Microsoft Office 365 Overview

The university has identified Microsoft's cloud-based Office 365 product as the replacement for the university's central email system for faculty and staff. Most USC employees with email accounts on the central email system will be scheduled to move to Office 365 on a departmental basis over the course of the 2013 calendar year. ITS will coordinate these moves with each academic unit and department. We anticipate that the roll out of Office 365 will be completed in 2014.

Features of Office 365

• Convenient web and desktop access to your email and integrated calendar

Full-featured web interface for accessing email and calendar (Outlook Web App), as well as email and integrated calendar compatibility with desktop email clients such as Microsoft Outlook and Apple Mail.

NOTE: While the calendar function is available both on Outlook Web App (OWA) and through supported email clients, it is not yet fully supported by ITS. Support and documentation will become available at a later date.

• Large message storage capacity

25 gigabytes of storage for each user.

• Access from portable devices, including iOS and Android-based phones and tablets

Access to your email, calendar entries, and contacts from your mobile device.

• No automatic deletion of emails

Office 365 accounts are not subject to the 365-day email retention policy.

• Built-in anti-spam message filtering

Integrated anti-spam tools for smoother control of email filtering and identification.

Office 365 Documentation

The documentation in this section will provide information on what to expect when your email account is moved to Office 365, including how to access your email and calendar through the Outlook Web App, configure an email client to access mail through Office 365, set up your mobile device to access your Office 365 email, and configure settings such as forwarding and automatic replies (vacation messages) using OWA.

Video Tutorials

Lynda.com and Apple.com provide video tutorials on how to use Outlook and Apple Mail. You will find links to these tutorials in the Configuring Office 365 section of the documentation.

Accessing the Outlook Web App for Office 365

The Outlook Web App (OWA) is the web-based email client for Office 365. In order to access OWA, open a supported web browser and go to www.usc.edu/office365.

Each time you go to www.usc.edu/office365, the Authentication Required screen will appear.

1. In the User Name field, type your USC email address (e.g., username@usc.edu).
2. In the Password field, type your USC password.
3. Click OK to enter OWA.

Getting Help

If you have any questions or concerns regarding your Microsoft Office 365 account, please contact the ITS Customer Support Center at 213-740-5555 or send an email to consult@usc.edu.