OFF98: Contents of the MS Office Administrator Readme File

Last reviewed: March 16, 1998
Article ID: Q182497
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

The MS Office Administrator Readme is a text file that contains supplemental information about installing and using Microsoft Office 98 Macintosh Edition. The "More Information" section of this article contains the complete text of this file, which is installed in your Microsoft Office 98:Readme folder.

MORE INFORMATION

MICROSOFT OFFICE ADMINISTRATOR README

(c) 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

The content of this document is drawn from the Microsoft Office Resource Kit, the comprehensive book for deploying Microsoft Office 97 for Windows or Microsoft Office 98 for the Macintosh in large organizations. The Microsoft Office Resource Kit (ISBN 1-57231-640-3) is published by Microsoft Press, and available wherever computer books are sold. You can also find the Microsoft Office Resource Kit on the World Wide Web at this address:

   http://www.microsoft.com/office/ork/

You will get the best results while viewing tables in this document if you open it in Microsoft Word.

   _________________________________________________________________
   CONTENTS

     ROLLING OUT OFFICE 98 FOR THE MACINTOSH
       Installing Office
       Running Office from the Office CD or a Network
       Customizing Client Installations
         Create an Office Network Installation Point
           To create a network installation point for Office
           To clear user name and organization information
         Customizing the Office Network Installation Point
           To customize the Office network installation point
         Rolling Out Office to Client Computers
       Uninstalling Office 98
           To uninstall Office 98
         Using Remove Office 98
           To start the Remove Office 98 application
       Removing Previous Versions of Office Applications
         Using Remove Old Office Versions
           To start the Remove Old Office Versions application
       Installing Value Pack Components
         To install Value Pack components onto a hard disk
         To install Value Pack components onto a network installation
         point
         Default Save Templates
       Installing Outlook Express and Microsoft Internet Explorer

   _________________________________________________________________

ROLLING OUT OFFICE 98 FOR THE MACINTOSH

If you manage a few dozen to a few thousand Macintosh computers, you will appreciate the installation and management options available in Microsoft Office 98 for the Macintosh. Enterprise deployment options include both an installer program and drag-and-drop installation. Office is highly resilient; it can replace missing files and fix other problems without user intervention. This document describes enterprise deployment strategies for Office.

Installing Office

Office supports two distinct installation strategies:

  • Run the Microsoft Office Installer program.

Microsoft Office Installer supports two options: Easy Install and Custom Install.

   This installation       Contains
   option
   ------------------------------------------------------------------
   Easy Install            The Excel, PowerPoint, and Word components
                           most Office users are likely to use
                           regularly.
   Custom Install          Whatever Office components you select, except
                           for Value Pack components and the Outlook
                           Express e-mail program.

Microsoft Office Installer also includes a Remove option, which uninstalls Office 98. For more information, see "Uninstalling Office 98" later in this document.
  • Use the Drag-and-drop method to copy the Microsoft Office 98 folder from the Office CD or a network drive to a hard disk.

Drag-and-drop refers to literally dragging the Microsoft Office 98 folder from the Office CD or a network drive to a hard disk. You can use the drag- and-drop method to copy either the folder that corresponds to an Easy installation, or the folder that corresponds to a Complete installation.

   Drag this folder                                    For this type of
                                                       installation
   ------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Microsoft Office 98                                 Easy
   at the root of the Office CD
   Office Custom Install:Microsoft Office 98           Complete

Drag-and-drop installation requires one additional step to complete the Office installation. The first time any Office application is run, Office copies several required files into the System Folder on the local hard disk. This process is referred to as First Run Installation. First Run Installation may take several minutes to complete, but after it is finished it is not normally required again and thereafter Office applications start more quickly.

One benefit of First Run Installation is that if Office detects that any required files are missing from the local System Folder, it copies them from the Microsoft Office 98 folder. This gives Office a high level of resiliency; if the user inadvertently removes required Office files from the System Folder, Office replaces the missing files the next time an Office application is started.

First Run Installation also allows Office 98 to resume working in the event a user performs a Clean System Install when upgrading to a new release of the Mac OS. Other changes to a hard disk, such as changing its name, do not prevent Office from recovering. Moving the entire Microsoft Office 98 folder around on a hard disk likewise does not affect Office. However, you should not alter the folder structure within the Microsoft Office 98 folder.

Office can be installed on a client computer using either of these media:

  • Office CD This media choice requires a CD-ROM drive, and it requires the installer to be physically present at the client computer.
  • Network Installing from a network server simplifies the distribution of Office to users. However, it requires a network connection during installation and, if you share Office files over the network, continuous network access while Office is running on the client computer.

