Considerations before installation
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We recommend that before administrators deploy and configure thinkcell, they review thinkcell's workstation prerequisites, UI languages, and updates as explained on this page.
Most aspects of deploying thinkcell are the same on both supported platforms (Windows and macOS). Any variations between these platforms are mentioned directly in the text. The mechanics of the initial installation and the distribution mechanism of configuration settings differ more substantially (see First installation).
Workstation prerequisites
On Windows, thinkcell works with Microsoft Office 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, or 2024 for Windows, with at least PowerPoint and Excel installed. thinkcell also works with the fully installed versions and Click-to-Run versions of the desktop Office apps in Office 365.
On Mac, thinkcell works with Microsoft Office 2019, 2021, or 2024 for Mac, and macOS Big Sur (11) or later. thinkcell also works with the fully installed versions of the desktop Office apps in Office 365.
The following components must be installed:
- Microsoft Office Excel
- Microsoft Office PowerPoint
- Visual Basic for Applications (from Office Shared Features)
The installation of thinkcell requires less than 300 MB of disk space.
Language
The thinkcell user interface is available in English, Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. During the installation, thinkcell uses the language corresponding to the regional settings of the operating system. After installation, thinkcell uses the same language as in the menus and dialogs of the installation of Microsoft Office.
All supported languages are included in the same, unified installation package. If a language is not yet supported by thinkcell, English is used. It is not possible to alter the automatic language selection behavior.
Automatic updates
thinkcell tightly integrates with PowerPoint and Excel to offer its streamlined user interface and wealth of functionality. Due to the tight integration, it is not possible to guarantee compatibility with unknown future changes to Microsoft Office. Therefore:
- Major version updates, i.e., switching from PowerPoint 2016 to 2019 or from 2019 to a future version, will always require the most recent thinkcell version.
- For Click-to-Run editions of Office, which includes Office 365, most updates will require a thinkcell update (also see Differences between Microsoft 365 update channels).
- Security updates for MSI-based editions of Microsoft Office on Windows will usually not require a thinkcell update. However, this cannot be guaranteed and occasionally a security update for Microsoft Office will require a thinkcell update for compatibility.
thinkcell has built-in automatic update support. In this way, we ensure compatibility with any Microsoft update and provide new features. When PowerPoint or Excel are started, the software checks for a new version. If there is one, the software attempts to install the update.
If available, thinkcell uses the Microsoft Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) to download updates on Windows. BITS automatically frees bandwidth when the user needs it, and also recovers gracefully from network interruptions common in mobile computing environments. Each update is approximately 150 MB in size.
All files that are executed and installed by the automatic update are digitally signed by thinkcell. The integrity of the update is verified against a self-signed certificate that is included in the version of thinkcell currently installed.
Automatic updates always keep the installation location and update thinkcell in place.
Differences between Microsoft 365 update channels
Microsoft has different update channels that deploy updates with varying frequencies and delays. For update frequencies and additional channel information, see Overview of update channels for Microsoft 365 Apps, the Office Insider program, and Update history for Microsoft 365 Apps.
thinkcell compatibility with Microsoft 365 updates
thinkcell supports all Microsoft 365 update channels. We check for Microsoft updates to all channels every night, and if an update conflicts with thinkcell, we immediately start working on a corresponding thinkcell update.
To find out which channel is the default for your Microsoft 365 plan, see Default update channel.
Here's an overview of the quality of service you can expect from thinkcell when using each channel.
|
Channel |
Quality of service |
|---|---|
|
Monthly Enterprise Channel |
We initiate an automatic thinkcell update before Microsoft's update, so if you did not explicitly disable thinkcell's Automatic updates, no outage of thinkcell should occur. |
|
The thinkcell update is available to download, but we don't always trigger a timely automatic update. If Error reporting is enabled, when conflicts occur, a webpage with the update opens automatically. If error reporting is disabled and Request Support isn't routed to your own IT team, when you select Request Support in the error dialog, we automatically send an email that refers you to the update download. |
|
|
We make the thinkcell update available as soon as possible after the Microsoft update, but outages may occur. Once the update is ready, the distribution mechanism is the same as for Current Channel (Preview). |
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