You cannot deploy the core package (MSI file) by itself. Every Office product must include at least one set of language-specific packages. On the Office product CD and the network installation point, these packages are contained in folders. Each folder name includes a language tag, in the form ll-cc, that identifies the language.

For example, an installation point for Microsoft Office Standard 2007 with both U.S. English and French language elements includes the following files and folders:

Office 2007 network installation point

• Setup.exe —Setup program

• Standard.WW folder—Language-neutral core product

• Office.en-us folder—U.S. English shared features

• Excel.en-us folder—U.S. English Excel features

• Outlook.en-us folder—U.S. English Outlook features

• PowerPoint.en-us folder—U.S. English PowerPoint features

• Word.en-us folder—U.S. English Word features

The French version of Office Standard 2007 has a parallel set of folders:

Office 2007 network installation point

• Setup.exe—Setup program

• Standard.WW folder—Language-neutral core product

• Office.fr-fr folder —French shared features

• Excel.fr-fr folder—French Excel features

• Outlook.fr-fr folder—French Outlook features

• PowerPoint.fr-fr folder—French PowerPoint features

• Word.fr-fr folder—French Word features

In both cases, the core package (StandardWW.msi in the Standard.WW folder) is identical, and it accommodates both English and French language packages in the same way.

Note:
These examples show only a portion of the network installation point. You may see additional folders, all of which follow the same naming conventions show here.

Language-specific packages are used in two contexts: in the language version of an Office product, and in the Single Language Pack (SLP) for that language. The French version of Office Standard 2007 has a language-specific folder for each application and for shared features in Office Standard 2007. The same folders are included in the French SLP, which also includes language-specific folders for other products in the 2007 Office system.

For example, the Japanese language pack contains the following files and folders:

Office 2007 network installation point

• Setup.exe—Setup program

• Access.ja-jp folder—Japanese Access features

• Excel.ja-jp folder—Japanese Excel features

• Groove.ja-jp folder—Japanese Groove features

• InfoPath.ja-jp folder—Japanese InfoPath features

• Office.ja-jp folder—Japanese Shared Office features

• OneNote.ja-jp folder—Japanese OneNote features

• Outlook.ja-jp folder—Japanese Outlook features

• PowerPoint.ja-jp folder—Japanese PowerPoint features

• Publisher.ja-jp folder—Japanese Publisher features

• SharePointDesigner.ja-jp folder—Japanese SharePoint Designer features

• Word.ja-jp folder—Japanese Word features

• OMUI.ja-jp folder—Defines the language pack as a separate product

• XMUI.ja-jp folder—Identifies the particular culture for the language pack

Language-specific features for Microsoft Office Project 2007 are included in each SLP, but are deployed separately. For example, the Japanese SLP also includes the following folders for Office Project 2007:

Office 2007 network installation point

• Project.ja-jp folder—Japanese Project features

• PMUI.ja-jp folder—Defines the Project language pack as a separate product

Language-specific features for Microsoft Office Visio 2007 are handled in a similar way. For example, the Japanese SLP includes the following folders for Office Visio 2007:

Office 2007 network installation point

• Visio.ja-jp folder—Japanese Visio features

• VMUI.ja-jp folder—Defines the Visio language pack as a separate product

All three language packs on a specific SLP share some common folders—the Office.ll-cc folder (for shared Office features) and the XMUI.ll-cc folder (for culture definition). In the preceding example, the Office.ja-jp and the XMUI.ja-jp folders are shared by Office, Visio, and Project language packs.

Language packs can be deployed as separate products, or they can be used to deploy an Office product in multiple languages. You are not required to enter a unique product key for language packs, whether you are deploying them separately or as part of the installation of another product.

Note:
In previous versions of Office, enterprise customers added languages by deploying Multilanguage User Interface (MUI) packs after a U.S. English version of Office was installed. Localized versions, such as the Japanese version of Office Standard Edition, were not identical to the core version with a Japanese MUI pack. This design has been simplified and improved in the 2007 Office system.

