Microsoft Office uses the Click-to-Run installation system, which normally downloads the required files from Microsoft's servers during installation. This is convenient for everyday use, but it can become a problem when you want to preserve a particular Office version for future use, especially as older Office versions approach or reach the end of their support lifecycle.
One solution is to create your own offline Office installation archive. Instead of keeping only an old ISO containing an outdated Office build, you can download the latest available Click-to-Run files from Microsoft and preserve the complete installation source locally.
In this guide, I'll show you how to download Office 2021 Professional Plus Retail for archival purposes, keep all of its applications in the archive, and later install either the complete suite or only the applications you need. I'll also show you how to use a universal installation script that can make the installation process easier.
What You Need
- A Windows PC
- The Office Deployment Tool (ODT)
- A valid Office license
- Enough free storage space for the complete Office installation files
You can store the archive wherever you want. It does not have to be on the C: drive.
For example:
D:\Office2021Archive
E:\Office 2021 Archive
You can also keep the archive on an external hard drive, SSD, USB drive, NAS or other storage device. The important thing is to preserve the complete directory structure.
The same general method can also be adapted to other Click-to-Run Office products by changing the appropriate product ID in the configuration file.
1. Download the Office Deployment Tool
First, download the latest version of Microsoft's official Office Deployment Tool:
Download Office Deployment Tool from Microsoft
Run the downloaded ODT executable and extract its contents to a folder of your choice.
For this guide, we'll use:
Among the extracted files, you should find Microsoft's setup.exe.
2. Create the Download Configuration
Open Notepad and create a new file named:
Save it inside the same folder as setup.exe.
For Office 2021 Professional Plus Retail, use the following configuration:
<Add SourcePath="C:\Office2021Archive" OfficeClientEdition="64">
<Product ID="ProPlus2021Retail">
<Language ID="en-us" />
</Product>
</Add>
</Configuration>
This configuration downloads the 64-bit English version of Office Professional Plus 2021 Retail.
Notice that there are no ExcludeApp entries. This is intentional. For an archive, it is better to keep the complete Office product rather than permanently removing applications that you may want in the future.
en-gb. You can also download multiple language payloads into the same archive by adding additional Language entries.
3. Download the Complete Office Installation
Open Command Prompt as Administrator and change to the directory containing setup.exe:
Then run:
ODT will download the Office installation files specified in the configuration. The process may take some time, and there may not be an obvious progress window while the download is running.
When the download is complete, you should have a structure similar to:
│
├── Office
│ └── Data
│ └── [Office installation files]
│
├── download.xml
└── setup.exe
The Office\Data directory contains the actual Click-to-Run installation payload.
Office folder. Do not copy only the newest version directory from Office\Data. For a self-contained archive, preserve the complete directory downloaded by ODT.
4. Store the Archive as a Folder or ZIP
You do not need to create an ISO file. There are several ways to preserve the downloaded Office installation, and a normal folder or ZIP file is usually much more convenient.
Option 1: Keep the Folder
The simplest method is to keep the complete archive folder on an external drive, another internal drive, NAS, or other reliable storage.
For example:
or:
When you need to reinstall Office, simply access the folder and run the appropriate installation command or the universal installer described later in this guide.
Option 2: Create a ZIP Archive
You can compress the entire Office archive into a ZIP file. This is convenient because the complete installation source can be stored and moved as a single file.
For example, you could have:
When you need Office again, extract the ZIP and run the installer from the extracted folder.
Option 3: Create an ISO
If you prefer traditional installation media, you can create an ISO containing the entire archive. This is completely optional. A normal folder or ZIP archive works just as well as long as the directory structure is preserved.
5. Create an Installation Configuration
The advantage of keeping the complete Office archive is that you can decide what to install later.
For example, you may currently use only Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Publisher. There is no need to remove the other applications from your archive. Instead, you can use an installation configuration to exclude them when installing Office.
Install Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Publisher
Create a file named:
Use the following configuration:
<Add OfficeClientEdition="64">
<Product ID="ProPlus2021Retail">
<Language ID="en-us" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Outlook" />
<ExcludeApp ID="OneNote" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Teams" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Lync" />
<ExcludeApp ID="Groove" />
</Product>
</Add>
<Display Level="Full" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />
</Configuration>
This configuration keeps:
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Access
- Publisher
and excludes:
- Outlook
- OneNote
- Teams
- Skype for Business
- OneDrive for Business
Install the Complete Office Suite
If you want to install every application included in Office Professional Plus 2021, create another file named:
Use:
<Add OfficeClientEdition="64">
<Product ID="ProPlus2021Retail">
<Language ID="en-us" />
</Product>
</Add>
<Display Level="Full" AcceptEULA="TRUE" />
</Configuration>
Because this configuration contains no ExcludeApp entries, it doesn't deliberately exclude any applications from the Office product.