Running Office from the Office CD or a Network

Office 98 can be run directly from the Office CD or from a network drive, but with lesser performance than when run locally. When running an Office application from the Office CD or a network drive, the system must preload the application and all shared libraries from the CD or network drive into memory before it can run. What this means for the user is that the application starts very slowly. However, once the application is running, it should perform normally.

When an Office 98 application is initially run directly from the Office CD or from a network drive, First Run Installation copies Office system files to the System Folder, and creates Preference files in the System Folder:Preferences folder. After that's completed, the application starts normally. When the application is subsequently run, First Run Installation is not repeated so start-up time improves.

Customizing Client Installations

The following strategy is recommended for creating customized client installations:

Use the Custom Install option in Microsoft Office Installer to create a custom Office installation point on a network drive. Choose the applications and options you want in Microsoft Office Installer.

(Optional) Copy the file Microsoft Office 98 from the Office CD to clear the user and organization name on the network installation point. Further customize this installation with your own templates, Value Pack components, and so on as needed. Drag the Microsoft Office 98 folder from the network drive onto local hard disks.

(Optional) Start an Office application on the local hard disk to complete the First Run Installation process.

The following sections describe each of these steps in more detail.

Create an Office Network Installation Point

Creating a network installation point requires a Macintosh file server, Windows NT Server, or other type of server properly configured to work with Macintosh client computers.

To create a network installation point for Office

  1. Insert the Office CD into the appropriate drive.

  2. Open the Office Custom Install folder.

  3. Double-click Microsoft Office Installer.

  4. Select Custom Install.

  5. Choose the specific Office components you want installed.

  6. In the Install Location list, select the network drive at the root of which you want to create the customized network installation point.

        -or-
    

    In the Install Location list, select Select folder and then select the specific folder in which you want to create the customized network installation point, and then click Select.

  7. Click Install.

  8. Enter the name and organization you want used in all subsequent installations of Office created from this network installation point.

        -or-
    

    Enter any values you want now; later, you can undo this action so that during subsequent installations of Office from this network installation point the user is prompted for this information.

  9. Enter and confirm your 10 digit CD key.

Microsoft Office Installer then installs the Office components you selected onto the network drive you specified.

If you want to, you can clear the user name and organization information you entered previously for your network installation point. When Office is later installed onto client computers, Office prompts for this information. Skip this step if you do not want users prompted again during Office deployment.

To clear user name and organization information

Insert the Microsoft Office CD into the appropriate drive. On the Office CD, open the folder Microsoft Office 98:Office and copy the file Microsoft Office 98 to the folder Microsoft Office 98:Office on the network drive.

Customizing the Office Network Installation Point

You can add your own custom components to the Microsoft Office 98 folder on the network drive. For example, you can add Value Pack components, custom templates, and startup documents.

To customize the Office network installation point

On the network drive, open the Microsoft Office 98 folder. Customize Office as needed. Some options include:

   To                             Do this
   ---------------------------------------------------------------------
   Add custom templates to        Copy your custom templates for Excel,
   Office                         PowerPoint, or Word to one of the
                                  folders in the Microsoft
                                  Office 98:Templates folder.
   Open a document each time      Copy the document to the Excel,
   its related application        PowerPoint, or Word folder in the
   is started                     Microsoft Office 98:Office:Startup
                                  folder.
   Add a custom add-in to         Copy your custom add-in to the
   Excel                          Microsoft Office 98:Office:Excel
                                  Add-ins folder.
   Add an Office Value Pack       In most cases, you can drag the
   component to Office            Value Pack component directly from the
                                  Value Pack folder to the network
                                  installation point. Some Value Pack
                                  components must be copied into the
                                  System Folder on the local hard disk.
                                  For more information, see "Installing
                                  Value Pack Components" later in this
                                  document.

These are just a few of the ways you can customize an Office network installation point. After you have finished customizing it, you are ready to roll out Office to the client computers in your organization.

Rolling Out Office to Client Computers

Depending on your network environment and administration tools, there are several strategies you can use to roll out Office to the client computers in your organization:

  • Push the Microsoft Office 98 folder to client computers by dragging the folder to each hard disk from a network server. This requires that you have read-write access to the client computer, and File Sharing on each client computer is properly enabled.
  • Pull the Microsoft Office 98 folder to client computers by dragging the Microsoft Office 98 folder from the network installation point. This requires that you or the end users initiate the drag-and-drop installation from each client computer.
  • Install the Microsoft Office 98 folder to client computers by using a third party Macintosh network management program. For example, many such programs can copy a script to the System Folder:Startup Items folder on a client computer. The script then copies the Microsoft Office 98 folder from the network installation point to the hard disk.

