Deployment options via MSI (System wide) installer

This guide is for IT administrators who wish to deploy Draftable Legal and want to select what additional parameters are included within the install. This can include selections for Office add ins (Outlook and Word), shortcuts and options for the iManage listener sevice. This guide is specific to the Machine-Wide MSI (also known as the System-Wide MSI, Native MSI, or Per-Machine MSI) and only 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.

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). Always select it explicitly rather than relying on the installer default: in the Advanced installer set Http service (under Integrations) to install, or add HttpListener to your ADDLOCAL list in a scripted or silent 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 set Http service to Entire feature will be installed on the local hard drive. The HTTP Listener Service is a required component, so confirm it is set to install rather than assuming the default. This step must not be skipped.

   
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.

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.

The features available for specification are listed in the table below

Feature name (“Title”)	Feature ID (“Feature”)
Draftable for Outlook	OutlookAddin
Draftable for Word	WordAddin
Draftable for Excel	ExcelAddin
Desktop	DesktopShortcut
Start Menu	StartMenuShortcut
iManage HTTP Listener Service	HttpListener
iManage Extension Package	ImanagePackage
SharePoint Extension Package	SharePointPackage

These are the COM add-ins, not the Outlook and Office add-ins you may have been asked to deploy.

OutlookAddin, WordAddin and ExcelAddin install the older COM add-ins, which appear as a dedicated Draftable ribbon tab inside Office. They are named “Draftable for Outlook / Word / Excel”.

They are not the same as Draftable in Outlook and Draftable in Office, the modern task pane add-ins. Those are not installed by the MSI at all. They are 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.

If you are only deploying the modern add-ins, leave OutlookAddin, WordAddin and ExcelAddin out of your ADDLOCAL command.

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.

Basic command - MSI installation

Below is a basic example of how to install Draftable via a command line. This example shows installation without the Outlook add-in but including the Word and Excel add-ins and the two shortcuts and the iManage HTTP Listener Service.

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

Based on the above, running the installer would result in the following Advanced UI set-up:

Advanced command - MSI installation

If you wanted a more complex configuration that specifies: 

• The install location
• Multiple Draftable add-ins
• HTTP listener service for imanage
• 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 command below is more advanced with demonstrates more options during installation.

Start-Process msiexec -ArgumentList '/i "DraftableDesktopSystem.msi" ADDLOCAL=StartMenuShortcut,DesktopShortcut,HttpListener,WordAddin,ExcelAddin,OutlookAddin INSTALLDIR="C:\Program Files (x86)\Draftable" /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. 

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

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.

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.