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chhopkin
MicrosoftJoined 10 years ago
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Re: Cloud Policy Service - When will we be able to make changes to policy assignment scope.
Hi Paul, We recently released an update that allows you to change the targeted group for a policy configuration. In addition, we just started rolling out a change to also allow you to target Microsoft 365 Groups and soon we will be releasing an option that will allow you to apply the configuration to all users on the tenant (no group needed). Cheers, Chris Hopkins Senior Product Manager chhopkin@microsoft.comconfig.office.com gets a face lift and a few new features
On Monday, Sept 24 2018 at Ignite the Office team unveiled the new look for config.office.com as well as the addition of a few new deployment features to help you deploy Click-to-run Office products. The interface has been updated to ease navigation when using the full experience in the web browser and also optimized for the embedded experience for those of you who are using the Office Client Application Wizard in Configuration Manager (as of Current Branch 1806). New deployment features like MatchOS, Fallback to the CDN and RemoveMSI have been added making it easy to build more complex and capable deployment configurations. One of the most anticipated features allows you to include Office app settings with the deployment settings, allowing you to set the user preferences for Office according to how your organization uses Office. Take a look at the session from Ignite 2018 to see an overview of the new experience and a review of the deployment options available. Session code THR2022 – https://myignite.techcommunity.microsoft.com/sessions/64635Released – the Office Customization Tool
Today, the Office engineering team is announcing the general availability of the Office Customization Tool. With this new web-based tool you can easily customize the deployment of Office 365 ProPlus and other Click-to-Run managed Office products using a simple, intuitive, and web-based interface. The tool is an Azure-based cloud service which allows you to create XML configuration files that are used with the Office Deployment Tool. In the past, you needed to create the configuration files in Notepad or another text editor. The Office Customization Tool makes this part of the deployment process easier and less likely to introduce errors. This tool provides a simple experience which allows you to create a configuration file for use with the Office Deployment Tool, for scenarios where you need to customize the installation of Office 365 ProPlus. Common scenarios include: Initial installation of Office 365 ProPlus or Office 365 Business suites as well as Office 2019 suites, with the ability to include standalone products such as Visio and Project and various language packs. Adding additional products after the initial installation of the Office suite Adding additional language packs by configuring a ‘Language Only’ configuration after the installation of the Office suite or standalone products Standalone installation of Office 365 Access Runtime Installation of volume licensed products with automatic KMS and MAK activation Automatic removal of previous MSI based Office products To work with the service, go to https://config.office.com/ and choose the products, languages, and application settings you want to configure. For example, you can create a configuration file that downloads the 64-bit English version of Office 365 ProPlus, or you can create a file that installs the 64-bit English and German version of Office without Access and Publisher and with the EULA automatically accepted. When choosing a language, MatchOS is a popular option and allows Office to install support for the same languages that are installed for Windows on the targeted device. When you're done, you export the configuration file, which you can then use with the Office Deployment Tool or another software distribution solution to deploy Office in your organization. Choosing a product and a language are the minimum requirements to create a configuration file, but there are many more options to choose from to customize the deployment. Removal of existing MSI based Office products with the ability to ignore standalone products like Visio, Project, SharePoint Designer and InfoPath. These options ensure a smooth upgrade to the latest version of Office in a single deployment step. Choose to install and update directly from the Microsoft CDN or to host the Office package locally. Automatically accept the EULA and support for shared computer activation. Include Office application preferences to define the best experience for your users when they begin using the latest version of Office. You can also use the Office Customization Tool to make changes to existing configuration files, which is very useful when you need to modify the configuration of Office on devices that are already installed and configured or if you are creating a second or third configuration and you want to use your own baseline. Simply use the Import option and select the configuration file you wish to modify, make the desired changes, and use the Export option to generate a new configuration file. Are you using Configuration Manager to manage your deployments or configuration changes? If so you will be happy to know that as of 1806, Configuration Manager has integrated the Office Customization Tool with the Microsoft Office 365 Client Installation Wizard as part of their Application deployment workflow, giving administrators access to the same experience and the same set of features 1 described above. And if you haven’t yet upgraded to 1806, use the Office Customization Tool to generate the XML and incorporate that into your package. For more information, see the Overview of the Office Customization Tool. 1 – Some Click-to-Run deployment features are not compatible with Office deployments managed by Configuration Manager’s Application deployment workflowConfiguration Manager 1806 integrates config.office.com for managing Office 365 ProPlus deployments
Today the 1806 version of System Center Configuration Manager shipped with a very important update to the Office 365 ProPlus client deployment experience. http://config.office.com/ is now fully integrated with Configuration Manager, providing administrators with the ability to create custom Office 365 ProPlus deployments using the Office Customization Service which ensures that administrators always have access to the latest Click-to-Run deployment and management features. Office Customization Tool integration with Configuration Manager Newly available deployment options include: Intelligent language pack deployment using MatchOS Fall back to CDN for language packs when installing from a local source Removal of existing Office versions from a client during deployment Deployment of application settings Upgrade to 1806 today and use the new experience to create and manage your Office 365 ProPlus deployments. https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/enterprisemobility/2018/07/31/update-1806-for-configuration-manager-current-branch-is-now-available/ Cheers, Chris Hopkins Senior Program Manager - OfficeNew add-in inventory report for Configuration Manager
