Desktop extensions
Google Desktop searches the contents of a user's computer, including files, email messages, viewed web pages, instant messages, images, music, video, and more. Users install Google Desktop from desktop.google.com, and they configure it for themselves. In contrast, Google Desktop for Enterprise is designed for an enterprise environment. A Windows administrator configures Google Desktop for Enterprise and distributes it from a central corporate resource. Google Desktop for Enterprise provides all the user features of Google Desktop, and also indexes Lotus Notes email.This guide contains information about setting up Google Desktop at an enterprise level and is written for Windows administrators. Any domain administrator can take advantage of the centralized configuration and control features of Google Desktop for Enterprise.
If the enterprise uses a search appliance (Google Search Appliance or Google Mini) for internal search, you can provide an integrated search experience. From one search interface, Google Desktop provides information from the user's desktop, the search appliance provides information from the corporate intranet, and Google.com harnesses the Internet.
Technical Overview
Google Desktop for Enterprise makes use of Microsoft Group Policy and Active Directory, a services infrastructure that delivers and applies configurations to users and computers. If you are unfamiliar with Group Policy technology, see the Microsoft Group Policy documentation.
The package for Google Desktop for Enterprise includes an administrative template that defines policies for Google Desktop. You import the administrative template into the Group Policy Management Console or into your Group Policy editor of choice, and then edit the policy settings. Next, you use Active Directory to apply the template to client machines. This action creates and sets the value of the Google Desktop keys in each targeted machine's registry. Alternatively, you can use other administration mechanisms, such as logon scripts, to directly modify the registry settings of user machines.
The rest of this document tells you how to download and configure Google Desktop for Enterprise, and then how to push out the installation to users. For information on how to create an integrated search experience with Google Search Appliance or Google Mini, see Integrating Google Desktop with Google Search Appliance or Google Mini.
Downloading the Software
The administrative template and the installer are available for download from http://desktop.google.com
Configuring the Group Policies
To view and modify the Google Desktop Group Policy, open your Group Policy editor. Import the Google Desktop administrative template (.adm) file. Under Administrative Templates|Google|Google Desktop, you'll see the following categories:
- Preferences define the settings of Google Desktop options. Preference policies make user functions unavailable. If a policy is set to Disabled or Not Configured, a user's own settings generally control the feature.
- Indexing and Capture Control policies define the type of information that is added to your index, how long it is kept, and so on.
- Enterprise integration specifies the integration between Google Desktop and Google Search Appliance or Google Mini.
The next sections list and describe each policy, by category. For each policy, the "Since" column lists the first Google Desktop version to support the policy.