Introducing Microsoft Office 2013 Preview App-V package

As some of you already know, we shipped the Microsoft Office 2013 Preview App-V package with our App-V 5.0 Beta 2 release in July 2012. We believe that this is a HUGE win for our customers. Over the years, we have received tremendous feedback from our customers regarding better and deeper integration with Microsoft Office. We, in App-V, feel proud to say that with Microsoft Office 2013 Preview App-V package, we have addressed that feedback. The Microsoft Office 2013 Preview App-V package is a pre-built package, which can be added to the App-V 5.0 client or imported to the App-V 5.0 server like any other App-V package. There is neither any sequencing involved nor the need to use a deployment kit, as one had to do with Microsoft Office 2010 using App-V 4.6. Above and beyond the simplified deployment model, the Microsoft Office 2013 Preview App-V package offers much deeper integration between App-V and Microsoft Office, than we have ever offered before.

Microsoft Office 2013 Preview – App-V 5.0 Beta 2 package information

The 32-bit Microsoft Office package is a Microsoft Windows 32-bit on Microsoft Windows 64-bit (WoW64) package and can be deployed on computers with a 32-bit or 64-bit chip architecture.

The 64-bit Microsoft Office package requires a computer that is running a 64-bit version of Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows Server 2008 R2.

The Microsoft Office packages are designed to run using the App-V 5.0 Beta 2 release using the following link https://www.microsoft.com/getappv5.

Package Information

The 32-bit WoW64 O15 Technical Preview package for App-V includes the following:

· ProPlusVolume_VisioProVolume_ProjectProVolume_en-us_x86.appv

· ProPlusVolume_VisioProVolume_ProjectProVolume_en-us_x86_DeploymentConfig.xml

· ProPlusVolume_VisioProVolume_ProjectProVolume_en-us_x86_UserConfig.xml

The 64-bit O15 Technical Preview package for App-V includes the following:

· ProPlusVolume_VisioProVolume_ProjectProVolume_en-us_x64.appv

· ProPlusVolume_VisioProVolume_ProjectProVolume_en-us_x64_DeploymentConfig.xml

· ProPlusVolume_VisioProVolume_ProjectProVolume_en-us_x86_UserConfig.xml

Enabling scripting on the App-V 5.0 Beta 2 client

Scripting is required to run the Microsoft Office 2013 Preview package. One can enable scripting on the client via App-V 5.0 Client setup, Group Policy or PowerShell cmdlets.

To enable scripting on the App-V 5.0 client via PowerShell, type the following commands using an elevated PowerShell command prompt:

PS>Set-ExecutionPolicy bypass –Scope currentuser. Press Y.

PS> Import-module appvclient and press Enter.

PS>Set-AppvClientConfiguration –EnablePackageScripts 1

Deploying the Microsoft Office 2013 Preview package

The Microsoft Office 2013 Preview package can be deployed and managed in the App-V environment like any other App-V package. Please find below the instructions for adding the package on a standalone client. For more information on how to manage the package on the App-V 5.0 Beta 2 Server, please refer to the App-V 5.0 Beta 2 documentation found at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=258534

Note:

This procedure does not require an App-V 5.0 Beta 2 management server.

It is recommended that you deploy the Office 2013 package globally to a computer.

Deploy an App-V 5.0 Beta 2 package to a computer

Use the following procedure to deploy an Office 2013 Preview package to a computer to allow all users to use the Office applications.

1. Complete all prerequisites required to have the App-V 5.0 packages on a target computer.

2. Open an elevated PowerShell command prompt, and enter the following commands:

PS>Import-module appvclient

PS> $pkg= Add-AppvClientPackage <Path to package location>

Running this command adds the package and returns the PackageId and VersionId into $pkg.

PS>Publish-AppVClientPackage $pkg -Global

This will publish the Office 2013 Preview package for all the users on the computer and allow them to use the Office applications.

Note

To modify the default integration settings, shortcuts or FTAs of the applications in a package, you can use the DynamicDeploymentConfiguration files while adding or publishing the package. For more information on how to do that, refer to the App-V 5.0 Beta 2 documentation found at https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=258534

Conclusion

We, the App-V team, believe that the pre-built Microsoft Office 2013 package addresses the needs of our valuable customers. As always, we are eager to have your feedback. If you have not tried the Office 2013 Preview App-V package till now, you can do so by downloading it from https://www.microsoft.com/getappv5. Do let us know, what you think of it!