Determining When to Install Outlook

You can install Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 before, with, or after an installation of other Microsoft Office 2003 applications, and you can deploy Outlook to different groups of users at different times. Each installation staging strategy has its own requirements, as well as advantages and disadvantages.

Installing Outlook with Office

You can install Outlook 2003 as a part of your overall upgrade to Office 2003. Outlook is included in most editions of the Microsoft Office System of products.

Installing Outlook with Office is recommended because it is the simplest installation strategy—you avoid the extra steps involved in creating separate application deployments.

Installing Outlook before Office

Choosing to install Outlook 2003 before you deploy other Office 2003 applications might be preferred in the following circumstances:

• When you want to test custom solutions that rely on previous versions of Office applications (such as Microsoft Office Word 2003 or Microsoft Office Excel 2003) before you install the current version.

• When your messaging support group has the resources to install Outlook now, but the desktop applications support group must wait to install the rest of Office.

Note

Outlook 2003 cannot coexist with previous versions of Outlook. If you choose to keep previous versions, do not install Outlook 2003.

If you choose to install Outlook 2003 before you install Office 2003, you can do so by:

• Installing the stand-alone version of Outlook from its own administrative installation point.

  Later, you can create a separate administrative installation point for Office and direct users to upgrade to Office from there.

• Installing the stand-alone version of Outlook from the same administrative installation point from which you plan to deploy Office.

  With this method, you might need to rename the Setup program files for Office or Outlook to prevent the files from being overwritten.

• Running Office Setup to install only Outlook.

  Later, you can run the Custom Maintenance Wizard to install the rest of Office.

Advantages to installing before Office

If you deploy Outlook 2003 promptly, users can begin using new features without waiting for testing or technical support to become available for a complete upgrade to Office.

Disadvantages to installing before Office

Installing Outlook before you install the rest of Office has several disadvantages:

• When you deploy the other Office applications later on, you must customize the installation process in order to preserve your original Outlook settings.

• You cannot use the WordMail editor in Outlook 2003 until Word 2003 has also been installed.

• If you use separate administrative installation points for Outlook and Office, you must also allow for more hard disk space, because the files common to all of Office are duplicated on the server.

• If you use the same administrative installation point for Outlook and Office, you must take extra steps to manage multiple versions of the Setup files or to modify installation options.

Installing Outlook after Office

You can wait to install Outlook until after you have installed Office 2003. For example, if any of the following scenarios describes your organization, you might consider delaying your deployment of Outlook:

• You plan to coordinate your Outlook deployment with a future upgrade of Microsoft Exchange Server.

• You want to convert Lotus Notes to a Microsoft Exchange Server solution before you upgrade to Outlook.

• Your desktop support group has the resources to upgrade to Office now, but the messaging support group must wait to deploy Outlook.

If you choose to install Outlook after you have installed Office 2003, you can do so by:

• Installing the stand-alone version of Outlook from a separate administrative installation point.

• Installing the stand-alone version of Outlook from the same administrative installation point from which you installed Office.

  With this method, you must rename the Setup program files (for Office or Outlook) to prevent the original files from being overwritten.

• Running Office Setup to install Office but exclude Outlook.

  Later, you can use the Custom Maintenance Wizard to install Outlook.

Advantages to installing after Office

In many organizations, it makes sense to coordinate an Outlook deployment with an upgrade of a mail server, rather than with an upgrade of other desktop applications.

Disadvantages to installing after Office

When you install Office without Outlook, you must explicitly change default Setup settings in the Custom Installation Wizard so that previous versions of Outlook are not removed from users’ computers.

Regardless of when or how you install Outlook separately from Office, you must take extra steps to manage duplicate files, multiple versions of the Setup files, or customizations to the installation process.

Staging an Outlook deployment

Some groups in your organization might be ready to upgrade to Outlook immediately, while other groups might need more time to prepare or find additional resources. A situation like this, or one of the following conditions, might be best managed by a staged deployment of Outlook:

• Your normal policy is to stage upgrades to help ensure a smooth rollout of new software throughout your organization.

• You have remote systems support groups (for example, in regional sales offices) that require relative autonomy in scheduling upgrades for their areas.

• Some groups want to wait until after a project deadline before making changes to their local computers.

• You have limited resources for staging and upgrading systems throughout your organization.

Advantages to staging a deployment

Staging your Outlook deployment gives you more flexibility in managing your upgrading resources. In addition, pilot users immediately become familiar with the new features and productivity enhancements of Outlook 2003.

Having users on different versions of Outlook within an organization does not pose any significant technical problems. Outlook 2003 users can communicate seamlessly with users of Outlook 2002 and Office XP.

Disadvantages to staging a deployment

You must take into account the logistics of scheduling and managing a staged deployment. Your organization might also encounter extra overhead to support users on different versions of the same product.

Resources and related information

Specific procedures can help you successfully deploy Outlook before or after you install Office. For more information about implementing a staged deployment of Outlook, see “Installing Outlook 2003 Before Office 2003” and “Installing Outlook 2003 After Office 2003” in Chapter 8, “Special Deployment Scenarios for Outlook 2003.”