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The University of Southampton
iSolutions

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why Are We Moving To Office 365?

To improve collaboration, productivity and efficiency across the University, all staff emails are being migrated to Office 365. iSolutions will be the first to migrate all staff members to the Office 365 email.

Your new email service will also come with an increase in mail storage to 50 GB and the ability to use your existing mail client or devices.

What Do I Need To Know?

During the email migration, you will still be able to send and receive emails. There may be a brief delay in sending/receiving your emails, but only during the last 5-15 minutes of the synchronisation process.

Resource emails (i.e. rooms & parking bays) will also be migrated and may cause temporary disruptions while connecting to/or reading resource email calendars, during this time.

If you are reading calendars from users who are not yet on Office 365 email, their calendar appointments may only appear as “free/busy”.

How Do I Use My Windows Device?

To set-up Microsoft Outlook 2013/16 to check your Office 365 account follow these steps:

After opening Outlook 2013/16 you will be presented with the Welcome screen.
Click Next to continue to the Account Setup Wizard.

Select Yes to set up an email account and click Next.
Enter your name, your full email address (e.g. username@soton.ac.uk) and your password.

Click Next and wait for Outlook to be configured.
Click Finish to complete.

Enter your username (in the format username@soton.ac.uk) and your password to allow Outlook to complete the setup process, if prompted.

How Do I Use My Mac Device?

To set up Mac Mail to check your Office 365 email account follow these steps:

Select Preferences > Accounts.

Choose Exchange from the list and click Continue.

Enter your name and email address, in the format username@soton.ac.uk, and your password.

Click Continue and wait until Mac Mail finds your settings. Enter the following:

Username: username@soton.ac.uk

Password: your password

Server Address: outlook.office365.com

Click Continue. Choose which features you want to sync.

Click Done to complete the set up process

How Do I Use My Mobile Device?

To set up your email account using the Microsoft Outlook app in your iOS device, follow these steps:

Make sure your device is running iOS 8.0 or later.
Download the Microsoft Outlook app from the App Store.

Launch the app and tap the blue Add An Account button at the bottom of the launch screen.
Type your email address in the space provided (using the format username@soton.ac.uk).

Tap the Sing In with Office 365 button. This will redirect you to University of Southampton’s login page.
Enter your username and password and press the Sign in button.

To set up an iOS device to check your Office 365 email account follow these steps:

Tap Settings > Mail > Contacts > Calendars > Add Account.
Tap Exchange.

Enter your full email address in the space provided and your password.
Tap Next.

Choose the type of information you would like to synchronise between your account and your device, and then tap Save. By default Mail, Contacts and Calendar information are synchronised.

To set up your Office 365 email account using the Microsoft Outlook app on your Android device follow these steps:

Make sure your device is running Android 4.0 or later.
Download the Microsoft Outlook app from the Play Store.

Launch the app and type your email address and password in the fields provided.
Type Southampton in the Description field.
Tap the Tick icon to finish.

To set up an Android device to check your Office 365 email account follow these steps:

Open Settings > Accounts > Add Account.

Select Microsoft Exchange Active Sync (or Exchange).
Enter your email address and password and select Next.

Enter the following account information and select Next:

Domain/Username: Type your full username followed by @soton.ac.uk (if Domain and Username are separate text boxes in your version of Android, leave the Domain box empty and type username@soton.ac.uk in the Username box)

Password: Type your password.

Exchange Server: Enter m.outlook.com
Choose SSL if prompted about a secure connection.

Tap Next and specify the syncing options you prefer.

To set up a Windows Mobile device to check your Office 365 email account follow these steps:

Navigate to Settings on your device.
Tap Email + Accounts, then Exchange.

Enter your email address and password and leave the Domain text box blank.
Tap Sign in and then Done.

To set up a BlackBerry 10 to check your Office 365 email follow these steps:

Navigate to Settings on your device.
Select Accounts > Email, Calendar and Contacts > Advanced > Microsoft Exchange Active Sync.

Enter the following information:

Description: Southampton

Domain: Leave blank.

Username: Enter your username.

Email Address: Enter your full email address.

Password: Enter your password.

