Dynamically match already existing languages when installing Project/Visio

Microsoft

Visio or Project are most of the time not the first Click-to-Run products you install on your user’s computer. Usually Office is already deployed and Visio/Project are suspect to be added to them. To simplify the way you add a new product, we introduced a way to match the languages of the new product to the already installed one.

Scenario

Installing Project Online with the same UI languages as Office 365 ProPlus has already installed.

How to use

Use the new Language ID="MatchInstalled" to specify you want to match the languages already installed with TargetProduct="ProductID ". You can also use TargetProduct="All " to match whatever is already installed.

For instance, to match the languages of Office 365 ProPlus installed on the computer:

<Language ID="MatchInstalled" TargetProduct="O365ProPlusRetail"/>

 

Note: MatchInstalled is not specific to Project or Visio. You can use it with any Click-to-Run product.

Benefit

No hard/coded list of languages to be installed, leaving the user with the task to request the missing Language Packs. No need to employ a custom script to detect which languages are already installed and generate the matching XML dynamically.

 

Sample XMLs

In Scenario1 the SCCM package contains the C2R source. In Scenario2 the C2R sources will be retrieved from the Microsoft CDN. This will impact the size of the package store in SCCM distribution point, as well as maintaining the sources stored in the package.

 

Scenario 1:

You create a Project Online package in SCCM to deploy it to users. The SCCM package contains the Office Deployment Tool (Setup.exe), an XML file and the Click-to-Run binaries.

If your source does not contain a language you need to install, the missing bits will be retrieved from Office CDN because you allow CDN Fallback. Otherwise the installation will fail.

 

Source Size package: ~2GB (C2R source + ODT + XML)

Retrieved from internet: ~0 GB (or size of the missing languages)

*Size of payload is approximate and is subject to change

 

<Configuration>

              <Add AllowCdnFallback="True">

                            <Product ID="ProjectProRetail">

                                          <Language ID="MatchInstalled" TargetProduct="O365ProPlusRetail"/>

                                          <ExcludeApp ID="Groove"/>

                            </Product>

              </Add>

</Configuration>

 

Scenario 2:

You create an universal package to install project that will use the same channel, same build, same architecture (32 bit or 64 bit) as the other Click-to-Run products installed on the computer. You do not provide the binaries in the SCCM package. The necessary bits to install the product you select will be retrieved directly from Office CDN.

Note: this requires Office Deployment Tool 16.0.11615.33602 or newer.

 

Source Size package: 6 MB (ODT+ XML)

Retrieved from internet:

              To add Project : ~41 MB

              To add Visio : ~250 MB

*Size of payload is approximate and is subject to change

 

<Configuration>

              <Add Version="MatchInstalled">

                            <Product ID="ProjectProRetail">

                                          <Language ID="MatchInstalled" TargetProduct="O365ProPlusRetail"/>

                                          <ExcludeApp ID="Groove"/>

                            </Product>

              </Add>

</Configuration>

 

More details on :

New feature: Make changes to Office deployments without changing the version

Insights into OfficeClientEdition and how to make it work for you

 

This article also provides information about Language Pack and Proofing Tools installation:

Overview of deploying languages in Office 365 ProPlus

 

Prerequisites

To use the new feature, the following prerequisites apply:

  • Use Office Deployment Tool 16.0.11023.33600 or newer
  • If you are not using the Office CDN as an installation source, make sure to have the languages source files in your specified source path, or use AllowCdnFallback="True".
  • Make also sure client computer can connect to Microsoft CDNs. No proxy authentication required.

 

The Authors

This blog post is brought to you by Esteban Patrigeon, a senior ProPlus deployment experts at Microsoft from the FastTrack organization. We’re looking forward to your questions and feedback in the comments below.

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