools menu). To customize toolbars and menus, use the Customize command (Tools menu). After you have customized the Office applications, you run the Profile Wizard to save the settings to an OPS file.

To save settings to an OPS file

1. Run the Profile Wizard.
   
   
2. On the Save or Restore Settings page, select Save the settings from this machine, and enter the name and path for the OPS file.
   
   
3. Select the check boxes next to the Office XP applications you want to include in your OPS file.
   
   
4. Click Finish.

   The Profile Wizard saves the Office application settings on your computer to the OPS file.

Tip   For Office XP, the Profile Wizard allows you to save settings for only a selected application or group of applications. This feature is particularly useful when you are staging your Office XP deployment; you can limit the settings saved in the OPS file to only the applications that you are deploying at a given time.

Create a transform that contains your OPS file

You use the Custom Installation Wizard to create a transform that includes the OPS file.

To create a custom transform that contains the OPS file

1. Start the Custom Installation Wizard.
   
   
2. On the Customize Default Application Settings page, select Get values from an existing settings profile, and type the file name and path of the OPS file you created.

The Custom Installation Wizard creates a transform that contains your OPS file and any other customizations you have made.

Toolbox   The Office XP Resource Kit includes the Custom Installation Wizard, which is installed by default when you run the Office Resource Kit Setup program. For more information, see Custom Installation Wizard in the Toolbox.

Allow Setup to migrate settings

By default, if a previous version of Office is installed on a user's computer, Windows Installer copies the previous application settings for that version to Office XP. Migrated settings are applied the first time each user starts an Office application, and the user's migrated settings overwrite any duplicate settings contained in an OPS file or added to the transform.

On the Customize Default Application Settings page of the Custom Installation Wizard you can modify this Setup behavior. If you are not including an OPS file in the installation, the wizard selects the Migrate user settings check box by default. When users install Office XP with your transform, Setup migrates relevant settings from a previous version. If you add an OPS file to the transform, the wizard clears the Migrate user settings check box and uses the values in your OPS file instead.

Note   If you add an OPS file to the transform and also select the Migrate user settings check box, the settings from your OPS file are applied during the initial installation. However, the first time a user starts an Office application, Windows Installer migrates settings from a previous version of Office and overwrites any corresponding settings previously applied.

Run the Profile Wizard during Setup

Adding an OPS file to the MST file increases the size of the transform and also requires that you recreate the transform whenever you modify the OPS file. Alternatively, you can store the OPS file on a network server and direct Setup to run the Profile Wizard with your OPS file during Office XP installation.

Running the Profile Wizard during Setup applies a standard default Office XP configuration to users' computers. However, because the OPS file is stored separately, you can modify the configuration without changing the transform. You can also create different OPS files for different groups of users.

When you run the Profile Wizard separately, you can choose whether to apply the settings in the OPS file once per user (the recommended option) or once per computer. You can also specify whether user-defined options are returned to their original default settings before your customized settings are applied; this step ensures that all users begin with exactly the same Office XP configuration.

When you add Proflwiz.exe to a transform, the Profile Wizard runs after Office is installed, so settings from this OPS file overwrite any duplicate settings specified in the transform, including the following:

• Settings specified in an OPS file added to a transform
  
  
• Settings specified on the Change Office User Settings page
  
  
• Microsoft Outlook e-mail options specified on the Outlook: Customize Default Settings page
  
  
• Security levels specified on the Specify Office Security Settings page
  
  
• Registry entries added on the Add/Remove Registry Entries page

Distribute a standard Office user profile

When you add the Profile Wizard to a transform, it runs after Office XP is installed and applies default settings from the OPS file that you specify.

To run the Profile Wizard during Setup

1. Copy the Profile Wizard executable file (Proflwiz.exe) and your customized OPS file to the Office administrative installation point.

   You can place the files in the same folder as Office Setup.exe, or you can create a subfolder for them.

2. Start the Custom Installation Wizard.
   
   
3. On the Add Installations and Run Programs page, click Add.
   
   
4. In the Target box, type the file name and path to Proflwiz.exe, or click Browse to select the file.
   
   
5. In the Arguments box, add command-line options directing the Profile Wizard to apply the OPS file to the user's computer, and then click OK.
   
   
6. Choose Run this program once per machine to apply your default settings the first time a user logs on.

   — or —

   Choose Run this program once per user to apply your default settings to every user of the computer. Note that this option requires a connection to the network every time a new user logs on.

