Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses: Help and How To

Office 365 User Assistance Team

Summary: Your organization uses Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses to communicate and collaborate. Office 365 includes email, document sharing, Microsoft Office Web Apps and more. There are important tasks that you need to do to use all of the features of Office 365. This guide leads you through those steps.

Category: Step-by-Step
Applies to: Office 365 for professionals and small businesses
Source: Microsoft Online Help (link to source content)
E-book publication date: June 2012

Copyright © 2012 by Microsoft Corporation

All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Microsoft and the trademarks listed at http://www.microsoft.com/about/legal/en/us/IntellectualProperty/Trademarks/EN-US.aspx are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other marks are property of their respective owners.

The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, email addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, email address, logo, person, place, or event is intended or should be inferred.

This book expresses the author’s views and opinions. The information contained in this book is provided without any express, statutory, or implied warranties. Neither the authors, Microsoft Corporation, nor its resellers, or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused either directly or indirectly by this book.

Contents

Getting started

Accessibility in Office

Use email in Office

Connect Office 365 to your Outlook desktop application

Use email on your mobile phone

Software requirements for Office 365

Change your display language

Change your contact preferences

Add or change your profile photo

Set up and manage users’ mobile phones

Set up Office 365

Office 365 for professionals and small businesses: a tour for administrators

Office 365: a tour for users

Get started with Office 365

Set up Office 365

Service settings

Turn on calendar publishing so people can share calendar information

Manage how users use email and IM on their phones

Sign-in and passwords

Sign in to Office 365

What is my user ID and why do I need it?

Change your password

Reset a user’s password

Change how often passwords expire

Sign up for Office 365

Reset your administrator password

User accounts and permissions

About administering your account

Assigning administrator permissions

Create or edit users

Create, edit, or delete a user view

Add multiple users with bulk import

View or edit company information

Add, change, or remove a subscription advisor partner

Add or remove a delegated administrator

Manage licenses

Delete or restore users

Update and configure desktops

Set up your Mac for Office 365

Set up your desktop for Office 365

Troubleshoot update and configuration issues for Office 365

Manually update and configure desktops for Office 365

Install Office Professional Plus with Office 365

Set up Lync for Mac 2011 for Office 365

Domains

Guide for the Domains Quickstart step-by-step

Compare domain management in different Office 365 subscriptions

Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365

Add your domain to Office 365

Add a new domain to Office 365

Move your email to Office 365 and keep your current public-facing website

Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365

DNS basics

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name

Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address

Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider

Add or edit custom DNS records in Office 365

Verify a domain

Verify a domain at a domain name registrar

Verify a domain at eNom Central

Verify a domain at Go Daddy

Verify a domain at Melbourne IT

Verify a domain at Network Solutions

Verify a domain at Register.com

Verify a domain at Hover

Verify a domain at 1&1 Internet

Verify your domain by using a TXT record or an MX record?

Change name server records

Change name server records at a domain registrar

Change name server records at eNom Central

Change name server records at Go Daddy

Change name server records at Melbourne IT

Change name server records at Network Solutions

Change name server records at 1&1 Internet

Change name server records at Register.com

Change name server records at Hover

Subscriptions and billing

View your bill

Pay by invoice

Change licenses or storage space for your subscription

Update your credit card information

Try additional offers

Buy additional subscriptions

Buy a subscription after trying Office 365

Buy subscriptions for your company

License restrictions for Office 365

Cancel my subscription

About expired subscriptions

Support

Get help with Office 365

Get support for Office 365

Contact Support for a billing or subscription issue

Translate a Service Health explanation into my language

View the status of your services

Prepare for a change to your time zone

Lync Online administration

What’s new in this release

Set up Microsoft Lync Online

Lync Online settings summary

View current Lync Online settings

Set up Lync for mobile devices

Configure external communications

Configure file transfer, audio-video, and recording

Configure presence privacy mode

Configure mobile phone notifications

Configure dial-in conferencing

Test your Lync Online installation

Set up dial-in conferencing so people can join meetings by phone

Configure online presence

Let Lync Online users communicate outside your organization

Getting started

Accessibility in Office 365

Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses provides features that are accessible and usable for people who have special needs or disabilities. These features don’t require additional accessibility aids.

To print this topic, at the top of the page, click Print.

Note:

By default, the Mozilla Firefox browser doesn’t support the use of the TAB key for keyboard shortcuts. For information about turning on support for the TAB key, see Firefox Help.

What do you want to do?

View pages in high-contrast mode

Use Alt tags

Get more information

View pages in high-contrast mode

If you use Windows Internet Explorer, you can view Office 365 pages in high-contrast mode to make them easier to read.

To view pages in high-contrast mode, follow these steps.

1. In Internet Explorer, on the Tools menu, click Internet Options.

2. On the General tab, click Accessibility.

3. Select the Ignore colors specified on webpages check box, the Ignore font styles specified on webpages check box, and the Ignore font sizes specified on webpages check box, and then click OK.

For information about viewing pages in high-contrast mode when you’re using another web browser, consult that browser’s Help. Most operating systems, including those made by Microsoft, include settings for high-contrast mode as well; for more information, consult the help documentation for the operating system that you use.

Use Alt tags

Images that appear on Office 365 pages contain Alt tags. When you place your cursor over the image, a text description of the image appears for use with screen readers or other assistive technologies. Alt tags might not be used if they provide no additional information or are redundant with other text.

Get more information

For information about the efforts at Microsoft to create software and services that are accessible to everyone, see the Microsoft Accessibility website.

Use email in Office 365

You can use email in Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses by using Microsoft Outlook Web App, a web-based version of Microsoft Outlook. Outlook Web App gives you access to your Microsoft Exchange mailbox from any computer connected to the web. You can also keep track of email from other accounts, such as Hotmail or Google mail, by connecting those accounts to your Outlook Web App account.

In addition to being able to access your email through Outlook Web App, you can connect your Office 365 email account to a desktop email program such as Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition. For more information, see Connect Office 365 to your Outlook desktop application.

Note:

Never leave your computer unattended if your Outlook Web App session is open. If you are using a public computer, sign out of Outlook Web App before you leave the computer. If you are using your own computer, lock or shut down your computer when you leave it.

What do you want to do?

Sign in to Outlook Web App

Get email from multiple accounts

Sign in to Outlook Web App

Outlook Web App provides access to your email from any computer connected to the web, even a public computer at an airport terminal or hotel. All you need is your user name and password, which were provided to you when your company added your account to Office 365.

To sign in to Outlook Web App from Office 365, follow these steps.

Note:

When your company added your account to Office 365, you were given a user name and temporary password. The first time that you sign in to Office 365, you will be asked to change your temporary password. You cannot sign in to Outlook Web App by using a temporary password. If you still have the temporary password that was assigned to you in email, sign in to Office 365 and change it there.

1. In the header, click Outlook.

2. On the Sign In page, choose a security option. Click show explanation for information about the options.

Note:

To improve your experience if you have a slow Internet connection or are using a computer with strict browser settings, select the Use the light version of Outlook Web App check box.

3. Type your Office 365 user name. Your user name takes the form of an email address such as: name@contoso.com.

4. Type your password, and then click Sign in.

For more information about how to use Outlook Web App, click the Help icon (a question mark) in the application.

Get email from multiple accounts

You can connect your Hotmail, IMAP-enabled, or POP-enabled email accounts to your Outlook Web App account to manage all of your email in one place.

For more information about getting email from multiple accounts, see Connected Accounts.

See Also

Connect Office 365 to your Outlook desktop application

Change your password

Connect Office 365 to your Outlook desktop application

You can access your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses email through your Microsoft Outlook desktop application as well as from Microsoft Outlook Web App.

Note:

Office 365 supports the use of Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 and Microsoft Outlook 2010. Note that these email programs cannot be installed on the same computer simultaneously.

What do you want to do?

Add Office 365 to your Outlook desktop application

Set up Outlook to prompt you for an email account

Add Office 365 to your Outlook desktop application

Notes:

Before setting up your Outlook desktop application to Office 365, make sure that one of the following conditions is met.

Your company is using the domain that was automatically created for it when your company signed up for Office 365.

OR

Your company is using a custom domain and has already created the DNS record at the domain registrar to enable Autodiscover. If this has not been done, your company must create a CNAME record so that Outlook can connect to the correct server running Microsoft Exchange Server.

To add Office 365 to your Outlook desktop application, follow these steps:

1. To open Outlook 2010, on the Start menu, click All Programs, click Microsoft Office, and then click Microsoft Outlook 2010.

2. Click File and under Account Information, click Add Account.

3. In the Add New Account dialog box, select Email Account, and then type your name and the email address and password given to you for your Office 365 account.

4. Click Next. Outlook connects to Microsoft Exchange Server for Office 365 and automatically confirms your account information and configures Outlook.

5. Follow the instructions to complete adding your account to your Outlook application.

After your Office 365 account has been successfully added to Outlook, you will be able to manage your Office 365 email in the Outlook desktop application. If you previously had a different account in Outlook and want to be able to access both, use the next procedure to manage multiple Outlook accounts.

Set up Outlook to prompt you for an email account

If you have more than one Outlook account on your computer, you can set up Outlook to prompt you to select an account profile each time you start Outlook. This behavior is useful if you work in multiple accounts and want an easy way to choose a particular one.

To set up Outlook to prompt you for an email account, follow these steps.

1. If Outlook is running, exit the program.

2. On the Windows Start menu, click Control Panel, and then click Mail.

If you are in Category view, click User Accounts, and then click Mail.

3. In the Mail Setup dialog box, in the Profiles section, click Show Profiles.

4. In the Mail dialog box, select Prompt for a profile to be used.

5. Click OK to apply the change.

Now, every time you open Outlook, you are asked to select an account profile. You can access only one account at a time. To open a different account, you must exit Outlook and restart the program.

See Also

Set up your desktop for Office 365

Use email on your mobile phone

You can use a variety of mobile phones with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses. After you configure the phone’s email settings, you can send and receive Office 365 email, and—if your mobile phone supports it—access calendar and contacts information. Among the mobile phones that can access Office 365 are Windows Phone, Apple iPhone, Android phones, and BlackBerry® devices.

Note:

For BlackBerry devices, when you use Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, you will only be able to send and receive email.

To set up email on your phone, go to the Mobile Phone Setup wizard to locate the directions specific to your phone, and then follow the directions for configuring your phone to work with Office 365.

After you’ve set up your mobile phone to access Microsoft Exchange Online in Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you can manage options for your phone such as changing the type of information that you can access from the phone or deleting all the information on your phone. You can manage some options directly on your phone, and others by signing in to your email account. For more information, see Managing Your Mobile Phone.

See Also

Use email in Office 365

Connect Office 365 to your Outlook desktop application

Software requirements for Office 365

This article provides information about the operating systems, web browsers, and applications that are compatible with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses.

What would you like to learn about?

Supported operating systems and software

Software requirements for user services

Software requirements for administrative tools

Supported operating systems and software

This section lists the operating systems and Microsoft Office software that are supported by Office 365.

The following table lists supported operating systems and web browsers.

Operating systems

Web browsers

Windows 7 (32-bit)

• Windows Internet Explorer 8 and later
• Latest version of Firefox
• Latest version of Chrome

Windows 7 (64-bit)

• Internet Explorer 8 and later
• Latest version of Firefox
• Latest version of Chrome

Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (32-bit)
Support ends January 1, 2014.

• Internet Explorer 8 and later
• Windows Internet Explorer 7
Support ends October 1, 2012.
• Latest version of Firefox
• Latest version of Chrome

Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (64-bit)
Support ends January 1, 2014.

• Internet Explorer 8
• Internet Explorer 7
Support ends October 1, 2012.
• Latest version of Firefox
• Latest version of Chrome

Windows XP with Service Pack 3 (32-bit)
Support ends January 1, 2014.

• Internet Explorer 8 and later
• Internet Explorer 7
Support ends October 1, 2012.
• Latest version of Firefox
• Latest version of Chrome

Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (64-bit)
Support ends January 1, 2014.

• Internet Explorer 8
• Internet Explorer 7
Support ends October 1, 2012.
• Latest version of Firefox
• Latest version of Chrome

Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2

• Internet Explorer 8 and later
• Latest version of Firefox
• Latest version of Chrome

Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6, or Mac OS X 10.7
See Set up your Mac for Office 365

• Latest version of Firefox
• Safari 5 and later
• Safari 4
Support ends October 1, 2012.

Click here to view table as image

In addition, Office 365 supports the following Office software:

• Microsoft Office 2010 with Service Pack 1

Install Service Pack 1 by June 28, 2012.

Apply KB2553248 for 32-bit computers by June 15, 2013.

Apply KB2553248 for 64-bit computers by June 15, 2013.

• Microsoft Office 2007 with Service Pack 2

• Microsoft Office 2003 via POP and IMAP only

For more information, see Office 365 will now support POP and IMAP connections to Outlook 2003

• Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 with Service Pack 1

• Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac version 12.2.9

Support ends April 9, 2013.

Note:

Microsoft doesn’t provide technical support for customer or partner issues related to the installation or use of Office 365 on a server running Remote Desktop Services in Windows Server 2008 R2, on a server running Terminal Services in Windows Server 2008, or on any virtualized platform. This means that when you install Office 2013 as part of your subscription service on Office 365, you can’t install it on servers or virtualized platforms.

Top of page

Software requirements for user services

The following table lists Office 365 user services and features and provides links to their respective software requirements.

User service

Software requirements

Microsoft Office 365 desktop setup

Windows:

• See Supported operatingsystems and software

Macintosh:

• See Supported operating systems and software

• Set up your Mac for Office 365

Microsoft Outlook Web App

Supported Browsers for Outlook Web App and Exchange Online

SharePoint Online

Plan browser support

Microsoft Office Web Apps

Plan Office Web Apps

Lync

Microsoft Lync 2010 System Requirements

Microsoft Office Professional Plus

Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010

Microsoft Office for Mac

Set up your Mac for Office 365

Click here to view table as image

Top of page

Software requirements for administrative tools

The following table lists the Office 365 tools that administrators use and links to, or information regarding, their respective software requirements.

Tool

Software requirements

Exchange Control Panel

Supported Browsers for Outlook Web App and Exchange Online

Microsoft SharePoint Online Administration Center

Plan browser support

Lync Online Control Panel

Windows:
• Supported operating systems and software
Macintosh:
• Supported operating systems and software
• Set up your Mac for Office 365

Click here to view table as image

Top of page

Change your display language

If you are signed in to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses so that the site appears in one language (for example, English), but you would prefer to view your site in another language (for example, German), you can use the My profile page to change your display language.

Note:

Changing your display language does not affect how the Office 365 site displays for anyone else.

To change your display language:

1. On the header, click My profile.

2. On the My profile page, under Display language, select your preferred display language, and then click Save.

Office 365 and Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access will appear in your selected language on any computer you use to sign in to Office 365.

Notes:

SharePoint Online will not appear in your selected language. To change the display language, see SharePoint Online Help.

If you manually change your display language in Outlook Web Access or SharePoint Online, your change will not appear in the Office 365 site.

Change your contact preferences

Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses provides a variety of communications options that can help you better use our products and services.

• Promotional offers: Be the first to receive special offers during a trial or after purchasing Office 365 products and services.

• Customer research: Make your opinions count by responding to surveys and feedback sessions about Office 365. Your feedback can help us improve our services.

• Educational content: Take advantage of expert information about using Office 365 products and services.

• Partner communications: Allow our valued Microsoft Partners to contact you about product-related services and events.

• Compliance notifications: Stay updated about security, privacy, and audit requirements. For more information, see Privacy Trust Center.

Depending on your country or region, you may have been automatically signed up to receive product-related information. You can use the My profile page to change how Office 365 contacts you with product-related information. And the Contact preferences section of the My profile page is where you can update your settings to receive the different types of product information available.

Note:

You will continue to receive email messages related to your Office 365 billing and service accounts even if you choose not to receive the product information available on the My profile page.

What do you want to do?

• Update your contact information

• Choose the type of information that you receive

Update your contact information

Use the My profile page to update your preferred contact information.

1. On the header, click My profile.

2. On the My profile page, under Contact preferences, type the preferred phone, mobile phone, or email address where you want to receive product-related communications from Office 365.

Notes:

The communications that you receive at your preferred email address are optional, so you can use any email address for this purpose, including your Office 365 email address.

In contrast, the alternate email address that is listed under Information on the My profile page is used as a backup to your Office 365 email address for important notifications, including, for administrators, password resets. You should not use your Office 365 email address as your alternate email address.

3. Click Save.

Choose the type of information that you receive

Use the My profile page to select the types of product-related information that you want to receive from Office 365.

1. On the header, click My profile.

2. On the My profile page, under Contact preferences, select the check box next to the product-related options that interest you. Clear a check box next to an option if you do not want to receive information.

3. Click Save.

Add or change your profile photo

You can upload a profile picture to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses from your local computer that will appear in all services that display a photo.

Important:

The profile photo is a visual representation of how you will be perceived by your coworkers. Make sure to choose the image you use with care.

To add or change a profile photo:

1. On the header, click My profile.

2. On the My profile page, click Change photo.

3. Click Browse to locate a photo on your local computer that you want to use as your profile picture, and then click Upload.

Notes:

Your photo cannot be larger than 100 KB and it must use one of the following file extensions:

•     .jpg

•     .gif

•     .png

•     .bmp

4. Click Save. Your profile picture will appear in all Office 365 services that display profile photos.

Set up and manage users’ mobile phones

Users can configure a variety of mobile phones with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses to send and receive Microsoft Exchange Online email, and—if their mobile phones support it—access calendar and contacts information.

