A collection of free resources available for download free of charge from Microsoft will simplify the customization and management work of admins dealing with the latest iteration of the Office productivity suite. The Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX/ADML) and Office Customization Tool can be accessed through the Microsoft Download Center by customers running the successor of Office 2007. According to the Redmond company, the collection of downloads will offer IT administrators the Group Policy Administrative Template (ADM, ADMX/ADML) and Office Customization Tool (OPAX/OPAL) files tailored specifically to Office 2010 RTM.

“It also includes an \Admin folder with an Office Customization Tool, and ADMX, ADML, and ADM versions of Office 2010 system Administrative Template files. For administrative template files, you may use the ADM files for any Windows operating system, or the combination of ADMX and language-specific ADML files on computers running at least Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008. This download also includes a workbook (Office2010GroupPolicyAndOCTSettings.xls) that provides information about Office 2010 Group Policy settings and OCT settings,” the Redmond company added.

Customers around the world can purchase Office 2010, as of mid-June 2010, with business users getting the RTM bits of the productivity suite as early as May, and developers and IT professionals even earlier than that. You will be able to find a number of download links at the bottom of this article, among them, those that will permit you to grab the free trial-based versions of Office 2010.

“Office 2010 provides two architecture-specific versions of the OCT, one for 32-bit Office 2010 and one for 64-bit Office 2010. The 64-bit version of the OCT supports 64-bit client editions of Office 2010, and provides the same user interface, capabilities, and configurable settings as the 32-bit version. The OCT files are located in the Admin folder under the x86 (32-bit) and x64 (64-bit) folders, respectively. Download the appropriate file depending on whether you have 32-bit or 64-bit Office installed. Copy the entire \Admin folder into the folder that contains the installation image you are customizing. For example, if you installed the 32-bit edition of Office Professional Plus 2010 (volume edition), you would copy the entire 32-bit version of the Admin folder into the folder that contains the 32-bit Office Professional Plus 2010 source files,” the software giant explained.

Office 2010 Administrative Template files (ADM, ADMX/ADML) and Office Customization Tool are available for download here.

Office Home and Business 2010 RTM Build 14.0.4760.1000 is available for download here.

Office Home and Student 2010 RTM Build 14.0.4760.1000 is available for download here.

Office Professional 2010 RTM Build 14.0.4760.1000 is available for download here.

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