Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus: For Faculty, Staff & Students Personally Owned Devices

Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus is available at no charge to students registered for at least one credit in a current or future term at the University of Minnesota, and to Faculty and Staff currently employed by the University. Alumni, retired staff and faculty (including Professor Emeritus), interns and POI accounts are not eligible. 

Download and install the latest version of Microsoft Office through the Office 365 portal as described below.

For additional options for Office for University-owned computers please see UMN Microsoft Office Resource Page.

This article includes:

• Review Before You Start
• Sign In to the Office 365 Portal
• Install Office
• Activate Office
• Nice to Knows About Your Office 365 Subscription
• Additional Resources

Review Before You Start

• For best results, uninstall older versions of Office before you install Office 365.
• You must be continuously registered or employed at the University of Minnesota for Office to continue working. Office 365 will stop working when you leave the University.
• You will need a reliable Internet connection to download installation files.
• These directions only apply to Office 365 as supplied by the University of Minnesota. If you purchase your own license for Office 365, do not use your umn.edu email address for a personal Office 365 subscription.

Sign In to the Office 365 portal

When Review Before You Start items have been reviewed, proceed to sign in to the Office 365 portal.

1. Go to the MS Office Portal account webpage.    
2. Enter your UMN email address (example: [email protected]) for your sign-in address.
   • Sign-ins for MS Office Portal account webpage and Office 365 use the form [email protected]  for all campuses. Omit the campus domain (crk, d, morris, or r) used in email addresses.
     
     On the Microsoft Sign In page above, the username is filled in with an example UMN email formatted as [email protected].
3. Click Next.
4. If asked to select an account type, select Work or school account.
   
    
5. When asked, enter your UMN password and select Sign in.
   
    
6. Authenticate with Duo Multi-factor Authentication.
7. If asked if you'd like to Stay signed in? select the option you prefer.
    

Install Office

After Signing in to the Office 365 portal as described above, continue to download and install Office 365.

1. An Apps & devices screen should show that Office is available. Select Install Office
   
   
    

2. A setup file downloads and installation begins.
   1. Windows: 
      1. If installation does not start automatically, find and launch OfficeSetup.exe  
         
      2. Select Yes to start installing.
   2. Mac: 
      1. If the Setup file does not automatically open, click the Setup file (it's a .pkg file type) at the bottom of the screen. 
         
      2. Select Continue to start installing.
         
          
3. A pop-up may appear asking if you want to allow this app to make changes to your device. Enter your computer's admin user name and password and select Yes.
   
   
    
4. A page stating Please stay online while Office downloads (Windows) or  Installing Microsoft 365 (Mac) appears while Office is installing. Wait until installation completes.
   • Note: For a Mac, some of the icons on the screen may be different. For example, Microsoft Access is not available on a Mac.
     
     
      
5. You're all set! (Win) or Installation was successful (Mac) indicates Office 365 installation is complete.
   
   
    
6. You can now open Office and sign in with your UMN account ([email protected]).
7. In most cases Office activates automatically. If you receive a message asking you to activate Office, follow Activate Office below.

 Activate Office

After installing Office, in some cases Office 365 does not activate automatically, and a screen asking for activation appears.

1. Select Sign in.
   
2. On the Sign in screen, enter your UMN email address and select next.
   
3. A second sign in screen appears. This is the same screen used for many other applications and services at the University. Sign in with your University of Minnesota InternetID and password and authenticate with Duo Multi-Factor Authentication.
4. If asked to accept the license agreement, select Accept.
   
5. You're All Set indicates Office has been activated.
   

Nice to Knows About Your Office 365 Subscription

Office programs appear in the start menu (or start screen, dock, or application folder, depending on operating system). No network connection is needed to use Office, although you must connect to the internet at least once every 30 days to keep Office activated.

OneDrive and Other Online Features Not Included

Our Office365 subscription does not include the OneDrive storage option or online features of Office which sync to a OneDrive account. To use programs that require OneDrive, you would need to create a personal OneDrive account. If you create a personal OneDrive account, you should not store any HIPAA, PHI, FERPA, or PCI data. In general it would be inadvisable to store any information pertaining to University-related business on OneDrive.

To avoid confusion over activation sign-in and OneDrive sign-in:

• Do not use your UMN email ([email protected]) for a personal OneDrive account. Instead create a OneDrive account using a personal email account such as one from Google, Yahoo, Microsoft or similar services.
• Install and activate Office first, then create a OneDrive account for use with Office.

If you collaborate with an organization outside the University of Minnesota that requires OneDrive or other Microsoft online features, that organization will need to create a guest account for you in their system.
 

Additional Information

• Temporary and casual employees are not automatically eligible for Office 365. It must be requested using this Office 365 request form. 90 day access will then be granted to the temp/casual employee.
• Manage installations through the Office 365 portal.
• Office 365 may be installed on up to 5 computers, 5 tablets, and 5 smart phones.
• If you exceed your allowed activations, Microsoft will automatically deactivate your least recently used Office 365 installation. To free up more activations, you can also deactivate existing installations through the portal. Deactivation does not uninstall Office; it can be reactivated without reinstallation.
• You do not need a product key to activate Office 365. Activation happens automatically when you install Office through the portal.
• The UMN Office 365 subscription will not activate Flow, OneDrive, OneNote, PowerApps, Skype, Stream, Sway, Teams, or other online features of Office 365 that Microsoft may make available.
• At this time, add-ins (i.e., Mendeley, Grammarly) are not allowed.
• Your Office 365 programs will only work as long as you are a student (must be currently enrolled in one course credit in a current or future semester) or staff at the University of Minnesota. When you graduate or leave the U, you will need to purchase Office elsewhere to continue using Office.
• For Office 365 for phones and tablets, log in to the portal, select Phone & tablet, and then select your device to see which apps are available for your phone or tablet.
  

• For Chromebooks, see instructions listed at Microsoft's site.