Office 2000 deployment

[Tim Jackson]

We are attempting to bring our existing Office 2000 installations under
control through the use of GPOs. We have successfully created an
administration installation, created a transformation and used a GPO to
deploy the software.

Unfortunately when the software is (re-)installed on a client PC for a user
that has previously used the software and customised it, their
customisations are lost. What we would like to do is selectively allow or
override their customisations. For example we wish to impose a certain
Macro Security level overriding their customised level, but allow them to
keep their Shortcut Bar customisations.

Is this possible? We have looked at the .msi and .mst using Orca but there
appears to be no guidance available on how to do this or even if it's
possible.

TIA.

 

[Andrew Mitchell]

We are attempting to bring our existing Office 2000 installations under
control through the use of GPOs. We have successfully created an
administration installation, created a transformation and used a GPO to
deploy the software.

Unfortunately when the software is (re-)installed on a client PC for a user
that has previously used the software and customised it, their
customisations are lost. What we would like to do is selectively allow or
override their customisations. For example we wish to impose a certain
Macro Security level overriding their customised level, but allow them to
keep their Shortcut Bar customisations.

Is this possible? We have looked at the .msi and .mst using Orca but there
appears to be no guidance available on how to do this or even if it's
possible.

The best way to do this (IMHO) is to use the transform to control what is
installed and use Group Policies to control the individual settings (macro
security etc.). The group policy templates are installed as part of the
Office Resource Kit. You just need to import the policies into the GPO
editor.

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Andrew,

This is a very good point. I think that a lot of people who use GPO to
install Office 2000 ( or Office XP or now Office 2003 ) do not make full use
of the .adm files ( for example, word9.adm for WS Word 2000 IIRC ) that are
available for the various settings within each application. I know that I
did not until someone suggested this to me ( in this NG, I think. But that
was a very long time ago ). I started to play with them ( the Office .adm
file as well as the individual apps .adm files ) and - as the youngsters say
today - "Oh my Gawd!". There are so many things that you can do. The
potential problem is that you need to do one of two things: dictate what
settings are going to be in place ( always very popular ) or decide with
them ( whatever 'them' means - a small 'Automation Group' possibly? ) what
settings will be enforced via GPO and what need to be set by the users (
probably more effective, but the potential for a lot of internal strive is
indeed there! ).

Cary

 

[Andrew Mitchell]

Andrew,

This is a very good point. I think that a lot of people who use GPO to
install Office 2000 ( or Office XP or now Office 2003 ) do not make full
use of the .adm files ( for example, word9.adm for WS Word 2000 IIRC )
that are available for the various settings within each application. I
know that I did not until someone suggested this to me ( in this NG, I
think. But that was a very long time ago ). I started to play with
them ( the Office .adm file as well as the individual apps .adm files )
and - as the youngsters say today - "Oh my Gawd!". There are so many
things that you can do. The potential problem is that you need to do
one of two things: dictate what settings are going to be in place (
always very popular ) or decide with them ( whatever 'them' means - a
small 'Automation Group' possibly? ) what settings will be enforced via
GPO and what need to be set by the users ( probably more effective, but
the potential for a lot of internal strive is indeed there! ).

Agreed.
(Time for a subtle dig at Microsoft now.......)

The one thing that is very confusing though is that you can't set the Outlook
security settings via a GPO. (the settings for warnings about other
applications accessing your address book or sending messages on your behalf
etc.)
This has to be done through a template created in a public folder named
"Outlook Security Settings" on the Exchange server.

This is very inconsistent and I believe should be done via a group policy
instead.

 

[Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]]

Andrew,

Check you out! I did not know that about the Public Folder. Assuming that
to be the case ( and have no reason to believe otherwise ) then I would
agree completely. This could and should be done via a GPO ( another .adm
file possibly or incorporate the necessary settings in the outlook9.adm
file - or whatever it really is for Outlook 2000, for example ).

Gonna look into this.

Cary

 

[Ken B]

Hey Andy-

I can't seem to find a public folder with that name in my exchange 2000
org.... we've been looking for a way to disable that message (we use access
databases that'll fling mails across to notify people of this and that, but
we always have the warning message come up, which would be nice to disable).
Any guidance with that, 'til they come out w/ a GPO to disable the warning?

Thanks

Ken

"Cary Shultz [A.D. MVP]" <[email protected]> said

 

[Andrew Mitchell]

Andrew,

Check you out! I did not know that about the Public Folder. Assuming that
to be the case ( and have no reason to believe otherwise ) then I would
agree completely. This could and should be done via a GPO ( another .adm
file possibly or incorporate the necessary settings in the outlook9.adm
file - or whatever it really is for Outlook 2000, for example ).

That's what I thought. I spent the best part of half a day trying to find it
in the GPO, then figured out that's not where they put it.
Not happy.

Gonna look into this.

Try here:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/office/2003/all/reskit/en-
us/oe_outg03.mspx

 

[Andrew Mitchell]

Hey Andy-

I can't seem to find a public folder with that name in my exchange 2000
org....

You need to manually create the folder then import a template from the office
resource kit.

we've been looking for a way to disable that message (we use
access databases that'll fling mails across to notify people of this and
that, but we always have the warning message come up, which would be
nice to disable). Any guidance with that, 'til they come out w/ a GPO to
disable the warning?

Yep. Try here:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/office/2003/all/reskit/en-
us/oe_outg03.mspx

(watch out for line wrapping)

That article is for Outlook 2003 but the same principle applies going back as
far as Outlook 97.

 

[Tim Jackson]

Thanks to all who replied.

While I had come across the .ADM files and their uses I had forgotten all
about them.

For my Macro Security settings they are just what I needed. Thanks.

I'm still not sure what happened with the user Office Shortcut Bar
customisations, the .ADM files don't seem to even mention it but never mind,
the users can redo their customisations again if they get lost.

Just a quick last question. We have used the same Group Policy to assign
the software and define the administrative templates and their policy
settings (e.g. Macro Security levels). If we wish to change a setting do we
just do it in the administrative template and watch it being applied or do
we also need to redeply the software as well?

TIA.

 

[Andrew Mitchell]

Just a quick last question. We have used the same Group Policy to
assign the software and define the administrative templates and their
policy settings (e.g. Macro Security levels). If we wish to change a
setting do we just do it in the administrative template and watch it
being applied or do we also need to redeply the software as well?

You don't need to redeploy the software. Just update the settings you want.