As an administrator, you can configure Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync to enable most smartphones to be able to access Exchange Online in Office 365. Among the mobile phones that can access Office 365 are Windows Phone, Apple iPhone, Android phones, and BlackBerry® devices. Before your users can set up email and other Microsoft Exchange Server services on their phones, you must configure Exchange Online to enable Exchange ActiveSync.

After you enable email for users’ mobile phones, you can manage some phone features or options remotely. For example, you can require passwords for your users’ mobile phones.

For more information about setting up Exchange ActiveSync and managing users’ mobile phones, see Manage Exchange ActiveSync for Your Organization.

See Also

Use email on your mobile phone

Set up Office 365

As the administrator for your organization, you’ve signed up for Office 365. You signed in to your Office 365 account, explored the Admin Overview page, and watched the video tour for administrators.

Now what?

As the admin, there are a few important setup tasks you need to do before the people in your organization can use Office 365. This guide leads you through those steps.

Let’s get started.

Set up Office 365 for your organization

Step 1: Choose your domain and set up user accounts

Step 2: Set up email

Step 3: Set up your team site and documents

Step 4: Set up mobile access

Step 5: Set up online communication tools

Step 6: Set up a public website if you don’t already have one

Step 7: Get everybody ready

Step 1: Choose your domain and set up user accounts

Do you want your email addresses to use the name of your organization, like @fourthcoffee.com or @contoso.com? Most organizations do. You can do this in Office 365 if you already own a domain. (A domain is the contoso.com part of an email address or URL.)

If you don’t already own a domain, you can use the domain that you get with Office 365, which looks something like contoso.onmicrosoft.com. Before you do anything else, we recommend that you decide which domain to use and then create user accounts (if there’s anyone besides you in your organization).

Do key tasks

1. Decide if you want your email to use your custom domain. If you don’t have a custom domain, you can use the domain that you get with Office 365.

2. Set up your domain. If you have a custom domain, we’ll show you how to get it working with Office 365. See Add your domain to Office 365.
If you are using the domain you got from Office 365, go to the next step.

3. Create user accounts. No matter what kind of domain you have, you need to create user accounts so the people in your organization can sign in and use Office 365. To do this, see either Create or edit users or Add multiple users with bulk import.

You can see domain and user account information by going to the Admin Overview page in Office 365 and, in the left pane, clicking Domains or Users.

Read and plan

• Don’t have a domain yet but want one? We recommend that you get one and set it up before you create user accounts. See Buy a domain name.

• Do people in your organization use Macs? Check out Set up your Mac for Office 365 for requirements and tips.

Solve problems

• Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name.

Click here to view table as image

Step 2: Set up email

Office 365 comes with Exchange Online (which provides your email, calendar, contacts, and more) and Outlook Web App (which you can use to read all that information). When you created user accounts in the Step 1, Office 365 automatically created mailboxes for each user. But you control the settings for everyone’s email accounts, including mobile access. You need to decide the best way for your organization to import mail to Office 365.

Do key tasks

1. Control settings for Outlook and Exchange Online:

• In Office 365, click Admin, and then click any of the links under Outlook to see email and calendar settings.

• Turn on calendar publishing so people can share calendar information

• Manage Exchange Online for your organization

2. Import your email into Exchange Online: You can choose the method that works best for your organization:

• If you already use Outlook: Use Outlook to Move Data Between Accounts. This method copies mail, appointments, tasks, contacts, and more. But each person in your organization has to import their own mail; you can’t do it for them.

• If you didn’t use Outlook in the past: Migrate E-Mail from an IMAP Server to Cloud-based Mailboxes. This method imports mail, but not other items. However, each mailbox has to be imported individually. You can import email for your entire organization at one time.

• More information about importing email: Migrate Mailboxes to Office 365 for professionals and small businesses.

3. Control if people can read email on their phone or other mobile device:

• See Step 4: Set up mobile access.

Read and plan

• Videos for Exchange Online Administrators

• Outlook Web App Help Videos

• FAQs for Outlook Web App

Solve problems

• Forum: Getting started with Exchange Online

• Troubleshoot Active Migration Errors

Click here to view table as image

Step 3: Set up your team site and documents

SharePoint Online includes team sites. They provide a central place to access your organization’s documents and business information from almost anywhere. One team site is automatically created for your organization when you sign up for Office 365. You’ll need to add documents to the team site and give people permission to access it. You can also customize team sites with shared lists, calendars, pages, and more.

You get Office Web Apps (which includes Excel Web App, OneNote Web App, PowerPoint Web App, and Word Web App) with your team site. You can also save and access other documents to a team site, including documents made with the Office desktop applications.

Do key tasks

1. Set up your team site:

• Basic tasks in SharePoint Online

• Move documents and files to your SharePoint Online site

2. Give people permission to access the team site:

• Plan sites and manage users

• Share a site with external users

• Edit permissions for a list, library, or individual item

• Video: Create a site with special permissions

3. Start usingOffice Web Apps:

• Video: Get Started with Office Web Apps in Office 365

• Start Using Office Web Apps in SharePoint

4. Use Office desktop applications with Office 365:
If you have Office Professional Plus or another version of Office desktop apps, you can use them with Office 365. First, set up your desktop to work with Office 365. To do this, on the Office 365 portal, in the right pane, click Downloads, and then follow the directions.

Read and plan

• Tracking team work with Office 365

• Access your business documents from anywhere

• Getting started with SharePoint Online for Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

• SharePoint Online planning guide for Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

• Introductory videos for SharePoint Online for professionals and small businesses

Solve problems

• Forum: Getting started with SharePoint Online

• Forum: SharePoint 2010 - General Questions and Answers

• Forum: Office Web Apps

• Video: Adding a Registered Domain Name with an Existing Public-Facing Website

• Video: Re-creating the default SharePoint Team Site in Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

• Video: Troubleshooting Office 365 Desktop Setup

Click here to view table as image

Step 4: Set up mobile access

Because Office 365 stores your data in the cloud, you can access that data from cell phones and other mobile devices.

Do key tasks

After your email is on Exchange Online (which comes with Office 365), you can read it on a mobile device. You can also receive notifications from the Lync for mobile clients app. As the admin for your organization, you can turn those settings on or off for everybody else:

1. Set up your own mobile device, if you want to use one with Office 365:

• Mobile Phone Setup Wizard

• Set up Lync for mobile devices

2. Access documents on your team site:
In Step 3: Set up your team site and documents you created your organization’s team site and gave the people in your organization permission to access that site. To access your team site from a mobile device, type the site’s URL in your phone’s browser.

• Read more: Use a mobile device to work with SharePoint Online sites

Solve problems

• Community discussions about mobile features

• Forum: search for “mobile” on Outlook Live Answers

• Forum: Getting started with SharePoint Online

Click here to view table as image

Step 5: Set up online communication tools

With Lync, you can see if your coworkers are online and communicate with them through instant messaging (IM), audio calls, or video calls. You can even conduct online presentations that include audio, video, screen-sharing, and a virtual whiteboard.

Do key tasks

1. Choose audio and video devices:

• Phones and Devices Qualified for Microsoft Lync

2. Test your installation:

• Test your Lync Online installation

3. Review other resources:

• Microsoft Lync 2010 Adoption and Training Kit

4.

Read and plan

• Get Started with Lync Online

• Set up Microsoft Lync Online

• Configure dial-in conferencing

Solve problems

• Troubleshooting Lync sign-in errors

• Forum: Getting started with Lync Online

Click here to view table as image

Step 6: Set up a public website if you don’t already have one

In addition to managing your team site, you can use SharePoint Online to easily design and customize a professional-looking public website for your organization. (If you already have a website, you can have Office 365 point to it by following Step 1: Choose your domain and set up user accounts. However, you can’t import your current website into Office 365.)

Do key tasks

• Basic tasks in SharePoint Online

• Video: Design your business website

Read and plan

• Customize the public-facing Website

• SharePoint Online planning guide for Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

• Design a public-facing website

Solve problems

• Forum: Getting started with SharePoint Online

• Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address

Click here to view table as image

Step 7: Get everybody ready

After you’ve set up Office 365, you have another task—preparing and training the people in your organization.

Do key tasks

1. Test Office 365 for yourself.
After you’ve set up the services and features mentioned in this guide, test them yourself before you let your organization use them. Testing saves you a lot of time, and may reduce the number of support calls you get later.

2. Tell your organization what to expect.Send an email message to the people in your organization, telling them that they will soon be using Office 365. To learn more about Office 365 they can watch the videos in the user tour.

3. Send instructions to each user.Each user should have their user ID and temporary password, which were sent to them by Office 365 when you created their user accounts. When you are ready to roll out Office 365, send each person an email message that contains the information they need to get started.

• The URL to access the Office 365 Portal page: https://portal.microsoftonline.com

• The URL to access Outlook Web App directly:
http://mail.office365.com

• A link to Get started with Office 365, which includes instructions for the common tasks that users need to do first.

• Information about who to contact for help (probably you).

Solve problems

As the admin at your organization, you’re probably the person everyone goes to for help. That will probably also be true for Office 365. If you get asked a question that you don’t know the answer to, there are resources specifically for admins like you.

More resources:

• Office 365 Help Home: Help topics written by the Office 365 team.

• Wiki posts

• Community forums, where you can ask experts your questions, including Microsoft Online Services Technical Support representatives.

• You can also hire a partner to support Office 365 for your organization.

Click here to view table as image

Office 365 for professionals and small businesses: a tour for administrators

Office 365 for professionals and small business gives administrators a set of services that are familiar and easy to use. To see how to get up and running, watch these three short videos.

In this article

Introducing Office 365

Your role as an administrator

Working with services

Introducing Office 365

Watch an overview of what you can get with Office 365 for professionals and small businesses.

Your role as an administrator

Learn about creating user accounts, managing users, verifying a domain, adding licenses, and getting help.

Working with services

Learn about managing settings for Exchange Online, Outlook Web App, Lync Online, SharePoint Online, and Office Web Apps.

See Also

Office 365: a tour for users

Set up Office 365

Get started with Office 365

Getting started

Office 365: a tour for users

No matter what you do at your organization, you’ll find that Office 365 has the tools you need to get your job done. To learn more, watch these five short videos.

In this article

Welcome to Office 365

Email and more

Collaborate with Team Sites

Microsoft Office and Office Web Apps

Communicate now with Lync

Welcome to Office 365

Watch an overview of what you can get with Office 365.

Email and more

Learn about email, calendars, contacts, tasks, and more. Includes information on Outlook and Outlook Web App.

Collaborate with Team Sites

Learn about how to use SharePoint Online and Team Sites to share information with coworkers.

Microsoft Office and Office Web Apps

Learn about how Microsoft Office applications and Office Web Apps work together and with Office 365.

Communicate now with Lync

Learn about how Lync 2010 helps you send instant messages (IM), talk, and share your desktop.

See Also

Getting started

Get started with Office 365

Office 365 for professionals and small businesses: a tour for administrators

Get started with Office 365

Your organization uses Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses to communicate and collaborate. Office 365 includes email, document sharing, Microsoft Office Web Apps and more. There are important setup tasks that you need to do to use all of the features of Office 365. This guide leads you through those steps. Do you want to know what Office 365 can do for you? Take a video tour: Office 365: a tour for users

Explore Office 365 on the web

Connect desktop applications to Office 365

Connect to Office 365 on your phone or tablet

Got a problem?

To start, sign in to Office 365 by using the user ID and temporary password that your administrator gave you. After you sign in, you can access the features below.

Explore Office 365 on the web

You can use the Outlook Web App for email, calendar, contacts, and more. You can use a team site, including Office Web Apps, to share documents.

Read your email

Set up your email in Outlook Web App.

• Email Setup Help Wizard

• Getting Started with Outlook Web App

• Outlook Web App Help Videos

• Import Contacts

• Sign in to Outlook Web App (http://mail.office365.com)

Share a file with co-workers

Upload a file to your team site, or read or change a file that someone else has uploaded.

• Basic tasks in SharePoint Online for Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

Create or change a file

Try out the Office Web Apps. You can start Office Web Apps on the Office 365 Home page.

• Start using Office Web Apps in SharePoint

• SharePoint document libraries I: An introduction

Learn more

• Getting started

• FAQs: Sign-in and Password Issues

Click here to view table as image

Connect desktop applications to Office 365

If you have Office 2010 or Office 2007 on your computer, you can use it with Office 365. If you use a Mac, and you have Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1 or a later version, or Office 2008 for Mac 12.2.9 Update or a later version, you can use it with Office 365 also.

If your company has bought Office Professional Plus with Office 365, you can download this latest version of Office from the Office 365 Downloads page. Otherwise, if you already have Office 2010 or Office 2007 on your computer, you can set it up to work with Office 365. Versions of Office that are earlier than Office 2007 cannot connect to Office 365.

You can also install Lync (or Lync for Mac 2011 if you use a Mac) and use it for instant messaging, online meetings, sharing your desktop, and other tasks.

Install Office Professional Plus on your computer

Install the latest version of Office on your computer, and then set it up to connect to Office 365.

• Install Office Professional Plus with Office 365

Set up the version of Office that you already have to work with Office 365

You can set up Office 2010 and Office 2007 to connect to Office 365. An online tool that you can run from the Downloads page does most of the work for you.

• Set up your desktop for Office 365 (steps 4 through 6)

Install Lync and use it to send a message or start a meeting

After you sign in to Office 365, you can install Lync from the Downloads page.

• Set up your desktop for Office 365 (steps 2 and 3)

• Use instant messaging and presence

• Quick Start: Set up, start, and join an online meeting

For Mac users: Set up Office for Mac 2011 or Office 2008 for Mac to work with Office 365

If you use a Mac, you can set it up to work with Office 365.

• Set up your Mac for Office 365

For Mac users: Set up Lync

You need to do a couple of things to make Lync for Mac 2011 work with Office 365. Read this topic to learn what to do.

• Set up Lync for Mac 2011 for Office 365

Learn more

• Get Started with Lync Online

• Lync Online How-to videos

• FAQs: E-Mail Programs

Click here to view table as image

Connect to Office 365 on your phone or tablet

You can connect a variety of mobile devices—including Windows Phones, iPhones, Android mobile devices, and BlackBerry devices—to Office 365. You can use email, see your calendar, and do other tasks.

Set up email on your phone

Find out how to set up your phone to send and receive your email.

• Mobile Phone Setup Wizard

• Video: Download email from other accounts

Set up instant messaging on your phone

Find out how to install and set up Lync on your phone.

• Microsoft Lync 2010 for Mobile Clients

Share a file

You can use a mobile phone to share, read, and change files on a team site.

• Use a mobile device to work with SharePoint Online sites

Learn more

• Mobile Phones

Click here to view table as image

Got a problem?

If you have a problem with Office 365, ask an Office 365 administrator in your company for help. (If you aren’t sure who your admin is, ask around. He or she is probably the person who sent you information on how to sign in to Office 365.) If an admin isn’t available, take a look at these resources.

Read the online Help

• Home: Help topics written by the Office 365 team

Troubleshooting

• Troubleshooting Lync Online Sign-in Errors

• Troubleshoot update and configuration issues for Office 365

Ask the Office 365 Community

• Wiki posts

• Community forums

Click here to view table as image

See Also

Sign in to Office 365

Accessibility in Office 365

Add or change your profile photo

Change your contact preferences

Set up Office 365

As the administrator for your organization, you’ve signed up for Office 365. You signed in to your Office 365 account, explored the Admin Overview page, and watched the video tour for administrators.

Now what?

As the admin, there are a few important setup tasks you need to do before the people in your organization can use Office 365. This guide leads you through those steps.

Let’s get started.

Set up Office 365 for your organization

Step 1: Choose your domain and set up user accounts

Step 2: Set up email

Step 3: Set up your team site and documents

Step 4: Set up mobile access

Step 5: Set up online communication tools

Step 6: Set up a public website if you don’t already have one

Step 7: Get everybody ready

Step 1: Choose your domain and set up user accounts

Do you want your email addresses to use the name of your organization, like “@fourthcoffee.com” or “@contoso.com”? Most organizations do. You can do this in Office 365 if you already own a domain. (A domain is the “contoso.com” part of an email address or URL.)

If you don’t already own a domain, you can use the domain that you get with Office 365, which looks something like “contoso.onmicrosoft.com”. But either way, before you do anything else, we recommend that you decide which domain to use and then create user accounts (if there’s anyone besides you in your organization).

Do key tasks

In the first 30 days that you use Office 365, at the top of the Admin Overview page, you’ll see links to Add a domain and Add users.

They go to the Domains Quickstart, a step-by-step guide that leads you through the key setup tasks that everyone should do first:

1. Decide if you want your email to use your custom domain. If you don’t have a custom domain, you can use the domain that you get with your Office 365 account.

2. Set up your domain. If you have a custom domain, we’ll show you how to get it working with Office 365.

3. Create user accounts. No matter what kind of domain you have, you need to create user accounts so the people in your organization can sign in and use Office 365.

The Domains Quickstart isn’t available to everyone right now. (See the Note about the Availability of the Domains Quickstart.) But all admins can see domain and user account information by going to the Admin Overview page in Office 365 and, in the left pane, clicking Domains or Users.

Read and plan

• Guide for the Domains Quickstart step-by-step.

• Don’t have a domain yet but want one? We recommend that you get one and set it up before you create user accounts. See Locate your domain services or buy a new domain.

• Do people in your organization use Mac computers? Check out Set up your Mac for Office 365 for requirements and tips.

Solve problems

• Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name.

