Topics in this chapter   Options for Installing Outlook     Customizing an Outlook Installation     Customizing Profiles with an Outlook Profile File

Options for Installing Outlook

Microsoft Outlook® 2002, like other Microsoft Office XP applications, takes advantage of the Office Custom Installation Wizard to control how Outlook 2002 is installed on users' computers. The Custom Installation Wizard allows you to include custom settings and profile configurations for Outlook 2002 in a transform (MST file) that is applied when Outlook is installed from an administrative installation point.

Outlook features that can be customized with the Custom Installation Wizard

Microsoft Outlook 2002 uses the same installation tools as your other Microsoft Office XP applications, including the Custom Installation Wizard. When you customize an Outlook 2002 installation with the wizard, you can do the following:

• Specify installation states for the Outlook features.
  
  
• Specify Outlook user settings.
  
  
• Specify how to set user profile information — create a profile, modify a profile, or use an existing profile file (PRF file) — or choose to use existing profile settings.
  
  
• Configure profile and account information, including Microsoft Exchange server connections.
  
  
• Remove existing information services.
  
  
• Optionally export your profile settings to a PRF file (for advanced scenarios).
  
  
• Customize other settings to apply during the installation process.

Note   To function correctly, Outlook 2002 requires that Internet Explorer 4.01 or later is installed on the client computers.

After your initial installation, you can use the Office Custom Maintenance Wizard to modify and deploy customizations for your installation.

Specifying installation states for Outlook features

As with the other Office XP applications, you can specify where and when specific features of Outlook 2002 or all of Outlook 2002 is installed. You can use the Set Feature Installation States page in the Custom Installation Wizard to set feature installation states for Outlook 2002.

For example, for the feature Microsoft Outlook for Windows, you might set the feature installation state to Run from My Computer. In this case, all Outlook features are installed on the users' local hard disk. Or you might choose to set some features to be installed locally (with Run from My Computer), and others to install when the user first gains access to the feature (Installed on First Use). Another common option (Not Available, Hidden, Locked) is to set some features to not be installed, and to not even appear in the feature tree if users change the installation state of the parent feature.

Specifying Outlook user settings

There are two ways to customize Outlook user settings for your installation:

• You can specify default Office settings for users by using the Office Profile Wizard.

  In this case, you install Office on a test machine and customize Office with the defaults you select, including Outlook options, and capture those settings in an profile settings file (OPS file). Then you include the OPS file in a transform on the Customized Default Application Settings page in the Custom Installation Wizard.

Note   While using the Office Profile Wizard is an efficient way to save most Outlook settings, not all options are captured by the wizard.For more information about settings that are not captured by the Office Profile Wizard, see Locating and Configuring Outlook Settings.

• You can also customize Outlook user settings individually on the Change Office User Settings page in the Custom Installation Wizard.

This requires stepping through the options tree and setting each option individually. This option might be more time-consuming than capturing settings with the Office Profile Wizard, especially if you have a large number of user settings to specify.

Note   Several Outlook settings that would otherwise have been included on the Change Office User Settings page are customized instead on the Change Outlook: Change Default Settings page. These options are:

• Migration option: Choosing to convert Personal Address Books to Outlook Address Books.
  
  
• Default settings for e-mail defaults: Specifying defaults for the Outlook e-mail editor and for the default format of e-mail messages.

One approach for specifying user settings is to customize an Outlook installation on a test machine and capture the settings with the Office Profile Wizard. Then specify the OPS file in the Custom Installation Wizard to establish a basic installation configuration. Finally, adjust additional settings by using the Change Office User Settings page in the Custom Installation Wizard.

If you have just a few Outlook user settings to specify and you are not already using the Office Profile Wizard to capture other Office settings, it may be more efficient to find and set the user options in the Custom Installation Wizard without using an OPS file.

Customizing Outlook profiles

The Outlook pages in the Custom Installation Wizard provide options for creating Outlook profiles or modifying the settings in existing Outlook profiles. For example, you can keep all existing Outlook user profiles and specify a default configuration for new Outlook user profiles.

Your options for configuring profiles include:

• Specifying Exchange server connections.
  
  
• Defining account information, such as adding POP3 or LDAP accounts.

• Once you have configured user profiles to meet your organization's needs, you can also save the profile configuration information in an Outlook profile file (PRF file).

See also

Detailed information about using the Office Profile Wizard to save user options is available. For more information about the Office Profile Wizard and OPS files, see Using the Office Profile Wizard.

Outlook settings and profile information can be viewed and modified in different ways, depending on the specific type of setting or option. For more information about Outlook settings, see Locating and Configuring Outlook Settings.