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Office 365 for Students - Connect. Collaborate. Co-create

Home / Help and Advice / Office 365 / Connect / Students

Office 365 is launching to all Students during June-July 2020

Earlier this year we provided university staff with Microsoft Office 365. This allows us to better communicate and co-create. We want you to have the same benefits too – working together online, using innovative Microsoft Office apps to unlock your creativity. Office 365 gives you a single online space to connect, collaborate and store your documents. You can also install Microsoft Office on your own device whilst you are a student.

Information for:

Existing and Returning Students

In order to provide you with Office 365, we are making some changes to your existing university email service.

This will be a phased move with 2 key steps:

  • Your new Office 365 account will be available from 22nd June 2020 - email will still be at Google - continue to access your email via Gmail.
  • We will transition your university Google email service to Office 365. We will change how you access your university email from the current Google service to your new Office 365 account between 24th-27th July 2020. You will need to transfer any emails or files you wish to keep from your existing Google account to your new Office 365 account, this will not be done automatically for you, please see the FAQs at the bottom of this page for further information.

We know that some of you have previously registered for an Office 365 account with your university email address.

We need to ensure that you belong to our new Office 365 service so that you can benefit from our improved online teaching and learning environment.  To do this, we will need to close access to your current Office 365 account.  We will automatically provide you with a new Office 365 account. You will need to move any data that you wish to keep to your new Office 365 account from your old one, you must do this by 18th July 2020.

Before we close down your 'old' account, we will need to change your sign-in address on your 'old' account, we will do this on the 19th June 2020, your new account will be available on the 22nd June 2020 to move any data you wish to keep. Your university Office 365 sign-in address for your new account will be UserID@student.sunderland.ac.uk e.g. bg0abc@student.sunderland.ac.uk

If you see any error messages when trying to access or edit any documents in your 'old' Office 365 account on or after the 19th June 2020 please see our guide on how to resolve the issues.

We have provided some guides to help you migrate your data:

There are 3rd parties services, such as https://mover.io, which allow you to automatically migrate your OneDrive data to your new office 365 account. The university cannot provide support for these services.
 

New Students

If you are a new Student enrolling after 27th July 2020 then you do not need to take any action and you will be provided with a new Office 365 account during your enrolment. However, if you have enrolled before this date you may wish to move any emails or data existing in your university Google account.

How do I access Office 365?

There are three different options:

  • Via web browser: https://portal.office.com
  • Via your desktop apps like Word, Excel, etc.
  • Via your OneDrive desktop client (for Windows 10/Mac devices only)

Your sign-in address will be your university UserID followed by @student.sunderland.ac.uk e.g. bg0abc@student.sunderland.ac.uk (even if you also have an @research.sunderland.ac.uk email address - we won’t be changing your actual email address – only your sign-in address).

 

Wondering what you will see when you log into Office 365?

When you log into O365 via https://portal.office.com you will see the apps available to you similar to the picture below. Just click on any of them to start using them.

View of O365 apps when logging in Wave 1

 

Online Training:

Please visit the Microsoft 365 Training site to find out how to use Office 365.

Microsoft 365 training can be found on the University's linked in learning site.

 

 

Still wondering what O365 is? David Conway explains in this short video what it is and the opportunities it will open up:

Be empowered with the Office 365 tools, to collaborate efficiently, communicate on the go, and access files with ease.

What is O365?

Office 365 is an integrated experience of apps and services all in one place, that provides a suite of new productivity and business tools, which you can access from anywhere on any device. David Conway explains what Office 365 is and what benefits it opens up in this short video for Digital First. 


Why are we doing this?

There are several benefits to rolling out Office 365: 

  • Greater ease of collaboration
    • Microsoft Teams is a new hub for communication
    • OneDrive makes sharing documents easy and quick – share links to a single document rather than sending email attachments
  • Improved engagement for teachers and learners
    • Make use of the collaboration tools within Office 365
    • You will work with industry-standard tools which will prepare for your professional careers
  • Opens opportunities for broader uptake of agile working
    • Work from any location or device of your choice without losing files or having to copy anything across device


Will it work for everyone internationally as well? 

Office 365 is available in all countries with the exception of Cuba, Iran, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Sudan, and Syria. If you are travelling abroad, or are working on a campus abroad, you can still use O365. 
See: https://products.office.com/en-gb/business/international-availability 

I have 2 university Google email accounts, @student.sunderland.ac.uk and @research.sunderland.ac.uk, will I get 2 Office 365 accounts?