For example, to run the Profile Wizard from the Profile subfolder in the Office administrative installation point, enter the following in the Target box:

\\server\share\admin_install_point\profile\proflwiz.exe

Then add the following command-line options to the Arguments box:

profile\newprofile.ops /r /q

These arguments run the Profile Wizard quietly (/q), reset all options to their original default settings (/r), and apply settings from the file Newprofile.ops (profile\newprofile.ops).

Distribute unique Office user profiles

Storing the OPS file separately allows you to create unique Office XP configurations for different groups of users. You can target unique OPS files to different groups in one of two ways:

• Create a standard user profile, create separate department profiles, and then substitute the department profiles for the standard profile during installation.

  This method is simpler — the appropriate OPS file is included in the transform and default settings are applied when Office is installed. However, it requires keeping track of multiple versions of the OPS file.

• Create a standard user profile, allow department administrators to create separate department profiles, and distribute both profiles during installation.

  This method allows department administrators to deploy Office XP without modifying the corporate installation and apply default settings by running the Profile Wizard during Setup. However, it requires that each department install Office from a separate administrative installation point.

Distribute a department-specific user profile

In this scenario, the corporate administrator first creates a default OPS file.

To create a standard corporate user profile

1. Install and configure Office XP on a test computer.
   
   
2. Run the Profile Wizard to create the default OPS file.
   
   
3. Start the Custom Installation Wizard and, on the Customize Default Application Settings page, add the default OPS file to the corporate transform.

Before Office is installed, each department administrator creates a new OPS file based on the standard corporate configuration.

To create a department-specific user profile

1. Using the corporate transform, install Office on a test computer.
   
   
2. Customize Office XP applications to suit the department needs.
   
   
3. Run the Profile Wizard to create a new department-specific OPS file.
   
   
4. Start the Custom Installation Wizard and, on the Customize Default Application Settings page, add the new OPS file to the department transform.
   
   
5. Using the department transform, install Office throughout the department.

Distribute both corporate and department settings

In this scenario, the corporate administrator customizes the Office XP installation to point to the Profile Wizard and OPS file with a relative path. Using a relative path allows each department to add the Profile Wizard and a department-specific OPS file to its own administrative installation point.

To customize the Office installation for department-specific user profiles

1. Install and configure Office XP on a test computer.
   
   
2. Run the Profile Wizard to create a default OPS file.
   
   
3. Start the Custom Installation Wizard and, on the Customize Default Application Settings page, add the default OPS file to the corporate transform.
   
   
4. On the Add Installations and Run Programs page, add the Profile Wizard as an application to be run at the end of the installation, and point to the Profile Wizard and OPS file with a relative path. Use the following syntax:

   OPW\Proflwiz.exe /r Department.ops /q

5. Create separate administrative installation points on the network for each department.
   
   
6. Create an OPW folder at each administrative installation point, and copy the Profile Wizard to that folder.

When Office is deployed, the individual department administrators update the Office installation with their own customized versions.

To install a department-specific user profile

1. Using the corporate transform, install Office on a test computer.

   If the corporate administrator included an OPS file, this installation includes those settings.

2. Customize Office XP applications to suit the department needs.
   
   
3. Run the Profile Wizard to create an OPS file based on the new settings, and name the file Department.ops.
   
   
4. Copy the new Department.ops file to the OPW folder on the department administrative installation point.
   
   
5. Install Office XP on department computers.

When Office XP is installed, the settings in the corporate OPS file are included. Immediately following the installation, the Profile Wizard runs and the corporate settings are updated with the department administrator's changes.

Run the Profile Wizard after Office is installed

You can run the Profile Wizard as a stand-alone tool after you deploy Office XP. This method allows you to distribute a standard user profile that overwrites any other settings distributed through a transform, migrated by Windows Installer, or set by users.

Running the Profile Wizard separately also allows you to customize the process more precisely. For example, you can include only the settings you want to manage. This approach is very helpful when you deploy Office in stages and you want to customize each application separately at each stage of the process.

Customize the Profile Wizard

To customize the performance of the Profile Wizard, you edit the INI file (Opw10adm.ini). Open the file in Notepad or another text editor, and then add or delete references to settings that you want to include or exclude. You can include or exclude registry settings or Application Data folders, template files, and so on. You can also run the Profile Wizard from the command line with no loss in functionality. Every option available in the wizard has a corresponding command-line switch.

Tip   You do not need to edit the Profile Wizard INI file to include or exclude Office applications. On the Save or Restore Settings page of the wizard, select the check boxes next to the applications for which you want to save settings.

For more information about customizing the Profile Wizard, editing the Profile Wizard INI file, or specifying command-line options for the Profile Wizard, see Using the Office Profile Wizard.