Today a new report was released to the GitHub community site that allows you to collect and view an inventory of the Office Add-ins that are in use by the clients that you manage with System Center Configuration Manager (2012 R2 or later). This report gathers the inventory of each Office add-in that is installed as well as the device that has it installed and the status (enabled, disabled) allowing you to determine which add-ins are in use as well as the impact based on the number of installations. This report also provides a link to Microsoft's Office ProPlus Add-in Readiness report which you can view from http://aka.ms/addinreadiness. To get this new report, download it directly from GitHub at https://github.com/OfficeDev/Office-IT-Pro-Deployment-Scripts/tree/master/Office-ProPlus-Management/Get-OfficeAddinsRe: Office Cloud Policy Service - Feedback, roadmap and suggestions
Hi Paul, please connect directly with me for feedback and programs concerning the policy service. We have many features on our backlog that we can discuss, and I also run private preview programs for new features we are preparing to release.Re: Office customization tool xml deploys O365 Pro Plus instead of O365 Business
Martin Fuhrmann the icons will not pin on Win10 devices. This is only a Win7 feature https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/deployoffice/configuration-options-for-the-office-2016-deployment-tool#piniconstotaskbar-property-part-of-property-element As for the SKU that is installed, the XML should have either the following product ID: O365ProPlusRetail - the ID that tells ODT to install the Office 365 ProPlus product O365BusinessRetail - the ID that tells ODT to install the Office 365 Business product Is it possible that the user that activated the product had a ProPlus license assigned to them instead of a Business license?Standard deployment configurations for Office deployment now available
Do you need to customize your Office deployment, or do you need to deploy a standard configuration? Maybe you just need to add Visio to an existing deployment? A new feature is now available in the Office Customization Tool for Click-to-Run that allows you to access preconfigured Office deployment configurations that can be used with the Office Deployment Tool. When you sign into the Office Customization Tool for Click-to-Run you will see an updated experience that allows you to access standard configurations for Office deployment as well as the set of customized Office deployment configurations that you may have created or uploaded. The list of standard Office deployment configurations includes 64bit and 32bit configurations for Office 365 ProPlus on Semi-annual channel and Monthly Channel as well as configurations that utilize intelligent matching features to simplify adding Visio and/or Project to a device that already have Office 365 ProPlus installed. In addition to these configurations we have also included a configuration that allows you to uninstall MSI and C2R based Office installations in situations where you need to start with a clean install or troubleshooting a deployment issue. To get started, sign in as an admin at https://config.office.com/. When you navigate to the Device Configuration page you will see the ‘Standard configurations’ tab by default. Simply choose one of the configurations and click the ‘Download’ or ‘Get Link’ button. If you download the XML, you can reference it on the command line using the local or UNC path. If you get the link you can simple call setup.exe with the desired action and reference the URL on the command line, i.e. setup.exe /configure "https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=2100547" (note the use of “ “ to reference the URL). For more information on using the Office deployment tool refer to the documentation published here. Important – please ensure you have downloaded the latest version of the Office Deployment Tool If you have any feedback feel free to comment on this post or go to https://config.office.com and use the feedback button.Re: Configuring fallback for Office 365 ProPlus updates in Configuration Manager
The fall back option in the ODT configuration XML is for the scenario when you are deploying from a local source (typically via a manual process or a management tool other than Configuration Manager). For both the initial installation or the update process. If you are using Intune everything comes from the CDN so no need for fall back in this case.Re: Configuring fallback for Office 365 ProPlus updates in Configuration Manager
Hi Doug, When an update is targeted to a client, the Configuration Manager agent tells C2R to install that specific version. If the Configuration Manager fallback option was enabled and the DP did not have the version then the client would fall back to the CDN to get the version specified by Configuration Manager. If the Configuration Manager agent was disabled on the client then it should have never updated unless the OfficeMgmtCOM setting was not set to True on the client. This setting tells C2R to not check for updates and wait to be told what to do by Configuration Manager. FYI - the OfficeMgmtCOM setting is stored in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\ClickToRun\Configuration along with the installed version and other C2R settings. Cheers, ChrisRe: config.office.com gets a face lift and a few new features
With the recent announcement about Office 2019 Professional Plus, be aware that this product is not currently available in the products list at config.office.com or when using the Office Client Installation Wizard in the new Configuration Manager 1806 release. The Office team is currently working on changes needed to support Office 2019 Professional Plus in both of these scenarios and we hope to have an update by the end of October.Re: Configuration Manager 1806 integrates config.office.com for managing Office 365 ProPlus deployments
With the recent announcement about Office 2019 Professional Plus, be aware that this product is not currently available in the products list at config.office.com or when using the Office Client Installation Wizard in the new Configuration Manager 1806 release. The Office team is currently working on changes needed to support Office 2019 Professional Plus in both of these scenarios and we hope to have an update by the end of October.Re: Public Preview refresh for the Office Customization Tool for Click-to-Run
The IgnoreProduct attribute is not exposed as an option in the config.office.com site. I suggest you manually add this to the XML once you export if you need to create a configuration that leaves Visio and/or Project on the device. We are looking at updating the site to include the ability to do this.Re: Configuring fallback for Office 365 ProPlus updates in Configuration Manager
Hi Jeremy, This is a different fall back mechanism. The 'AllCdnFallback' option that you use with ODT is specific to the installation of language packs. It allows you to install Office from a local source (like a network share) but if you forgot to download a language pack or MatchOS discovered a language pack that was not downloaded to your local source, having this fall back option on allows the ODT to download the language pack(s) that it needs directly from the CDN. Note: this option is not compatible with Application deployment via SCCM. The option available in SCCM applies to updates. If a client is told by SCCM to update but the update is not yet available on the distribution point, the client is allowed to get the update directly from the CDN. Cheers, Chris