Click here to view table as image

Step 2: Set up email

Office 365 comes with Exchange Online (which provides your email, calendar, contacts, and more) and Outlook Web App (which you can use to read all that information). When you created user accounts in the Step 1, Office 365 automatically created mailboxes for each user. But you control the settings for everyone’s email accounts, including mobile access. You need to decide the best way for your organization to import mail to Office 365.

Do key tasks

1. Control settings for Outlook and Exchange Online:

• In Office 365, click Admin, and then click any of the links under Outlook to see email and calendar settings.

• Turn on calendar publishing so people can share calendar information

• Manage Exchange Online for your organization.

2. Import your email into Exchange Online: You can choose the method that works best for your organization:

• If you already use Outlook: Use Outlook to Move Data Between Accounts. This method copies mail, appointments, tasks, contacts, and more. But each person in your organization has to import their own mail; you can’t do it for them.

• If you didn’t use Outlook in the past: Migrate E-Mail from an IMAP Server to Cloud-based Mailboxes. This method imports mail, but not other items. However, each mailbox has to be imported individually. You can import email for your entire organization at one time.

• More information about importing email: Migrate Mailboxes to Office 365 for professionals and small businesses.

3. Control if people can read email on their phone or other mobile device:

• See Step 4: Set up mobile access.

Read and plan

• Videos for Exchange Online Administrators

• Outlook Web App Help Videos

• FAQs for Outlook Web App

Solve problems

• Forum: Getting started with Exchange Online

• Troubleshoot Active Migration Errors

Click here to view table as image

Step 3: Set up your team site and documents

SharePoint Online includes team sites. They provide a central place to access your organization’s documents and business information from almost anywhere. One team site is automatically created for your organization when you sign up for Office 365. You’ll need to add documents to the team site and give people permission to access it. You can also customize team sites with shared lists, calendars, pages, and more.

You get Office Web Apps (which includes Excel Web App, OneNote Web App, PowerPoint Web App, and Word Web App) with your team site. You can also save and access other documents to a team site, including documents made with the Office desktop applications.

Do key tasks

1. Set up your team site:

• Basic tasks in SharePoint Online

• Move documents and files to your SharePoint Online site

2. Give people permission to access the team site:• Plan sites and manage users

• Share a site with external users

• Edit permissions for a list, library, or individual item

• Video: Create a site with special permissions

3. Start usingOffice Web Apps:

• Video: Get Started with Office Web Apps in Office 365

• Start Using Office Web Apps in SharePoint

4. Use Office desktop applications with Office 365:
If you have Office Professional Plus or another version of Office desktop apps, you can use them with Office 365. First, set up your desktop to work with Office 365. To do this, on the Office 365 portal, in the right pane, click Downloads, and then follow the directions.

Read and plan

• Tracking team work with Office 365

• Access your business documents from anywhere

• Getting started with SharePoint Online for Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

• SharePoint Online planning guide for Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

• Introductory videos for SharePoint Online for professionals and small businesses

Solve problems

• Forum: Getting started with SharePoint Online

• Forum: SharePoint 2010 - General Questions and Answers

• Forum: Office Web Apps

• Video: Adding a Registered Domain Name with an Existing Public-Facing Website

• Video: Re-creating the default SharePoint Team Site in Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

• Video: Troubleshooting Office 365 Desktop Setup

Click here to view table as image

Step 4: Set up mobile access

Because Office 365 stores your data in the cloud, you can access that data from cell phones and other mobile devices.

Do key tasks

After your email is on Exchange Online (which comes with Office 365), you can read it on a mobile device. You can also receive notifications from the Lync for mobile clients app. As the admin for your organization, you can turn those settings on or off for everybody else:

1. Control if people can use a phone to access email:

• In Office 365, click Admin. Under Outlook, click Mobile access, and turn Email on or off.

• Read more: Manage how users use email and IM on their phones.

2. Set up your own mobile device, if you want to use one with Office 365:

• Mobile Phone Setup Wizard

• Set up Lync for mobile devices

3. Access documents on your team site:
In Step 3: Set up your team site and documents you created your organization’s team site and gave the people in your organization permission to access that site. To access your team site from a mobile device, type the site’s URL in your phone’s browser.

• Read more: Use a mobile device to work with SharePoint Online sites

Solve problems

• Community discussions about mobile features

• Forum: search for “mobile” on Outlook Live Answers

• Forum: Getting started with SharePoint Online

Click here to view table as image

Step 5: Set up online communication tools

With Lync, you can see if your coworkers are online and communicate with them through instant messaging (IM), audio calls, or video calls. You can even conduct online presentations that include audio, video, screen-sharing, and a virtual whiteboard.

Do key tasks

1. Choose audio and video devices:

• Phones and Devices Qualified for Microsoft Lync

2. Test your installation:

• Test your Lync Online installation

3. Review other resources:

• Microsoft Lync 2010 Adoption and Training Kit

4. Control if people can use a phone to receive Lync notifications:

• Manage how users use email and IM on their phones

Read and plan

• Get Started with Lync Online

• Set up Microsoft Lync Online

• Configure mobile phone notifications

Solve problems

• Troubleshooting Lync sign-in errors

• Forum: Getting started with Lync Online

Click here to view table as image

Step 6: Set up a public website if you don’t already have one

In addition to managing your team site, you can use SharePoint Online to easily design and customize a professional-looking public website for your organization. (If you already have a website, you can have Office 365 point to it by following Step 1: Choose your domain and set up user accounts. However, you can’t import your current website into Office 365.)

Do key tasks

• Basic tasks in SharePoint Online

• Video: Design your business website

Read and plan

• Customize the public-facing Website

• SharePoint Online planning guide for Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

• Design a public-facing website

Solve problems

• Forum: Getting started with SharePoint Online

• Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address

Click here to view table as image

Step 7: Get everybody ready

After you’ve set up Office 365, you have another task—preparing and training the people in your organization.

Do key tasks

1. Test Office 365 for yourself.After you’ve set up the services and features mentioned in this guide, test them yourself before you let your organization use them. Testing saves you a lot of time, and may reduce the number of support calls you get later.

2. Tell your organization what to expect.Send an email message to the people in your organization, telling them that they will soon be using Office 365. To learn more about Office 365 they can watch the videos in the user tour.

3. Send instructions to each user.Each user should have their user ID and temporary password, which were sent to them by Office 365 when you created their user accounts. When you are ready to roll out Office 365, send each person an email message that contains the information they need to get started.

• The URL to access the Office 365 Portal page: https://portal.microsoftonline.com

• The URL to access Outlook Web App directly: http://mail.office365.com

• A link to Get started with Office 365, which includes instructions for the common tasks that users need to do first.

• Information about who to contact for help (probably you).

Solve problems

As the admin at your organization, you’re probably the person everyone goes to for help. That will probably also be true for Office 365. If you get asked a question that you don’t know the answer to, there are resources specifically for admins like you.

More resources:• Office 365 Help Home: Help topics written by the Office 365 team.

• Wiki posts

• Community forums, where you can ask experts your questions, including Microsoft Online Services Technical Support representatives.

• You can also hire a partner to support Office 365 for your organization.

Click here to view table as image

Availability of the Domains Quickstart

This feature is available to organizations who signed up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses after the December 2011 update of Office 365, and who use Office 365 in English and chose the United States as their country or region during the sign-up process.

Service settings

Insert introduction here.

Section Heading

Insert section body here.

Subsection Heading

Insert subsection body here.

Turn on calendar publishing so people can share calendar information

With Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, your users can publish their calendars to the Internet so that people outside your organization can view their calendars. Users can choose to publish their calendars to the Internet automatically. However, as an admin, you may decide that you’re uncomfortable having people outside your organization see your users’ calendar information. In cases like this, you can turn Calendar publishing off.

Control calendar publishing for your company

1. Go to Admin > Service settings > Email and calendar.

2. Do one of the following:

• Turn off Calendar publishing to prevent people from publishing their calendars to outside contacts.

• Turn on Calendar publishing to
let people publish their calendars to outside contacts.

What is the difference between calendar publishing, calendar sharing, and delegate access?

• Calendar publishing creates URLs that users can give to people outside your organization. One URL lets the recipient subscribe to your calendar by using Outlook or Outlook Web App, and the other lets the recipient view your calendar in a Web browser. Each user controls how much detail others can see. To learn more about calendar publishing, see Calendar Publishing and Published Calendar Invitation.

• Calendar sharing lets users invite people in their organization to see their calendar. Users who share their calendars can specify how much detail the recipients can see. If users don’t share their calendars, others in their organization can still see free or busy information; users can give recipients access to more detail when they share their calendar. If others use Outlook or Outlook Web App, they can display your calendar next to theirs. You cannot share your calendar with people outside your own organization unless your organization and theirs are federated through Office 365 or Exchange. To learn more about calendar sharing, see Sharing a Calendar and Calendar Sharing Permissions.

• Delegate access lets Outlook users give permission to someone to see all of the details of their appointments and schedule meetings on their behalf. Access delegation is available in Outlook but not in Outlook Web App. To learn more about delegate access, see Allow someone else to manage your mail and calendar.

Manage how users use email and IM on their phones

As the admin, you can set up mobile phone and tablet access options for Office 365 on the Admin Overview page: Service settings > Mobile access. These settings apply to all the phones and tablets in your organization, including your own.

Most phones and tablets work with Office 365, including those that run Android, Apple iOS (iPhones and iPads), Symbian (Nokia), and Windows Phone. To set up email on a mobile device, see the Mobile Phone Setup Wizard.

Turn off Office 365 email on phones and tablets

People can set up their mobile phones and tablets to use Office 365 email unless you turn off the option. It’s a global setting, so if you turn it off, no one in your company can access their Office 365 email from a mobile device, including you.

1. Go to Admin > Service settings > Mobile access.

2. Turn off Email.

Let only some people use Office 365 email on phones and tablets

If you want to let some people access Office 365 email on their phones and tablets, but not everyone, you can do that in the Exchange Control Panel.

1. Go to Admin > Service settings > Email and calendar.

2. Under Additional email settings, click Manage additional settings in the Exchange Control Panel and follow the directions.

For more about advanced settings, see Manage Exchange ActiveSync for Your Organization.

Require a password on phones and tablets for better security

You can require that people type in a password to access their phones and tablets. This helps make your organization’s information more secure because it prevents someone else from reading company email messages if they pick up a phone or tablet that isn’t theirs.

1. Go to Admin > Service settings > Mobile access.

2. Click Device security settings.

3. Select Yes to require passwords.

After you set this password requirement, phones and tablets that already have Office 365 email, and phones and tablets that people set up later, will prompt people to set a password.

If you want to require longer passwords or set other password options, you have to make passwords required first.

Turn off IM notifications for phones and tablets

On Android and Symbian phones, Lync Mobile notifications pop up in real time. For Windows Phone, iPhone, and iPad devices, however, push notification is used to show alerts whenever you’re not actively using Lync Mobile on your phone or tablet.

You can set it up so that push notifications for Lync Mobile are off by default for Windows Phone, iPhone, and iPad devices.

1. Go to Admin > Service settings > Mobile access.

2. Turn off Instant messaging notification.

Tips:

Compare features for Lync Mobile on different phones and tablets by checking out the information in the Lync Mobile Client Comparison Tables.

To learn about how to install Lync Mobile on different phones, see Deploying Mobile Clients.

Important:

Microsoft uses other companies to provide real-time Lync mobile notifications for Windows Phone, iPhone, and iPad users. See the Privacy Statement for Microsoft Lync Products.

See Also

Set up and manage users’ mobile phones

Sign-in and passwords

Sign-in and passwords

Sign up for Office 365

Sign in to Office 365

What is my user ID and why do I need it?

Change your password

Reset a user’s password

Reset your administrator password

Troubleshoot Lync Online sign-in problems

Sign in to Office 365

As an administrator of your organization, you sign up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses for yourself and your organization on the Office 365 sign-up page. During the sign-up process, you are asked to set a new domain name and create a user ID for your account. You use this user ID to sign in to Office 365.

If you are not an administrator, an administrator adds you to the account and creates a user ID for you to use whenever you sign in to Office 365.

What do you want to do?

Sign in to Office 365

Sign out of Office 365

Sign in to Office 365

1. Go to the Office 365 sign in page.

2. Type your user ID and password. If you can’t remember your password, click Forgot your password? for instructions.

Note:

If your user account was created by an administrator, you were given a temporary password. When you sign in to Office 365 for the first time, you are required to change your temporary password before you can access the services.

3. If you want to be able to close your browser window and remain logged in to Office 365 until you sign out, select the Keep me signed in check box.

Notes:

• If you select Keep me signed in and then sign out of Office 365, you are prompted to re-enter your password the next time you sign in to Office 365.

• For security purposes, we recommend that you use Keep me signed in only on private computers, and never on public or shared computers.

4. Click Sign in.

Sign out of Office 365

To sign out of Office 365, at the top right of the Office 365 portal, click Sign out below your display name.

See Also

Sign up for Office 365

Reset a user’s password

Change your password

What is my user ID and why do I need it?

What is my user ID and why do I need it?

Your user ID is the new email address that you create when you sign up for Microsoft Office 365. You use this user ID, along with the password that you also create, every time you sign in to Office 365. An initial Office 365 user ID looks similar to the following: ellen@contoso.onmicrosoft.com.

You have to use a unique user name for your user ID, and for other users you create for your Office 365 account. The domain part of your user ID—the part to the right of the @ symbol—is either the “.onmicrosoft.com” domain that you chose when you signed up for Office 365 or another domain—for example, your organization’s custom domain—that you’ve added to Office 365.

For example, if you chose fourthcoffee.onmicrosoft.com as a domain name when you created your Office 365 account, and you chose a user name of colinw, your Office 365 user ID would be colinw@fourthcoffee.onmicrosoft.com.

If you want your user ID and Office 365 email address to use your custom domain—as in, for example, colinw@fourthcoffee.com—instead of the initial .onmicrosoft.com domain, see Add your domain to Office 365.

When you sign up for Office 365, you also need to provide an existing email address as your alternate contact email address. After you complete the signup process, you’ll get an email message at your existing email address that includes your user ID and the URL of the page where you will sign in to Office 365. If you forget your user ID, or if you don’t remember the URL of the Office 365 portal, look at the introductory email message to find this information.

You’ll create a new user ID for each user account that you add to your subscription. Office 365 generates a temporary password that you can give to new users, along with each user’s user ID, so they can sign in to Office 365.

Note:

The alternate email address you are asked to provide during the signup process is used for important communications, such as administrator password resets. Information about service and billing, and promotional information that you choose to receive, will also be sent to this email address. If you are an administrator, you can change this email address on the My Profile page.

See Also

Sign up for Office 365

Change your password

When you first sign in to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, use the temporary password given to you, and then create a new password to use for sign-in thereafter. You can also change your password at any time after you have signed in. This topic addresses changing your password once you have signed in.

What do you want to do?

Change my password

Learn about password policy

Change my password

To change your password, follow these steps:

1. In the Office 365 portal, in the top right corner near your name, click My profile.

2. On the My profile page, click Change password.

3. On the Change password page, type your old password a new password, and then retype the new password to confirm it.

4. Click Submit.

Note:

When you change your password in Office 365, be sure to update the password on your phone and desktop email program to match the new password for your account.

Password policy

The user password policy is as follows:

• When you create a new password, use the following guidelines.

• Use 8 to 16 characters.

• Use a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters.

• Use at least one number or symbol.

• Do not use spaces, tabs, or line breaks.

• Do not use your user name (the part of your user ID to the left of the @ symbol).

• If you forget your password, you must request a password reset from an Office 365 administrator. Your administrator can provide you with a new temporary password to use the next time you sign in.

• If you forget your password and you are the only Office 365 administrator in your organization, you can reset your own password if you have previously provided an alternate email address and a mobile phone number that can receive a text message. For information about resetting your own password, see Reset your administrator password. For information about how to set up your administrator account with an alternate email address and mobile phone number, see Assigning administrator permissions. If you have not provided the necessary mobile phone number and email address, request a password reset by submitting a service request.

See Also

Sign in to Office 365

Reset a user’s password

Reset a user’s password

As an administrator, you can reset passwords for users who have forgotten them. The passwords you assign are temporary, and users must change the password the next time they sign in. Only administrators can reset passwords.

To reset a user’s password, do the following:

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. In the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, select the check box next to the user whose password you want to change, and then click Reset password.

4. To send the temporary password to yourself or other contacts, on the Send results in email page, select the Send email check box, and type the email addresses of the recipients. Enter email addresses separated by semicolons (;). You can enter a maximum of five email addresses.

5. Click Reset password. Office 365 generates a password automatically and sends the password to the email addresses that you specify.

6. On the Results page, click Finish.

Note:

When the user’s password changes in Office 365, be sure that they also update their password on their phone and desktop email program to match the new password.

Administrators can also use the password self-reset process to reset their own passwords, but only if they have provided an alternate email address and a mobile phone number that can receive text messages. For more information about how to set up an administrator’s account so that the administrator can use password self-reset, see Assigning administrator permissions. For more information about how to use password self-reset, seeReset your administrator password.

See Also

Change your password

Assigning administrator permissions

Change how often passwords expire

User passwords expire on a regular basis in Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses. As an admin, you can set a policy to make a user’s password expire after a certain number of days. Users are notified to change their password starting 14 days before their password expires.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, click Change now.

4. On the Password expiration policy dialog, type the number of days before the password should expire, and then click OK. Choose a number of days between 14 and 730.

More about passwords and password expiration policies

• How many days should I choose? Many organizations require new passwords every two or three months. Choose a number of days between 14 and 730.

