Find Office Deployment Tool Policy IDs in OPAX Files for Office 2021
Question details
The user needs to identify valid Office Deployment Tool (ODT) policy IDs to deploy custom Office 2021 registry settings using an XML configuration file.
- Product
- Office Deployment Tool
- Device & OS
- not provided
- Scenario
- Deploying custom registry settings, such as File MRU and Place MRU limits, through an ODT XML configuration file.
- Observed behavior
- The user requires the correct method to find valid policy and element IDs without generating them manually with prefixes or suffixes.
Ensure you have downloaded the latest Office Deployment Tool and extracted the corresponding Administrative Template files (ADMX/ADML/OPAX) for Office 2021 to a local directory.
Extract Policy and Element IDs Directly from OPAX Files
Locate the exact, valid policy IDs required for your Office Deployment Tool XML configuration by inspecting the official OPAX files.
Manually guessing or generating policy IDs by appending prefixes (like 'L_') or suffixes (like 'Policy') often leads to deployment errors. The official OPAX files provide the exact, valid policy and element IDs needed to properly configure settings across Office applications.
Navigate to the folder on your system where you extracted the Microsoft Office Administrative Template files.
Right-click the relevant OPAX file for the Office application you want to configure and open it using a text editor or XML viewer.
Use the search function (Ctrl+F) to look for the specific setting name you wish to deploy, such as 'File MRU' or 'Place MRU display limits'.
Locate the corresponding <policy> tag in the file. Copy the exact text found in the 'name' attribute. This string is your valid policy ID.
If the policy requires specific values, check within the same policy block for <element> tags and copy their respective IDs to use alongside your policy ID in the ODT XML file.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why are my custom Office registry settings not applying via ODT?
This usually happens when the policy IDs in your XML configuration file are invalid. Ensure you extract the exact policy and element IDs directly from the official OPAX files rather than guessing or manually generating them.
What settings can I configure using OPAX policy IDs?
You can configure a wide range of Office application settings through OPAX files, including display limits for File MRU (Most Recently Used) and Place MRU, macro security settings, and default save formats across the Office suite.
Do I need to add an 'L_' prefix to my ODT policy IDs?
No. Adding an 'L_' prefix or a 'Policy' suffix manually is a common mistake that invalidates the ID. Always copy the raw ID value exactly as it appears within the tags of the OPAX file.
