Microsoft Office 2000/Visual Basic Programmer's Guide

Deploying Templates and Application-Specific Add-ins

The Package and Deployment Wizard is a good tool for building setup programs for many Office 2000 solutions. However, Office 2000 templates and application-specific add-ins (versus COM add-ins) are exceptions, because they should be installed to special folders on users' machines. The Package and Deployment Wizard does not provide any way to install to these special folders.

On a computer running Microsoft Windows 95 or Windows 98 without user profiles enabled, Office 2000 templates and add-ins should be installed to the following folders, respectively:

C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
C:\Windows\Application Data\Microsoft\Addins

On a computer running Windows 95 or Windows 98 with user profiles enabled or Microsoft Windows NT^® Workstation or Windows NT Server, Office 2000 templates and add-ins should be installed to these folders:

C:\WindowsFolder\Profiles\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Templates
C:\WindowsFolder\Profiles\UserName\Application Data\Microsoft\Addins

Although it's not absolutely necessary to install a template or add-in to one of these folders, there are some advantages to doing so:

• If a Word, Excel, or PowerPoint custom template is stored on users' computers, it must be installed to the Templates folder in order for it to appear in the New dialog box (File menu). For more information, see "Deploying a Custom Template" later in this chapter.
  
  
• Because the Templates and AddIns folders are the default folders for templates and add-ins, installing them there makes it easier for users to locate a template or add-in. For example, Excel add-ins (.xla files) that are installed in the AddIns folder automatically appear in the list of available add-ins in the Add-ins dialog box (Tools menu), so that users do not have to browse to find the correct file.
  
  
• The Templates and AddIns folders are trusted folders, meaning that an add-in or template in one of these folders does not have to be digitally signed by a trusted source in order to run code when security is set to High. These folders are trusted by default, but it's possible to override this setting by clearing the Trust all installed add-ins and templates check box on the Trusted Sources tab of the Security dialog box. To open the Security dialog box in the Office 2000 applications, point to Macro on the Tools menu, and then click Security. For more information about using digital signatures, see Chapter 17, "Securing Office Documents and Visual Basic for Applications Code."

Note   If you change the default folder for templates and add-ins, the new folder that you specify will be trusted.

There are simple ways to deploy templates and add-ins to the Templates and AddIns folders. You can use one of these strategies, or you can create your own simple custom installation program. The following sections discuss both options.