Install Microsoft Office 365

Step 1: Prepare the configuration XML 

Below is the template of the XML from the Office installation and its customizable options.

• Options that you need to modify for your installation include:
  • Description: description of the XML file
  • OfficeClientEdition: Downloads and installs the 64-bit or 32-bit edition of Office.
  • Channel: Office Update Channel
    • BetaChannel = Beta Release
    • CurrentPreview = Current Release Preview
    • Current = Current Release
    • MonthlyEnterprise = Feature updates Monthly Update (recommended) 
    • SemiAnnualPreview = Feature updates Preview
    • SemiAnnual = Feature updates 2 per year 
  • Version: It is possible to install a desired version.
    For this add the Version attribute to the following line
    <Add OfficeClientEdition="64" Channel="MonthlyEnterprise" Version="16.0.16924.20150">
  • Language: For an additional language add another line into the Product tag
    <Language ID="de-de" />
  • ExcludeApp: Declare which apps should not be installed.
    We recommend not to install the following items:
    • Groove
    • Lync
    • Bing
  • Company: Company Name
• The remaining options:
  • Property:
    • SharedComputerLicensing, 1 is required for a Cameyo server installation.
    • FORCEAPPSHUTDOWN, If the Office app is open, it will be closed.
    • DeviceBasedLicensing, license by device not user (Only with Intune)
    • SCLCacheOverride, 0 is 1 can specify a path for the license files.
    • Updates Enabled="TRUE", Office Update enabled
  • AppSettings / User Key:
    With these you can set default user settings for Office (Policies)

Step 2: Download the latest Microsoft Office setup.exe

• Office Deployment Tool link:

  https://microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=49117

Step 3: Run Office 365 Setup

Installing Microsoft Office 365 Click-To-Run Using The Office Deployment Tool

1. Open a command prompt as administrator.
2. Create a folder for your ODT files.
3. Change into that new folder.
4. Copy the setup.exe from Step 2 into that folder.
5. Create a configuration.xml with the modified content from Step 1 in that folder.
6. Run setup.exe with the /download switch followed by the location of your configuration.xml file. In this case, the command would look like: 

C:\ODT>setup.exe /download "C:\ODT\configuration.xml"

This command will result in the ODT downloading the client specified in your configuration.xml file. 
The download itself will be silent but you will know it is complete when the command prompt window has a carriage return and brings you back to C:\ODT.

Further customization

For most scenarios the above XML template is enough. However, there might be circumstances where you want to configure your whole configuration with additional settings. For this, you can use the Office Apps Admin Center tool.

The Office Apps Admin Center is a tool from Microsoft to create the Office configuration.xml file. To use this tool:

•     you need an Office 365 login.
•     the xml must be customized before installation.

Related resources

Microsoft: Overview of Office deployment tool 

Microsoft: Overview of update channels 

Microsoft: What is your Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 tenant ID?