• Are users notified that their password will expire? The user sees a message whenever they sign in, starting at 14 days before their password expires. The message shows the number of days left before their password expires and gives a link to the Change password page. See Change my password.

• What if a user doesn’t change their password in time? The user can still change their password after it has expired. The Change password page shows when the user signs in, and they can enter a new password. You can also reset the user’s password for them, if necessary. See Reset a user’s password.

Sign up for Office 365

Before you sign up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, make sure that your computer has one of the combinations of operating system and Internet browser listed in Software requirements for Office 365. To learn whether Office 365 and all the services in Office 365 are available in the country or region where you do business, see License restrictions for Office 365.

As the administrator of your organization, you sign up for yourself and your organization. You can sign up for a free trial or purchase a subscription. After you have created your organization’s account, use the administrative tools in Office 365 to create user accounts, and then assign them to each user in your organization. During the sign-up process, you are asked to set a new domain name and create a user ID for your account.

What do you want to do?

Sign up for Office 365

Opt out of future Office 365 mailings

Sign up for Office 365

During the sign-up process for the free trial or to purchase Office 365, you provide information about your organization. You also create a user name and a new domain name that together become the user ID for your account. Use your user ID each time you sign in to Office 365. For more information, see What is my user ID and why do I need it?

To sign up for Office 365, follow these steps.

1. On the Office 365 portal, click the appropriate link to buy Office 365 or to get the free trial.

2. Do one of the following:

• If you are signing up to purchase Office 365, on the Buy Office 365 page, click the Professionals and small businesses tab, and then click Buy.

• If you are signing up for the trial, on the Try Office 365 for free for 30 days page, click FREE TRIAL under Small businesses (Plan P1).

3. On the Sign up page, select the country or region where your organization will use Office 365, and then select the language that you want to use for business communications.

Important

• The billing currency and local tax rates vary depending on the country or region that you select.

• Be sure to select the right country or region. Your account will be assigned to the data center that is closest to your location. This assignment cannot be changed.

4. Type your first and last name and your organization name. Your first and last name will be displayed on the Office 365 portal after you sign in.

5. Type an existing email address.

Note:

The email address that you provide is where you will receive password reset information if you forget your Office 365 password and request a reset. Service, billing, and promotional information that you choose to receive will also be sent to this email address.

6. Type a descriptive name for your new domain so that it is in the following format: contoso. onmicrosoft.com. Click Check Availability to ensure that the domain name is available.

Note:

After you create your account, you can keep the domain name that you created during sign-up or change it to your organization’s custom domain name. To use your organization’s custom domain name, you first need to add it to Office 365. For information about adding your domain name, see Add your domain to Office 365.

7. Type a user name, and then type a password. Retype the password to confirm it.

Note:

For password guidelines, see Change your password.

8. Type the numbers and letters that you see in the picture box. The characters are not case-sensitive. This step confirms that a person—not an automated program—is signing up for an account. If you cannot clearly read the characters in the picture box, do one of the following:

• To see a new picture box, click the Refresh button next to the picture box.

• To hear an audio recording of the characters, click the Speaker button. The recording will be for a different set of characters from those that appear in the picture box. If after hearing the recording you decide that it would be easier to type the characters in the picture box, click the Refresh button to see a new picture box. Type the numbers and letters that appear in the new picture box.

9. Review the service agreement, and if you agree, click I accept and continue to complete the sign-up process.

After you finish signing up, you are automatically signed in to Office 365 as an administrator. An email message that contains your account information is sent to the email address that you provided during the sign-up process. Keep this email message to refer to if you forget your user ID or the website address where you sign in to Office 365.

Opt out of future Office 365 mailings

If you don’t want any Office 365 promotional information to be sent to your alternate email address, you can click the Unsubscribe link in any email message that is sent from Office 365. It can take up to 10 days for the change to take effect.

See Also

Sign in to Office 365

Create or edit users

Change your contact preferences

Reset your administrator password

If you are an administrator for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses and have forgotten your password, you can reset your own password. Only administrators can reset their own passwords. You can also ask another administrator to reset your password for you. For more information about how an administrator can reset your password, see Reset a user’s password.

Important:

To reset your own password, you must have already provided an alternate email address and a mobile phone number that is enabled with text messaging. For instructions on how to add this information to a user account, see Create or edit users.

To reset your own password, do the following:

1. At the Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses sign in page, click Forgot your password?

Note:

If you don’t see the Forgot your password link, first click your user ID.

2. On the first page of the Reset your password wizard, click the appropriate option and click Next. Only administrators can reset their own passwords.

3. On the User verification page, type your user ID and the characters for verification, and then click Next. An email containing instructions is sent to your alternate email address.

4. Read the instructions in the email message, and then click the link Reset your password now.

When you click the link in the email message, a security code is sent to your mobile phone.

Important:

You need to respond within 10 minutes to the email and to the text message. Complete the reset process using the same computer and browser session. If you close your browser window, or take longer than 10 minutes to respond, you’ll have to restart the process.

5. In the wizard, on the Mobile phone verification page, type the Security code you received on your mobile phone.

6. On the Create a new password page, type a new password, confirm the new password, and click Finish.

7. When your password has been reset, click the link in the wizard to return to the Office 365 sign-in page and sign in with your new password.

Note:

When your password is changed in Office 365, be sure that you also update your password on your phone and desktop email program to match the new password.

If you have not provided the necessary mobile phone number and email address required to reset your own password, request a password reset by submitting a service request.

See Also

Reset a user’s password

[Video] Performing Administrator Self-Serve Password Resets in Office 365

[Video] Troubleshooting Administrator Self-Serve Password Resets in Office 365

Self-service password reset error in Office 365: “Contact an administrator to reset your password”

Self-service password reset error in Office 365: “Invalid Security Code”

User accounts and permissions

User accounts and permissions

About administering your account

Assigning administrator permissions

Create or edit users

Delete or restore users

Add or remove a delegated administrator

Create, edit, or delete a user view

Add multiple users with bulk import

License restrictions for Office 365

Manage licenses

View or edit company information

Add, change, or remove a subscription advisor partner

About administering your account

As an administrator of Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you can use the Admin Overview page to manage settings for your company, user accounts, and the services to which your company is subscribed. To access this page, click Admin in the header. From this page you can:

• Create and manage users and groups.

• Manage the services your company subscribes to, such as SharePoint Online and Microsoft Exchange Online.

• Manage the billing and payment details for your account.

• Get support for a technical issue or an issue with your subscription, and access Help.

This topic describes administrator tasks for Office 365. For information about administrator roles and permissions for other services in Office 365 such as Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online, see the wiki article Permissions in Office 365 FAQ.

Administrative skills and tasks

Administrators manage different aspects of the Office 365 service, such as creating and editing users, support issues, and billing. In addition to performing tasks specific to Office 365, we recommend that all administrators have experience in the following areas:

• Knowledge of the organization’s IT environment, network, and Internet connectivity

• Experience supporting and administering operating systems and applications for personal computers

• Experience providing user assistance or training

• Ability to troubleshoot user issues

The following are examples of potential administrator responsibilities:

• Create, change, or delete user accounts

• Monitor service licenses and service health

• Manage passwords

• Resolve user issues with email and SharePoint Online services

• Manage sites and site collections

• Pay subscription fees

• Migrate from the existing company environment to Office 365

• Train and support workers on how to use Office 365

• Escalate issues to Office 365 Support

See Also

Get support for Office 365

Create or edit users

Add multiple users with bulk import

Assigning administrator permissions

When you sign up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you are designated as the administrator. The administrator has access to all features in the administration center, including the ability to assign administrator permissions to others.

Administrators can do the following:

• View company and user information

• Manage support tickets

• Reset user passwords

• Create and manage user views

• Create, edit, and delete users and groups, and manage user licenses

• Access billing information

• Manage domains

• Manage company information

• Assign administrator permissions to others

Note:

If you did not purchase Office 365 directly from Microsoft, you will not be able to make billing changes. For billing issues, contact the administrator at the company where you purchased your subscription.

This topic describes administrator permissions for Office 365. For information about administrator roles and permissions for other services in Office 365 such as Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online, see the wiki article Permissions in Office 365 FAQ.

What do you want to do?

Assign or remove administrator permissions for an existing user

Assign or remove administrator permissions for multiple users

Assign or remove administrator permissions for an existing user

Watch the video (3:00)

Use this procedure to assign or remove permissions for an existing user.

Important:

Administrators who forget their passwords can use the password self-reset process to regain access to their accounts. To use this feature, both a mobile phone number that can receive a text message and an alternate email address that is not tied to the Office 365 subscription must be included with an administrator’s information.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. In the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, select the check box next to the name of the user whose administrator permissions you want to change, and then click Edit.

4. Click the Settings tab. Under Assign permissions, select No to remove permissions or Yes to grant permissions. If you select Yes, provide additional information on the Settings tab and on the Details tab as explained in the next two steps. This email address is used for important notifications.

5. In the Alternate email address box, type an email address that is not connected to Office 365. This email address is used for important notifications, including password self-reset, so the user must be able to access the email account even if the user cannot access Office 365.

6. Click the Details tab. Under Additional details, in the Mobile phone box, type the number of a mobile phone—including the country code—that can receive a text (SMS) message, if the user has one. This phone number is also used in the password self-reset process.

7. When you have finished, click Save.

Assign or remove administrator permissions for multiple users

Use the following instructions to assign or remove permissions for multiple existing users.

Note:

You cannot assign administrator permissions during the process of adding multiple users with bulk import.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. In the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, select the check box next to the names of the users that you want to assign administrator permissions to or remove administrator permissions from, and then click Edit.

4. On the Details page, click Next.

5. On the Settings page, under Assign permissions, select No to remove permissions or Yes to grant permissions and click Next.

6. On the Assign licenses page, click Submit.

7. On the Results page, review your results. When you have completed your review, click Finish.

See Also

About administering your account

Create or edit users

Add multiple users with bulk import

Create or edit users

You have to create an account for every user who will access Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses services. You can also change user accounts or delete them when they’re no longer needed. For more information, see Assigning administrator permissions. By default, users do not have administrator permissions, but you can optionally assign them. For more information, see Assigning administrator permissions.

By default, users do not have administrator permissions, but you can optionally assign them. For more information, see Assigning administrator permissions.

What do you want to do?

Create a user

Edit a user

Edit multiple users

Delete one or more users

Create a user

To create a single user account, follow these steps. To add several users all at once, see Add multiple users with bulk import.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, click New, and then click User.

4. On the Details page, complete the user information. Click the arrow next to Additional details to add optional user information, and then click Next.

5. On the Settings page, if you want the user to have administrator permissions, click Yes. For important details about administrator accounts, see Assigning administrator permissions.

Note:

If you are an administrator for a partner company, you’ll see more settings for assigning administrative privileges.

6. Under Set user location, select the user’s work location, and then click Next.

7. On the Assign licenses page, select the licenses that you want to assign to the user, and then click Next.

Note:

If you have no licenses available, you can purchase more licenses, remove licenses from existing users, or delete user accounts that have assigned licenses.

8. On the Send results in email page, select Send email to send the user name and temporary password (Office 365 creates the password automatically) for the newly created user to yourself and recipients of your choice by email. Type email addresses separated by semicolons (;), and then click Create. You can enter a maximum of five email addresses.

9. On the Results page, the new user and temporary password are displayed. When you’re finished reviewing the results, click Finish.

Notes:

If your organization uses more than one domain, you should know about the following issues when you create a user account:

You can create user accounts with the same user principal name (UPN) across domains if you first create, for example, geoffgrisso@contoso.onmicrosoft.com followed by geoffgrisso@contoso.com.

You cannot create geoffgrisso@contoso.com followed by geoffgrisso@contoso.onmicrosoft.com.

Edit a user

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, select the check box next to the user that you want to edit, and then click Edit.

4. Click the Details, Settings, Licenses, or More tabs, depending on the changes that you want to make. Complete your changes, and then click Save.

Edit multiple users

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, select the check boxes next to the users that you want to edit, and then click Edit.

4. On the Details page, edit the information as needed, and then click Next.

5. On the Settings page, edit the information as needed, and then click Next.

6. On the Assign licenses page, do one of the following, and then click Submit.

• If you’re not making any changes to the existing license assignments, click Retain current license assignments.

• To replace existing license assignments, click Replace existing license assignments and then select one or more licenses from the list.

• To add licenses to the existing license assignments, click Add to existing license assignments, and then select one or more licenses from the list.

Note:

If you have no licenses available, you can purchase more licenses, recover the use of service licenses by removing licenses from existing users, or delete user accounts that have assigned licenses.

7. On the Results page, review your results. When you’re finished reviewing the results, click Finish.

Note:

Some changes may take time to apply across multiple services.

Delete one or more users

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, select the check box next to the user or users that you want to delete, and then click Delete.

4. In the Delete confirmation message, click Yes.

See Also

Create, edit, or delete a user view

Add multiple users with bulk import

Manage licenses

Assigning administrator permissions

Create, edit, or delete a user view

If you are an administrator of Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you can create user views that all administrators can use to view a filtered list of users. There are two kinds of views:

• Standard views offer the most common queries performed by administrators, such as “Sign-in allowed users.” Standard views are displayed by default; you can’t edit or delete them.

Note:

Some standard views will display an
unsorted list when there are more than 2, 000 users in the list. To locate specific users in this list, use the search box.

• Custom views are views that you create and are available to all administrators. When you create, edit, or delete a view, these changes are reflected in the list of custom views that all administrators in your company see. You can create and edit up to 50 custom views.

For custom views, you can use the following filters:

• Assigned license: Use this filter to show users who have the selected license assigned to them. Users may also have additional licenses.

• Users with errors: Use this filter to show users who may have provisioning errors.

• Users with no licenses: Use this filter to find all users who have not been assigned a license. The results for this view can also include users who have an Exchange mailbox but no license. To track those users specifically, use the filter Users with Exchange mailboxes or archives and no licenses.

• Users with Exchange mailboxes or archives and no licenses: These are users who were created in Microsoft Exchange Online and assigned an Exchange mailbox, but were not assigned an Office 365 license.

Note:

If you create a custom view that returns more than 2,000 users, the resulting user list will be unsorted. In this case, use the search box to find users or Edit view to refine your search.

What do you want to do?

• Create a custom user view

• Edit a custom user view

• Delete a custom user view

Create a custom user view

Watch the video (3:02)

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, from the View drop-down list, select New view.

4. On the New view page, enter the information that you want to include in your user view, and then click Save. Your custom view is now included in the View drop-down list.

Note:

If you select multiple filter options, you will get results that contain users who match all of the selected criteria.

Edit a custom user view

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, from the View drop-down list, select the view that you want to edit.

Note:

You can edit only custom views.

4. From the View drop-down list, select Edit view.

5. On the Edit view page, edit the information as needed, and then click Save.

Delete a custom user view

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, from the View drop-down list, select the view that you want to delete.

Note:

You can delete only custom views.

4. From the View drop-down list, select Delete view.

5. When asked to confirm that you want to delete the view, click Yes.

See Also

Create or edit users

Assigning administrator permissions

Add multiple users with bulk import

Add multiple users with bulk import

You can import multiple users into Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses from a single file source. The file must be a comma-separated values (CSV) file and adhere to the required format.

What do you want to do?

Learn about CSV files

Add users with bulk import

About CSV files

A CSV file is an easy way to transfer a large amount of data between programs. It is a plain-text file that stores database-style information in a special format. The format requires one record on each line. Fields within records must be separated by commas.

You can use the Bulk add users wizard to upload an existing CSV file, or you can use the provided blank CSV template and edit it in a text editor such as Notepad. The template contains user data column labels under which you enter information about the users that you want to import. The wizard also includes a sample CSV file that provides a correctly formatted example containing sample user data.

When you create a CSV file, you can enter user data column labels in any language or characters, but the order of the labels as shown in the sample is important for the correct fields to be populated. You can then make entries into the fields, using any language or characters, and save your file in a Unicode or UTF-8 format.

The minimum number of rows is two, including the first row of user data column labels (the second row is a user). The maximum number of rows is 251, including the first row of user data column labels. Only the user name and display name are required entries. If you need to import more than 250 users, create multiple CSV files. The following table shows the user data column labels and maximum character length for each in the sample CSV file.

Important:

When you create or edit a CSV file, use Notepad or another simple text editor to avoid potential file processing problems.

User data column labels

Maximum character length

User Name (Required)

The maximum total length of the user name is 79 characters (including @ symbol), in the format name@domain.<extension>. The user’s alias cannot exceed 30 characters and the domain name cannot exceed 48 characters.

First Name

64

Last Name

64

Display Name (Required)

256

Job Title

64

Department

64

Office Number

128

Office Phone

64

Mobile Phone

64

Fax

64

Address

1024

City

128

State or Province

128

ZIP or Postal Code

40

Country or Region

128

Click here to view table as image

Add users with bulk import

Caution

If you are importing users from different countries or regions, we recommend creating a separate CSV file for each country or region and performing a bulk import operation for each CSV file. This is because you will be indicating the location of the users in the CSV file as part of this import process, and only one location can be selected per bulk import operation.

Make sure that the User Name column of your CSV file contains the full email address (for example, bob@contoso.com) for each of your users, or you will receive an error when you upload the file.

To add multiple users using a CSV file, do the following.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. In the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, click the arrow next to New, and then click Bulk add.

4. On the Select a CSV file page, do one of the following, and then click Next.

• Click Browse to specify an existing CSV file on your computer.

• Click Download a blank CSV file to create a CSV file using the template provided. Save the file to your computer when you have finished and then click Browse to specify the file that you just created.

