Deploy Microsoft 365 Apps with Microsoft Configuration Manager (current branch)

Follow the steps in this article to deploy Microsoft 365 Apps to client computers by using Microsoft Configuration Manager (current branch).

Before you begin

This article is for administrators in managed environments. Use Microsoft Intune to simplify deployment and management of Microsoft 365 Apps. For more information, watch Your options for deploying Microsoft 365 Apps with Microsoft Intune and see the Intune documentation on Microsoft 365 Apps.

If you haven't already, complete the assessment and planning phases for your Microsoft 365 Apps deployment.

If you need to install Microsoft 365 Apps on a single device or just a few, you have two options to choose from. You can either follow the steps provided in Download and install or reinstall Microsoft 365 or Office 2021 on a PC or Mac or Use the Office offline installer.

Best practices

The steps in this article are based on the following best practices for Microsoft Configuration Manager environments:

• Use Monthly Enterprise Channel: For Configuration Manager environments, this channel balances quick access to the latest features and quality improvements with a predictable update schedule. Although Current Channel provides the newest features fastest, it often isn't practical for on-premises-managed environments.

• Use dynamic collections: We use a combination of static and dynamically updated collections to apply the automation capabilities of Configuration Manager and improve targeting of, for example, updates.

You can customize these options for matching the requirements for your organization, including right-sizing your deployment, changing update channels, and deploying Visio and Project. For more information, see Customize your deployment.

Step 1: Review and update your Configuration Manager infrastructure

From an infrastructure standpoint, deploying Microsoft 365 Apps with Configuration Manager is like other software deployments and doesn't require any special customization. That said, the following options can make your deployment easier and more efficient:

• Use the current branch of Configuration Manager. For more information, see Which branch of Configuration Manager should I use?.
• Enable peer cache on your client devices. Peer cache is a feature in the current branch of Configuration Manager that can help with limited network capacity when deploying Microsoft 365 Apps in remote locations. For more information, see Peer Cache for Configuration Manager clients. Microsoft 365 Apps can benefit both during initial deployment and later servicing with updates from peer cache.

Make sure to complete the following requirements as well:

• The computer running the Configuration Manager console requires Microsoft Edge WebView2 runtime and needs internet access via HTTPS port 443. The Office 365 Client Installation Wizard uses a Windows standard web browser API to open https://config.office.com. If an internet proxy is used, the user must be able to access this URL.
• Add these sites to the Trusted Sites list if Enhanced Security Configuration is enabled for Microsoft Edge (IE mode), which is on by default in Windows Server: https://*.office.com and https://*.officeconfig.msocdn.com.

Step 2: Create collections

Create two sets of collections:

• One set for the initial deployment of Microsoft 365 Apps. This can include one or more collections.
• One set for ongoing maintenance of Microsoft 365 Apps. Use these collections to assign updates and deploy update channels.

For the initial deployment, create collections aligned to your deployment plan. You could go with just one group and add an initial set of devices to it, adding more devices later. Or create multiple collections (for example, four in a 5/15/40/40 split) and add collections to the application's deployment over time. You can merge these collections later to reduce management overhead. For more information on creating and managing collections, see Introduction to collections in Microsoft Configuration Manager.

For the ongoing maintenance, create collections as described in Build dynamic collections for Microsoft 365 Apps with Configuration Manager, except the collection to "Catch Devices on builds below a certain threshold." This leaves you with three sets of collections:

• One or multiple collections to easily identify how many devices are on a given update channel.
• One collection that captures all devices running Microsoft 365 Apps. This collection is used to deploy the monthly updates.
• One collection that includes all devices on update channels not captured in the previous collections. This helps fix and identify configuration drift.

Step 3: Create and deploy the Microsoft 365 Apps application

The Microsoft 365 Apps installation is represented as an application in Configuration Manager. We don't recommend using the legacy package mode for such installations.

Create a Microsoft 365 Apps application using the following steps.

1. In the Configuration Manager console, navigate to Software Library > Overview > Office 365 Client Management.
2. Select Office 365 Installer in the upper-right pane. The Office 365 Client Installation Wizard opens.
3. On the Application Settings page, provide a name and description for the app, enter the download ___location for the files, and then select Next. The ___location must be specified as \\server\share.
4. On the Office Settings page, select Go to the Office Customization Tool, and configure the desired settings for your Microsoft 365 Apps installation. We recommend the following options:
   • Software: Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise or Microsoft 365 Apps for business based on your licenses. You can also include Visio and Project if you plan to deploy those products to all users.
     • Update channel: Choose Monthly Enterprise Channel.
     • Languages: Include all the language packs you plan to deploy.
     • Upgrades: Choose to automatically remove all previous MSI versions of Office.
     • Additional properties: To silently install the application for your users, choose Off for the Display level and On for the Automatically accept the Microsoft Software License Terms.
     • Application settings: Define any settings you want to enable, including VBA macro notifications, default file locations, and default file formats.
5. When the configuration is complete, select Submit.
6. On the Deployment page, select Yes to deploy the application, and then select Next.