No - these will get merged into one single acount in Office 365. Your sign-in address will be <UserID>@student.sunderland.ac.uk however you will also have your @research.sunderland.ac.uk email address attached to this account. Your @research.sunderland.ac.uk email address will become your primary email address.

I have email forwarders and auto-replies setup on my university Google email, will these be transfered to my Office 365 account?

No - you will need to setup these again in Office 365 using the Outlook app. To setup follow these steps:

Email Forwarding:  https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/turn-on-automatic-forwarding-in-outlook-on-the-web-7f2670a1-7fff-4475-8a3c-5822d63b0c8e?ui=en-us&rs=en-gb&ad=gb

Auto replies: https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/office/automatic-replies-formerly-out-of-office-assistant-48d40166-0129-4653-98f1-eb85f9bd8c20?ui=en-us&rs=en-gb&ad=gb

Will emails/calendar/contacts in my university Google account be automatically migrated to my Office 365 account?

No - you will need to move any emails/calendar/contacts you wish to keep to your Office 365 account.  You can find guides on how to migrate emails/calendar/contacts here: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/admin/setup/migrate-email-and-contacts-admin?view=o365-worldwide

You can easily copy individual emails from your Google account to your Office 365 account by forwarding the email to your university email address.

Will my documents in my university Google account be automatically migrated to my Office 365 account?

No - you will need to download and migrate any documents you have in your Google acocunt you wish to keep. We will provide some user guides soon.

What will happen to my university Google account?

You will still be able to access your university Google account until the 31st December 2020. You should migrate any emails or documents you wish to keep into your Office 365 by this date, we will close your university Google account and you will no longer be able to get access.

How much storage will I have within OneDrive? 

Your storage is going to increase from what you currently have. Your OneDrive storage will be 1TB

What computer set-up do I need for O365 to run on my computer? 

If you want to know in detail what the system requirements for O365 are, please have a look on this website: https://products.office.com/en-gb/office-system-requirements#coreui-contentrichblock-cs9mei4 

The section under “Office 365 plans for Personal, Home, and University” will give you all the details. 

 

Which browsers can I use? 

Generally, you will be able to use O365 with almost all browsers, providing they are recent versions.  

Have a look here to get more information: https://support.office.com/en-gb/article/which-browsers-work-with-office-for-the-web-ad1303e0-a318-47aa-b409-d3a5eb44e452 

However, depending on which browser you are using, you might not get the full Teams functionality. Please see https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoftteams/limits-specifications-teams#browsers for more information. For specific information on what will be limited in terms of browsers, please scroll down to the “Browser” section. Most limitations are in terms of calling, meetings/conference calls and sharing in a call. Using the desktop app alleviate these reductions in functionality. 

 

Can I use it on my tablet/mobile phone? 

Yes, you can. There are specific apps for OneDrive, Planner,Teams, SharePoint, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that you can download to your Apple or Android devices. And of course, you can always access Office 365 through a browser as well. 

 

Can I use it on my Mac? 

Yes, you can use O365 on your Macbooks, iPhones and iPads.  

 

Will it work with Office 2019/Office 2016? 

Yes, Office 365 works with Office2019 and Office 2016. You can work on a file, save it to Office 365 and keeping working on it within Office 365 as well. They are fully compatible. 

 

What exactly will be rolled out? 

The following Office 365 apps will be available:

-OneDrive  (to store your documents)

-Office Online (to edit/create documents online)

-Office ProPlus (download and install Office onto your computer and mobile/tablets) 

-PowerBI free (analytics)

-Outlook (emails) - this will be available from 27/7/2020

-Teams (for online meetings & chats) - this will be available from 29/7/2020


How do I log in? 

There are three different options once O365 is launched: 

  • Via web browser: https://portal.office.com  
  • Via your desktop apps like Word, Excel, etc. 
  • Via your OneDrive desktop client (for Windows 10/Mac devices only) 


What will I see when I log in? 

When you log into O365 via https://portal.office.com you will see the apps available to you similar to the picture below. Just click on any of them to start using them. Why not click on Teams to explore the new ways of collaboration? 

 View of O365 apps when logging in Wave 1

 

Can I create a Team in the Teams app?

Creating teams is a staff only service.

How do I move my local OneNote into Office 365, so I can access it from anywhere on any device?
 
Open your local OneNote, sign in and then click on "Info" at the top left. There, click on the "Settings" button.
 
After clicking on "Settings", please choose the "Share or Move" option.
Then, choose you University of Sunderland OneDrive, name it and move it in there.
After this, go to Office 365, and open your OneNote. Your OneNote should appear in there now.
 

Can I use it on my Mac? 

Yes, you can use O365 on your Macbooks, iPhones and iPads, it is fully compatible.