Depending on the rollout method you use, you may also want to incorporate First Run Installation into your rollout. This saves end users from spending time waiting for First Run Installation to complete, and may avoid calls to your organization's help desk about slow startup.

Uninstalling Office 98

Microsoft Office Installer can remove Office 98 from a local or network drive, regardless of how Office was initially installed on that drive.

To uninstall Office 98

  1. Insert the Microsoft Office CD into the appropriate drive.

  2. Open the Office Custom Install Folder.

  3. Double-click Microsoft Office Installer.

  4. Select Remove.

  5. In the Install Location list, select the local or network drive that contains the Office installation you want removed.

  6. Click Remove.

Microsoft Office Installer does not remove files from the System Folder on the local hard disk, because Microsoft Office Installer cannot determine if such files may be used by other applications. In addition, Microsoft Office Installer does not remove any Value Pack components or other files in the Microsoft Office 98 folder that were not put there by the initial Office installation.

Note: Rather than running Microsoft Office Installer to remove Office, you can delete the Microsoft Office 98 folder by dragging it to the Trash. However, by doing so you also delete any Value Pack components or other files (including data files) stored in the Microsoft Office 98 folder.

Using Remove Office 98

Remove Office 98 helps you find and remove pre-release and current versions of Office 98 that you no longer need on your computer. Unlike the Remove option in the Microsoft Office Installer, Remove Office 98 will completely clean your drive of all system extensions, control panels, shared libraries, and preferences from a previous installation. In addition, you are provided with the option of deleting OLE and Internet shared preferences and then removing all copies of the Microsoft Office 98 folder that may have been installed to that drive. When completed, you should be ready to reinstall the latest releases of your Microsoft applications to that drive.

Remove Office 98 will only completely remove components installed with the Microsoft Office Installer that came with the following programs:

  • Microsoft Office 98 (including all Early Test releases and Betas)
  • Microsoft Word 98
  • Microsoft Excel 98
  • Microsoft PowerPoint 98

To start the Remove Office 98 application

  1. Insert the Microsoft Office CD into the appropriate drive.

        -or-
    

    If you copied the Value Pack folder to a network drive, connect to that drive.

  2. Open the Value Pack:Administration Tools folder.

  3. Double-click Remove Office 98.

  4. In the pop-up menu, select the drive that contains the copies of Microsoft Office 98 that you want removed.

  5. Click the Remove button.

  6. When prompted to remove shared OLE and Internet preferences, select Keep or Discard.

    Warning: Deleting these files may cause other OLE and Internet applications to stop working. Choose Discard only if you are prepared to reinstall all applications that make use of OLE and if you can later reconstruct your Internet Config preferences.

  7. If prompted to remove copies of the Microsoft Office 98 folder found on your drive, select Keep or Discard.

    Warning: If you've saved personal files within any of the Microsoft Office 98 folders, these will also be removed. You should rescue these files before you empty the Trash.

  8. From the desktop, empty the Trash.

Removing Previous Versions of Office Applications

When you install Office 98 by dragging the Microsoft Office 98 folder, Office 98 does not remove files from any previous versions of Office or Office applications from your hard disk. When you run Microsoft Office Installer, the Installer offers to remove installations of previous versions of Office. However, you may not want to remove old Office applications at that time.

The Office 98 Remove Old Office Versions application allows you to find and remove most files left behind by previous installations of Office or Office applications (Excel, PowerPoint, or Word). This section describes how to use Remove Old Office Versions and how you can customize its operation.

Using Remove Old Office Versions

Remove Old Office Versions helps you find and Remove Old Office Versions that you no longer need on your computer. Remove Old Office Versions can remove components of the following versions of Office applications:

  • Microsoft Office 4.2.1a and earlier versions (this includes Excel 5.0, PowerPoint 4.0, and Word 6.0)
  • Excel 4.0
  • PowerPoint 3.0b
  • Word 5.0, 5.1 and 5.1a

To start the Remove Old Office Versions application

  1. Insert the Microsoft Office CD into the appropriate drive.

        -or-
    

        If you copied the Value Pack folder to a network drive, connect to
        that drive.
    

  2. Open the Value Pack:Administration Tools folder.

  3. Double-click Remove Old Office Versions.

Installing Value Pack Components

The Value Pack components fall into two categories:

  • Components that can be dragged from the Value Pack folder onto a local or network drive.
  • Components that must be installed to a hard disk using the Value Pack Installer. (This can only be done if the client is running Office locally)

Value Pack Installer does not support installation to a network drive as Microsoft Office Installer does. You can run Value Pack Installer from a network drive to install components onto a hard disk, but you cannot use it to install components onto a network drive.

