How To Update a Customized Office XP Installation to Include Custom Templates, Programs, and Other Files

In addition to selecting which Office files are installed, Setup allows you to add your own files to the Office installation. You can deploy corporate templates, images, custom applications, and other files along with Office. This article describes how you can update the customized Office XP installation to include custom templates, applications, and other files.

Modify Files to Update Your Installation

You can include your own custom files in an Office XP installation by using the Custom Installation Wizard. On the Add/Remove Files page (p.10) of the Custom Installation Wizard, click Add to add a new file to the installation.

After you select one or more files to add, type the destination path for the file or files in the File Destination Path dialog box. You can type an absolute path on the user's computer, or you can select a path from the list. If you select a path, you can add a subfolder to it by appending a backslash (\) followed by the subfolder name. When you click OK, the wizard adds the file to the transform. Setup installs the file on the user's computer, in the folder that you specified, when the user installs Office.

After you add the file, you can add a shortcut for the file on the Add, Modify, or Remove Shortcuts page (p.12) of the wizard. On that page, click Add, and the file that you added appears in the Target box. Because the file is copied into the transform, you must update the transform if the file changes at a later date.

To update the installation with modified files:

1. On the Open the MST File page (p.3), type the name of the Windows Installer transform (MST) file.
2. On the Select the MST File to Save page (p.4), type the name of the MST file again.
3. Click Next until you reach the Add/Remove Files page (p.10).
4. Select the file that has changed, and then click Remove.
5. Click Add, and then type the information for your modified file.

Troubleshooting

The Custom Installation Wizard also allows you to specify files to remove from users' computers when Office is installed. For example, you can have Setup delete custom templates that were designed for Word 97 or Word 2000 when you upgrade to Word 2002. To list which files to remove, click the Remove Files tab on the Add/Remove Files page (p.10).