Administrators can use Office policy templates with the Group Policy settings of Windows

This article discusses how administrators can use Microsoft Office policy templates with the Group Policy settings of Microsoft Windows. The Microsoft Office 2003 Resource Kit contains policy templates (.adm files) that administrators can use with Office 2003 programs. In a Microsoft Windows-based network, Group Policy settings can help administrators control how users work with Office 2003.

This article describes the resources that are available for creating policies to be used in Microsoft Windows Server 2000-based environments and in Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based environments. This article contains the following sections:

• Overviews
• Available Office 2003 policy templates
• How to install the Office 2003 policy templates
• How to load an Office 2003 policy template in the Local Computer policy
• References

Overviews

By setting policies, you can define and maintain a particular Office 2003 configuration on users' computers. Unlike other customizations (such as default settings that are distributed in a transform [MST file]), policies are reapplied every time that a user logs on to the network (or at some other interval set by the administrator). Users cannot edit the registry to change the policies.

You can set policies that apply to the local computer (and to every user of that computer), or you can set policies that apply only to individual users. You set per-computer policies under Computer Configuration in the Group Policy snap-in. Per-computer policies are applied the first time that any user logs on to the network from that computer. You set per-user policies under User Configuration in the Group Policy snap-in. Per-user policies are applied when the specified user logs on to the network from any computer.

To use an Office 2003 policy template, you must load it in the Group Policy Microsoft Management Console snap-in.

Available Office 2003 policy templates

With the policy template files in the Microsoft Office 2003 Resource Kit , you can set policies globally for users of Office on a network. By using policies, you can quickly enforce a user configuration on users' computers when users, groups, or computers log on to the network.

The Office policy template files (.adm files) describe all the policy settings that you can set for Office. You use these .adm files with the Group Policy snap-in that is included with Microsoft Windows operating systems to apply policies to users' computers.

The Setup program of the Microsoft Office 2003 Resource Kit installs the following policy templates in the Windows\Inf folder on your computer.

How to install the Office 2003 policy templates

To download the Office 2003 policy templates, visit the following Microsoft Web site: On the Policy Template Files Web page of the Microsoft Office 2003 Resource Kit Web site, you can install the Office 2003 policy templates, or the Visio 2003 policy templates, or both.

• To install the Office 2003 policy templates, follow these steps:
  1. Scroll down the Policy Template Files Web page, and then click the ork.exe link.
  2. In the File Download dialog box, click Open.
  3. Click to accept the License Agreement, and then click Next.
  4. In the Type of Installation pane, click Typical Install, and then click Next.
  5. Click Install.
  6. Click OK when Setup has completed.
  Note The Office 2003 policy template files are installed in the following location:
  path\Windows\Inf
  Note path is the drive that contains your Windows folder and Windows is the name of your Windows folder.
• To install the Visio 2003 policy template, follow these steps:
  1. Scroll down the Policy Template Files Web page, and then click the VisioRKTools.exe link.
  2. In the File Download dialog box, click Open.
  3. Click Yes to accept the License Agreement.
  4. In the Please type the location where you want to place the extracted files box, type path:\Program Files\Orktools\Ork11\Tools\Visio, where path is the drive where your other Office 2003 Resource Kit tools are installed (such as C), and then click OK.
  5. Click Yes to create the folder that you specified in step 4.
     
     Note There is no message that indicates that the files have been installed on your computer.
  6. Right-click Start, and then click Explore.
  7. Locate the folder that you specified in step 4, and then open the folder that you specified in step 4.
  8. Copy the Visio11.adm file to the following location on your computer:
     path\Windows\Inf
     , where path is the drive that contains your Windows folder and Windows is the name of your Windows folder.

How to load an Office 2003 policy template in the Local Computer policy

You use the Group Policy snap-in to set Office 2003 policies from the Office policy templates (.adm files). After you set policies for a particular Group Policy object, Windows automatically implements the policies on the users' computers.

To load an Office 2003 policy in the Local Computer Policy, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type gpedit.msc in the Open box, and then click OK.
2. Under User Configuration, right-click Administrative Templates, point to All Tasks, and then click Add/Remove Templates.
3. In the Add/Remove Templates dialog box, click Add.
4. In the Policy Templates dialog box, click the Office 2003 policy template that you want to add, and then click Open.
   
   Note The Office 2003 policy templates are located in the path\Winnt\Inf folder, where path is the drive location of your Windows folder and Winnt is the folder name where Windows is installed.
5. In the Add/Remove Templates dialog box, click Close.
6. On the Tree tab of the Group Policy window, expand Administrative Templates under User Configuration.
7. Expand the Office 2003 policy that you added in step 5.

You are ready to set the Office 2003 user policies that you want in the Local Computer policy.

References

For information about how to manage users' configurations by policy, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For information about how to use group policies in Microsoft Windows Server 2003, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For information about to how to use group policies in Microsoft Windows 2000, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For information about how to install and maintain software applications based on Group Policy, visit the following Microsoft Web site: For information about enterprise management with the Group Policy Management Console, visit the following Microsoft Web site: