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Deployment options for Office 365 ProPlus
Published: July 16, 2012
Summary: Provides information about how to deploy Office 365 ProPlus from the Office 365 portal or from an on-premises location.
Applies to: Office 365 ProPlus
Audience: IT Professionals
The default method for an Office 365 user to install an Office product, such as Office 365 ProPlus, is to use the Office 365 portal. When a user installs an Office product from the Office 365 portal, Click-to-Run is used to stream the necessary files from the Internet to the user’s computer and install the Office product.
If you are an administrator who manages Office 365 for an organization and you do not want your Office 365 users to install Office products directly from the Internet by using the Office 365 portal, you can download the Office product and language files to your local network. You can then deploy those Office products and languages to users from an on-premises location, such as a local network share. These deployments will also use Click-to-Run. However, the necessary files will be streamed from your local network to the user’s computer during the installation, instead of being streamed from the Internet.
For more information about Click-to-Run, see Overview of Click-to-Run.
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This article is part of the Content roadmap for Office 365 ProPlus for IT Professionals. Use the roadmap as a starting point for articles that help you deploy Office 365 ProPlus in your organization. Are you looking for help with installing Office with Office 365? You may be looking for Get started with Office 365 and Install Office with Office 365, which will help you learn how to set up and use Office 365 on your computer, phone, and tablet. |
In this article:
This article primarily refers to Office 365 ProPlus. However, the information in this article can also be used when you deploy other Office products that are available from Office 365, such as Visio Pro for Office 365 or Project Pro for Office 365.
Choosing a deployment option for Office 365 ProPlus
The simplest way to install Office 365 ProPlus is to use the Office 365 portal. The user signs in to Office 365, browses to the software page, and then begins to install the appropriate Office product. This provides the user a self-service experience. This option requires the least amount of administrative setup.
However, there might be reasons why you do not want Office 365 users to install Office products from the Office 365 portal. The alternative is to download the Office products and languages to an on-premises location and deploy them to Office 365 users from the local network. To download and deploy Office from an on-premises location, you use the Office Deployment Tool. But deploying Office from an on-premises location requires more administrative setup and management.
The following table lists some possible reasons why you might want to deploy Office from an on-premises location.
Reasons to deploy Office from an on-premises location
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Users are not local administrators on their computers. |
Users must be local administrators on their computers to install Office. If users in your organization are not local administrators on their computers, you can use one of the following methods to install Office:
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You want to use your existing software deployment processes. |
You can use a software distribution product, such as System Center Configuration Manager, to deploy Office to Office 365 users. |
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You want to control which edition (32-bit or 64-bit) of Office that users install. |
You cannot specify which edition (32-bit or 64-bit) of Office that users can install from the Office 365 portal. However, the Office Deployment Tool allows you to control which edition of Office is installed. |
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You want to control which languages of Office that users install. |
You cannot specify which languages of Office that users can install from the Office 365 portal. However, the Office Deployment Tool allows you to control which languages of Office are installed. |
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You want to control where users get their updates to Office. |
By default, if you install Office from the Office 365 portal, Office updates itself automatically in the background from the Internet. The Office Deployment Tool allows you to specify an update location on the local network. |
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You are concerned about network bandwidth or about Internet connectivity. |
If you deploy Office from an internal network location, you can control when and from where Office 365 users install Office. For example, if there is a branch office in your organization that has limited Internet connectivity, users who are in that branch can install Office from a network share on a file server in the branch office. |
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You want to deploy Office as part of a standard desktop image. |
Some organizations deploy new computers by using a standard desktop image that includes a pre-configured version of the operating system and applications, such as Office, already installed. |
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As part of an Office deployment, many organizations with Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) use Office-specific Group Policy settings to create and enforce standard configurations for an Office installation. Group Policy settings can be assigned to both users and computers that are in AD DS. These Group Policy settings apply whether users install Office from the Office 365 portal or install from an on-premises location. |
Preparing to deploy Office 365 ProPlus
The following table lists important tasks for an Office 365 administrator to perform before the administrator deploys an Office product, such as Office 365 ProPlus, to Office 365 users. These tasks are applicable whether users install Office from the Office 365 portal or if you deploy Office to Office 365 users from an on-premises location.