To run Value Pack Installer from a network drive to install components onto a hard disk, Office programs must be installed locally on the hard disk because Value Pack Installer won't start if the Microsoft Office 98 file is not located on the hard disk.

To install Value Pack components onto a hard disk

  1. Insert the Microsoft Office CD into the appropriate drive.

        -or-
    

    If you copied the Value Pack folder to a network drive, connect to that drive.

  2. Open the Value Pack folder.

  3. Double-click Value Pack Installer.

  4. Choose the specific Value Pack components you want to install.

        -or-
    

    To install all Value Pack components, click Select All.

  5. Click Install.

Value Pack Installer then installs the components the Microsoft Office 98 folder or System Folder.

You can include Value Pack components in a customized Office network installation point. The following procedure requires you to have previously created a network installation point in a folder named Microsoft Office 98. For information about creating a network installation point, see "Customizing Client Installations" earlier in this document.

To install Value Pack components onto a network installation point

  1. Insert the Microsoft Office CD into the appropriate drive.

        -or-
    

  2. If you copied the Value Pack folder to a network drive, connect to that drive.

  3. Open the Value Pack folder.

  4. In the Value Pack folder, drag the specific components you want into the appropriate location within the Microsoft Office folder on your network drive.

Some Value Pack components such as text converters must be copied to a specific folder to function properly. In most cases the Value Pack folder in which these components reside correspond to the Microsoft Office folder name into which they should be copied. For example, the Value Pack:Text Converters folder contains items that should be copied to the Microsoft Office 98:Shared Applications:Text Converters folder.

While most components can be copied directly from the Value Pack folder to the network installation point, a few Value Pack components must be installed to the System folder on the client hard disk to work properly. Examples of such components include fonts and the Microsoft Office Manager control panel. If these components are copied from a network installation point to a client computer, they do not work properly without additional steps.

Your options for deploying such components include:

  • Run Value Pack Installer locally or from a network drive, and install the components you want onto the correct location on the client hard disk. (Only if the client is running Office locally)
  • Manually copy Value Pack components to the correct location on the client hard disk. For example, manually copy fonts from the Value Pack:Fonts folder to the System Folder:Fonts folder on each client computer on which you want the fonts.
  • Use a Macintosh network management program to push these components from a network drive to the correct folder on a client hard disk. For example, use a third party network management program to push the Microsoft Office Manager control panel from a network location to the System Folder:Control Panels folder on each client hard disk.

In fact, you can use any of these options for deploying any Value Pack component. These options may be the most useful if you decide to deploy a Value Pack component after deploying Office and you don't want to reinstall Office (with Value Pack components added) on your client computers.

Default Save Templates

The Value Pack contains some additional support files that you may want to use to simplify the administrative work of setting the default save format for your users. These files contain a macro that changes the default format for Microsoft Word documents, Microsoft Excel workbooks, and Microsoft PowerPoint presentations. The files are contained in the Value Pack:Administration Tools:Default Save folder.

The Value Pack Installer does not install these additional support files. Use one of the following methods to administer your users default save format settings.

  - Copy the Word, Excel and PowerPoint files you need to the startup
    folder for each program you are using. For example, copy the Default
    Save As Word 6 template to the Microsoft Office
    98:Office:Startup:Word folder. When the user starts the program for
    the first time, the macro changes the default save format, and then
    the template is automatically moved to the Trash. Putting the Word,
    Excel and PowerPoint default save files you want into the startup
    folders is something that can be done before the Microsoft Office 98
    folder is copied to your users' computer.

     -or-

  - Double-click on the preferred default save file to start the macro.
    Choose Enable Macros when prompted. A message is displayed indicating
    that the default save format change has been completed.

Installing Outlook Express and Microsoft Internet Explorer

Microsoft Outlook Express 4.0 for the Macintosh is a new application that builds upon Microsoft Internet Mail and News. Outlook Express allows Macintosh users to communicate with others on the Internet through e-mail and newsgroups.

The Microsoft Internet folder on the Microsoft Office CD includes Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0a and Outlook Express. The Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook Express installation is not integrated into the Office or Value Pack installation process. Because both Outlook Express and Microsoft Internet Explorer require configuration settings beyond Office, you should deploy both in a separate rollout effort. For corporate rollouts, the Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) 4.0 enables you to deploy, customize, and maintain Microsoft Internet Explorer and Outlook Express from one central location across multiple computer platforms.

World Wide Web: For the latest information about or to download the IEAK, connect to the Microsoft Internet Explorer Administration Kit home page at:

   http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ieak/


Additional query words: OFF98
Keywords : offmac kbdta
Version : MACINTOSH:98
Platform : MACINTOSH
Issue type : kbinfo


THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Last reviewed: March 16, 1998
© 1998 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.