Office 365 for Students
About Office 365
The University of Texas at Austin has expanded Office 365 service eligibility to current UT Austin students.
You are able to access all available Office 365 services by logging into the Office 365 Portal with your UT EID.
What Office 365 Services Are Included?
The services below are included, some of which require creating an Exchange mailbox in order to be licensed.
- Exchange Online (Plan 2)*
- Forms (Plan 3)
- Office 365 ProPlus
- Office Online for Education
- Planner*
- Power Apps
- Power Automate
- Power BI Pro
- Project for Office
- SharePoint Plan 2 for EDU
- Visio
- Sway
- Teams*
- To-Do (Plan 3)*
- Whiteboard (Plan 3)
- Yammer
*Requires creating an Exchange mailbox in order to be licensed for the service
Claim Your Office 365 Account
1. Log in to the Office 365 Management web application with your EID.
- If you do not yet have a mailbox, you will be presented with the Create My Mailbox page.
- If a mailbox has already been created for you, you will see details about the mailbox
2. Enter your desired display name in the Display name box
3. Enter your desired email address in the Email address field
- If you have entered an email address which is already in use or is invalid, you will be presented with an opportunity to select another address.
4. Click Submit
5. After a mailbox has been created, additional steps need to occur for full provisioning. That process may take up to one hour. You will receive an email at the official email address associated with your EID when provisioning has been completed.
What's the Difference Between UTmail and Exchange Online?
As a current UT student, you have the option to choose your student email and service environment. You can choose one email service, and supporting services, or use both.
For a detailed description of Exchange Online and UTmail functional features, please visit: Office 365 and UTmail Features
How Long Do I Have Access to Office 365 Services After Graduating?
Office 365 Mailbox
Former students are automatically unlicensed for Office 365 services as soon as they are considered a former student by the EID system.
Former student affiliation is evaluated on the 12th class day of the next long semester after graduating.
Access to OneDrive and all associated documents will automatically be inaccessible once your Office365 license is removed.
How Do I Access my Office 365 Exchange Email?
You are able to either use the Outlook Web Application to access your email in the web or set up a desktop mail client.
Outlook Web Application:
- Please visit: UT Outlook Web Portal
- Click "Outlook Web Application (OWA)" and authenticate using your UT EID and Duo
Desktop Email Client:
View client-specific instructions for setting up a desktop email client in our Getting Started knowledge article list
Where Can I Find Support for an Office 365 Service?
Office 365 @ UT is your one-stop shop for all things Office 365. Additionally, Microsoft has a wide range of product-specific support articles.
If you are unable to create a mailbox, don't think your mailbox is working properly, or do not have the correct licenses, please contact the UT Service Desk at help@utexas.edu or by calling 512-475-9400 with any problems, questions, or concerns.
Student Employees and University Business Records
We recommend that student employees do not use their Office 365 @my.utexas.edu mailbox to conduct university business.
Student workers should ensure that their supervisors create or provide access to an existing shared mailbox to share when they are conducting university business on behalf of a university department.
Why Use Shared Mailboxes to Protect Student Privacy and University Records?
Office 365, as the primary university business email service, has heightened security requirements and safeguards to protect university data; these requirements and safeguards extend to student @my.utexas.edu accounts. However, emails created by student employees during employment are subject to the same data and records retention requirements and policies applicable to staff and faculty. Additionally, when a student uses their personal @my.utexas.edu account to conduct university business, their personal email is exposed to open records requests.
Therefore, it is important to separate personal and business emails and accounts.
Refer to the documentation below about how to use shared mailboxes.
NOTE: Some student employees such as assistant instructors or graduate assistants may require individual business accounts to send non-shared business emails. For help with claiming your Office 365 Business Account, please contact the Service Desk.
Shared Mailboxes for Student Workers
We recommend that departments create or use an Office 365 shared mailbox for student workers to conduct business on behalf of departments at the University.
Example addresses for a shared mailbox include: 'Department.Front.Desk@austin.utexas.edu', 'DEPT-student-workers@austin.utexas.edu', or 'DEPT-admin@austin.utexas.edu'.
Benefits of Using Shared Mailboxes for Student Workers
- The staff supervisor will own, manage, and monitor the mailbox.
- The supervisor will grant the the student worker(s)s full access permissions to the mailbox so they may conduct departmental business.
- Supervisors, or IT support, can use self-service web tools to add or remove student workers from the shared mailbox.
- The supervisor will grant the the student worker(s)s full access permissions to the mailbox so they may conduct departmental business.
- No business correspondence will be lost and university records are retained.
- University business emails created by student workers on behalf of their department will be retained, accessible, and managed by the mailbox manager (supervisor) and other mailbox users.
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- Subsequent student workers will have access to past conversations to ensure continuity in business operations.
- Subsequent student workers will have access to past conversations to ensure continuity in business operations.
- Only business-related emails will be in the mailbox.
- Personal student-worker emails will be in their personal @my.utexas.edu account, protecting student privacy in the event of an open records request.
- Supervisors or IT support staff can contact the Service Desk with any questions or concerns.
- For questions about university records requirements, please Records Management Requirements please reach out to Records and Information Management Services (RIMS) via email at rims@austin.utexas.edu.