If you have a Microsoft 365 Business Premium subscription but only need Word and Excel on a secondary device—like a travel laptop—you might assume the standard installer is your only option. Many users run into this exact issue: the Microsoft 365 portal only offers a single “Install Office” button that pulls down the entire suite, including apps like Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, and Publisher that they never intended to use offline. Fortunately, there is a way to selectively install just the apps you need, and it doesn’t require a third-party tool—just a utility Microsoft already provides.
Why the Default Installer Doesn’t Offer App Selection
When you install Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365) directly from your account portal, the Click-to-Run installation process is designed to deploy all Office desktop applications as a single package. There is no built-in checkbox or menu during that standard install flow that lets you pick individual apps like Word or Excel while excluding the rest. This is a common source of confusion for subscribers who manage multiple devices with different usage needs—someone who only edits documents and spreadsheets on a laptop while traveling shouldn’t need to also install Outlook or PowerPoint just to satisfy the installer.
The Solution: Office Deployment Tool (ODT)
The good news is that Microsoft offers a free utility called the Office Deployment Tool (ODT) specifically for scenarios like this. Unlike the consumer-facing portal installer, the ODT allows administrators and individual users to customize exactly which applications get installed, along with the architecture (32-bit or 64-bit) and update channel. Here’s the general process:
Step 1: Remove Any Existing Office Installation
Before using the ODT, it’s best to start with a clean slate. Uninstall any existing version of Office, Office 365, or standalone apps from the computer to avoid conflicts during the custom installation.
Step 2: Download the Office Deployment Tool
Download the Office Deployment Tool from Microsoft’s official download center. This is a small executable that, when run, extracts a setup.exe file along with a sample configuration XML file.
Step 3: Edit the Configuration XML File
Open the configuration.xml file included with the tool in a text editor. This file controls which products and individual applications are installed. You’ll need to modify it to specify only Word and Excel as the included applications, while excluding everything else (Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, OneNote, and so on). If you prefer the 64-bit version of Office rather than 32-bit, you can also update the architecture value in this file accordingly.
Step 4: Run the Installation Commands via Command Prompt
Open Command Prompt as an administrator (press Windows + R, type cmd, and run it with elevated privileges). Navigate to the folder where you extracted the Office Deployment Tool, then run the following two commands in sequence:
Setup.exe /download— this downloads the specified Office components based on your configuration file.Setup.exe /configure— this installs Office using the settings defined in that same file.
Once both commands complete, only the applications you specified in the configuration XML—Word and Excel, in this case—should be installed on the machine.
A Few Practical Tips
- Double-check your XML syntax before running the commands. A malformed configuration file is the most common reason installations fail or default back to installing the full suite.
- Match the architecture to your existing installs. If other devices on your account run 64-bit Office, keeping the architecture consistent can help avoid activation or compatibility issues later.
- Activation should work normally through your existing Microsoft 365 Business Premium subscription once Word and Excel are installed via the ODT, since it uses the same licensing behind the scenes as the standard installer.
Final Thoughts
While the Microsoft 365 portal doesn’t give you a native option to cherry-pick individual desktop apps, the Office Deployment Tool fills that gap effectively. It’s a legitimate, Microsoft-supported method for trimming down your installation to just the essentials—ideal for lighter devices, limited storage, or simply a cleaner, more focused workspace. If you regularly switch between full-suite and lightweight setups across multiple computers, it’s worth keeping the ODT and a saved configuration file handy so you can repeat the process quickly whenever needed. If you run into any issues during setup, Microsoft’s official support documentation and community forums remain a reliable place to troubleshoot further.