Server Address: outlook.office365.com

Tap Next. Select your syncing preferences and tap Done.

What Happens To My Rules After The Migration?

When your mailbox is migrated to Office 365, all server-side rules are preserved. However, client-side rules - those that can only be run on the local Outlook client application - are lost and will need to be recreated. Most rules, such as moving mail items to specific folders, are server-side by default, and this is preferable since it means the rules are applied independent of the device on which you access your mail. However, rules that involve categories or those that move mail items to client-side folders, can only be run on the local client. If a rule is client-side, you will see the words (client-side) next to the title of the rule. See Client-side vs. Server-side Rules on Microsoft's site for additional details.

Do I Have To Recreate My Rules In The Full Client?

No, you can recreate your rules both on web or in the full client.

Will I Still Be Able To Find The Rules Created Previously After The Migration?

Most of your rules should migrate with no issue, but if you have many rules and want to be on the safe side, you can also back them up.

How Do I Export Rules?

Load Outlook.
Click Rules > Options > Export Rules.
Save them to a backed-up location such as your Documents.

I Use A Lot Of Conditional Formatting Rules? Can I Recreate Them Before The Migration On The Web?

Unfortunately, you cannot use the email parts of Office 365 until your mailbox has been moved.

What Should I Expect During The Migration?

During the migration your mailbox will be available for most of the time except where it switches over from the old mailbox to the new mailbox at the very end. At this point it will become unavailable for a few minutes and you will be asked to restart Outlook. If you are not using Outlook your device will tell you it is unable to connect to the server and you will need to reconfigure your client.

You may find that you are asked to restart Outlook as other people across the department are moved. You may also find that you are only given access to Free/Busy information on shared calendars for the duration of the move.

What Do I Need To Do?

After the migration is complete you will have to restart Outlook and log in with your full email address (username@soton.ac.uk). If you are not using Outlook, you will need to reconfigure your device. This includes any mail clients on mobile phones and other devices.

How Do I Access My Archived Emails?

If you are using the desktop version of Outlook, archived emails can be accessed by going to the Online Archive folder in the left hand navigation. If you want to search your archive via webmail, the folder is called Personal Archive and it is located on the left side as well under your primary mailbox.

Messages are moved to a folder in the archive mailbox that has the same name as the source folder in the primary mailbox. If a folder with the same name doesn't exist in the archive mailbox, it’s created when the message is moved.

What Happens To My Shared Mailbox After The Migration?

Once ALL email accounts have been moved to Office 365, shared mailboxes will work as usual. Until the migration has ended you might not see the full details of shared mailboxes (e.g. you might only see free or busy information in calendars)

I Have A Shared Mailbox Which Receives Or Sends Emails To Or From Another System?

Please email ICTtransformationprogramme@soton.ac.uk to let them know and we will work with you to ensure as short a downtime as possible.

I Have Access To Someone'S Mailbox, What Will Happen To It?

The shared mailboxes and calendars functionality only works if both parties have their mailboxes in the same location. This will no longer be an issue after migrating all mailboxes to Office 365.

How Do I Add A Shared Mailbox?

Sign into your account via Outlook Web App.

Right-click your primary mailbox in the left navigation pane, and then choose Add shared folder. (Your name is on your primary mailbox.)
In the Add shared folder dialog box, type the name or email address of the shared mailbox you want to add, and then click Add.

To remove it, right-click the shared mailbox, and then click Remove shared folder.

How Do I Create A Signature?

If you use both Outlook Web App and Outlook and want a signature, you need to create a signature in each.

See how to create a signature in Outlook here. Here is how you can add an email signature in Outlook.com.

Which type of SharePoint site should I create?

If you have a defined (usually small) group of members to share information with, you would use a Team Site. If the site is more for dissemination to a broad audience, then use a Communication Site. If you’re using Teams this will automatically create a Team Site for you.

How do I share my work with people outside the University?

You should be very careful sharing information outside the University. From OneDrive, SharePoint or Teams you can use the Share or membership options to add the email address of anyone you wish to collaborate with. In some circumstances this functionality is restricted. Please refer to https://sotonac.sharepoint.com/SitePages/external%20collaborators.aspx for more information.

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