When you install an Office product, Setup searches the installation point for all the possible languages for that product. By default, Setup installs Office in the language that matches the language specified by the user's Windows user locale. Without your having to control the process, every user gets the most likely language of Office for his or her needs. A user in Paris might get the Office Standard 2007 in French, while a user in London gets Office Standard 2007 in English, and a user with a Japanese user locale gets Office Standard 2007 in Japanese.

If there is no exact match between the user locale and the set of available languages on the installation point, Setup uses the closest match. If there is no acceptable match, Setup prompts the user to select an available language. If you are running Setup in quiet mode (without user interaction) and there is no acceptable language match, the installation fails.

If users run Setup interactively and choose the Install Now option, Setup follows the same default pattern and installs the language version of Office that matches the user’s user locale setting.

For step-by-step instructions about how to deploy multiple languages of Office, see Deploy multiple language versions of the 2007 Office system.

Note:
Language packs cannot be deployed as products independent of an 2007 Office system product. If the user has already installed at least one 2007 Office system product, however, then Setup treats the language packs as products and includes them in the list of products that the user can choose to install.

You can override default behavior and specify exactly which languages Setup installs on users’ computers. In the Config.xml file located in the core product folder (Standard.WW for Office Standard 2007), you can specify that Setup install a specific language or set of languages. Then you use the /config command line option to point to your custom Config.xml file. For example:

\\server\share\Office12\setup.exe /config \\server\share\Office12\Standard.WW\MyConfig.xml

where Office12 is the root of the network installation point.

If users run Setup interactively and choose the Customize installation option, they can select one or more languages to install on the Languages tab.

Important:

When you edit the Config.xml file to install more than language, you must also specify which of those languages Setup uses for the shell user interface (Shell UI). The Shell UI includes core elements of Office that register with the operating system, such file extensions, Tool Tips, and right-click menu items. Failure to specify a Shell UI language in this scenario causes the installation to fail. For more information about managing the deployment of multiple languages, see Customize a multilanguage deployment of the 2007 Office system.

Because a language pack is also defined as a unique product, you can install language packs separately from Office. If you have already deployed a number of Office products in your organization—for example, standalone versions of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, Microsoft Office Word 2007, and Microsoft Office OneNote 2007 — you can install the Japanese language pack as a separate product and distribute Japanese components for all those products at once. In this case, a separate entry appears in Add or Remove Programs for the Japanese language pack.

Note:
To install a language pack, users must first have an Office product installed. Although Setup can install the language pack as a separate product, a language pack by itself does not function as a complete 2007 Office system product. A core product is always required.

Proofing Tools allow users to enable additional languages for editing and to work with documents in multiple languages. Each language pack (and each language version) includes Proofing Tools for a set of companion languages. The enterprise edition of the Japanese language pack, for example, includes Proofing Tools for English. Proofing Tools for each language are located in the Proof.ll-cc folder at the root of the network installation point.

Office 2007 network installation point

• Proofing.ja-jp

  • Proof.ar—Japanese Proofing Tools

  • Proof.en—English Proofing Tools

You can distribute additional Proofing Tools in your organization. Proofing Tools for each language are installed as separate packages (MSI files). The entire set of Proofing Tools is included with the Microsoft Multi-language Pack. For more information about deploying Proofing Tools in your organization, see Deploy proofing tools for the 2007 Office system.

If you deploy Office first and then acquire additional language packs, you can add languages in much the same way that you deploy multiple languages during the initial installation.

To add languages after you install Office, you rerun Setup from the network installation point. By editing Config.xml for that product, you can specify that Setup add languages or that Setup match the language to the user's operating system language. In this case, Setup modifies the existing installation; it does not add the new language as a separate product.

For more information, see Add or remove languages after deploying the 2007 Office system.