MSI deployment options (system-wide installer)

Choose which Office add-ins, shortcuts and HTTP Listener Service components the Draftable Legal machine-wide MSI installs, with msiexec ADDLOCAL examples.

This guide is for IT administrators who want to deploy Draftable Legal and choose which additional components are included in the install, such as the Office add-ins (Outlook and Word), shortcuts and the HTTP Listener Service used by iManage. It is specific to the Machine-Wide MSI (also known as the System-Wide MSI, Native MSI or Per-Machine MSI), from DraftableDesktopSystem.msi v2.15 onwards.

Deploying via Microsoft Intune? If you’re planning to deploy Draftable Legal using Microsoft Intune, you can use both this article and our dedicated Enterprise installation for Draftable using Intune article as reference points. The Intune article covers adding Draftable to Intune, deploying via Intune, and managing product keys through Intune group policy.

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Deployment options via standard MSI installer

Deploying to Citrix or Remote Desktop (RDP/RDS)? Licensing in these environments needs to be configured for your setup before your users activate. Please read Deployment advice for Citrix and RDP environments before you deploy.

Install the HTTP Listener Service — this is required. The HTTP Listener Service (the HttpListener MSI feature) is a required component of every machine-wide MSI deployment. It provides support for launching comparisons from iManage (including on multi-user systems such as Citrix and RDS), lets Draftable open when it is not already running, and is required for the Draftable Outlook add-in (Redline in Email).

The HTTP Listener Service is one of the installer’s default features, so a plain install includes it. However, ADDLOCAL replaces the defaults with exactly the list you provide, so any scripted or silent install that uses ADDLOCAL must name HttpListener or the service will not be installed. In the Advanced installer, confirm Http service (under Integrations) is set to install.

1. Download and run the Machine Wide MSI (you can download the latest version of this installer via https://dl.draftable.com/desktop/DraftableDesktopSystem.msi)

2. In the installation menu, select the Advanced option and click ‘next’ Select item to see menu

   
3. In the Advanced screen, you will see an expandable feature tree user interface. Expand the Draftable Desktop node, then the Office add-ins node to view individual add ins (pictured)

   
4. Select the add in(s) that you do not want installed and use the menu to select Entire feature will be unavailable

   
5. Expand the Integrations node and confirm Http service is set to Entire feature will be installed on the local hard drive. The HTTP Listener Service is a required component, so check it here rather than skipping the step, particularly if someone has changed the selection previously.

   
6. Select Install to proceed with installation

The iManage HTTP Listener Service requires more configuration beyond that is setup in this article. The steps in this article merely deploys the Listener Service, but for complete configuration please see here.

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Custom MSI deployment via scripted automated installs

The following steps are suitable for administrators deploying Draftable Desktop via a command line interface, InTune or similar. It outlines how to programmatically control features being installed by the MSI via the well-known ADDLOCAL property (link to Microsoft Learn page). This allows administrators to provide a comma-separated list of features to be installed.

Always include the HTTP Listener Service (HttpListener). It is a required component of every machine-wide MSI deployment. Because ADDLOCAL installs only the features you list, you must include HttpListener in every ADDLOCAL command — otherwise the service will not be installed. For complete iManage configuration (including Citrix/RDS), please refer to the iManage HTTP Listener Service installation guide.

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What a default install includes

Omitting ADDLOCAL does not install every feature. It installs the MSI’s default features.

Windows Installer decides this using INSTALLLEVEL, which defaults to 1. A feature is installed by default when its authored level is less than or equal to that value. In the Draftable MSI, the Office COM add-ins are authored at level 2 and everything else is at level 1, so:

msiexec /i DraftableDesktopSystem.msi

installs the application, the HTTP Listener Service, the iManage and SharePoint extension packages and both shortcuts, but not the Word, Excel or Outlook COM add-ins.

The features available for specification are listed in the table below.

