Creating MS Office Package & Updates

 Hello Composer Lovers! :)

So lets see how is it done using Composer or any other tool for that matter. The major steps remain same in all packaging tools, its just the post install work that might change a little bit. However, if you get stuck with any other tool like Packager, PackageMaker, Luggage or  AutoPKG, feel free to write back to me.

Steps would sound same as in FileWave, just few of the things will change.

  1. Install the required version
  2. Install the available MS updates
  3. Locate all the files mentioned below
  4. In Composer, click on New and take a blank snapshot or do via Monitor FileSystem Changes
  5. Delete everything that got captured
  6. Drag & drop the Files and Folders mentioned below in Composer
  7. Item 15 should be sent to /tmp/
  8. Add a Post Install script to run the installer from /tmp/ - Volumes/Microsoft Office 2011/Office Installer/Contents/Packages/Office2011_en_dock.pkg. See the inline for hint.​ 
  • ​<sudo> installer -pkg /tmp/Office2011_en_dock.pkg -target /

Export into pkg and you are done.


Here are the files you need to grab from your Mac:

  1. /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Additional Tools
  2. /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Office
  3. /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Outlook.app
  4. /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Excel.app
  5. /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft PowerPoint.app
  6. /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Microsoft Word.app
  7. /Applications/Microsoft Communicator.app
  8. /Applications/Microsoft Office 2011/Read Me.html
  9. /Library/Automator
  10. /Library/Application Support/Microsoft
  11. /Library/Fonts/Microsoft
  12. /Library/Preferences/com.microsoft.office.licensing.plist
  13. /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist
  14. /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper
  15. /Volumes/Microsoft Office 2011/Office Installer/Contents/Packages/Office2011_en_dock.pkg

This should be easy for packaging, unless the client demands for specific configuration. Remember that this is basic packaging without any configuration.

For e.g. if you want to disable Auto Update after step 3, launch Microsoft Auto Updater and set it to Manual, it will now capture it with the settings you want. Now proceed with rest. Similarly other configuration changes can be handled as well.

Please write back in case of queries.

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