Tasks to perform before you deploy Office
| Tasks | More information |
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Set up user accounts and assign licenses to users in Office 365. |
Each Office 365 user needs a user account and password with which to access Office 365. An Office 365 user also has to be assigned a license so that the user can install Office products from Office 365. For more information, see the User authentication methods section in Overview of Office 365 ProPlus. |
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Review information about Office 365 licensing and activation. |
To verify the status of a user’s Office 365 subscription, the computer on which you install Office must have reliable Internet access every 30 days, even if you install Office from your local network. For more information, see Overview of licensing and activation in Office 365 ProPlus. |
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Determine which Office products to deploy to users. |
The Office products that are available depend on your Office 365 subscription. An Office 365 administrator can configure which Office products are available for users to install from the Office 365 portal. For more information, see Deploying Office 365 ProPlus from the Office 365 portal. If you deploy Office to Office 365 users from an on-premises location, you can configure which Office products users install by using the Office Deployment Tool. For more information, see Deploying Office 365 ProPlus from an on-premises location. |
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Determine which edition of Office to deploy to users. |
Office products are available in 32-bit and 64-bit editions. The default installation is the 32-bit edition. If users install Office from the Office 365 portal, you should provide guidance to them about which edition to install. For more information, see the 32- and 64-bit editions of Office 2013 products section in Overview of Office 365 ProPlus. |
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Ensure that the computers on which you install Office meet the supported system requirements. |
Note especially that the latest version of Office products can be installed only on the following operating systems:
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Ensure that users have the appropriate permissions to install Office. |
Users must be local administrators on their computers to install Office products. If users in your organization are not local administrators on their computers, they cannot install Office from the Office 365 portal. Instead, you must download Office to an on-premises location and then use a different method to deploy Office to the users. For more information, see Deploying Office 365 ProPlus from an on-premises location. |
Deploying Office 365 ProPlus from the Office 365 portal
By default, an Office 365 user can install, from the Office 365 portal, any of the Office products that are part of the organization’s Office 365 subscription. However, an Office 365 administrator can configure which Office products are available for users to install from the Office 365 portal. For example, the administrator can specify that Office 365 users can install Office 365 ProPlus and Visio Pro for Office 365, but that users cannot install Project Pro for Office 365. For more information, see Choose the Office software that users can install from the Office 365 portal.
You cannot specify which edition (32-bit or 64-bit) of Office that users can install from the Office 365 portal. Also, you cannot control the languages that users install from the Office 365 portal. If you want to control which edition or which languages that users install, you must deploy Office from an on-premises location by using the Office Deployment Tool. For more information, see Deploying Office 365 ProPlus from an on-premises location.
For steps to provide to users on how to install Office from the Office 365 portal, see Get started with Office 365 in Office 365 online Help.
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If your organization has migrated from an earlier version of Office 365, you can deploy Office Professional Plus 2010 from the Office 365 portal. For more information about how to deploy Office Professional Plus 2010 from Office 365, see Office Professional Plus for Office 365 Overview (Office 2010) and Deploy Office Professional Plus for Office 365 (Office 2010). |
Deploying Office 365 ProPlus from an on-premises location
To download Office product and language files to your local network and then deploy those products and languages to Office 365 users, you use the Office Deployment Tool.
To specify which products and languages are downloaded and installed by the Office Deployment Tool, you create a customized Configuration.xml file. When you run the Office Deployment Tool, the tool reads the information in the customized Configuration.xml file and then downloads or installs the specified products and languages.
A common deployment method is to place the downloaded Office product and language files on a network share on the local network. Then users can install Office from that location. You can simplify and automate the process for the users by using a script or batch file. The script or batch file can also be used by a software distribution product, such as System Center Configuration Manager, or in a Group Policy computer startup script.
For more information about how to use the Office Deployment Tool, see the following articles:
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Download Click-to-Run for Office 365 products by using the Office Deployment Tool
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Deploy Click-to-Run for Office 365 products by using the Office Deployment Tool
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If your organization has migrated from an earlier version of Office 365, you can download Office Professional Plus 2010 from Office 365 to an on-premises location. However, you cannot use the Office Deployment Tool to download and deploy Office Professional Plus 2010 from Office 365. For more information about how to deploy Office Professional Plus 2010 from Office 365, see Office Professional Plus for Office 365 Overview (Office 2010) and Deploy Office Professional Plus for Office 365 (Office 2010). |