• Click Download a sample CSV file to open a correctly formatted example containing sample user data. If you create your CSV file from this sample file, save the file to your computer when you have finished inserting your data, and then click Browse to specify the file that you just created.

Caution:

Do not add, change, or delete column labels in the CSV template or sample file, and make sure that you save the file with a .csv extension, or the file may not upload correctly.

5. On the Verification results page, confirm that there are no errors in your CSV file and that the number of users to import is correct. To review errors in the log file, click View. If you have errors in your CSV file, click Back. Open your CSV file and make the corrections, and then perform step 4 again. Once your CSV file has passed verification, click Next.

Notes:

• This is a verification step only. Users are not added at this point.

• If you must perform step 4 again to correct the CSV file, click Browse again to reattach the updated CSV file, even though the file is still selected under path and file name.

6. On the Settings page, under Set sign-in status, select Allowed to allow users to sign in to Office 365 and access licensed services, or Blocked to block users from signing in to Office 365 and accessing licensed services. Under Set user location, select the users’ work location, and then click Next.

7. On the Assign licenses page, select the licenses that you want to assign to all the users being imported, and then click Next.

8. On the Send results in email page, select Send email to send a user name and temporary password for the added users to yourself and/or recipients of your choice. Enter preferred email addresses separated by semicolons (;), and then click Create.

Note:

You can enter a maximum of five email addresses.

9. On the Results page, a list of successfully imported users and their temporary passwords is displayed, as well as any errors that occurred during the import process. If a user was not imported, you will receive a status message indicating the reason. If you chose not to send yourself this information by email, you can click View to open the log file, and then print or save the information.

10. When you have finished reviewing the results, click Close.

Note:

Changes may take time to apply across multiple services.

See Also

Create or edit users

View or edit company information

You created your organization’s profile the first time you signed up for a trial or paid subscription. The information you provided during the sign-up process determines such things as billing address, contact information, and the primary domain name assigned.

What do you want to do?

• View your organization’s profile

• Edit your organization’s profile

View your organization’s profile

1. In the header, click Admin.
The name of your organization is displayed at the top of the left pane. The name acts as a link to your organization’s profile.

2. Click your organization’s name to see the profile.

Edit your organization’s profile

1. In the header, click Admin.
The name of your organization is displayed at the top of the left pane. The name of your organization acts as a link to your organization’s profile.

2. Click your organization’s name to see the profile.

3. In the profile window, under your organization’s name, click Edit.

Notes:

You set the Country or region for your organization when you first sign up. While you can change other information in this profile, you cannot change the Country or region setting after sign-up.

The Language preference determines the language for all business communications that are sent from Microsoft to your organization. At the time of sign-up, it determines the language used by SharePoint Online, which your users see on your team site. If you change the language preference after sign-up, all future communications will be sent in the language selected. However, the language used by SharePoint Online cannot be changed.

The Language preference in the organization’s profile can be different from the Display language setting in the user’s profile.

• The administrator selects the Language preference administrator in the organization’s profile.

• Individual users, including administrators, control the Display language setting in their user profiles. This option determines the language they see in the Office 365 portal user interface. Users can access their profiles and change their display language by clicking My profile at the top right of the Office 365 portal.

See Also

Add or change your profile photo

Change licenses or storage space for your subscription

Update your credit card information

Add, change, or remove a subscription advisor partner

A Microsoft partner who serves as your subscription advisor provides you with the sales, support, and technical expertise to help you set up and maintain your subscription. Working with a partner is an excellent way to maximize the benefits available in Microsoft Office 365 for enterprises. You can add a partner at the time of purchase or at a later date.

Partner availability depends on the services you use and the country or region where you will use those services. If you are adding a partner, or changing the partner for your subscription, you first need to obtain the partner’s Microsoft Partner ID.

What do you want to do?

• Add a partner at the time of purchase

• Add a partner to a subscription

• Change the partner for a subscription

• Remove the partner from a subscription

Add a partner at the time of purchase

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Purchase.

2. On the Purchase subscriptions page, click Add next to each service that you would like to purchase.

3. Click Add to cart.

4. When your cart includes all of the subscriptions that you want to purchase, click Check out.

5. In the first step of the Check out wizard, in the right pane, under Partner information, click Add.

6. Type the Microsoft Partner ID for the partner you are adding.

7. Complete the rest of the wizard to finish buying your subscriptions.

Add a partner to a subscription

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Manage.

2. Click the name of the subscription that you want to modify.

3. On the Subscription details page, in the right pane under Partner information, click Add.

4. Type the Microsoft Partner ID for the partner you are adding.

Change the partner for a subscription

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Manage.

2. Click the name of the subscription that you want to modify.

3. On the Subscription details page, in the right pane under Partner information, click Edit.

4. Click Change.

5. Type the new Microsoft Partner ID for the partner you are adding.

Remove the partner from a subscription

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Manage.

2. Click the name of the subscription that you want to modify.

3. On the Subscription details page, in the right pane under Partner information, click Edit.

4. A window appears with the name of the partner. Clear the Microsoft partner ID text box, and then click OK.

See Also

Buy subscriptions for your company

Buy additional subscriptions

Add or remove a delegated administrator

Add or remove a delegated administrator

When you subscribe to a service in the Microsoft Office 365 family, you are given administrator permissions. You can then assign administrator permissions to other users in your company. However, if you want someone else to administer the service, you can delegate this role to a Microsoft partner. When you authorize a partner to take on this role, the partner is referred to as a delegated administrator.

If are not currently working with a partner, you can find one on the Microsoft Pinpoint website.

What do you want to do?

• Add a delegated administrator

• View your delegated administrators

• Remove a delegated administrator

Add a delegated administrator

This process must be initiated by your partner. The partner sends you an email message asking you if you want to give them permissions to act as a delegated administrator.

1. Read the partner’s terms in the email message.

2. To authorize the agreement, click the link.

The link goes to an authorization page in the Office 365 portal.

View your delegated administrators

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Support, click Overview.

2. On the Support overview page, under Delegated administrators, click Manage your delegated administrators.

Your delegated administrator is listed on the Delegated administrators page.

If you do not have a delegated administrator, the list is blank.

Remove a delegated administrator

When you remove a delegated administrator, you remove the partner’s permissions to access and modify your service. You can remove the delegated partner at any time.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Support, click Overview.

2. On the Support overview page, under Delegated administrators, click Manage your delegated administrators.

3. On the Delegated administrators page, select the partner that you want to remove.

4. Click Remove delegated administrator.

See Also

Add, change, or remove a subscription advisor partner

Manage licenses

A subscription to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses is made up of a number of licenses to a set of services. A company chooses the services it needs and the number of users that it requires for each of those services; then, the administrator assigns a license to each user for each service that user needs to access.

There are two broad categories of tasks that administrators perform on licenses:

• Assigning and adding licenses: You can assign licenses to new users when creating new accounts, and you can assign licenses to existing accounts. You can add a license (for example, if you have assigned all of your licenses for a particular service, and another user needs that service) or remove a license from a user entirely (if that user won’t need that service again).

• Resolving license conflicts: A license conflict occurs when your company has more users assigned to a service than you have available licenses for that service. You can resolve this by removing a license from a user, buying more licenses, or deleting a user account.

What do you want to do?

Assign a license to a user

Remove a license from a user

Purchase more licenses

Delete a user to free a license

Assign a license to a user

Global administrators can assign a license to a user. In most cases, this is done when the user account is first created. For more information, see Create or edit users.

It is also possible to change license assignments for users after they are created. To add a license to an existing user account, do the following.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. In the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. Click the name of the user to whom you want to assign a license. The Assign licenses page appears.

4. Select the check box for the license that you want to assign, and then click Save.

Notes:

• Not all services are available in all user locales. For a list of restrictions, see License restrictions for Office 365.

• You can assign new licenses or replace existing licenses for more than one user at a time. On the Users page, select the check box next to the names of the users, click Edit, and then click Next twice until the Assign licenses page appears. Select Replace existing license assignments or Add to existing license assignments, and then select the check box for the licenses that you want to assign. For information about editing multiple users, see Create or edit users.

• You cannot assign a license if your company doesn’t have any available for that service. For the procedure to purchase more licenses, see Purchase more licenses.

Remove a license from a user

If users’ job responsibilities change, a global administrator can change the services that they use by removing the licenses from those users. In addition, if you have a license conflict where you have more users assigned to a service than you have licenses available, you can resolve the conflict by removing licenses from users who no longer use them.

When you remove a license, all data associated with that service for that user is deleted and cannot be recovered (with the exception of documents that they saved on SharePoint Online). For example, if you remove a license for Microsoft Exchange Online from a user, that user’s mailbox and all messages contained in it are deleted. We recommend that you instead either purchase more licenses or delete user accounts for users who no longer work at your company.

To remove a license from a user, do the following.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. In the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. Click the name of the user from whom you want to remove the license. The Assign licenses page appears.

4. Clear the check box for the license that you want to remove, and then click Save.

Caution:

When you remove a license from a user, any data associated with that user for that service is deleted and cannot be recovered (with the exception of documents saved on SharePoint Online).

For more information, see Create or edit users and Change licenses or storage space for your subscription.

(Back to top)

Purchase more licenses

If your company hires more people or changes work assignments, you might need more licenses for the services you already use. A global administrator can purchase more licenses at any point. In addition, if you have a license conflict where you have more users assigned to a service than you have licenses available, you can resolve the conflict by buying more licenses for that service.

To purchase more licenses, do the following.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. In the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Purchase.

3. Find the service that you want to buy licenses for, and then click Add more.

4. Follow the directions on the screen to complete your purchase.

For more information about subscriptions, see Buy subscriptions for your company and Change licenses or storage space for your subscription.

Delete a user to free a license

If an employee leaves your company, a global administrator can delete that employee’s account. When you do this, any licenses that had been assigned to that person become available and can be assigned to other users.

To delete a user account, do the following.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. In the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. Select the check box next to the name of the user you want to delete, and then click Delete.

4. When the dialog box appears to ask if you are sure you want to delete the user, click Yes.

Caution:

When a user account is deleted, all data for that user is deleted (with the exception of documents saved on SharePoint Online). Only delete users when you know that they will not need that data in the future.

(Back to top)

See Also

Buy subscriptions for your company

Change licenses or storage space for your subscription

License restrictions for Office 365

Create or edit users

Assigning administrator permissions

Delete or restore users

When a user no longer needs their Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses user account, such as when they leave the organization, you should delete the user account. Deleting the user account frees the Office 365 licenses assigned to it, and ensures that unauthorized persons do not continue to use the account. For more information about how to remove licenses from users, see Manage licenses.

When you delete a user account, the account becomes inactive. However, for approximately 30 days after you have deleted it, you can restore it. When you restore an account, you may encounter conflicts with user names or proxy addresses. You also must ensure that there are Office 365 licenses available to assign to accounts before you restore them.

This topic explains how to delete a user account, how to restore a user account, and how to resolve conflicts when restoring accounts.

What do you want to do?

Delete one or more users

Restore one or more users

Restore a user with a user name conflict

Restore a user with a proxy address conflict

Delete one or more users

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, select the check box next to the user or users that you want to delete, and then click Delete.

4. In the confirmation dialog box, click Yes.

Restore one or more users

Deleted user accounts are listed on the Deleted tab of the Users page.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, click the Deleted tab.

4. On the Deleted page, select the check box next to the user or users that you want to restore, and then click Restore.

5. In the confirmation dialog box, click Yes.

Restore a user with a user name conflict

A user name conflict occurs when an administrator deletes a user account, creates a new user account with the same user name (either for the same user or another user with a similar name), and later tries to restore the deleted account.

To resolve a user name conflict, you can either replace the active user account with the one that you are restoring, or assign a different user name to the account that you are restoring so that there are not two accounts with the same user name.

To restore a user with a user name conflict, follow these steps.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, click the Deleted tab.

4. On the Deleted page, select the check box next to the user or users that you want to restore, and then click Restore.

Note:

If two or more users fail to be restored, an error message advises you that the restore operation failed for some users. You can view the log to see which users were not restored. You must restore the failed accounts one at a time.

5. On the User name conflict page, do one of the following:

• If you want to keep both the restored account and the conflicting active account, click Change the user name of the user you want to restore, type a new user name, and then click the appropriate domain name.

• If you want to remove the active account and replace it with the account that you are restoring, click Replace active user with this deleted user.

6. Click Submit.

7. Review the results, and then click Finish.

Restore a user with a proxy address conflict

A proxy address conflict occurs when an administrator deletes a user account that contains a proxy address, assigns the same proxy address to another account, and then tries to restore the deleted account.

To restore a user with a proxy address conflict, follow these steps.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Users.

3. On the Users page, click the Deleted tab.

4. On the Deleted page, select the check box next to the user or users that you want to restore, and then click Restore.

Note:

If two or more users fail to be restored, an error message advises you that the restore operation failed for some users. You can view the log to see which users were not restored. You must restore the failed accounts one at a time.

5. On the Resolve proxy address conflict page, if you want to restore the user account and delete the proxy addresses attached to that account, click Submit.

Note:

If a user account contains more than one error that prevents you from restoring it, the Resolve proxy address conflict page displays a Next button instead of a Submit button. Click Next to resolve the error on the next page.

6. Review the results, and then click Finish.

See Also

Create or edit users

Manage licenses

Update and configure desktops

Update and configure desktops

Set up your desktop for Office 365

Install Office Professional Plus with Office 365

Set up your Mac for Office 365

Set up Lync for Mac 2011 for Office 365

Troubleshoot update and configuration issues for Office 365

Manually update and configure desktops for Office 365

Set up your Mac for Office 365

Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses is compatible with Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1 or a later version, and with Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12. 2. 9 Update or a later version. If you use Office 2008 for Mac 12. 2. 9 Update or a later version, you must also install Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition.

For information about how to purchase Office for Mac 2011 or Microsoft Lync for Mac 2011, see the following:

• Office for Mac Standard 2011

• Office for Mac Home and Business 2011

• Lync for Mac 2011

Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition is a separate update that is not included with the Office 2008 for Mac 12. 2. 9 Update. You can download Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition for free. To download and install it, go to Download Details for Microsoft Entourage 2008 for Mac, Web Services Edition.

This topic explains how to set up your Mac so that you get the most out of Office 365 on a Mac. For information about how to set up Lync for Mac 2011, see Set up Lync for Mac 2011 for Office 365.

After you have set up your Mac, you will be able to:

• Manage messages, tasks, contacts, and calendars by using Microsoft Outlook for Mac 2011, Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition, or Microsoft Outlook Web App.

• Open, edit, save, and co-author documents that are located on a Microsoft SharePoint site by using Office for Mac 2011 and Microsoft Document Connection.

• Open, edit, and save documents that are located on a SharePoint site by using Office 2008 for Mac and Document Connection.

• Participate in online meetings by using the Microsoft Lync Web App.

In this article

• System requirements for Macintosh-based operating systems

• Install updates for Office for Mac 2011

• Install and configure updates for Office 2008 for Mac

• Participate in online meetings by using Lync Web App

• Configure Office to access your team site

System requirements for Macintosh-based operating systems

These tables list the Macintosh-based operating systems, browsers, and applications that are compatible with Office 365. For a complete list that includes Windows-based operating systems, see Software requirements for Office 365.

Desktop applications

Supported operating systems

Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1 or later version

Mac OS X 10. 5. 8 or later version

Office 2008 for Mac 12. 2. 9 Update or later version and Entourage 2008, Web Services EditionSupport ends April 9, 2013

Mac OS X 10. 5. 8 or later version

Click here to view table as image

Important:

When you install Office 2008 for Mac on Mac OS X 10.7, you need to perform additional steps to make sure that you are getting the latest updates for Office 2008 for Mac. For more information, see Installing Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac on Mac OS X 10.7.

Web services

Supported operating systems

Supported browsers

Outlook Web App

Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6, or Mac OS X 10.7

Safari 4 or 5

Microsoft Office Web Apps

Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6, or Mac OS X 10.7

Safari 4 or 5, Firefox 3.5 or 4, Chrome 3

Team Site, powered by SharePoint Online

Mac OS X 10.5, Mac OS X 10.6, or Mac OS X 10.7

Safari 4

Lync Web App

Macintosh OS 10. 4. 8 and later versions (Intel-based)

Safari 4 or 5, Firefox 3

Lync for Mac 2011

Mac OS X 10. 5. 8, Mac OS X 10.6, or Mac OS X 10.7

Safari 5 or Firefox 5

Click here to view table as image

Note:

Support for Safari 4 ends October 1, 2012.

Install updates for Office for Mac 2011

To be compatible with Office 365, make sure that you have the latest updates for Office for Mac 2011.

1. Open an Office application (for example, Microsoft Word for Mac 2011).

2. On the Help menu, click Check for Updates.

3. Choose automatic or manual updates.

Configure Outlook 2011 for Office 365

1. Open Outlook for Mac 2011.

2. On the Tools menu, click Accounts.

• If this is the first account you’re creating in Outlook for Mac 2011, under Add an Account, click Exchange Account.

• If you’ve previously created an email account for a different email address, in the lower-left corner of the Accounts dialog box, click + to add an account, and then click Exchange.

3. On the Enter your Exchange account information page, in the E-mail address box, type your full user ID, for example, someone@contoso.onmicrosoft.com.

4. In the Method box, make sure User Name and Password is selected.

5. In the User name box, type your full user ID again.

6. Type in the Password.

7. Make sure Configure automatically is selected, and then click Add Account.

8. After you click Add Account, Outlook will perform an online search to find your email server settings. In the dialog box that asks you if you want to allow the server to configure your settings, select the Always use my response for this server check box, and then click Allow. After the new account is created you’ll see the account in the left pane of the Accounts dialog box. Close the Accounts dialog box.