Feature name (“Title”)	Feature ID (“Feature”)	Installed without ADDLOCAL
Draftable (the application)	DraftableDesktop	Yes (required application)
Draftable for Outlook	OutlookAddin	No (level 2)
Draftable for Word	WordAddin	No (level 2)
Draftable for Excel	ExcelAddin	No (level 2)
Desktop	DesktopShortcut	Yes, unless suppressed by policy
Start Menu	StartMenuShortcut	Yes
iManage HTTP Listener Service	HttpListener	Yes
iManage Extension Package	ImanagePackage	Yes
SharePoint Extension Package	SharePointPackage	Yes

The desktop shortcut is the one exception to the level rule. If CreateDesktopShortcut is set to 0 under HKLM\Software\Policies\Draftable\Installer, no desktop shortcut is created even when DesktopShortcut is named in ADDLOCAL.

Optional COM installation: If your environment requires the COM add-ins as well as the default features, you have two options that do not require you to list every feature:

REM every authored feature, including the iManage and SharePoint extension packages
msiexec /i DraftableDesktopSystem.msi ADDLOCAL=ALL

REM all level 1 and level 2 defaults, which adds the Office COM add-ins
msiexec /i DraftableDesktopSystem.msi INSTALLLEVEL=2

ADDLOCAL=ALL installs the iManage and SharePoint extension packages too. Those place server-side deployment files on the machine and are only useful if you are configuring iManage On-Premises or SharePoint. If you do not want them, name the features you do want instead of using ALL.

Running msiexec /i from a console does not make the install silent, and it does not change which features are selected. The full installer UI still appears unless you add /quiet, /qn or another UI switch.

The MSI installs COM add-ins. Deploy the recommended JavaScript add-ins separately.

OutlookAddin, WordAddin and ExcelAddin install the older COM add-ins, named Draftable for Outlook, Draftable for Word and Draftable for Excel in the MSI. The names overlap with the modern JavaScript family: Draftable for Outlook is also the name of a separate JavaScript add-in, and Draftable for Office is the JavaScript add-in for Word, Excel and PowerPoint. The words in and for do not distinguish COM from JavaScript.

The MSI has no JavaScript add-in feature. Draftable in Outlook, Draftable for Outlook, Draftable in Office, Draftable for Office and Redline in Email are JavaScript add-ins deployed separately by uploading a manifest in the Microsoft 365 admin center, and can take up to 72 hours to appear for your users. See Working with our add-ins if you are unsure which your organization uses.

Use the JavaScript add-ins wherever your environment allows it. The COM add-ins remain supported for environments that cannot deploy the JavaScript add-ins. They install per user onto each endpoint and depend on the Microsoft VSTO runtime.

If you are deploying the JavaScript add-ins, leave OutlookAddin, WordAddin and ExcelAddin out of your ADDLOCAL command and deploy the manifests separately. See COM add-ins vs JavaScript add-ins.

Deploying iManage On-Premises? Include ImanagePackage. It places Draftable_for_iManage.zip in the installation folder, which you then load into iManage Control Center. It is a sibling of HttpListener rather than a parent, so listing HttpListener alone will not install it, and the omission is silent at install time.

Use the ADDLOCAL property to programmatically specify which ‘Features’ are installed by the MSI by listing the Feature ID (see table above). Note, this property specifies what IS INSTALLED. Features absent from this property will NOT be installed.

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Basic command - MSI installation

This basic example installs Draftable, both shortcuts and the HTTP Listener Service, without any COM add-ins. Deploy your chosen JavaScript add-ins separately through the Microsoft 365 admin center.

msiexec /i DraftableDesktopSystem.msi ADDLOCAL=DraftableDesktop,StartMenuShortcut,DesktopShortcut,HttpListener

Only if your environment requires the legacy COM add-ins, append the required feature IDs (OutlookAddin, WordAddin, ExcelAddin) to the ADDLOCAL list.

