Create Custom Microsoft Office Installers

The majority of us get our Microsoft Office by going to the Microsoft website at www.microsoft.com.

1. Search for Office.
2. Pick the package of our choice.
3. Log in with our Microsoft account.
4. Pay for it.
5. Download and install it.

Do you know you can create customized Office installation packages that have exactly the programs you want. You don't even need to log in first with a Microsoft account. However, once all is done, you still need to activate the program(s) with a Microsoft account or a valid serial number. 

Few people use OneNote, OneDrive, and even PowerPoint. If you just want the installation to have only Word and Excel, you can. These are the steps as explained in this Youtube video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4v1dLC8H7_k&t=21s

The first main step:

Create a configuration with the Microsoft Office Customization Tool. This step creates an XML file (a glorified plain text file) that has the instruction on the programs you want in the installer. You would go to

https://config.office.com/deploymentsettings 

Pick and choose your version of Office.

Office LTSC is the perpetual version of Office for commercial customers, a device-based license available as a one-time, “perpetual” purchase, available on both macOS and Windows. See below for the nitty gritty of this license type:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/office-2021-and-office-ltsc-for-windows-and-mac-faq-d574cf0b-3ebc-42cf-9035-a3b837e0463c

https://office-watch.com/2021/the-good-and-bad-in-office-ltsc 

The second main step:

Using the Office Deployment Tool, you actually download a program that when run, will look into the configuration file to download what is dictated in the file. Make sure that the configuration file and the deployment tool are in the same folder on the computer. Strangely, the deployment tool is not the setup file in its final form. Running the tool will self-extract to create the setup tool. This setup tool is the one that is placed in the same folder as the configuration XML file. To make the next step simpler with less typing, you should put this folder on the root C drive by going to the C drive in File Explorer and put this folder there so that the path to this folder is C:\<folder name>

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49117 

Because this setup file is in the MSI format, the installation is done with the commandline. Open the commandline, that results in a black window. Type this:

cd c:\<folder name>

setup /configure Configuration.xml

Hit Enter on the keyboard

The setup program will run to go out to the Microsoft server to download just the programs listed in the configuration file.