9. After the new account is created, you can view your mail by clicking the new account name in the navigation pane.

Install and configure updates for Office 2008 for Mac

If you install Office 2008 for Mac on Mac OS X 10.7, see Installing Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac on Mac OS X 10.7 for additional steps that you need to perform to make sure that you are getting the latest updates for Office 2008 for Mac. Also make sure that you have Office 2008 for Mac 12. 2. 9 Update or a later version, and Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition.

You also need to set up Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition with a new account.

Install Office for Mac 12. 2. 9 Update

1. Open an Office application (for example, Microsoft Word 2008 for Mac).

2. On the Help menu, click Check for Updates.

3. Choose automatic or manual updates.

Confirm that Microsoft Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition is installed

1. In Entourage 2008, click the Entourage menu, and then click About Entourage.

2. In the About Entourage window, look at the number next to Version. If the version number begins with 13, you are using Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition.

Configure Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition for Office 365

After you have installed or upgraded to Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition, you must create a new account to be used with Office 365.

1. Open Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition.

2. On the Entourage menu, click Account Settings.

3. Click the arrow next to New, and then click Exchange. If the New Account screen appears, click Setup Assistant.

4. In the Account Setup Assistant, type your complete user ID (for example, someone@contoso.onmicrosoft.com) in the E-mail address box, select the My account is on an Exchange server check box, and then click the right arrow to continue.

5. Follow the instructions in the Account Setup Assistant.

6. After the new account is created, you can view your mail by clicking the new account name in the navigation pane.

Participate in online meetings by using Lync Web App

If you don’t want to install Lync for Mac 2011, you can participate in online meetings on a Mac by using Lync Web App. Lync Web App provides many Lync features; these include meeting-wide instant messaging (IM), phone-based audio, file distribution, viewing a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation, and viewing the screen that is being shared by the presenter. To participate in an online meeting, you must receive an email invitation from a Lync user.

To prepare for your first online meeting

1. Before you use Lync Web App for the first time, you need to install Microsoft Silverlight on your Mac. To install Silverlight, go to the Get Microsoft Silverlight page and then follow the instructions.

2. After Silverlight is installed on your Mac, it’s a good idea to check your online meeting readiness. Open your online meeting email invitation.

3. Click First online meeting? at the bottom of the invitation.

4. On the First Online Meeting? page, click Meeting readiness, and then follow the instructions.

To join an online meeting

1. At meeting time, open your online meeting email invitation, and then click Join online meeting in the invitation.

2. In the Lync window that opens, click one of the following links:

Try Lync Web App

Join the meeting using your web browser

3. Lync Web App is displayed in a web browser window.

4. When prompted, enter your user ID and password.

For more information, see Quick Start: Participate in online meetings with Lync Web App.

Configure Office to access your team site

Document Connection is a feature that is included in Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 1 and in Office 2008 for Mac 12. 2. 9 Update. Run it to configure your Office settings so that you can more easily open and save Office files to your team site, which is powered by SharePoint Online.

To configure Office for Mac 2011

1. In Finder, under Applications, open Microsoft Document Connection.

2. On the Document Connection menu, click Preferences.

3. In the Preferences window, make sure that the Enable Basic Authentication check box is selected and then close the Preferences window.

4. In the main window, click Add Location, and then click Connect to a SharePoint Site.

5. In the Address box, type the address for your team site. For example, the address may look like this: https://contoso.onmicrosoft.com/teamsite/sitepages/home.aspx

6. Click Connect.

7. In the User name box, type your full user ID, like someone@contoso.onmicrosoft.com.

8. Type your password and then click Connect.

To configure Office 2008 for Mac

1. In Finder, under Applications, open Microsoft Document Connection.

2. In Document Connection, on the toolbar, click the arrow next to Add Location, and then click Connect to a SharePoint Site.

3. In the Address box, type the address for your team site. For example, your team site may look like this: https://contoso.onmicrosoft.com/teamsite/sitepages/home.aspx

4. In the Authentication box, select User name and password. In the User name box, type your full user ID, like someone@contoso.onmicrosoft.com.

5. Type your password and then click Connect.

After you’ve configured Office with Document Connection, you can save files from your Office desktop applications directly to your team site.

See Also

Set up Lync for Mac 2011 for Office 365

Set your Out of Office status after the connection to your Exchange account is restored error message

Set up your desktop for Office 365

After you’ve signed in to the Office 365 portal for the first time, you should set up your computer to work with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses. This involves installing updates for your desktop applications from the Office 365 Downloads page, and then configuring your computer. This topic will walk you through these tasks.

When you have set up your desktop, you will be able to:

• Install Lync, your workplace connection for instant messaging and online meetings including audio and video.

• Use your user ID to sign in to Office 365 from your desktop applications.

To set up your desktop for Office 365, follow these steps:

1. Verify that your computer meets the requirements for Office 365. See Software requirements for Office 365.

2. Sign in to the Office 365 portal. In the right pane, under Resources, click Downloads.

3. Under Install Microsoft Lync, select your desired language option and choose either the 32-bit or 64-bit version, and then click Install.

4. Under Set up and configure your Office desktop apps, click Set up. The Microsoft Office 365 desktop setup tool starts.

5. Sign in using your user ID. Office 365 desktop setup will check your system configuration. If the scan completes without detecting any problems, you’ll be presented with options to configure your desktop applications and learn more about the important updates Office 365 desktop setup will install. If a problem is detected, see Troubleshoot update and configuration issues for Office 365 for more information.

6. After you have selected the applications you want to configure, click Continue, review the service agreements, and then click I accept to begin installing updates and configuring desktop applications.

Important:

Some of the applications may have shaded check boxes. This can occur if your account has not been provisioned to use this application with Office 365 or if you do not have the required applications already installed on your computer.

When the installation and configuration have completed, you may have to restart your computer to finalize the installation and configuration processes.

After running Office 365 desktop setup, a shortcut to the Office 365 portal will be added to the Start menu on your desktop.

Note:

If you encounter a problem while setting up your desktop, a support agent or administrator may ask you to collect a log by pressing Shift, Ctrl, and L simultaneously on your keyboard.

See Also

Software requirements for Office 365

Install Office Professional Plus with Office 365

Manually update and configure desktops for Office 365

Troubleshoot update and configuration issues for Office 365

Troubleshoot update and configuration issues for Office 365

This article helps you troubleshoot issues you encounter when running the Microsoft Office 365 desktop setup tool that configures your computer to work with Microsoft Office 365.

To run Office 365 desktop setup, on the Office 365 portal, on the Admin page, under Resources in the right pane, click Downloads. Once at the Downloads page, under Set up and configure your Office desktop apps, click Set up.

For general troubleshooting tips, see Video: Troubleshooting Office 365 Desktop Setup.

Get help with these errors or issues

You have a connection to the Internet, but the updates are not downloading

You do not have a compatible desktop program or operating system

You stopped the installation before it could finish

During the installation, you lost connection to the Internet

An update could not be installed because another required updated failed

You do not have enough space on your hard disk

One of the service updates is not compatible with your version of Windows

Your computer requires an update to the Windows Installer service

You do not have the Windows Update Agent installed on Windows XP

You receive error messages that say you cannot log on to the Microsoft Update service

Configuration of Microsoft Outlook fails when Outlook is running

Your account does not have the necessary permissions to complete desktop setup

You tried to create a log, but were unable to do so

Issues that may prevent client programs from being configured correctly by Office 365 Desktop Setup

Error message when you run Office 365 Desktop Setup: “Application configuration incomplete”

You have a connection to the Internet, but the updates are not downloading

Office 365 desktop setup uses the Windows Installer service to download installation packages (also known as MSI files) for installing updates. Office 365 desktop setup may fail to download future patches and updates if the Automatically Detect Settings option is not selected in your Internet Explorer settings.

To enable automatic setting detection

1. In your browser, click Tools, and then click Internet options.

2. In the Internet Options dialog box, click the Connections tab, and then click LAN settings.

3. In the Local Area Network (LAN) Settings dialog box, select the Automatically detect settings check box, and then click OK. If you continue to experience problems with updates not downloading, you may need to update your proxy server address. To do this, in the Local Area Network (LAN) Settings dialog box, under Proxy server, select Use a proxy server for your LAN, and then write in a valid proxy server address (you can get this from your administrator).

Note:

If you are not using Internet Explorer as your browser, refer to your browser’s help documentation to download MSI files.

You do not have a compatible desktop program or operating system

If you receive an error message that says you are not running the correct version of a specific desktop application or Windows operating system, then you need to upgrade to the required version. See Software requirements for Office 365 for more information about which Microsoft Office desktop applications and operating systems work with Office 365.

You stopped the installation before it could finish

If you stop the installation process before it completes, only some of the required updates may be installed. In this case, we recommend that you run Office 365 desktop setup again to finish installing any remaining updates that are required to connect to and use Office 365.

You can run Office 365 desktop setup from the Downloads page. To access the Downloads page, do one of the following:

• Sign in to the Office 365 portal, navigate to your home page, and then, at the end of step 1, Set up your computer to work with Microsoft Office 365, click Set up now.

• Click the Downloads link at the bottom of the Resources section on the right hand side of the page.

During the installation, you lost connection to the Internet

If your computer loses connection to the Internet during the installation process, you can run Office 365 desktop setup again after you regain a connection. For more information on running Office 365 desktop setup, see Set up your desktop for Office 365.

An update could not be installed because another required update failed

Some of the updates are required prerequisites for other updates. If a prerequisite update fails to install, any dependent updates will also fail during the installation process. To fix this issue, we recommend that you run the update and configuration tool again. For more information on running Office 365 desktop setup, see Set up your desktop for Office 365. Alternatively, if you would rather install the remaining updates manually, see Manually update and configure desktops for Office 365.

You do not have enough space on your hard disk

Before Office 365 desktop setup installs the updates that you need, it checks to see if your hard disk has enough space to complete the installation process. If your hard disk does not have enough space, you must free some space before you can continue with the installation process.

If you are using Windows, you can run the Disk Cleanup tool. Disk Cleanup removes temporary files, empties the Recycle Bin, and removes a variety of system files and other items that you no longer need. You can choose to delete some or all of the files.

To run the Disk Cleanup tool

• Click Start, and then in the Search programs and files box, type cleanmgr, and then press ENTER.

After you have created additional space on your hard disk, run Office 365 desktop setup again.

One of the service updates is not compatible with your version of Windows

If you receive an error message that says an update is not compatible with your version of Windows, you should upgrade to one of the versions that is compatible with Office 365. See Software requirements for Office 365 for a list of supported operating systems.

Your computer requires an update to the Windows Installer service

The Windows Installer service is a required component to run Office 365 desktop setup. You must be running the latest version of the service to complete these installations. If you do not have the latest version of the Windows Installer service, you can download the latest version from the Microsoft Download Center.

If you continue to receive an error message, contact your system administrator for assistance.

You do not have the Windows Update Agent installed on Windows XP

If you are running Windows XP and do not have the Windows Update Agent installed on your computer, some updates will not be installed. To install these updates, install the Windows Update Agent by going to Microsoft Update. When prompted, follow the instructions in the Information bar in Internet Explorer to install the Windows Update ActiveX control.

You receive error messages that say you cannot log on to the Microsoft Update service

To download and install some updates, Office 365 desktop setup needs to connect to the Microsoft Update service. However, in some networks, access to sites and services that are outside of your company’s firewall are blocked by the system administrator. If you cannot access the Microsoft Update service, you will need to contact your system administrator for assistance.

If you do have permissions to install updates from the Microsoft Update service, but still receive this error message, check your Internet connection, and then run Office 365 desktop setup again.

Configuration of Microsoft Outlook fails while Outlook is running

If Outlook is running while Office 365 desktop setup is attempting to configure Outlook, then the configuration will fail. To correct this issue, close Outlook and run Office 365 desktop setup again.

Your account does not have the necessary permissions to complete desktop setup

If you receive a message that says that an administrator is required to install updates for your computer, then your user account does not have the necessary permissions to complete desktop setup. Because the updates must be installed before Office 365 desktop setup can configure your desktop applications, you must contact your system administrator for assistance. Once the updates have been installed, you can sign in to your account and run Office 365 desktop setup to configure your desktop applications.

You tried to create a log, but were unable to do so

If you tried to create a log, but were unable to do so because an error occurred, contact your system administrator for assistance.

See Also

Manually update and configure desktops for Office 365

Set up your desktop for Office 365

Manually update and configure desktops for Office 365

As an administrator for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you should ensure that your users’ desktop computers are updated and configured for use with Office 365. Your users will be able to use their user ID to sign in to Office 365 from their desktop applications.

You can ensure that your users’ desktop computers are set up for Office 365 in one of two ways:

• Have your users update and configure their desktops themselves: See Set up your desktop for Office 365.

• Manually install the necessary updates for your users: By manually setting up your users’ computers, you can choose the best time to update and configure your infrastructure, you can complete the task in stages, and you can save bandwidth during peak business hours. To learn more about manually distributing product updates for Office 2010 and 2007 Office system, see the following:

• Distribute product updates for Office 2010

• Distribute product updates for the 2007 Office system

This topic walks you through how to manually set up your users’ computers for use with Office 365; you can complete the tasks in any order.

What do you want to do?

• Manually install updates

• Manually configure desktop applications

Manually install updates

To manually install the updates to your users’ desktops, see this wiki post: Manually install Office 365 desktop updates.

Manually configure desktop applications

Manually configure Microsoft Outlook

Important:

If you want to use your own domain name instead of the namespace you received when you signed up for Office 365, then before you configure Outlook, you’ll need to create a CNAME record at the DNS hosting service for your domain. For more information, see Enable Outlook to Connect to Outlook Live.

For steps on how to manually configure Microsoft Outlook for your users, see Connect Outlook to This Account.

Manually configure Lync

If your users have been provisioned for Lync and they have Microsoft Office Communicator subscriptions, then you can manually configure Lync for those users. You can do this by modifying the following Office Communicator registry settings for each provisioned user under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Shared\UcClient:

• Set ServerSipUri to a string value of the user’s SIP proxy address

• Set ConfigurationMode to a dword value of 0

• Delete the ServerAddressInternal string

• Delete the ServerAddressExternal string

• Delete the ServerUserName string

Manually configure SharePoint Online

If your users have been provisioned for SharePoint Online and they have Internet Explorer 7, Windows Internet Explorer 8, or Internet Explorer 9 installed on their computers, then you can manually configure SharePoint Online for those users. You can do this by modifying the following SharePoint Online registry settings for each provisioned user under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ZoneMap\Domains:

• Add a key for the SharePoint Online domain.

• Add a subkey to the newly added domain key for your company’s SharePoint Online home site.

• Add a dword named https and set it to a value of 2.

Note:

The SharePoint Online Host Name is added to the Trusted Sites zone in Internet Explorer after you have modified the registry settings.

See Also

Set up your desktop for Office 365

Distribute product updates for the 2007 Office system

Distribute product updates for Office 2010

Install Office Professional Plus with Office 365

When you use Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 with Microsoft Office 365, you can edit and review Microsoft Office files virtually anywhere you can use your computer, mobile device, or web browser. For more information, see Office Professional Plus for Office 365 Overview.

In this article

Prepare for installation

Install Office Professional Plus

Uninstall Office Professional Plus

Prepare for installation

Before downloading and installing Office Professional Plus, make sure you understand these key issues:

• When you install Office Professional Plus, any version of Office already on your computer is uninstalled.

Important:

Make sure that you have both the installation discs and product keys for your current version of Office before installing Office Professional Plus. These are required if you want to revert back to your previous Office installation. See Uninstall Office Professional Plus.

• We recommend that you use the default installation of Office Professional Plus. We do not recommend installing more than one version of Office on the same computer. For more information about installing different versions of Office, see Information about how to use Office 2010 suites and programs on a computer that is running another version of Office.

• Microsoft Office Professional Plus installs the 32-bit version of Office Professional Plus by default, even if your computer is running the 64-bit edition of Windows. If you are unsure which version of Office Professional Plus you should install, see Choose the 32-bit or 64-bit version of Microsoft Office.

• Watch the video about preparing to install Office (2:30)

The Office Professional Plus download is approximately 650 megabytes (MB). Download times vary based on the bandwidth available to you.

Install Office Professional Plus

To install Office Professional Plus, follow these steps:

1. Sign in to Office 365 with your user ID.

2. On the Downloads page, under Install Microsoft Office Professional Plus, select your Language and Version, click Install, and follow the instructions. Note the following regarding your choice of installation:

• We recommend that you accept the default installation and upgrade all Office programs. To do this, click Install Now.

• If you do not want to upgrade all Office programs to Office Professional Plus, click Customize. On the Installation Options tab, select the programs that you want to upgrade, and then click Install Now.

3. When the installation is finished, click Continue Online. You are prompted to install the Microsoft Online Services Sign-in Assistant. Click Accept and Install.

4. Type your user ID and password to verify your subscription, and then click Sign in.

5. After your subscription is verified, click Close.

Be sure to turn on automatic updates in Windows Update to get any updates for Office Professional Plus.

Uninstall Office Professional Plus

If you decide to revert back to your previous version of Office, you must first uninstall Office Professional Plus. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Open the Control Panel.

2. Depending on the operating system that is installed on your computer, click either Add or Remove Programs or Programs and Features.

3. In the list of installed programs, click Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010, and then click Uninstall.

After you have uninstalled Office Professional Plus, you can install your previous version of Office.