6. Install Office Manually from the Archive
Once the archive is stored locally, you don't need to download Office again.
Open Command Prompt as Administrator in the archive directory and run the configuration you want.
For the Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access and Publisher installation:
For the complete Office installation:
These commands use the Office files already stored in the archive rather than downloading them again.
SourcePath does not need to be hard-coded into these installation XML files if the archive is being used from the same directory as setup.exe. This makes the archive easier to move between drives.
7. Use the Universal Office 2021 Installation Script
If you prefer a menu-driven installation process, you can use the Office 2021 Universal Installer script provided with this guide.
The script is designed to work with a local Office 2021 Click-to-Run archive and automatically uses the location from which it is launched. This means you do not have to edit a hard-coded drive letter or installation path.
For example, the archive can be stored as:
or:
or even on removable storage:
The script should simply be placed alongside:
│
├── Office
│ └── Data
│ └── [Office installation payload]
│
├── setup.exe
└── Office2021 Universal Installer.cmd
You do not need to change the drive letter or manually edit the script for each computer.
The universal installer is designed to detect information from the local archive and provide installation choices such as:
- Office 2021 product
- Retail or Volume/LTSC source where supported
- 32-bit or 64-bit architecture when available
- Available language payloads
- Individual Office applications
- Complete Office installation
It also requests Administrator privileges automatically when required.
You can download the script here:
Download the Office installation script
If the universal installer fails, do not modify or delete your Office archive. Simply use the manual ODT installation method described in the previous section. The manual method does not depend on the universal script and can be used as the fallback installation method.
setup.exe against the local installation source.
8. Keep the Complete Office Payload
For long-term archival, I recommend keeping the complete Office installation payload even if you only install a few applications today.
Your archive can look like this:
│
├── Office
│ └── Data
│ └── [complete Office 2021 payload]
│
├── setup.exe
├── download.xml
├── install.xml
├── install-all.xml
└── Office2021 Universal Installer.cmd
This gives you several installation options without having to download Office again.
You can also compress this entire folder into a ZIP file for long-term storage.
9. Why Create an Office Archive?
Office 2021 is a perpetual-license product, but it has a defined support lifecycle. Once Microsoft stops providing updates for the product, the latest available installation files may become increasingly difficult to obtain in exactly the same state.
Creating an archive while the Office 2021 Click-to-Run source is available gives you a known-good installation source that can be preserved for future reinstalls.
This can be particularly useful if you reinstall Windows years later and want to restore the same Office generation without depending entirely on whatever Microsoft offers at that time.
You preserve a complete, known-good Office installation source that can be reused later without depending entirely on Microsoft's future download availability.
10. Keep Your Office License Separately
The installation archive and the Office license are separate things.
The downloaded Office files do not contain your personal product key. Keep your legitimate Office product key and purchase information somewhere secure, such as a password manager.
When you reinstall Office in the future, install the archived files first and activate the installation using your legitimate license.
Conclusion
Using the Office Deployment Tool, you can create a reusable offline archive of Office 2021 instead of relying on an old installation ISO.
The best approach is to download the complete Office product and keep the entire Office\Data directory. You can then preserve it as a normal folder, compress it into a ZIP file, or create an ISO if you prefer.
When you eventually need to reinstall Office, you can either use the standard ODT configuration files manually or use the universal installation script to make the process more convenient.
The universal installer is designed to make the archive portable: you can move the complete archive to another drive or computer without editing its paths, provided the required Office files and setup.exe remain together.
However, because the script has not been tested against every possible Office 2021 configuration, the manual ODT method should be considered the fallback if the script encounters an unsupported or unusual archive.
This also means that your archival copy remains flexible: you don't have to decide today which Office applications you might want years from now.
Bottom Line
Creating an offline Office archive is a straightforward way to preserve a complete Click-to-Run installation source for future use.
Keep the full Office\Data payload rather than only the applications you currently use. Then use ODT configuration files to decide what gets installed when the time comes.
The universal installer adds convenience, but the standard Office Deployment Tool remains the reliable fallback when dealing with unusual or unsupported configurations.
Note: This guide is intended for legitimate Office 2021 installations and archival purposes. Always use a valid Office license when activating the software.