The Custom Updates Publishing Tool Start Page appears in the center area of the publishing tool console when the Custom Updates Publishing Tool node in the Tree View pane is selected. The start page provides links to help topics and enables automatic or manual checking for newer versions of software updates catalogs configured on the Import List tab of the Settings Dialog Box.

The dialog box contains the following elements:

Links and Resources


Displays the following two sections with links to help topics and online resources:
  • How Do I: Contains links to a variety of Custom Updates Publishing Tool help topics.

  • Online Resources: Contains links to a variety of external Custom Updates Publishing Tool Web resources.

Catalog Updates


Displays a list of software updates catalogs that have newer versions available from the vendor for catalogs that have been added to the import list on the Import List tab of the Settings dialog box. When the Automatically check for updates to my catalogs on startup setting is configured on the Import List tab of the Settings dialog box, the Custom Updates Publishing Tool automatically retrieves a list of newer vendor catalogs every time it starts. Otherwise, you can manually retrieve the list by clicking Refresh. You can select more than one catalog to import by holding down CONTROL and then clicking the left mouse button, or you can click Select All to select all catalogs. This section contains the following columns:
  • Name: Name assigned by the creator of the catalog.

  • Description: Description assigned by the creator of the catalog.

  • Last Imported: Date that the catalog was last imported.

  • Published: Date that the catalog was last published by the creator. If the publishing tool is unable to determine the last publishing date, this column displays as Unknown.

  • Path: Location of the catalog. The catalog can be located on the Web, on a shared folder, or on the local drive.

This section contains the following elements:
  • Import: When a catalog is selected, opens the Summary Page of the Import Software Updates Catalog Wizard, which displays the catalogs where newer versions are available from the vendor. Click Next to import the new catalogs and replace the outdated ones. Click Cancel to stop the import process.

  • Select All: Selects all catalogs in the list so that you can then click Import for all catalogs.

  • Refresh: Queries for and retrieves a list of software updates catalogs that have newer versions available from the vendor for the catalogs. The publishing tool checks only for newer versions for catalogs that have been added to the import list on the Import List tab in the Settings dialog box.

See Also