Note:

If you revert back to your previous version of Office, you might find that your previous Microsoft Outlook profile no longer works. You will need to remove the email profile and then create a new email profile.

See Also

About expired subscriptions

Set up your desktop for Office 365

The subscription service for Microsoft Office cannot be started error

Your Windows XP-based computer does not shut down after you install Office Professional Plus

Error messages when you try to remove a domain from Office 365

Video: Troubleshooting Removing Domains in Office 365

Set up Lync for Mac 2011 for Office 365

If your organization is using Microsoft Lync for Mac 2011, you can use it with your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses account.

To use Lync for Mac 2011 with Office 365, you need to install Microsoft Lync for Mac 2011 14. 0. 1 Update and then provide the following information.

1. In the Microsoft Lync for Mac sign-in window, type your Office 365 email address, user ID, and password. Use the same user ID and password that you use to log on to Office 365, for example, aprilr@contoso.onmicrosoft.com.

2. Click Advanced.

3. Under Authentication, clear the Use Kerberos check box.

4. Under Connection Settings, click Manual configuration.

5. In both the Internal Server Name box and the External Server Name box, type or paste sipdir.online.lync.com:443.

6. Click OK.

7. In the Microsoft Lync for Mac sign-in window, click Sign In.

See Also

Set up your Mac for Office 365

Buy Lync for Mac 2011

Domains

Domains

Compare domain management in different Office 365 subscriptions

DNS basics

Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365

Add your domain to Office 365

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name

Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address

Verify your domain

Verify a domain at a domain name registrar

Verify a domain at 1&1 Internet

Verify a domain at eNom Central

Verify a domain at Go Daddy

Verify a domain at Hover

Verify a domain at Melbourne IT

Verify a domain at Network Solutions

Verify a domain at Register.com

Change your name server records

Change name server records at a domain registrar

Change name server records at 1&1 Internet

Change name server records at eNom Central

Change name server records at Go Daddy

Change name server records at Hover

Change name server records at Melbourne IT

Change name server records at Network Solutions

Change name server records at Register.com

Guide for the Domains Quickstart step-by-step

You’ve checked out Office 365 and learned about the services a bit, you like what you’ve seen. Are you ready to get set up to use Office 365 for your business? You’ll probably want to get email up and running with your own domain name, something like fourthcoffee.com, instead of using the .onmicrosoft.com domain that came with Office 365.

Why use your own custom domain? It probably fits better with your business name. And it’s easier to remember, for both you and your customers.

Do you already have a domain? You’re ready to get started! If you need a domain, check out this topic to learn more: Locate your domain services or buy a new domain. If you’re still trying out Office 365 or you don’t want a custom domain, you can just keep using your onmicrosoft.com domain.

The best way to get started is to follow the step-by-step Domains Quickstart. It walks you through adding your domain to your Office 365 account, switching your Office 365 user ID (which is also your email address) to use your domain name, and setting up your users’ email addresses with your domain. In the first 30 days that you use Office 365, you’ll see links that will take you to the Domains Quickstart at the top of the Admin Overview page. To get started, click Add a domain or Add users. If you’d like this step-by-step guidance after the first 30 days, click Users on the left pane.

Note:

The Domains Quickstart feature isn’t available to everyone right now. See the note about the Availability of the Domains Quickstart.

Before you start, check out What do I need before I get started? How long will it take? If you don’t have time for all the steps now, don’t worry. We’ll save your spot, and you can pick up at the step where you left off when it works for you.

In this article

What do I need before I get started? How long will it take?

Why do I need to complete these steps?

Why do I need to verify that I own my domain?

I already have a website. Will it move to Office 365?

Why does adding my domain affect my current website?

What if I want to host my website with Office 365?

What is the IP address for my website? Do I need to find the fully qualified domain name too?

How can I make sure people can get to my website if they don’t type www?

How do I use my email address with my domain in Office 365?

Why should I add users now?

What happens when I flip the switch to Office 365 at the end of the Domains Quickstart?

Availability of the Domains Quickstart

What do I need before I get started? How long will it take?

What info do you need to round up before you get started? Here’s a list:

• Your custom domain. This is the domain you’ll be adding to Office 365. It looks something like fourthcoffee.com. Don’t have a domain? Learn how to get one here: Buy a domain name.

• Your domain name registrar login and password. This is (typically) where you bought your domain; for example, Go Daddy.

• Your DNS hosting provider login and password. This is where your DNS records are managed. It might be the same as your domain registrar, but sometimes it’s a different company. For example, if you host your website with another company, you might also manage your DNS records with that company.

• A list of people to add to Office 365. Unless you’re the only person in your organization, you’ll probably want to add other people to Office 365 so they can use the service too.

If you already have a website with your domain name, for example, www.fourthcoffee.com, you’ll need this additional information. Don’t worry if you don’t know what this is. We can help you track down the info later. Here’s what you need:

• Your website hosting provider. This is where your website is hosted. This might be the same company as your DNS hosting provider or your domain registrar, but could be another one.

• Your website’s static IP address. We’ll need this to set things up so people can still get to your website after you switch your domain over to Office 365. If your web hosting provider doesn’t have a static IP address for your website, you’ll use a fully qualified domain name for your website instead.

• Your website’s fully qualified domain name (if needed). This is another way that a company that hosts your website might identify your website location, instead of a static IP address. You don’t need both an IP address and a fully qualified domain name, just whichever one your web hosting provider has given you.

How long will it take to get your domain added and your user emails set up? Typically about an hour of hands-on time. You’ll want to plan on another hour or so (up to 5 hours) for DNS system updates to finish switching email over to Office 365. Be aware that it can take longer for the DNS system propagation to finish, up to 72 hours, but that isn’t typical.

When you’re done, you and other people at your organization will be all set to use Office 365 for your email. If you want to move your email messages from your previous system to Office 365, learn how to do that here: Use Outlook to Move Data Between Accounts.

Why do I need to complete these steps?

If you’re just checking out Office 365, or if you want to keep using your .onmicrosoft.com domain, you can just add users and get started. There’s no need to walk through these steps until you’re ready to use Office 365 for your professional work or your business.

But most businesses and professionals want to use an email address in Office 365 that’s easy to remember, especially for their customers. This means having a custom domain, like fourthcoffee.com. That’s what these steps do—they set up email on your domain in Office 365 so you’ll be ready to go.

Before you can use Office 365 with your domain, we have to make sure that you own it. So that’s the first step you need to complete.

If you already have a website that’s up and running that uses your custom domain, there’s an extra step we’ll walk you through. This step makes sure that people can still get to your current website after you add your domain. Want the details? See Why does adding my domain affect my current website?

Another step is to add users to Office 365. Why take care of that right now? Because you’ll typically want users to have email addresses that use your custom domain, rather than email addresses that use .onmicrosoft.com. If you created users before you added your domain, you probably want to change their email from .onmicrosoft.com to your domain. We’ll walk you through that.

More importantly, if people already use your domain for email outside Office 365, for example, susan@fourthcoffee.com, you need to add those email addresses to Office 365 before you flip the switch to finish adding your domain to Office 365. If you don’t add them to Office 365 first, any messages sent to those email addresses won’t arrive after you flip the switch. Not in your old email system and not in Office 365. So be sure to add all email addresses that have your domain name to Office 365.

The last thing you do to complete these steps is to flip the switch—change your name server records to point to Office 365—so that Office 365 will manage the DNS records for your domain. This lets Office 365 take care of creating the right DNS records for your services so you’ll be all set to work with your domain in Office 365. It also means that we can set up new services for you as they’re added to Office 365 so you don’t have to worry about taking extra steps later.

After you flip the switch by changing your name server records to point to the Office 365 name servers, Office 365 will manage the DNS records for your domain instead of your domain registrar or your former DNS hosting provider. This is also known as redelegation of your domain.

Back to top

Why do I need to verify that I own my domain?

Before you set up Office 365 to use your custom domain name, we need to make sure that you own the domain. Otherwise anyone could use any domain name they wanted to. For example, someone could use your domain name with Office 365 and say they were you!

So the first step you need to complete is to show that you own your domain. To do this, you create a record for your domain at your domain registrar or DNS hosting provider, and then Office 365 looks for that record. When we find it, we know you own the domain, because you could sign on to the site where your domain is managed and create the record we were looking for.

The DNS records for your domain are usually managed by the same company where you bought the domain, especially if you’re not using the domain yet for email or a website. But it might be managed by another company; for example, sometimes DNS management might be moved when you host a website with another company. If you’re not sure if that happened, touch base with the company that hosts your website.

Not sure what DNS is? Check out the information here: Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365.

I already have a website. Will it move to Office 365?

If you already have a website hosted outside Office 365, that’s fine. You can keep hosting your website where it is while you use Office 365 to host your email as well as use team sites, Lync, and so on. When you tell us you have a website, we’ll walk you through the steps to make sure the correct redirection records are set up in Office 365 as part of adding your domain. This makes sure that people can still get to your site after you’ve added your domain to Office 365 and have switched DNS hosting over to Office 365.

What does all this have to do with your current website? It’s because of the way domains and DNS work. When you flip the switch to finish adding your domain, Office 365 will start managing your DNS. We do this to make sure your services are set up correctly with the DNS records for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync that are needed to work with your domain name. This makes it much simpler to get everything set up in Office 365.

But when people type in your website’s URL with your custom domain name, the DNS system, which directs network traffic, now looks for your website at Office 365. But it’s not there. It’s still hosted where you’ve had it running all along. We fix that by creating another DNS record, an A record, to point people from Office 365 to your website where it’s hosted outside Office 365.

Why does adding my domain affect my current website?

Why does adding your domain to Office 365 have anything to do with your current website? It’s because of the way DNS and domains work. When you’re done adding your domain, Office 365 will start managing your DNS. We do this so we can make sure your services are set up correctly with the DNS records for email and other services so Office 365 will work with your domain name.

Having Office 365 manage DNS for you makes it simpler for you to use your domain with the services. But when people type in your website’s URL with your custom domain name, the DNS system, which directs network traffic, now looks for your website at Office 365. But it’s not. Your site is still hosted where you’ve had it running all along. We fix that by creating a DNS record, an A record, to point people from Office 365 to your website where it’s hosted outside Office 365. There’s an additional step we walk you through to gather the needed information and create the record.

That’s why, when you add your domain, we ask you whether you have a current website. Then we’ll know to get the required information from you later and create the DNS record to point to your website.

Back to top

What if I want to host my website with Office 365?

If you don’t already have a website or if you want to create a new one, you can host a website on your domain in Office 365 by using SharePoint Online. While you can’t move your current website to Office 365, you can create a new website on Office 365 with a similar look and the same functionality.

Your Office 365 subscription includes a website on SharePoint Online that you can customize and then host with your domain name. For example, you can add your organization’s logo, use the colors and layout that you want, and more. When you’re done, you can switch your domain name to use that website.

Want to host your organization’s website on your domain on Office 365? After you’ve finished the steps to add your domain to Office 365, do the following.

1. Customize your Office 365 public-facing website by adding your organization’s name, logo, and business information. To learn more, see Customize a public-facing website.

Note:

Be sure to customize your website before you update Office 365 to use your custom domain name for your SharePoint Online website. Otherwise, customers will see the sample website that’s provided with SharePoint Online.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains.

3. Click Change address, and then step through the wizard.

Tips:

If you want to keep your current public-facing website that’s hosted outside Office 365 instead of creating a new public website that uses your domain on SharePoint Online, don’t use the Change address option to point traffic to your SharePoint Online website.

Instead, make sure your website traffic is redirected from Office 365 back to the hosting provider where your website is located. If you noted that you wanted to keep your current public website when you were stepping through the Domains Quickstart, we already created the records for you. If not, you can update the DNS records yourself. To learn how, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

When you change your SharePoint Online website to use your custom domain name, keep the following in mind:

• If you set up Office 365 to use your custom domain name for your SharePoint Online website, you can easily change the site later to use another custom domain name, or change back to the original domain name that you had; for example, contoso .sharepoint.com, by using the Change address option. Or later, you can move the site to be hosted by another service outside Office 365.

• You can host only one public-facing website with your Office 365 account. And you can redirect only one domain to the website.

• Some DNS records must be overwritten by Office 365 to change the website to use your custom domain name. For example, if you have a DNS record named www., Office 365 must update that record to point to SharePoint Online.

What is the IP address for my website? Do I need to find out the fully qualified domain name too?

If you already have a website and want to keep it where it is, while using your domain name with email on Office 365, Office 365 has to redirect traffic to your website. (Why? Check out the earlier section that explains this: Why do I need to complete these steps?)

To create the DNS record that makes sure people can get to your site, we need to know either the IP address of your website or the “fully qualified domain name.” We’ll use this information to point to your website from Office 365. Which one do we need? That depends on the company that currently hosts your website. Sometimes website hosting providers have a single “static” IP address that is unique for each website they host; for example, 192.168.100.1. In this case, you’ll need the IP address for your website.

Caution:

If your web hosting provider does provide an IP address for your website, make sure that it’s a static IP. That is, it must be an IP address that always points to your website rather than being available to be assigned to different website addresses. The web hosting company can confirm this for you.

Sometimes instead of using static IP addresses, companies use a different way of identifying each website: a fully qualified domain name (FQDN). This is different from your custom domain name. This fully qualified domain name is simply an address name where some companies host websites. It looks something like this: sites.web hosting company.com.

Important:

If you’re given a fully qualified domain name for your website instead of an IP address and we use the fully qualified domain name to redirect people to your site, be aware that if people type your domain name without including “www.”, they won’t get to your site. For example, http://fourthcoffee.com won’t be redirected to http://www.fourthcoffee.com. How can you fix this? See How can I make sure people can get to my website if they don’t type www?

Back to top

How can I make sure people can get to my website if they don’t type www?

If you already have a website outside Office 365, Office 365 will redirect people to your website after the correct DNS records are set up. If your website has a static IP address, people can still find your site by using the domain with or without the “www.” in front. For example, both http://fourthcoffee.com and http://www.fourthcoffee.com typically take you to a fourthcoffee.com website.

However, if Office 365 redirects people to your website by using a fully qualified domain name instead of an IP address, the one without the “www.” won’t work.

Note:

Not sure if your website has an IP address or a fully qualified domain name? Check out this earlier section: What is the IP address for my website? Do I need to find out the fully qualified domain name too?

Your web hosting provider will give you either a static IP address or a fully qualified domain name that identifies your website. If you’re given a fully qualified domain name for your website and we use it to redirect people to your site, people who type your domain name without including “www.” as part of the name won’t get to your site. Why? It has to do with the way that simple DNS record redirection works.

To fix this, you can use a company that provides URL redirection services. The company can give you an Internet link to redirect people to your website by using the fully qualified domain name. To learn more, see Using a URL redirection service with Office 365.

How do I use my email address with my domain in Office 365?

After you add your domain and we’ve confirmed that you own it, you can change your Office 365 email address to use your custom domain instead of the .onmicrosoft.com email address. For example, if your current Office 365 email address is terry@contoso.onmicrosoft.com and your custom domain is fourthcoffee.com, your new email address would be terry@fourthcoffee.com. You can always change this later if you’d rather use, for example, terryadams@fourthcoffee.com.

After you change your email address to use the domain you just added to Office 365, you’ll sign out and sign back in again, and then you can use your email address to send mail.

Important:

Although you can send email from your new email address as soon as you change it, and then sign out and sign back in, you cannot receive email sent to that email address in Office 365 until you complete the final step to flip the switch and change your name server records to point to the Office 365 name servers. Don’t worry. Email sent to the email address that has your custom domain name won’t be lost. Email will continue to go to your current email system until you complete the switchover.

Why should I add users now?

You can add users to Office 365 at any time. Why do it now? You have to add email addresses that are already using your domain name to Office 365 before you flip the switch to finish adding your domain to Office 365. And you’ll typically want people in your organization to have email addresses that use your custom domain, rather than email addresses with .onmicrosoft.com in them. If people are already using email addresses with your custom domain name with your current email system, like susan@fourthcoffee.com, you’ll probably want them to have the same email addresses in Office 365. That provides continuity for the people in your organization, for your customers, and others.

If you created users in Office 365 before you added your domain, we’ll walk you through switching those users to email addresses that use your domain name.

What if you haven’t added an email address that uses your domain name and you change your domain’s name server records to point to the Office 365 name servers? If you do that, any messages sent to that email address won’t arrive. Not in the person’s current email system and not in Office 365. So be sure to add all email addresses with your domain name to Office 365 before you flip the switch!

Until you flip the switch, people will continue to receive email sent to those email addresses wherever they currently get email. Only after you’ve completed all of these steps and the name server records point to Office 365 will email that’s sent to your domain begin arriving in Office 365.

What happens when I flip the switch to Office 365 at the end of the Domains Quickstart?

The final step in getting Office 365 set up with your domain name is to flip the switch and change the name server records for your domain to use the Office 365 name server records. You make this change at your domain registrar site. When you’ve made the change and the updated name server records have propagated through the DNS system, you’re done! Your domain is added to Office 365 and is ready to use with Office 365 services.

What exactly does this change do? In technical terms, changing your domain’s name server records to point to another set of name servers is called redelegating your domain. Although your domain is redelegated to Office 365, the domain name is still registered with your domain registrar, so you’ll need to keep renewing your domain there. But because the domain is redelegated, Office 365 now manages your DNS records for you, including setting up your Office 365 services such as email and team sites.

Important:

Please remember! Although you’ve configure your domain to work with the Office 365 services, you can’t let your domain expire by not paying your domain name registrar. If you don’t renew your domain registration, your Office 365 services won’t work. For example, email won’t be delivered and Lync Online won’t work. Your domain name registrar will tell you when your domain registration is about to expire.

