Topics in this chapter   Preparing for an International Deployment     International Deployment Scenarios     Localized Versions of Office XP

International Deployment Scenarios

The powerful multilingual features of Microsoft Office XP give you a lot of flexibility in configuring Office for international users.

You can deploy Proofing Tools or the Office XP Multilingual User Interface Pack files separately after you install Office. If you develop an integrated deployment plan, however, you can deploy either of these products to users at the same time that you deploy Office XP.

Examples of multilingual installations

You can install different combinations of Office language versions and language-specific tools, based on the needs of your international organization. Some of these combinations are described in the following table.

Typical scenarios for multilingual deployment include the following:

• Mimic a localized version using the MUI Pack.

  Deploy English Office XP along with the MUI Pack package (MSI file) and Microsoft Office System Files Update files for an additional language.

• Use English as a standard user interface, but provide Help text in native languages.

  Deploy English Office XP along with the MUI Pack MSI file that adds additional Help files in another language.

• Provide a multilingual version of Office on one computer.

  For example, setting up a computer to be used by traveling users from different countries. Deploy English Office XP along with MUI Pack MSI files for each required language.

• Read and edit text in another language.

  Deploy Office XP (an English or localized version) along with the proofing tools for the required language or languages.

• Use a fully localized version of Office with no English text.

  Install a localized version of Office XP. Localized versions provide a limited number of additional localized features, such as language-specific right-click menus.

Note   One advantage of deploying a global version of Office plus a MUI Pack is that you can use the Custom Installation Wizard to establish a standard version of Office for all of your sites. If you do use the Custom Installation Wizard to configure Office for an international deployment, you must make sure that all language configurations are enabled through the core Office installation and the Custom Installation Wizard — not the MUI Pack. For example, while customizing the Office MSI you would configure settings such as the default Help language and the languages enabled for editing. During installation, these settings will be applied to the Office applications. When you modify the MSI file for a MUI Pack with the Custom Installation Wizard, the language configuration options are not available.

To effectively install a MUI Pack with Office, the MUI Pack installation should be chained to Office Setup. By chaining the MUI installation, you can ensure that the Office settings will be applied first, and that MUI Pack will be installed before Office is started for the first time. (Starting Office without a MUI Pack installed will cause the language settings to revert to their default state.) For information on chaining installations through Setup, see Including Additional Packages in the Office Installation.

Deployment process strategies

In addition to determining the type of multilingual installation that suits your users, consider how you will deploy Office and multilingual tools to your organization. Depending on the structure of your organization and the languages that you need, you can adopt one of several different strategies for deploying Office internationally.

Centralized or local deployment

You can deploy language-specific custom installations from a centralized administrative source. Or you can customize Office, then distribute your customized version to your international administrative departments, allowing each department in a subsidiary to customize the installation for its own language-speaking area.

Deploying Office from a central administrative source

If your organization is centralized, where one administrative group deploys Office to the entire organization, you can make all the customizations your users need at your headquarters and deploy directly to users internationally. In this scenario, you customize the Multilingual User Interface Pack and create a custom installation of Office for each language-speaking area.

For example, if you were deploying Office and the MUI Pack to users in the United States and Canada, you might deploy Office as follows:

• For English-speaking users in the United States, install only proofing tools from the MUI Pack, and enable languages for editing as needed.
  
  
• For Spanish-speaking users in the United States, install Spanish language features from the MUI Pack, leave the installation language set at U.S. English, set the user interface and Help language to Spanish, and enable Spanish for editing (English is automatically enabled for editing if the installation language is English).
  
  
• For users in English-speaking Canadian provinces, set the installation language to Canadian English, and enable Canadian French and Canadian English for editing.
  
  
• For users in Québec, install French language features from the MUI Pack, set the installation language to Canadian French, set the user interface and Help language to French, and enable Canadian French and Canadian English for editing.

Deploying Office at local subsidiaries

If your organization's administrative resources are distributed internationally, each local subsidiary can modify the standard installation for local users.

In this case, a central corporate administrative group supplies each local office with a standard Windows Installer transform (MST file) with the installation language set to English. Local administrators customize the MUI Pack, select language settings, and modify the transform for their language-speaking area.

For example, if you are a site administrator in Hong Kong, you might customize the corporate deployment as follows:

• Install Traditional Chinese language features on users' computers and set Simplified Chinese language features so that they are installed the first time users activate the features.
  
  
• Set English or Traditional Chinese as the language for the user interface and online Help, set the installation language to Pan-Chinese, enable Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese and U.K. English for editing.
  
  
• Customize Office applications for Hong Kong users.

  For example, add a button to the toolbar in Microsoft Word for converting between Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

Note   For Traditional Chinese user interface and executable mode, users must be running a Traditional Chinese version of Microsoft Windows, or Microsoft Windows 2000 with the system locale of Hong Kong or Taiwan.

One or multiple administrative installation points

You can use a single centralized administrative installation point for Office, the Multilingual User Interface Pack, or Proofing Tools. Or you can deploy Office from one installation point, and deploy one or more MUI Packs (or Proofing Tools) from additional installation points. It might be easier to manage deployment from a single administrative installation point. However, there are scenarios in which using multiple installation points is a preferred method.

For example, suppose you are deploying several different sets of languages to groups in different parts of your organization. In this scenario, you might choose to use different installation points for these groups to avoid using large amounts of hard-disk space when you replicate a single administrative installation point image to multiple locations around the world.

Note   The MUI Packs include System Files Update files. If you choose to deploy MUI Packs from a separate administrative installation point, you must manually copy the System Files Update files to your Office installation point or do an administrative install of the Multilingual User Interface Pack to the same location of the administrative install of Office but choosing to install only the System Files Update.

Install with or after Office XP

You can chain installations of the Multilingual User Interface Pack or Proofing Tools with your Office XP installation. Or you can deploy Office first, and deploy other multilingual features later.

For example, if you are ready to deploy Office XP right away but the MUI Pack for a particular language is not yet available, you might choose to proceed with your Office deployment and then deploy the additional MUI Pack when it becomes available.

To learn more about options for coordinating your installation of language resources with your Office deployment, see Deploying Office with the Multilingual User Interface Pack.

Install using Systems Management Server or Windows 2000 IntelliMirror

Systems Management Server and Windows 2000 IntelliMirror provide flexible and powerful software for deploying software. You can choose to deploy Office with MUI Packs or Proofing Tools by using either SMS or IntelliMirror.

Note   By default, Office must be installed before MUI Pack files are installed. However, when you deploy with Systems Management Server and Windows 2000 IntelliMirror, you cannot specify the order in which components are installed. To prevent installation errors, you set a property (CHECKINSTALLORDER) when you configure your Office installation that allows Office and MUI Pack files to be installed in any order.

See also

You can provide multilingual user interface and Help text to Office users by installing one or more MUI Packs. For more information about configuring a Office XP Multilingual User Interface Pack to meet the needs of your organization, see Deploying Office with the Multilingual User Interface Pack.

You can allow users to edit and proof documents by installing Proofing Tools. For more information about making Proofing Tools available to users in your organization, see Installing Proofing Tools.

Fully localized versions of Office provide limited additional language localization over using the Multilingual User Interface Pack with Office. For more information about installing a fully localized version of Office for your users, see Localized Versions of Office XP.