Office Customization Tool

Description

Installing Microsoft Office in an enterprise environment is not the same as installing it on a personal laptop. A home user downloads an installer, clicks through a wizard and finds themselves with every Office application, default settings, and the Microsoft 365 sign-in prompt. An IT administrator deploying Office across 5,000 workstations needs something different: specific applications installed and others excluded, language packs matched to each office region, update channels assigned by department, activation pre-configured to connect to a volume license server, and telemetry settings set to comply with corporate policy — all delivered silently without a user interface appearing on any machine.

The Office Customization Tool is the web-based configuration tool that Microsoft offers to create that deployment. It runs in a browser at config.office.com, guides administrators through a set of configuration choices, and produces an XML configuration file that the Office Deployment Tool then uses to install Office exactly as specified. No manual editing of the XML is needed, but the resulting file is valid XML and can be further edited by administrators familiar with the XML format.

KEY FEATURES

Product and Application Selection

The tool shows all products in the Microsoft 365 and Office 2019/2021/2024 portfolio for selection: Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise, Microsoft 365 Apps for Business, Office Professional Plus, and individual volume license products. Within each product, administrators select the applications to include or exclude. An organization that doesn’t use Access or Publisher can eliminate those applications from the installation altogether, making the installation smaller and easier for the user. Visio and Project, which are licensed separately from the core Office suite, add to the configuration with dedicated product entries.

Update Channel Configuration

Microsoft has different update frequencies and feature rollout schedules for Office updates released through different channels. Current Channel gets monthly updates with new features as soon as they release. Monthly Enterprise Channel gets monthly updates on a predictable schedule with a two-month delay to allow time for IT teams to test updates before they reach production machines. Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel is updated twice a year, and is the default option for organizations that need longer validation cycles before releasing new versions of software. The tool associates an update channel with the deployment and all the machines installed from the configuration file follow the update schedule for that channel.

Language Pack Setting

Office language packs are installed with the base product to support multilingual workforces. The tool augments a single configuration with several language packs, with a primary display language and a list of languages to fall back to for UI elements that are not covered by the primary language. Language packs install from the Office CDN during the installation process or from a local network share in environments where internet access during installation is limited. A match operating system option automatically selects the language that matches the Windows display language of each workstation, which is useful for deployments that span multiple regional offices.

Installation Source and Network Setting

Office installs either directly from the Microsoft’s Content Delivery Network over the internet or from a local network share where an administrator has pre-downloaded the Office source files using the Office Deployment Tool. Organizations with limited bandwidth or limited internet access on workstations use the local source option, which downloads Office once to a shared drive and points all workstations to install from there. The configuration of the tool defines the source path and the Deployment Tool reads the source path during installation.

Activation and Licensing

The tool determines the activation method for the deployment. Microsoft 365 subscription activations are connected to Microsoft’s cloud-based licensing service via the user’s Microsoft 365 account. Volume license activations are linked to a Key Management Service (KMS) host or Multiple Activation Key (MAK) server on the organization’s network. Setting the activation method in the configuration file ensures that all the deployed machines activate through the correct channel without manual intervention at each workstation.

Privacy and Telemetry Settings

Administrators set up diagnostic data settings — the level of usage and error data Office sends to Microsoft — through the tool’s privacy options. Required diagnostic data – this sends only the minimum data Microsoft needs to keep Office secure and up to date. Optional diagnostic data includes additional usage information. Organizations that are governed by data privacy laws use the required-only setting to restrict data transmission.

Silent Installation

The display configuration eliminates the installation user interface entirely, and runs the Office installer in the background without progress windows and prompts appearing on the target machine. Silent installation is the norm for enterprise installations where the installation process is part of an automated provisioning sequence or remote management task.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS

• Browser: Modern browser required to use the config.office.com web interface (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari)
• Target Machines: Windows 10 and above for Microsoft 365 Apps; Windows Server 2016 and above for server deployments
• Office Deployment Tool: Needed to run the configuration file created by the tool; free download from the Microsoft Download Center
• Internet access: Required for access to config.office.com; target machine internet access required for CDN-based installation