All the options for installing Office 2007 including the complete listing of customise options.
In the last issue of Office for Mere Mortals we talked about the hardware requirements for Office 2007, comparing Microsoft’s self-serving recommendations with some suggestions of our own for a computer that will not just run Office 2007, but run it well.
Now we’ll turn to installing Office 2007 itself.
INSTALL VS UPGRADE
If you have a previous (non-beta) version of Office on the computer then Office 2007 will upgrade your current setup. Your current settings should be retained from the older Office to Office 2007 – though that’s not always a smooth process.
If upgrading from an Office 2007 Beta you must uninstall it before install the Office 2007 final edition. You might think you’ve uninstalled Office 2007 beta but still get a setup message saying that the beta has to be uninstalled – the most likely reason is that the beta PDF/XPS add-on is still installed. Uninstall that separately before the Office 2007 setup.
PREPARATION
There are various things you should do before even inserting the setup disk for Office 2007.
Firstly, do a full backup. It should not be necessary since installations are much more reliable and reversible than in earlier years. But it’s always a good habit to do a backup before a major software installation.
Some people take the opportunity to reinstall Windows entirely to clear out any unwanted programs and settings, that’s a valid choice but not necessary.
Make sure that you have installed all the latest security and other updates for Windows.
You also need to find the license key for Office 2007. This is the 25 character code that gives you access to the software. You should keep this number recorded in a safe place or places since you might need it later.
SETTING YOUR REGION
We often hear complaints about Office being ‘too American’ with measurements in inches instead of metric or the default country for Outlook as the USA. In reality the fault is with whoever setup your computer.
Too many times we’ve seen copies of Windows installed with the default values – which are usually for English in the USA. That oversight leads to frustration later.
The fix is easy and is in Windows – not Office. Office gets its settings or install defaults for many region specific things from Windows.
If you get it right in Windows before installation then you’ll be in good shape later.
In Windows XP go to Control Panel | Regional and Language Settings | Regional Options to choose your preferred language and region combination. There are 13 choices for English alone.
Also change the ‘Location’ setting at the bottom of the dialog box.
If you don’t like the default settings for formatting of numbers, currency, date or time click on the Customize button after choosing the closest applicable standard.
These settings are separate from the Windows time zone configuration (Control Panel | Date & Time | Time Zone).
INSTALLATION
Now you can insert the Office 2007 CD, or mount the CD (ISO) image or look in the folder where the setup files are located (whichever applies to you). The Office 2007 setup may well start automatically.
Microsoft spends a lot of time making the installation simple with few questions. They also try to put all the questions at the start of the process, so you can then go away and do something else while the file copying and installation is happening.
The first question is to ask for your Product Key – the 25 character code that is probably on the CD envelope or case. Microsoft has improved the way you enter the key from earlier versions of Office. Gone are the blocks of 5 characters, now there’s a single text field. There’s no need to type in the dashes, the software will enter that for you. It’s also possible to paste the entire product key in one stroke.
When a valid product key is entered a green tick will appear on the right-side and the continue button becomes clickable.
.jpg&a=96 "Office 2007 product key entry image from The Real Office 2007 installation guide, part 2 at Office-Watch.com")
Next the inevitable EULA, the Microsoft Software License Terms – you have to click the ‘I accept’ box to let the installation proceed.
Then you get the choice of an install (or upgrade) using Microsoft’s choices or a customized install where you choose the parts of Office you want.
.jpg&a=96 "Office 2007 - install now or customize image from The Real Office 2007 installation guide, part 2 at Office-Watch.com")
We always choose the ‘Customize’ button partly because we want to ensure we’re getting everything we need and partly because the ‘Install now’ button gives you no clue about what is being installed.
Office has many nifty little tools and add-ins, not all of which are installed automatically.
For each Office component you have some choices:
‘Run from My Computer’
this is a fancy way of saying the component will be installed and available.
‘Run all from My Computer’
this means the option and all features below it on the ‘tree’ will be installed.
‘Installed on first use’
this means the option will appear on the menus but won’t be installed until you first try to use it. When you first use that feature you’ll probably have to drag out the install CD to load the additional software. This was sometimes handy when hard drive space was at a premium but these days it is probably more of a nuisance.
‘Not Available’
a fancy way of saying ‘do not install’.
The component won’t appear on any menu. If you change your mind later you’ll have to re-install and change the setup settings.
THE CUSTOMIZE OPTIONS
Each major part of Office (Word, Excel etc) has various components or add-ins. For example Word can comes with spelling and grammar for several different languages.