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Full command - every feature listed

If you prefer to start from the complete list and remove what you don’t need, copy one of the commands below. Each names every feature in the table above.

msiexec /i DraftableDesktopSystem.msi ADDLOCAL=DraftableDesktop,StartMenuShortcut,DesktopShortcut,HttpListener,ImanagePackage,SharePointPackage,OutlookAddin,WordAddin,ExcelAddin

The same list with the advanced installation options described in the next section:

Start-Process msiexec -ArgumentList '/i "DraftableDesktopSystem.msi" ADDLOCAL=DraftableDesktop,StartMenuShortcut,DesktopShortcut,HttpListener,ImanagePackage,SharePointPackage,OutlookAddin,WordAddin,ExcelAddin /qn /norestart /L*V "C:\Logs\draftable_install.log"' -Wait

Delete each feature ID you don’t want, together with its comma, and leave no spaces in the list. Always keep DraftableDesktop and HttpListener.

Remove this	When
OutlookAddin, WordAddin, ExcelAddin	You deploy the JavaScript add-ins instead of the COM add-ins (see the warning above)
ImanagePackage	You are not configuring iManage On-Premises
SharePointPackage	You are not configuring SharePoint to launch Draftable
DesktopShortcut, StartMenuShortcut	You don’t want that shortcut

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Advanced command - MSI installation

If you wanted a more complex configuration that specifies:

• The install location
• The Draftable application and both shortcuts
• The HTTP Listener Service
• Quiet/silent installation
• Specify no machine restart after installation
• Verbose logging of the full install. Recommended if you are having issues with certain components not installing correctly.

The advanced example below uses the same feature selection without COM add-ins and adds the installation options above.

Start-Process msiexec -ArgumentList '/i "DraftableDesktopSystem.msi" ADDLOCAL=DraftableDesktop,StartMenuShortcut,DesktopShortcut,HttpListener INSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files (x86)\Draftable\Draftable Desktop" /qn /norestart /L*V "C:\Logs\draftable_install.log"' -Wait

For logging to work, please ensure you create the logging location prior to installation. This command will also wait to complete before returning to the command line, that way you know when the installation is completed.

Upgrading an existing installation? Leave INSTALLDIR out. Without it, the installer reuses the folder of the version already installed. If you set INSTALLDIR, it takes priority and the new version installs into that folder instead, which can break detection rules or scripts that point at the old location. The default folder is C:\Program Files (x86)\Draftable\Draftable Desktop.

If you need further assistance in deploying the Draftable Machine-wide MSI via command line, please contact [e-mail]

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Verifying the Draftable URL scheme after a scripted install

Check the draftable:// URL scheme once your deployment has run. The MSI registers it as part of installing, but that registration cannot fail the installation. If something in the environment prevents it — typically endpoint protection or an application control policy blocking a write to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes — the install still completes and reports success.

When it is missing, the installation looks entirely healthy — the application runs, the HTTP Listener Service starts, the add-ins load and licensing activates — but no user can start a comparison from iManage, SharePoint Online, NetDocuments, the Office add-ins or File Explorer. Those actions do nothing at all: no error, no prompt, and no entry in the Draftable logs. A machine-wide installation does not retry the registration at startup, so it will not recover on its own.

How to verify it, and the values to create if it is absent, are in Draftable does not launch from iManage, SharePoint or File Explorer. For a managed rollout, including a detection rule that surfaces affected machines, see Deploying Draftable Legal with Microsoft Configuration Manager (SCCM).

To check quickly, press Windows + R, enter draftable://?source=outlook and select OK. The New Comparison window should open. If nothing happens, or Windows reports that no application is associated with the link, the scheme needs to be restored.

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Troubleshooting Add-in Installation Issues

If Office Add-ins are not loading correctly after MSI installation, this may be due to the LoadBehavior registry value not being set correctly. For troubleshooting steps, see Office Add-ins Not Loading After MSI Installation.