How to configure the workgroup templates location during Office XP installation

When you click General Templates on the New task pane in one of the Office programs, the Templates dialog box displays several different tabs that contain the default templates that are installed with Office. If you do not want to display the default templates, you can customize the Templates dialog box to display only the custom tabs and custom templates that you want.

This article explains how to perform a custom installation of Microsoft Office so that custom templates are available from a shared network location when you first start Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Word, or Microsoft PowerPoint.

To customize an Office installation, create an administrative installation and use the Custom Installation Wizard in the Microsoft Office XP Resource Kit to create a custom transform (.mst file). You can then run Setup with the transform to install the customized version of Office.

Note You can only create administrative installations of Office XP if you have an Enterprise edition of Office XP. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: Before you follow these steps, make sure that you have created the custom templates, and that they are located in the appropriate folders.

For more information about how templates are managed in Microsoft Office, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Create the administrative installation point

To create an administrative installation for Office, use a command line similar to the following where CD-ROM is the drive letter of your CD-ROM drive.

For more information about creating administrative installations, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: The next steps vary, depending on how you want to implement the necessary changes. Please use one of the following three methods and then continue with the "Create a custom transform to not install default templates" section.

Method 1: Use a transform to preconfigure template settings

The Custom Installation Wizard for Office XP has a new feature where you can preconfigure the default settings for the Office programs. This is the recommended approach for deploying user settings to computers when Office is installed.

1. Start the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW).
2. On the Change Office User Settings tab, expand the Microsoft Office XP (user) node.
3. Select the Shared Paths node.
4. In the Setting column, double-click Workgroup templates path.
5. Select Apply Changes, and then specify the folder that will contain your workgroup templates. Click OK.
6. Complete the remaining steps in the Custom Installation Wizard.
7. If you want to prevent the default Office templates from being installed with Office, modify your transform by using the steps in the "Create a custom transform to not install default templates" section later in this article. If you do not want to prevent the default Office templates from being installed with Office, install Office with the transform that you just created.

Method 2: Apply a system policy

Using a system policy is another way to configure the workgroup templates location for all users. Use this approach if you are using system policies in your network or you do not want to install Office with a transform.

1. After you add the Office policy templates into the System Policy Editor, double-click Default User.
2. Expand the Microsoft Office XP node, and then the Shared paths node.
3. Select Workgroup templates path check box to enable the policy, and then specify the path in which your workgroup templates will be located.
   
   Note When this policy is applied, it places the specified path as the data value for the SharedTemplates string value under the following registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Common\General
4. Save and apply your policy to the appropriate network users.
5. If you want to prevent the default Office templates from being installed with Office, follow the steps in the "Create a custom transform to not install default templates" section later in this article. If you do not want to prevent the default Office templates from being installed with Office, just install Office.

For more information about applying system policies, browse to the following page on the Microsoft Office XP Resource Kit Web site:

Method 3: Manually configure the workgroup templates location

The easiest method for configuring the workgoup templates location is to have each user manually specify the location the first time that they start Microsoft Word. However, you must have each user perform these steps after Office is installed.

1. If you want to prevent the default Office templates from being installed with Office, follow the steps in the "Create a custom transform to not install default templates" section later in this article. if you do not want to prevent the default Office templates from being installed with Office, just install Office. After you install Office by using either method, continue with step 2.
2. Start Microsoft Word.
3. On the Tools menu, click Options.
4. Click the File Locations tab.
5. Select Workgroup Templates, and then click Modify.
6. Specify the folder name in the Modify Location dialog box, and then click OK. Click OK in the Options dialog box.

Create a custom transform to not install default templates

In this section, you create a transform by using the Custom Installation Wizard. When you install Office with this transform, the default Office program templates are not installed.

1. Start the Custom Installation Wizard (CIW).
2. On the Set Feature Installation States screen, click the plus sign (+) next to Microsoft Excel for Windows to expand this feature.
3. Under the Microsoft Excel for Windows feature, set the Spreadsheet Templates installation state to Not Available.
4. Under the Microsoft PowerPoint for Windows feature, set the installation states for Design Templates and Content Templates to Not Available.
5. Under the Microsoft Word for Windows feature, click the icon next to the Wizards and Templates feature, and then change the installation state to Not Available.
6. Click Next, and then set the options that you want in the remaining screens of the wizard.
7. Click Finish. Note the sample command line that is provided, and then click Exit.
8. Install Office with the transform.

For more information about how to use the Custom Installation Wizard to create a transform, browse to the following Microsoft Web site: