The Removal Wizard (Offcln.exe) and the Microsoft® Office 2003 Setup program use OPC files to remove unnecessary or obsolete components from previously installed versions of Office and related applications.

The following OPC files come with Office 2003:

• Oclncore.opc

  Global OPC file; located in the \Files\Pfiles\MSOffice\Office 2003 folder on the administrative installation point. Specifies components associated with the core English version of Office 2003. To exclude components from removal, edit the default Oclncore.opc file.

• Oclncust.opc

  Template file for adding additional content to be deleted by the Removal Wizard; located in the \Files\Pfiles\MSOffice\Office 2003 folder on the administrative installation point. To add components to the removal list, customize the Oclncust.opc file.

• Oclnintl.opc

  Satellite OPC file for each language version of Office 2003; located in the LCID subfolders. Specifies language-specific components of Office 2003.

You can customize the removal process by modifying Oclncore.opc or by creating a new OPC file. For more information about customizing removal behavior during Setup or when running the stand-alone Removal Wizard, see Customizing Removal Behavior.

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 Note    The OPC files that come with Microsoft Office 2003 also remove shared files for previous versions of Microsoft Office Project 2003. However, the OPC files that come with Project 2003 (also named Oclncore.opc, Oclncust.opc, and Oclnintl.opc) have been customized to remove Project files and as well as shared Office components.

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[Definitions] section

Specify the value of dependency variables. Dependency variables identify which applications or groups of files are candidates for removal. The [Definitions] section appears only in Oclncore.opc and uses the following syntax:

dependency variable=value

Values

• KEEP

  Do not delete files. The values FALSE and EXIST are equivalent to KEEP and can be used in the OPC file.

• REMOVE

  Always delete files. The values TRUE and NoteXIST   are equivalent to REMOVE and can be used in the OPC file.

• DETECT

  Detect the presence of an application and determine whether Setup or the user has specified that application for removal. Files from previous versions are removed by default, unless the user has chosen to keep them.

Dependency variables

Dependency variables represent an application or set of files. Offcln.exe recognizes the following dependency variables:

Office XP applications and components

Office 2000 applications and components

Office 97 applications and components

Office 95 applications and components

Other applications

Special cleanup operations

The following keywords represent applications or files that the Removal Wizard does not detect by default; however, they can be set to KEEP or set to REMOVE to be removed in aggressive mode.

You can also change the value of the following dependency variables:

• TEMPFOLDERCONTENTS

  Default value is KEEP. To remove files from temporary folders, set to REMOVE.

• TEMPTWIDDLEFILESONLY

  Default value is KEEP. To remove files from temporary folders that begin with a tilde (~), set to REMOVE. These files are deleted by an application when it closes and are usually safe to remove.

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 Note    You cannot add new dependency variables to Oclncore.opc. Offcln.exe recognizes only the dependency variables listed in the [Definitions] section. You can only change the default values.

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[Commands] section

Determine the actions to execute on specified files during the removal process. This section consists of a series of commands with the following syntax:

[command instruction, dependency variables] "description"
action
action

Command instruction

• RISKY

  In aggressive mode, execute the actions in the command; in safe mode, skip the command. Typically used for shared files and database drivers, which may affect other applications.

• SAFE

  Always execute the actions in the command.

Dependency variables

List of one or more dependency variables from the [Definitions] section of Oclncore.opc. You can customize the list of dependency variables in the command to add or exclude files. Separate multiple dependency variables with commas.

Offcln.exe uses the following logic to determine whether to perform the actions in the command:

• If all the dependency variables in the dependency list have the value REMOVE, then Offcln.exe executes the actions listed in the command.
• If any dependency variable has the value KEEP, then Offcln.exe skips the command entirely.
• If a dependency variable has the value DETECT, Offcln.exe changes it to either REMOVE in aggressive mode or KEEP in safe mode and then executes or skips the command accordingly.

Description

Describe the files represented by the dependency variables listed in the command. This string is displayed in the Files You Can Remove page of the Removal Wizard.

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 Note    You cannot begin a description with a space. You cannot use a tab character or quotation mark (") anywhere in the string.

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Actions

Determine what actions to perform on the files represented by the dependency variables. You can add, modify, or remove actions.

To help ensure that an action is always performed, create a new command in Oclncust.opc and add the command instruction SAFE without a list of dependency variables. Actions listed in this command are executed regardless of the values specified in the [Definitions] section.

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 Note    In many actions, you can use a predefined keyword to represent a commonly used folder instead of entering an explicit path. For a list of keywords and corresponding folders, see the "Keywords" section later in this topic.

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Application INI Entry

Specify a section or line to remove from an INI file for any application. Use the following syntax:

INI=folder\file,section,key

File

Specify files to be removed. Use the following syntax:

[KEYWORD][path]\file ["description"]

In the following example, the action deletes MyTemplate.dot and all batch and bitmap files in the Custom folder under the Microsoft Word 97 folder.

WORD97DIR\Custom\MyTemplate.dot
\Custom\*.bat
\Custom\*.bmp

Menu Item

Remove an item on the Start menu. Use the following syntax:

MENU_ITEM=group\item

Example:

MENU_ITEM=Microsoft FrontPage\Personal Web Server

Registry Entry

Remove an entry from the Microsoft Windows registry. Use the following syntax:

HKxx\key

Example:

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Currentversion\Uninstall\WordView

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 Note    Dependency variables associated with Office XP and Office 2000 do not list all the registry keys that are removed when Office is removed. During the removal process, Offcln.exe calls Windows Installer to remove the product or application, and Windows Installer automatically deletes the appropriate registry keys.

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SharedDLL File

Remove a dynamic-link library (DLL) or other shared file. This action removes the registry entry associated with the application. Use the following syntax:

SHAREDDLL=folder\file

Examples:

SHAREDDLL=OFFICE97DIR\msroute.dll
SHAREDDLL=OFFICE97DIR\hlink.srg
SHAREDDLL=OFFICE97DIR\osa.exe

Shortcut File

Remove a shortcut to a file by deleting the LNK file. You can specify a version number so that only shortcuts to a particular version of the file are removed.

In this action, you specify the target file rather than the LNK file itself; this ensures that shortcuts are removed regardless of how they have been renamed or moved. You can also specify a new Windows Installer component for the LNK file, to update the shortcut instead of removing it.

Use the following syntax:

SHORTCUT=folder\target_file | feature | 
version | component | command line

The following example removes any LNK file in the Start\Programs\Office folder that points to Microsoft Excel 2000:

SHORTCUT=SYSMENUPROGRAMSDIR\Office\Excel.exe||9

This example finds any LNK file in the Start\Programs\Office folder that points to Excel 2000 and updates it to point to Microsoft Office Excel 2003.

SHORTCUT-SYSMENUPROGRAMSDIR\Office\excel.exe||
9|Global Excel Core

Special Action

Use predefined special functions to remove files. Use the following syntax:

SPECIAL\function

User Modifiable File

Remove an Office file that can be customized by the user, such as a template or sample document. Use the following syntax:

USER_MODIFIABLE_FILE=folder\file

Example:

USER_MODIFIABLE_FILE=ACCESS95DIR\samples\orders.mdb

Win.ini Entry

Remove a section or key from the Win.ini file. Use the following syntax:

Win.ini, section, key

Keywords

Predefined keywords represent commonly used folders. You can use a keyword instead of an explicit path. Keywords must be entered in all uppercase letters.

Keywords and their corresponding folders are listed in the following table.