7. On the General page, choose a collection to deploy to, and then select Next.
8. Configure the remainder of the wizard pages as you would for a typical application deployment. For details, see Create and deploy an application.
9. Complete the wizard.

Step 4: Configure updates

Creating the application using the Office 365 Installer automatically configures Microsoft 365 Apps to listen to the Configuration Manager for update instructions. Review and implement the steps outlined in Manage updates to Microsoft 365 Apps with Microsoft Configuration Manager to start offering updates through Configuration Manager. You can use the collection that catches all Microsoft 365 Apps installation you created in step 2.

Step 5: Monitor progress

If you selected to deploy the application in the wizard, devices should start downloading and installing the Microsoft 365 Apps with the next evaluation cycle. Otherwise, you must manually deploy and distribute the application to devices and distribution points. After the deployment is initiated, monitor the appropriate reports in Configuration Manager for progress and potential issues.

If you opted to use multiple collections for the initial deployment, don't forget to extend the deployment to these other collections over time.

After devices finish the installation of/upgrade to Microsoft 365 Apps, they'll report back to their Management Point with the next hardware inventory cycle. Based on a schedule, the dynamic collections starts adding/removing devices based on the set criteria. This allows you to easily monitor the overall progress of the deployment and if all devices are in the intended update channels or if some configuration drift is happening.

You can also use the Office 365 Client Management dashboard. This dashboard provides charts for the following information:

• Number of Office 365 clients
• Office 365 client versions
• Office 365 client languages
• Office 365 client channels

To view the Office 365 Client Management dashboard in the Configuration Manager console, go to Software Library > Overview > Office 365 Client Management. At the top of the dashboard, use the Collection drop-down setting to filter the dashboard data by members of a specific collection.

In the dashboard, make sure you see the versions, languages, and update channels that you deployed for each collection.

Customize your deployment

The steps in this article cover the standard best practice recommendations from Microsoft. This section covers the most common customizations to these best practices. If you want to build a customized deployment, we still recommend that you start with the Office 365 Installer. The wizard automates the creation of detection rules, deployment types, and fetching the required source and setup files. It's easier to start with the wizard and customize later than to start from scratch.

Right-size the deployment for multi-language environments

If you support multiple languages in your environment and select to include them all in the application, it might grow in size substantially. Because all devices download the application from a distribution point before running setup, many devices might download source files for language packs that aren't needed during installation. See how to right-size your deployment for guidance on balancing which languages to include to conserve internet bandwidth and which to exclude to reduce LAN or WAN traffic.

Build and deploy multiple packages to multiple deployment groups

If you need to deploy the 32-bit version of Microsoft 365 Apps, you can create other applications. Two different architectures (x86 and x64 in this case) can't be included in the same application. For more information, see Define your installation packages.

Use different update channels

With Microsoft 365 Apps, you can control how frequently your users receive feature updates. To do so, you choose an update channel for your users. For more information, see Overview of update channels for Microsoft 365 Apps.

In this article, we're using Monthly Enterprise Channel, which provides users with new features on a monthly schedule. You can, however, choose to deploy Current Channel, which provides users with the newest features as soon as they're ready.

A single Microsoft 365 Apps installation package can only include one type of update channel, so each new update channel requires a new package.

Deploy Visio and Project alongside the core apps

To deploy Visio and Project with Microsoft 365 Apps, you can include them as part of the application when building it in Configuration Manager. For more information on licensing and system requirements, see Deployment guide for Visio and Deployment guide for Project. When you deploy by using the Office 365 Installer Wizard in Configuration Manager, Microsoft 365 Apps, Visio, Project, and other products all use the same detection method. We recommend updating the detection method, so it's unique for each product. For more information, see Detection Methods.

Configure uninstall with Configuration Manager

Do the following to allow the application to be uninstalled:

1. Review the description of the Remove attribute in the ODT Reference. Create a matching uninstall.xml file and place it in the previously chosen download ___location.
2. Navigate to Software Library > Overview > Application Management > Applications, select the created application, switch to the Deployment Type tab and edit the Office 365 Default Deployment Type.
3. Switch to the Programs tab and specify the following Uninstall Program: setup.exe /configure uninstall.xml
4. Choose OK, right-click the deployment type and select Update Content. For more information, see Deploy and manage content.

You can deploy or edit the application from Software Library > Overview > Application Management > Applications.

Related articles

Configuration options for the Office Deployment Tool

Overview of the Office Deployment Tool

Overview of the Office Customization Tool

Deployment guide for Microsoft 365 Apps