Preserve your customized settings

When Office is deployed in stages, it is easy to overwrite settings in previous user profiles. It is even easier to overwrite settings when you are not the only administrator installing Office applications. One way to control which settings are affected in a given deployment is to customize the Profile Wizard.

For example, you might invest time customizing Office XP in the lab. You run the Profile Wizard to capture your user profile settings. You do not configure Outlook because someone else is installing Outlook next month, but you do deploy Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, and Microsoft PowerPoint with a default user profile.

One month later, your colleague deploys Outlook. Like you, he customizes Office XP in the lab and uses the Profile Wizard to capture his user profile settings. But he does not customize the wizard to exclude settings for any of the other applications — the customized settings that you deployed and the customized settings that users have been working with for a month.

When your colleague installs Outlook, he accidentally changes your settings for Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. And, if he happens to use the Reset to defaults option, all of your OPS file settings are gone — along with any later user configurations — even if he did not explicitly change them in his profile.

You can avoid this scenario by selecting only the applications for which you want to save or restore settings when you run the Profile Wizard. On the Save or Restore Settings page of the wizard, select only the Office applications that you are deploying at any given time.

Specifying user settings in a transform

If you do not want to distribute an entire Office XP configuration, you can still customize selected user-defined options in a transform.

Add user settings to a transform

Most of the options captured by the Profile Wizard can also be set on the Change Office User Settings page of the Custom Installation Wizard. This method is useful for presetting just a few key options, or for modifying a default configuration without recreating the OPS file.

When users install Office with your transform, the settings you specify are applied to every user of the computer. However, only settings that differ from existing default settings are applied. Options that you set on this page of the wizard overwrite corresponding settings in an OPS file added to the transform.

Specify Outlook settings in a transform

Many Outlook options appear on the Change Office User Settings page, and you customize them the same way you customize options for any other Office XP application. However, the following Outlook settings require a different method.

Outlook profile information

You cannot define an Outlook profile by running the Profile Wizard, adding registry entries, or setting system policies. Instead, you must create or modify an Outlook profile on the Outlook: Customize Default Profile page of the Custom Installation Wizard. These settings are not overwritten by any other method of customizing user options.

Outlook e-mail settings

Several important Outlook settings appear on their own page of the Custom Installation Wizard. You specify default settings for the following options or items on the Outlook: Customize Default Settings page of the wizard:

• Whether to convert the personal address book (PAB file) to an Outlook Address Book.
  
  
• Default e-mail editor
  
  
• Default e-mail format

For more information about customizing Outlook, see Customizing an Outlook Installation.

Specify security settings in a transform

You can customize Office XP security settings in a transform or OPS file, but some security settings are implemented differently than other user-defined settings.

Security levels

Security levels — High, Medium, or Low — apply to each Office XP application. However, the default security level can be set in one of two areas of the Windows registry:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\<Application>\Security

  The Level value in this subkey is the security setting captured by the Profile Wizard when you create an OPS file or when you customize the setting on the Specify Security Settings page of the Custom Installation Wizard. It is applied once for each user of the computer.

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\<Application>\Security

  The Level value in this subkey is the security setting that applies to the local computer. This setting takes precedence over the per-user setting, regardless of how the per-user setting is customized. You can customize this setting on the Change Office User Settings page or the Add/Remove Registry Entries page of the Custom Installation Wizard.

For example, on the Specify Security Settings page, you can set the default security level for Microsoft Word to Medium. This step sets the Level value in the Security subkeys in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch to 2. However, on the Change Office User Settings page, you can also set the Level value in the Security subkey in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branch to 3. In this scenario, Word is installed on the computer with the default security level set to High for all users.

You can also set security levels by using system policies — a policy that applies to the security level in the HKEY_CURRENT_USER branch or another policy that applies to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE branch. In this case, the security level set by policy for the local computer takes precedence over the policy for the current user.

Trusted sources

On the Specify Security Settings page of the Custom Installation Wizard, you can also customize the list of trusted sources on users' computers. You cannot customize trusted sources in an OPS file, on any other page of the Custom Installation Wizard, or through system policies.

For more information about configuring security settings for Office XP applications, see Protecting Office Documents.

Add registry values to a transform

Because most Office options correspond to entries in the Windows registry, you can customize those options by adding or modifying registry values in a transform. Setup applies your new default options when users install Office. Depending on which branch of the registry you customize, your settings are applied once per user (HKEY_CURRENT_USER) or once per computer (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE).

In addition, you can add registry settings to customize some options that cannot be set directly in the Office XP user interface and are not captured by the Profile Wizard in an OPS file. For example, you can include custom applications in Office Setup that require custom Windows registry settings.

