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Microsoft no longer ships newer versions of Office with an MSI installer, but instead uses the Click-to-Run technique. Therefore, the setup program downloads the installation files from the internet. However, these are also available over local data media as usual.
Microsoft Office Click to Run setup in Task Manager
No options for a standard setup
Unlike a conventional installation, Click-to-Run by default does not allow you to select which applications you want to install or specify the path where you want to save them.
The Click to Run setup will install all Office applications without giving the user a choice
However, if you want to customize the setup, Microsoft offers the ODT for this purpose. It consists of an .exe file that unpacks its contents into the selected directory when executed.
Content of the Office Deployment Tool
If you want to bypass this procedure and the corresponding User Account Control (UAC) prompt, you can also extract the contained files directly with 7-Zip.
Contents of the ODT
The package consists of serveral files: the setup.exe, example configuration files, and a text file with the end-user license agreement (EULA). To prepare for a customized installation, you have to create a new configuration file or edit the supplied template in the next step.
One example configuration delivered with the Office Deployment Tool
It is available in XML format and accepts a handful of elements to control the setup. Under "Configuration" an "Add" node is required. Its attribute "OfficeClientEdition" (with values "32" or "64") determines whether to install the 32- or 64-bit version.
Specify the source path
The attribute "SourcePath" points where to retrieve the installation files. If you have mounted the ISO file as a virtual DVD, you specify the root directory of the drive here (for example "D:\"):
<Add OfficeClientEdition="32" SourcePath="D:\">
Alternatively, you can copy the installation media to a share in the network and enter the universal naming convention (UNC) path.
As a child node of Add, the configuration expects one or more Product elements. These do not describe the individual applications, but the stock-keeping units (SKUs) of Office using the ID attribute. Allowed values for Office 2016 and 365 are, for example:
- O365ProPlusRetail
- O365BusinessRetail
- VisioProRetail
- ProjectProRetail
- AccessRuntimeRetail
- LanguagePack
Office 2019 supports the following strings, amongst others:
- ProPlus2019Volume
- Standard2019Volume
- ProjectPro2019Volume
- ProjectStd2019Volume
- VisioPro2019Volume
- VisioStd2019Volume
This support document contains the full list of all product IDs the ODT accepts.
Excluding certain Office applications
Another child element of Product determines which applications not to install. For each program you would like to do without, you insert such an element and specify its name in the attribute ID, for example:
<ExcludeApp ID="Access" />
Supported values for the applications are:
- Access
- Excel
- Groove
- Lync
- OneDrive
- OneNote
- Outlook
- PowerPoint
- Publisher
- Word
Groove also covers OneDrive for Business, and Lync covers Skype for Business.
Installation of Office 2019 is limited to the four core applications
More options
In addition to this core configuration, the ODT also supports several other options. With these, you can acknowledge the EULA automatically or specify which channel to use for future updates.
A useful setting allows you to pin the Office applications to the taskbar. However, this only works under Windows 7 and 8.1; in Windows 10 it has no effect.
The Microsoft Website has complete documentation for all supported settings.
Configuration example
A sample configuration for installing from local media could look like this:
<Configuration> <Add OfficeClientEdition="32" SourcePath="D:\"> <Product ID="O365ProPlusRetail"> <Language ID="de-de" /> <ExcludeApp ID="Publisher" /> <ExcludeApp ID="Access" /> <ExcludeApp ID="OneDrive" /> <ExcludeApp ID="Groove" /> <ExcludeApp ID="Lync" /> <ExcludeApp ID="OneNote" /> </Product> </Add> <Updates Enabled="TRUE" Channel="Broad" /> <Display Level="None" AcceptEULA="TRUE" /> <!-- <Property Name="AUTOACTIVATE" Value="1" /> --> <Property Name="PinIconsToTaskbar" Value="TRUE" /> </Configuration>
Running a custom setup
Once the configuration file contains all desired settings, you can start the ODT. Launch the setup.exe from the downloaded ODT archive.
The command looks like this:
setup.exe /configure configuration.xml
Starting the ODT with a custom installation
After a short preparation phase, the tool displays the icons of the programs it will install.
Removing applications
If you have installed unwanted Office components, either because you have not excluded them in the configuration file or because you have executed the standard setup, you cannot uninstall them via the control panel. Uninstalling them via the control panel will remove Office entirely.
However, it is not necessary to remove the entire package and then reinstall the desired programs. Instead, you can use the ODT and simply add the programs you want to uninstall under ExcludeApp in the configuration file.
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The subsequent execution of setup.exe will then remove all applications you have already installed but excluded in the configuration file.
Good information but you forgot one small yet significant item. As stated in the XML files you show, but you cut it out from the screen grab, this only works on versions of Windows Enterprise. It will not run on Home or Pro. Or have I missed something in reading the documentation when I downloaded ODT?
Same here, any chance to get it working on Windows 10 pro. I launch setup.exe from ODT extracted zip after configuring xml file but nothing happen.
It really does work with Windows 10 Home edition.
First attempt failed . . . I had the complete MS Office 2016 Professional Plus suite installed on my laptop and tried to remove the unwanted components with a script. This didn't work at all and I was left with a second installation of MS Office.
At second attemp I first removed both Office installations using the Control Panel. Next I installed Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook with the following script:
<Configuration>
<Add OfficeClientEdition="32" SourcePath="I:\">
<Product ID="ProPlusRetail">
<Language ID="nl-NL" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Access" />
<ExcludeApp ID="OneNote" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Publisher" />
<ExcludeApp ID="OneDrive" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Groove" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Lync" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Teams" />
</Product>
</Add>
</Configuration>
Explanation of the lines in the script:
Save the script as 'configuration.xml' in the folder where you extracted the zip file. In my case 'D:\ODT'.
To start the installation, I opened a DOS box as administrator and changed to 'D:/ODT. Finally the setup process was started with the command 'setup /configure .\configuration.xml'.
April 2021 and this worked perfectly to install selective components of Office 365 Home. Followed Johan Löhr 's comment in structuring the xml file (but did 64 bit instead).
Then mounted the img file for office 365 I had downloaded which creates the virtual F: drive in my case
The ODT setup.exe and configuration.xml were in a folder on my desktop and I ran the setup.exe as administrator from the command line. – it found the files on the virtual F: drive due to the SourcePath line in the xml
Many thanks to Wolfgang and to Johan Löhr for additional clarity.
I made an xml recently through https://config.office.com/deploymentsettings and it was a lot easier.
If you’re using Office 2021 Retail there is a tool which makes the above process somewhat simple – https://sbytestream.pythonanywhere.com/software/office2021
Hi ,
Please advise me can I do multiply uninstall MS products?
addon I mean like search for which version of the product and uninstall by itself?
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Didn’t work.
I use only word/ excel, but I had to keep installing all dozen mso apps that I never used because crazy MS stopped giving me choice.
I used above, still it installed all MSO apps.
My configuration files is as follows:
<!– –>
I’m trying to achieve only the installation of excel 2013 by combining this method and deploying via intune. Do you think it’s possible?
I was looking for a way to exclude Skype for business, OneNote, OneDrive, Publisher from our Office 2019 setup. Will try the steps you described. Thank you for sharing the instructions.
ok
https://www.reddit.com/r/Office365/comments/khvoo1/comment/ivuhahc/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
I can confirm the steps mentioned in this post worked for me with Office ProPlus 2019. Finally able to avoid installing unnecessary apps that no one use in my organization.