.jpg&a=96 "Office 2007 customize options image from The Real Office 2007 installation guide, part 2 at Office-Watch.com")
Here’s a list of the options for installation of Office 2007 Enterprise Edition. Normally we install almost everything available with the exception of some multi-lingual that are clearly inappropriate for us. Aside from that, there’s no harm installing things you might never need – the extra disk space is usually trivial.
Always consider carefully before changing a default ‘Install’ option to ‘No Install’ – that seemingly unnecessary component might be something you need (in disguise).
In a corporate environment the setup is quite different and it might make sense to limit the available components.
* Microsoft Office
o Microsoft Office Access
* .NET Programmability Support
* Access Templates
* Additional Wizards
* Calendar Control
* Typical Wizards
o Microsoft Office Excel
* .NET Programmability Support
* Add-ins
* Analysis ToolPak
* Conditional Sum Wizard
* Euro Currency Tool
* Internet Assistant VBA
* Lookup Wizard
* Solver
* Sample Files
o Microsoft Office Groove
o Microsoft Office Infopath
* .NET Programmability Support for .NET Framework version 2.0
* Visual Studio Tools for Applications
* Form Template Installer Tool
* Sample Form Templates
o Microsoft Office OneNote
* .NET Programmability Support
* Handwriting Fonts
* OneNote Mobile
* OneNote Mobile Activesync Components
* OneNote Mobile Installation Components
* Send to Onenote Add-ins
* Internet Explorer Integration
* Outlook Integration
o Microsoft Office Outlook
* .NET Programmability Support
* Importers and Exporters
* Import from Other Formats
o Act 3.0
o Lotus Organizer
o ODBC
o PAB
o Text (DOS)
o Text (Win)
* Outlook Add-ins
* Office Sharepoint Server Colleague Recommendations Add-in
* Outlook Messaging Components
* Outlook Mapi Service Providers
o Microsoft Exchange Server
o Microsoft LDAP Directory
o Outlook Address Book
o Personal Folders
* Outlook Stationery
* Outlook Stationery – Basic Files
* Outlook Stationery – Extended Files
* Outlook Templates
* Visual Basic Scripting support
o Microsoft Office Powerpoint
* .NET Programmability Support
* Organization Chart Add-in for Microsoft Office programs
o Microsoft Office Publisher
* .NET Programmability Support
* Commercial Printing
* Enhanced RGB to CMYK Conversion
* Font Schemes
* PaperDirect Previews
* Publisher Templates
* Business Publications
* Other Publications
o Microsoft Office Visio Viewer
o Microsoft Office Word
* .NET Programmability Support
* Page Border Art
* Quick Formatting Files
o Office Shared Features
* Clip Organizer
* Clip Organizer Collections
o AutoShapes and Themes
* Clips
o Popular Clip Art
* Clips
* Converters and Filters
* Graphics Filters
o Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) File Import
o Encapsulated Postscript (EPS) File Import
o Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) File Import
o Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) File Import
o Macintosh Graphics (PICT) File Import
o Portable Network Graphics (PNG) File Import
o WordPerfect Graphics (WPD) File Import
* Text Converters
o Recover Text Converter
o WordPerfect 5.x Converter
o WordPerfect 6.x Converter
o Works 7.0-9.0 Converter for Windows
* Word 97-2003/Open XML Format Converter
* Digital Certificate for VBA Projects
* Fonts
* Additional TrueType fonts
* International Support
* Japanese Font
* Universal Font
* Microsoft Office Access Database Replication Conflict Manager
* Microsoft Office Download Control
* Microsoft Office Themes
* New and Open Microsoft Office Document Shortcuts
* Proofing Tools
* English Proofing Tools
o Find All Word Forms
o Hyphenation
o Optical Character Recognition Modules
o Spelling and Grammar checkers
o Thesaurus
* French Proofing Tools
o English – French Translation
o Find All Word Forms
o Hyphenation
o Optical Character Recognition Modules
o Spelling and Grammar checkers
o Thesaurus
* Spanish Proofing Tools
o English – Spanish Translation
o Find All Word Forms
o Hyphenation
o Optical Character Recognition Modules
o Spelling and Grammar checkers
o Thesaurus
* Translation Core Files
* Visual Basic for Applications
* Web Themes
* Additional Web Themes
See Also
- Ctrl + Enter shortcut in Outlook
- Hash # web link problem in Word
- Fixing Product Activation problems
- New Office 2007 help files
- The real Office 2007 installation guide, part 4
- The real Office 2007 installation guide, part 3
- The real Office 2007 installation guide, part 1