After Office Setup is completed, Windows Installer copies the registry entries that you added to the transform to users' computers. Options that you set by adding or modifying registry entries override duplicate values that you set on other pages of the Custom Installation Wizard, including the following:

• Settings specified in an OPS file added to a transform
  
  
• Settings specified on the Change Office User Settings page
  
  
• Options on the Outlook: Customize Default Settings page
  
  
• Settings configured on the Specify Office Security Settings page

Add registry entries to a transform

You add or modify registry entries on the Add Registry Entries page of the Custom Installation Wizard. You need to know the complete path for each registry entry, as well as the value name and the data type for that entry.

To add Windows registry entries to a transform

1. Start the Custom Installation Wizard.
   
   
2. On the Add Registry Entries page, click Add.
   
   
3. In the Root box, select the portion of the registry you want to modify.
   
   
4. In the Data type box, enter a data type for the new entry.
   
   
5. In the remaining boxes, enter the full path for the registry entry you want to add, enter the value name and data, and click OK.

   For more information about how to enter these values, click the Help button.

Import a registry file into a transform

To add multiple registry entries to a transform, you can create a registry (.reg) file, and then use the Add Registry Entries page of the Custom Installation Wizard to import the registry file.

A registry file is a text file that contains a copy of a section of the Windows registry. If your computer already has the registry entries you want to copy to users' computers, then creating a registry file is an efficient way of distributing those entries.

To create a registry file

1. On the computer that has the registry entries you want to add to the installation, click Run on the Start menu and type regedit.
   
   
2. In the Registry Editor, select the portion of the registry tree that you want to copy.
   
   
3. On the Registry menu, click Export Registry File, and follow the instructions to export the selected portion of the registry tree to a registry file.

To import a registry file to a transform

1. Start the Custom Installation Wizard.
   
   
2. On the Add Registry Entries page, click Import.
   
   
3. Select the registry file you created, and click Open.

   The wizard adds the registry entries from the registry file to the list on the Add Registry Entries page. If the wizard encounters an entry in the registry file that is a duplicate of an entry already in the list, and the two entries contain different value data, then the wizard prompts you to select the entry you want to keep.

Specify settings for chained packages

You can specify default settings for packages that you chain to your Office XP installation. If you create a transform for a chained package, you can include an OPS file or set options on other pages of the Custom Installation Wizard that apply only to the chained package. Because Windows Installer installs chained packages after Office XP is installed, any conflicting settings in the chained package overwrite options set during the Office XP portion of the installation.

For example, you can set the default installation language to French in a transform applied to the Office XP installation. You can also chain the Microsoft Office XP German Language Pack and apply a transform that sets the default language to German. In this scenario, Office XP installs with French as the default language; but the default language changes to German when the MUI Pack is installed.

For more information about chaining packages to your Office XP installation, see Including Additional Packages in the Office Installation.

Modify settings by using the Custom Maintenance Wizard

You can apply a transform only during your initial installation of Office XP. If you want to make changes after Office XP is installed, you can use the Custom Maintenance Wizard to modify almost everything that you can set in the Custom Installation Wizard — including default user settings, security levels, Outlook settings, and registry keys.

The user interface of both wizards is very similar. For example, you specify new default settings on the Change Office User Settings page of the Custom Maintenance Wizard. However, you cannot use the Custom Maintenance Wizard to distribute a new OPS file; you must run the Profile Wizard separately.

For more information about using the Custom Maintenance Wizard to change user-defined settings, see Changing User Settings After Installation.

Toolbox   The Office XP Resource Kit includes the Custom Maintenance Wizard, which is installed by default when you run the Office Resource Kit Setup program. For more information, see Custom Maintenance Wizard in the Toolbox.

Modify settings by using system policies

When you install Office, you can modify registry values by using Windows system policies. System policy settings take effect when the user logs on to the network, and they override any duplicate values set during installation. Unlike default application settings set by means of an OPS file, system policies are not optional; if a user changes a setting set by policy, then Windows reinstates your setting the next time the user logs on.

For more information about setting Office XP system policies, see Understanding System Policies.

Office profiles and multiple languages

Office user profiles generated by the Profile Wizard are independent of the operating system — including operating systems in other languages. For example, an OPS file created on Microsoft Windows 98 (U.S. English version) can be restored to a computer with Windows 2000 (Japanese version).

However, Office user profiles are specific to a particular Office language version. For example, if you create an OPS file in the U.S. English version of Office XP, it cannot be restored to a computer with the German version of Office XP installed. There is some overlap between language families. For example, you can restore a U.S. English Office profile to an English or Australian version of Office XP.

This Office language limitation exists because the different Office versions include localized folder names for the folders that contain the Office user profile information.