Side-by-side Installation Scenarios with Visio/Project and Office 365 ProPlus Click-to-Run

Todd Sweetser

Hi Cloud Partners!

We get asked on occasion about the following scenario: The ability to install a Volume Licensed (MSI) copy of Microsoft Visio 2016 and/or Microsoft Project 2016 alongside an installation of Office 365 ProPlus (2016, Click-to-Run) via subscription. This has been something that was not supported in the past. There has been an update made and now there is a mechanism available that will allow a customer who has licensed Visio/Project via Volume Licensing but wish to install it alongside Office 365 ProPlus. 

First, here is the updated supported installation scenarios from the TechNet article Supported scenarios for installing different versions of Office, Visio, and Project on the same computer:

VisioProjectOfficeTable

The key item is the Note below it:

VisioProjectOfficeNote

There is now an option to install volume licensed versions of Visio 2016 or Project 2016 using the Office Deployment Tool! Here is the intro info from the Use the Office Deployment Tool to install volume licensed editions of Visio 2016 and Project 2016 article:

You can use the Office Deployment Tool to install volume licensed editions of Visio 2016 and Project 2016 on the same computer with a Click-to-Run version of Office 2016. For example, you can install a volume licensed edition of Visio Standard 2016 on the same computer with Office 365 ProPlus.

For this specific scenario, the Office Deployment Tool uses Click-to-Run to do the installation, instead of using Windows Installer (MSI). But, Visio and Project are still activated by volume activation methods, such as Key Management Service (KMS) or Multiple Activation Key (MAK).

You must be using the most current version of either the Current Channel or the First Release for Deferred Channel of Office 2016 for this installation scenario to work. Support for Deferred Channel is expected in June 2016.

That last line can be pertinent – be sure you are on the correct version channel. For information on the update channels see: Overview of update channels for Office 365 ProPlus.

So there you have it! This has been a challenge for many in the past but now there is a supported option. Do note that it is recommended that if a customer is acquiring both the Office suite and Project/Visio at the same time they do so via the same channel. All of these solutions are available via subscription via Office 365, that generally is the best avenue!

Thanks, and good selling!