November 18, 1999

Microsoft Office 2000 provides better support for multi-user computers and traveling users than ever before. The Office 2000 Resource Kit provides the following recommendations for setting up Office 2000 to support traveling users:

• Install Office 2000 to the same folder on each computer.
• Install Office on a per-computer basis, rather than a per-user basis.
• Install Office applications to run from the network.
• Install essential Office applications to run from the local hard disk.
• Store user information on the network.
• Create a default Office user profile.
• Set system policies to help protect or enforce important settings.

Following these recommendations gives you the most reliable way to support traveling users with Office 2000.

If you want more flexibility, however, and are willing to take some risks, you can disregard these recommendations and create more flexible support for traveling users. These scenarios are described in the new Configuring Support for Multi-User Computers and Traveling Users white paper. This white paper also includes information about supporting multi-user computers.

Toolbox    The Office Resource Kit includes the Configuring Support for Multi-User Computers and Traveling Users white paper. See the Traveling users and multi-computers section of the Toolbox and download the file TravelPaper.doc. You can find this downloadable file on the Office 2000 Resource Kit Downloads page.

The Configuring Support for Multi-User Computers and Traveling Users white paper covers the following topics:

• How user profiles enable multi-user computers and traveling users
• How Windows Installer supports multi-user computers and traveling users
• Default configurations for Microsoft Windows® 98/95 and Microsoft Windows NT®
• How to configure Office 2000 for multi-user computers
• How to configure Office 2000 for traveling users

In addition, the white paper contains scenarios that help you understand the differences between these configurations, as well as information about risks that you face and issues that might arise with particular configurations. After reading the Configuring Support for Multi-User Computers and Traveling Users white paper, you can choose the level of support that works best for your organization.

Related links

For more information about configuring Office 2000 for traveling users, see Supporting Users Who Travel Between Computers in the Office 2000 Resource Kit.