Publishing Office Solutions by Using ClickOnce

  • Article

You have two ways to publish Office solutions with ClickOnce:

  • The Publish Wizard, which provides a simplified publishing experience.

  • The Publish page of the Project Designer, which enables you to fully customize each publishing step.

For step-by-step instructions for how to publish solutions, see How to: Publish an Office Solution by Using ClickOnce.

Applies to: The information in this topic applies to document-level projects and application-level projects for Microsoft Office 2010 and the 2007 Microsoft Office system. For more information, see Features Available by Office Application and Project Type.

Publish Folder Structure

When an Office solution is published, the solution files are created in the publish folder in the following structure:

  • The application files folder.

    • Version-specific subfolders that contain the version-specific application manifest, version-specific deployment manifest, and customization assemblies. These files and directories depend on each other and function as a single package.

  • The Setup program.

  • A deployment manifest that points to the latest version-specific deployment manifest.

Publish Folder Structure

ClickOnce creates a new deployment manifest for each version of your Office solution. For example, for the first version of a solution called OutlookAddin1, the publish process creates a version-specific deployment manifest in the version-specific subfolder called OutlookAddIn1_1_0_0_0. This subfolder is in the Application Files folder. In addition, ClickOnce puts a copy of the deployment manifest in the top-level publish folder.

The next incremental publish creates a version-specific deployment manifest in the version-specific subfolder called OutlookAddIn1_1_0_0_1. It also replaces the deployment manifest in the publish folder with a copy of the most recent version-specific deployment manifest.

ClickOnce appends the .deploy extension to assemblies. This way, a secured installation of Internet Information Services (IIS) will not block the files because of an unsafe extension. After the files are downloaded, ClickOnce removes the .deploy extension before installing the solution into the ClickOnce cache. For more information, see <deployment> Element (ClickOnce Deployment).

Publish Wizard

When you use the Publish Wizard, most of the options are set to the default values found in the Publish page of the Project Designer. The following table shows the default settings that the wizard assigns to the solution properties.

Solution property

Description of default setting

Publish location

Required.

The publish location is the directory to which Visual Studio copies the solution files such as the manifests, assemblies, and other files from the build. You must have write access to this directory.

Options include the local computer, a UNC file share, or a HTTP/HTTPS Web site. The path can be local (c:\foldername\publishfolder), relative (publish\), or a fully qualified location (\\servername\foldername or https://servername/foldername).

By default, the publishing location is https://localhost/projectname/ if you have IIS installed, or the publish\ directory if you do not have IIS installed.

NoteNote
There are more considerations if the target computer is running Windows Vista. You must be an administrator on the Windows Vista computer to use the local publish option. In addition, the default location is always the publish\ directory, regardless of whether you have IIS installed.

Installation path

Optional.

The installation path is the directory from which the end user will install the customization. It is also the path that the solution will use to check for updates. The path can be the same as the publishing folder location, but this is not a requirement.

Options include the local computer, a UNC file share, or a HTTP/HTTPS Web site. The path can be local (c:\foldername\publishfolder), relative (publish\), or a fully qualified location (\\servername\foldername or https://servername/foldername). All HTTP/HTTPS locations must be created with US-ASCII characters. Unicode characters are not supported.

If the installation path is set, the customization files must be in that location for users to install the customization. The location should be set only if you know the final deployment location.

If the installation files are in a location relative to the document or Setup program, such as with the CD option, leave this box blank.

This value can be assigned later. For more information, see How to: Change the Installation Path of an Office Solution.

Prerequisites

Uses the settings in the Publish page of the Project Designer.

Update interval

Uses the settings in the Publish page of the Project Designer. The default is to check every seven days.

Publish version

Uses the setting in the Publish page of the Project Designer. The default is 1.0.0.0 when the project is created.

Publish language

Uses the setting in the Publish page of the Project Designer. The default is the language of Visual Studio.

Publish Page of the Project Designer

The Publish page of the Project Designer enables you to configure all the Setup properties. The following table describes the properties.

Solution property

Description of default settings

Publishing folder location

Required.

The publishing folder location is the directory to which Visual Studio copies the solution files such as the manifests, assemblies, and other files from the build. You must have write access to this directory.

Options include the local computer, a UNC file share, or a HTTP/HTTPS Web site. The path can be local (c:\foldername\publishfolder), relative (publish\), or a fully qualified location (\\servername\foldername or https://servername/foldername).

By default, the publishing location is https://localhost/projectname/ if you have IIS installed, or the publish\ directory if you do not have IIS installed.

Installation folder URL

Optional.

The installation folder URL is the directory from which the end user will install the customization. It is also the path that the solution will use to check for updates. The path can be the same as the publishing folder location, but this is not a requirement.

Options include the local computer, a UNC file share, or a HTTP/HTTPS Web site. The path can be local (c:\foldername\publishfolder), relative (publish\), or a fully qualified location (\\servername\foldername or https://servername/foldername). All HTTP/HTTPS locations must be created with US-ASCII characters. Unicode characters are not supported.

If the installation path is set, the customization files must be in that location for users to install the customization. The location should be set only if you know the final deployment location.

If the installation files are in a location relative to the document or Setup program, such as with the CD option, leave this box blank.

This value can be assigned later by an administrator. For more information, see How to: Change the Installation Path of an Office Solution.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites can be included with the Setup program or downloaded on demand during installation.

  • Download prerequisites from the component vendor's web site: Use this option to download these prerequisites from Microsoft.

  • Download prerequisites from the same location as my application: Use this option to package the prerequisites in your installer. Including the prerequisite files with the Setup program increases the size of the solution.

  • Download prerequisites from the following location: Use this option to make the prerequisites available to end users separately as another Setup program on a Web page or network share.

Update

The update interval determines how often the solution checks for updates. The default is to check every seven days.

Checking for updates every time a document-level customization or application-level add-in is loaded would keep it updated, but would affect startup performance.

If you are deploying by using a CD or removable drive, set this to Never check for updates.

Options (Description)

The publish options for the following properties can be set:

Description

  • Publish language: the locale of the Office solution.

  • Publisher name: the company or developer name as it appears in Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features.

  • Product name: the name of the Office solution as it appears in Add/Remove Programs or Programs and Features.

  • Support URL: the location for end users to contact technical support for the Office solution.

Options (Office Settings)

The publish options for the following properties can be set:

  • Solution name: the name of the Office solution as it appears in the Office application.

  • Description: the description of the Office solution as it appears in the Office application.

  • Add-in Load Behavior.

    • Load at Startup: specifies that the add-in loads when the Office application starts.

    • Load on Demand: specifies that the add-in loads when the application requires it, such as when a user clicks a UI element that uses functionality in the add-in.

Publish version

This is automatically incremented with each release, but can also be set manually with a numeric value.

Publish language

This option sets the language of the Microsoft Software License Terms, and includes the language packs in the list of prerequisites. It does not affect the language of the customization. The language in the Setup program is determined by the installed languages of Visual Studio.

For more information about how to change the Publish language, see How to: Change the Publish Language for a ClickOnce Application.

See Also

Concepts

Application Deployment Prerequisites

Other Resources

Deploying Office Solutions