Topics in this chapter   Welcome     What's New in the Office XP Resource Kit     Options for Acquiring Office     Web Sites of Interest to Administrators

Welcome

The Microsoft® Office XP Resource Kit is designed for administrators, information technology (IT) professionals, and support staff who deploy and support Microsoft Office XP. The Office Resource Kit features a comprehensive set of tools to assist you with installation, configuration, and maintenance, as well as in-depth documentation on strategies and techniques that you can use to support Office XP within your organization.

For Office XP, the Resource Kit has been updated with improved tools and the latest information on deployment and administrative support. Some areas of the kit have been expanded, such as topics related to platform strategies, messaging, and worldwide support. Topics in other areas, such as migration and compatibility, have been greatly reduced, due to strong improvements in the product itself. Overall, the Office Resource Kit focuses on helping you get your organization up and running with Office XP in less time than ever.

A significant part of the Office Resource Kit is the ongoing support provided on the Office Resource Kit Web site. The Web site includes all of the information provided with the book, plus articles on emerging technologies, strategies, and issues. Current versions of all tools and support files are provided in the Office Resource Kit Toolbox, along with administrative update files for any Office XP service releases offered at a later date.

Office XP Resource Kit documentation

The Microsoft Office XP Resource Kit is published as a printed book by Microsoft Press®. Online versions are available on the World Wide Web and with Enterprise editions of Office XP. The printed book is available through your local bookseller, online bookstores, or directly from Microsoft Press. Included with the book is a CD that contains Office Resource Kit tools, reference information, and supplementary documents. To learn more about buying the book, visit the Microsoft Press Web site at http://mspress.microsoft.com/.To learn more about buying the book, visit the Microsoft Press Web site.

Documentation for the Microsoft Office XP Resource Kit is organized into five parts and an Appendix.

Part 1: Getting Started

Getting Started covers the basic information you need to know to start planning for an Office XP deployment. Here, you will find details on system requirements and upgrading from previous versions, as well as a comprehensive list of new features included in the Office Resource Kit itself. This section also highlights the new collaboration services provided with Office XP through Microsoft's SharePoint™ Team Services technology.

Part 2: Deployment

At the heart of the Office Resource Kit are the tools and information designed to help you configure and deploy Office XP within your organization. The Deployment section provides extensive information on using the deployment tools, covering the basic installation scenarios along with specific information on platform issues, customization, and distribution. New areas covered in the Office XP Resource Kit include deployment strategies for Microsoft Windows® 2000, background information on how Setup runs, and instructions on how to deploy a service release.

Part 3: Maintenance

The Maintenance section describes many of the tools and strategies you can use to manage security and lower the total cost of ownership for Office XP. The topics on system policies, for example, explain how you can enforce settings and restrictions on users' computers to maintain the overall stability of their systems. The broad security section describes how to protect documents and safeguard your systems from viruses. Individual topics cover areas such as changing features or user settings, repairing an installation, and using the Office Profile Wizard to migrate settings and templates between computers. Finally, the topics on Custom Help show you how to integrate your organization's own support information into the Office XP Help environment.

Part 4: Worldwide Deployment

International organizations can use the Office XP Resource Kit to plan for multinational deployments. Topics describe how to implement international dictionaries and proofing tools, as well as how to use Unicode® support to open documents across different language versions of the product. The Worldwide Deployment section focuses on Microsoft Office XP Multilingual User Interface Pack, which allows users to change the language of the user interface and the online Help system. Other features include sample customizations for multilingual deployments, along with information on Input Method Editors (IMEs), upgrading scenarios, and font support.

Part 5: Messaging

Fast and secure messaging is vital to any organization, and the Office XP Resource Kit covers what you need to know to plan, deploy, and maintain your messaging clients. Along with the standard deployment scenarios, the topics cover special cases such as quiet installations, roaming configurations, and deployment on Windows Terminal Services. The upgrading section covers upgrades from both previous and older versions of messaging clients, as well as Schedule+ migration and information on the Web protocol. Throughout the topics, a strong focus on security issues gives you the perspective you need to ensure the integrity of your systems.

Appendix

Summary information on all tools provided with the Office XP Resource Kit is provided in the Toolbox. Also included in the Office Resource Kit is a glossary of terms used throughout the topics, as well as a comprehensive index. Also included in the Office Resource Kit is a glossary of terms used throughout the topics.

Documentation conventions in the Office Resource Kit

The following terms and text formats are used in the Office Resource Kit.

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Office XP Resource Kit Toolbox

The Office Resource Kit contains tools that help you to customize, configure, and deploy Office XP within your organization. If you have the Office XP Resource Kit CD or an Enterprise edition of Office XP, you can install the core tools and support documents through one integrated Setup program. The tools are also available separately from the download site of the Office Resource Kit Web site.

The following table summarizes the key tools that are installed by default when you run the Office Resource Kit Setup program. For information about specific tools, see the Toolbox.For information about specific tools, see the Toolbox.

The Office Resource Kit also includes several tools that are not installed by default from the Setup program. These tools are available from the Office Resource Kit or Office Enterprise CD, or online from the Office Resource Kit Web site. For more information on installing the supplemental tools, see the Toolbox.For more information on installing the supplemental tools, see the Toolbox.

Supplemental documentation

The Office XP Resource Kit includes a number of supplemental documents that provide detailed information on such areas as registry settings, international settings, and the Office XP file list. The supplemental documents are installed by default when you run the Office Resource Kit Setup program, and they are also available online from the Office Resource Kit Web site. The following table summarizes the supplemental documents. For more information, see the Toolbox.For more information, see the Toolbox.