Designing Installations

InstallShield 2026 Express Edition

A feature is the smallest separately installable piece of your product from the end user’s standpoint. Individual features are visible to end users when they select a Custom setup type during installation.

Features

Features are the building blocks of an application from the end user’s perspective. Each feature represents a specific piece of functionality for your product—such as the help files. End users should be able to install and uninstall discrete features of your product.

For example, an end user with limited hard drive space could elect not to install a product tutorial. If the user subsequently purchases another computer or frees resources on an existing one, the previously uninstalled product tutorial could then be installed.

You should separate your application into features that correspond to functionality of your application and that can be available in or removed from different setup types.

Setup Types

Setup types enable you to allow your end users to selectively install portions of your product or all parts of your product. The default setup types are Typical, Minimal, and Custom.

Setup types are based on features. You select which features you want to associate with each setup type. Then, when an end user selects a certain setup type, only those features you associated with that setup type are installed.