Office Customization Tool changes in Office 2010

The Office Customization Tool is part of the Setup program and is the primary tool that administrators use to customize an Office 2010 (and 2007 Office system) client installation. The OCT is included in Volume License versions of Office 2010 such as Office 2010 Professional Plus.

Office 2010 includes two architecture-specific versions of the OCT, one for 32-bit Office 2010 and one for 64-bit Office 2010. The 64-bit version of the OCT supports 64-bit client editions of Office 2010, and provides the same user interface, capabilities, and OPA settings as the 32-bit version. The OCT files are located in the Admin folder under the x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) folders, respectively. For information about 64-bit Office 2010, see 64-bit editions of Office 2010.

The Office 2010 OCT supports importing Setup customization files (.msp files):

  • You can import a 32-bit .msp file into the 64-bit OCT, and the .msp can then be used to customize 64-bit Office 2010 products.
  • You can import a 64-bit .msp file into the 32-bit OCT, and the .msp can then be used to customize 32-bit Office 2010 products.

An advantage of using the Import feature is that it allows you to make your customizations once and then you can leverage those customizations. You can import .msp files for equivalent cross-architecture products only. For example, you can import a 32-bit Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 customization .msp file into the 64-bit version of the OCT for a 64-bit Office Professional Plus 2010 .msp file. However, you cannot import a 32-bit Microsoft Word 2010 stand-alone customization .msp file into the 64-bit OCT for a 64-bit Office Professional Plus 2010 .msp file.

You can also use the Import feature if you have created an initial Setup customization .msp file for an Office 2010 product (for example, Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010) and you later want to modify the installation to add language packs. In such cases, you first add the language packs to the network installation point that contains the Office product source files. Then, you run the OCT from the root of the network installation point and create a new Setup customization file for the same product, and import the original customization .msp file that you created previously for Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010. For more information about how to use the Import feature, see Import an Office 2010 Setup customization file.

The Office 2010 OCT also provides support for adding multiple Outlook e-mail accounts. For more information about using the OCT, see Office Customization Tool in Office 2010 in the Office 2010 Resource Kit.