SG Windows IT Pro Group

Hello all,

It has been quite some time since I last contribute some articles to this forum. Here is a simple one to share with you.

DEPLOY OFFICE 2007 COMPATIBILITY PACK VIA GROUP POLICY http://orangedeuce.blogspot.com/2009/04/deploy-office-2007-compatibility-pack.html

For those of you whom supports both Office 2003 and Office 2007, you will frequently be getting calls from users that they have problem opening Office 2007 files. Microsoft releases FileFormatConverters.exe to allow Office 2003 users to open Office 2007 files. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=941b3470-3ae9-4aee-8f43-c6bb74cd1466&displaylang=en
Let me share with you how to deploy Office 2007 CompatibilityPack to your Office 2003 users via GPO.
First, download fileformatconverters.exe using the link above.
Save the fileformatconverters.exe to a folder, example, C:\office2007convert.
Open command prompt, and execute the command to extract the files.
C:\office2007convert\fileformatconverters.exe /extract:c:\office2007convert\

Copy the files O12Conv.CAB and O12Conv.MSI to a shared folder on your server where you users have read access.

Now, let's create a Group Policy to deploy Office 2007 Compatibility Pack to your users.
Open Group Policy Management Console and create a new policy. Let's call it DeployOffice2007CompatPack.
Expand out the Computers Configuration and select the Software Settings > Software Installation.
Right-click in the right hand pane and select New > Package.
Browse to the package on the file share you are going to use and select the O12Conv.MSI file and choose OPEN.
When prompted choose Assigned (you can also choose Publish but this Publish option will not automatically install the software for your users - it will just make the package available for them to install).
Once you have pressed OK you will find the package in your GPO.

Link this DeployOffice2007CompatPack to your OU where your computers reside and we are done.

Deploying Software via Group Policy is a efficent way to install software to your domain computers.

Thanks.. I was experimenting on how to deploy 3rd party application through GPO recently too. Not easy but sure feel good after I got it work at last!

For guys out there who are running Active Directory, do try to deploy software through GPO!

After reading this thread... I think I will push down the Office 2007 Compatible Pack through GPO too!

However, do take note of the min requirement for the Office 2007 Compatible Pack to run is as follow:

Supported Operating Systems:
Windows 2000 Service Pack 4
Windows Server 2003
Windows Vista
Windows XP Service Pack 1
Windows XP Service Pack 2

Recommended Microsoft Office programs:
Microsoft Office 2000 - Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office XP - Service Pack 3
Microsoft Office 2003 - At Least Service Pack 1

Cheers!