Until you change your name server records, email addresses in Office 365 that use your domain name, for example, susan@fourthcoffee.com, will still get email messages in their previous email system. Let people know when you’re about to make the switch, so they’ll go to Office 365 to find their email when it stops arriving in their current email system. Just a reminder: be sure that you’ve added all the email addresses that use your domain to Office 365 before you switch over!

Where can you find your email in Office 365? Check out this information about using Outlook Web App: Set up and access email using your web browser. You can also set up your Outlook program on your computer to use email in Office 365. For more info, see Connect Outlook to Your Account.

Availability of the Domains Quickstart

The Domains Quickstart feature is available only to organizations that signed up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses after the December 2011 update of Office 365, and that use Office 365 in English and chose the United States as their country or region during the sign-up process.

Back to top

Compare domain management in different Office 365 subscriptions

As you’re considering which Office 365 subscription will best meet your needs, keep in mind the following differences in how you work with domains in a Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses subscription compared to a Microsoft Office 365 for enterprises subscription.

Functionality

Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses

Microsoft Office 365 for enterprises

Adding and managing your domain

After you add and verify your domain in Office 365, Office 365 automatically configures Microsoft Exchange Online and Lync Online. When you add your domain, you’re required to point your DNS name server records to Office 365-hosted DNS servers. Name servers tell other computers on the Internet where to deliver your email and how to find your website.

After you switch your name server records, Office 365 hosts all DNS records for your domain so you no longer manage DNS records for your domain at your domain registrar. This means that if you want to make updates to your DNS records for your domain, you do that in the DNS manager on the Office 365 Admin page.

Important:

You still retain your billing relationship with the domain registrar for your domain.

With a Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses subscription, you can add second-level domains, such as contoso.com, or contoso.co.uk. You can’t add third-level or greater domains, such as partners.contoso.com. For more information about domain name levels, see Domain names and terms.

After you add and verify your domain, go to your domain registrar’s website and use the information provided by Office 365 to configure the required DNS records for the Office 365 services in your subscription.

After you add your domain to Office 365, you continue to manage your DNS records at your domain registrar, or on premises, if you manage your own DNS file locally, for example, to add or update MX or CNAME records.

With an Microsoft Office 365 for enterprises subscription, you can add any level domain that you’d like, such as contoso.com, partners.contoso.com, or marketing.contoso.com.

Setting up a public-facing website

When you sign up for Office 365, a SharePoint Online website that you can customize and use as a public-facing website is provided for you. After you add your domain to Office 365, you can update Office 365 so that the address (URL) for that website uses your domain name—for example, www.contoso.com. For more information, see Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address.

If you already have a public-facing website before you sign up for Office 365 and you want to continue to use it instead of setting up a new one, you can. Your email and IM will be hosted on Office 365, with your custom domain, if you’ve added it to Office 365, and your website is hosted with another provider. For more information, see Move your email to Office 365 and keep your current public-facing website.

Note:

You can’t import your existing public website to Office 365. So if you choose to use SharePoint Online, instead of keeping your current website, you have to design and populate the new website from scratch.

When you add your domain to Office 365, you can keep hosting your current website with another provider without doing anything further. This is the default configuration. Or if you like, you can customize a SharePoint Online website, and then take a few additional steps to use that website with your custom domain in Office 365. To learn more, see Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public website.

Adding subdomains

You can add second-level domains, such as contoso.com, but you can’t add subdomains, such as partners.contoso.com. Be aware that if you choose to host your website on SharePoint Online, Office 365 will automatically prepend “www” to the beginning of your domain. So if you configure you website on contoso.com, the address of your website will be www.contoso.com.

There are no restrictions on the number of domains that you can add to your account.

You can have a multiple subdomains: for example, www.contoso.com, www.partners.contoso.com, www.partners.marketing.contoso.com, and so on.

There are no restrictions on the number of domains that you can add to your account.

Flexibility when configuring Office 365 services with your domain

When you add your domain to Office 365, email and IM are set up to automatically use your domain, hosted by Office 365, and you can’t change email and IM on your domain to be hosted with another hosting provider. You can add multiple domains to Office 365, and host Office 365 email and IM on any of those domains.

In addition to getting a SharePoint Online team site with Office 365, you also get a public-facing SharePoint Online website that you can customize. If you already have a public-facing website that uses your custom domain address up and running with another hosting provider, you can choose to continue hosting your website with that provider.

After you add your domain to Office 365, you can set up email, IM, and SharePoint Online to use your domain hosted by Office 365, or you can host some or all of those services on your domain with another provider. If you add multiple domains to Office 365, you can host any of the services on any of the domains. For example, you could use email with one domain name and use another domain name for the address of your SharePoint Online public-facing website.

Adding multiple domains

Regardless of your subscription, you can add multiple domains to Office 365. However, you can’t add the same domain to different Office 365 accounts. So, for example, when you add your domain to Office 365, you can’t create another Office 365 account and add the same domain name to that account.

Regardless of your subscription, you can add multiple domains to Office 365. However, you can’t add the same domain to different Office 365 accounts. So, for example, when you add your domain to Office 365, you can’t create another Office 365 account and add the same domain name to that account.

Click here to view table as image

See Also

DNS basics

Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365

Add your domain to Office 365

Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address

Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365

When your company signs up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you’re given an initial domain name that looks like the following: contoso .onmicrosoft.com. In this example, contoso is the name that you chose when you signed up. As an administrator, you can add your own domain names for your company to use with the services as well, or remove domains that you’ve added previously.

Tip:

To manage your domains, on the Admin page, in the left pane, click Domains. On the Domains page, you can view and manage the domains associated with your account.

In this article

Learn about your onmicrosoft.com domain

Use your own domain in Office 365

Learn about domain status

Change the default domain name

Add or modify custom DNS records for your domain

Remove a domain

About your onmicrosoft.com domain

You can use your contoso .onmicrosoft.com domain with most Office 365 services. For example, you can use the domain with Microsoft Exchange Online and Lync to create sign in accounts and distribution lists.

You cannot, however, host SharePoint Online on a onmicrosoft.com domain. SharePoint Online can only be hosted on your SharePoint domain, such as contoso .sharepoint.com, or with a custom domain, such as www.contoso.com, that you add to Office 365. For more information about using your own domain name with SharePoint Online, see Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address.

If you add your own domain names to Office 365, you can continue to use your onmicrosoft.com domain.

Note:

After you choose the name to use with Office 365 during signup, such as contoso .onmicrosoft.com, you cannot change the name.

Use your own domain in Office 365

If you want your hosted email or other services to use a domain that you own rather than the one you were given at signup, you can add the domain to Office 365. After you add the domain to Office 365 and Office 365 verifies that you own it, you can set up email, create Lync Online accounts with the domain, create distribution lists that include the domain, and use the domain for your SharePoint Online hosted website. For more information, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Important

You must own a domain name before you can add it. If you don’t yet own the domain name that you want to add, register the domain by using a domain registrar.

You cannot add domains that you’re already using in Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite.

Before you can verify a domain that you’ve added, you must have the sign-in credentials for your domain registrar or host, unless the name server for your domain is on premises. If you don’t remember your domain registrar, see Locate your domain services or buy a new domain.

Using Windows PowerShell cmdlets is not generally supported with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses. However, there are a few situations when you may need to use Windows PowerShell. For example, someone in Support might recommend using a Windows PowerShell cmdlet to help fix a problem.

If your company is already using your domain name to send and receive email, and you want to use that domain with Microsoft Exchange Online, you can connect your email addresses to your cloud-based account. For more information, see Learn About Connected Accounts.

About domain status

On the Domains page, you can view the status of each of your domain names in Office 365. The following table lists the status options for domains.

Status

Definition

Click to verify domain

The domain has been added to your account, but Office 365 has not yet verified that you own the domain. You cannot use the domain with any of the services until verification is complete. Click the status to go verify your domain, or for more information about verification, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Active

The initial onmicrosoft.com domain that is created when you open your account has this status.

Verified

The domain has been successfully added and Office 365 has verified that you own it.

Pending deletion

Office 365 has started removing the domain, but the removal process isn’t complete, or there is an issue with removing the domain. For more information, see the section later in this article: Remove a domain.

Click here to view table as image

If your domain status is Verified but you still aren’t receiving email on the domain in Office 365, try troubleshooting the problem. For more information, see Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name.

Change the default domain name

After you add your domain to Office 365, you can change the default domain for new email addresses. To do this, follow these steps.

1. On the Admin page, in the top left corner, click your company name.

2. Click Edit.

3. Choose a new default domain, such as the custom domain that you added.

Add or modify custom DNS records for your domain

After you add your domain to Office 365, you can add or change custom DNS records for the domain in Office 365 by doing the following.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains.

2. On the Domains page, select a domain name, and then click Manage.

3. On the DNS manager tab, add or change custom DNS records for the domain.

Note:

The DNS manager tab also lists DNS records for Office 365 that you cannot edit or remove.

Remove a domain

Before you remove a domain, consider the following:

• The original onmicrosoft.com domain name that you chose originally for your account, similar to contoso.onmicrosoft.com, can’t be removed.

• Before you can remove a domain, you must first remove the domain from all user, email, or Office 365 accounts associated with the domain. You can remove all of the accounts, or you can bulk edit user accounts to change their domain information and email addresses. For more information, see Create or edit users and Add multiple users with bulk import.

• If you are hosting a SharePoint Online site on a domain that is being used for a SharePoint Online site collection, you must delete the site collection before you can remove the domain.

To remove a domain, follow these steps.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains.

2. On the Domains page, select the domain that you want to remove, and then click Remove.

3. On the Remove domain page, click Yes.

If your domain can’t be removed at this time, the domain’s status is shown as Pending removal on the Domains page. If this status persists, try again to remove the domain. For more troubleshooting suggestions, watch the following video: Troubleshooting Removing Domains in Office 365. To track down the cause of a specific error number, see the information in You receive an error message when you try to remove a domain from Office 365.

See Also

Add your domain to Office 365

Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name

Add your domain to Office 365

If you want your hosted email or other services to use a domain that you own rather than the one you were given at signup, you can add the domain to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses.

Here’s how:

• Add the domain name to Office 365.

• Verify that the domain name belongs to you. To do this, add a DNS record at your domain registrar site, wait for the information to propagate through the DNS system, and then request that Office 365 verify that the record is there.

• Update your DNS name server records to point DNS traffic for your domain to Office 365. After the update is propagated through the DNS system, you can use your Office 365 services with your domain name.

Note:

Office 365 hosts your DNS after you add your domain so the required DNS records for your Office 365 services (Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online) are configured for you. To learn more about DNS, see DNS basics and Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365.

Specific instructions vary depending on what you want to do. Office 365 doesn’t provide a custom domain for you, but you can easily purchase one yourself. (How? See Buy a domain name.)

Note:

You can add multiple domains to Office 365. However, you can’t add the same domain to different Office 365 accounts. So, for example, when you add your domain to Office 365, you can’t create another Office 365 account and add the same domain name to that account.

What do you want to do?

• Move a domain from Office Live Small Business to Office 365

• Add a new domain to Office 365

• Move your email to Office 365 and keep your current public-facing website

• Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365

See Also

Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address

Add a new domain to Office 365

If you have a new domain that you haven’t used yet, or if you have a custom domain that you use for email only, and you want to add your domain to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, follow the steps described here.

Tip:

If you have a domain that you use with a public-facing website, you can move your email to Office 365 but keep your website with your current hosting provider, outside of Office 365. To learn how, see Move your email to Office 365 and keep your current public-facing website.

What do you want to do?

• Prepare before you add your domain name

• Add a domain

Prepare before you add your domain name

Before you add your domain name, keep in mind the following.

• To add a domain name, you must have already registered a domain name and have the sign-in credentials needed for your domain name registrar.

• If you don’t have a custom domain name, you can buy one from a domain name registrar.

• If you already have a domain name but you don’t have the sign-in credentials at your domain name registrar, contact the person who registered the domain name.

For more information, see Locate your domain services or buy a new domain.

• Please remember! Although you configure your domain to work with the Office 365 services, you can’t let your domain expire by not paying your domain name registrar. If you don’t renew your domain registration, your Office 365 services won’t work. For example, email won’t be delivered, and Lync Online won’t work. Your domain name registrar will notify you when your domain registration is about to expire.

• If you are currently using custom domains in Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, you cannot add the same domains to Office 365.

• When you verify your domain ownership to Office 365, you add a DNS record at your domain registrar and have to wait for the record to propagate through the DNS system. The process usually takes about 15 minutes but can take up to 72 hours. There’s also a delay for DNS propagation after you change your name server records in the final step of adding your domain.

Add a domain

To add a custom domain to Office 365, use the Add domain wizard as follows.

To watch a video about how to add your domain, see Office 365: Adding a Registered Domain Name.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains, and then click Add a domain.

2. On the Add a domain page, under Specify domain, type the domain name that you want to add, and then click Next.

3. Follow the steps in the wizard to verify with Office 365 that the domain name you have added belongs to you. For step-by-step directions, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

Tip:

After you add your domain to Office 365, you can change the default domain for new email addresses. For more information, see Change the default domain name. You can also update your own email address (which is also your user ID) to use your custom domain name instead of the onmicrosoft.com domain. For more information about working with user accounts in Office 365, see Create or edit users.

Important

After you add and verify your domain, to complete the process so that you can use your domain in Office 365, you must update your name server records, the DNS records that direct your domain traffic, for your Office 365 account. After you switch your name server records, Office 365 hosts all DNS records for your domain and automatically creates the required records for services, such as email and Lync Online.

Need detailed instructions for changing the domain name server records on popular domain registrar websites? If you’ve just completed the Add a domain wizard, click Change name server. Otherwise, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

To check the status of your domain, on the Domains page, select the domain, and then, on the Domain properties page, click Troubleshoot domain.

If you have any problems, see Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name. If your changes still aren’t working properly, see Get support for Office 365.

See Also

Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name

Change name server records at a domain registrar

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address

Move your email to Office 365 and keep your current public-facing website

When you sign up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you may want to move the email on your domain to Office 365, but continue to host your public-facing website with your current hosting provider. In this topic, we walk you through the process for doing this. Because each hosting provider is a little different, you may need to contact your current provider for additional help.

What do you want to do?

Prepare before you add your domain name

Add your domain to Office 365

Set up email accounts and website redirection

Update your domain name server records to point to Office 365

Prepare before you add your domain name

Before you add your domain name to Office 365, keep in mind the following.

• To add a domain name, you must have already registered a domain name and have the sign-in credentials needed for your domain name registrar.

• If you don’t have a custom domain name, you can buy one from a domain name registrar.

• If you already have a domain name but you don’t have the sign-in credentials at your domain name registrar, contact the person who registered the domain name.

For more information, see Locate your domain services or buy a new domain.

• If you are currently using custom domains in Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, you cannot add the same domains to Office 365.

• When you verify your domain ownership to Office 365, you add a DNS record at your domain registrar and have to wait for the record to propagate through the DNS system. The process usually takes about 15 minutes but can take up to 72 hours.

• Please remember! Although you configure your domain to work with the Office 365 services, you can’t let your domain expire by not paying your domain name registrar. If you don’t renew your domain registration, your Office 365 services won’t work. For example, email won’t be delivered, and Lync Online won’t work. Your domain name registrar will notify you when your domain registration is about to expire.

Add your domain to Office 365

To add your domain to Office 365 but keep your website at its current hosting provider, instead of creating and hosting a new public-facing website with Office 365, you have to create a DNS A record in Office 365 that points to the IP address for your website, for example, 172.16.140.1.

Don’t know your IP address? Contact your current hosting provider and explain that you need the IP address for your website to create an A record to route customers there. Then add your domain name in Office 365.

To watch a video about adding your domain and continuing to host your website with another provider, see Adding a Domain Name with a Public Website to Office 365 for Professionals and Small Businesses.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains, and then click Add a domain.

2. On the Add a domain page, under Specify domain, type the domain name that you want to add, and then click Next.

3. Follow the steps in the wizard to verify with Office 365 that the domain name you have added belongs to you. For step-by-step directions, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

4. After your domain is verified, click Cancel in the Add a domain wizard. Don’t continue to the page where you update your name server records to point to Office 365 name servers. You’ll do this later.

At this point, your domain name has been added to Office 365 but you haven’t updated your domain name server records, so email messages, website traffic, and other network traffic for your domain are still routed to your current hosting provider. Before you change the name server records, set up your email accounts and website redirection as described in the next section.

Set up email accounts and website redirection

Add user accounts and email addresses, and set up the A record redirection for your website by doing the following.

1. Add user accounts and email addresses: Create Office 365 email addresses with your domain name for your users (such as ellenadams@contoso.com) so that your users won’t lose email messages when you update the domain name server records to point to Office 365. You can also update your own email address (which is also your user ID) to use your custom domain name instead of the onmicrosoft.com domain. For more information about working with user accounts in Office 365, see Create or edit users.

Tip:

After you add your domain to Office 365, you can change the default domain for new email addresses. For more information, see Change the default domain name.

2. Set up the A record for redirection: Create the A record to redirect traffic to your website on the DNS manager tab, using the IP address that you got from your current hosting provider.

We recommend that you also create a CNAME record to help make sure that your customers will find your website whether or not they include www together with your domain name. For detailed steps about adding these DNS records in Office 365, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

Update your domain name server records to point to Office 365

Now that you’ve got email accounts and website redirection set up, you can update your domain name server records to point to Office 365. By setting up email addresses and the A record ahead of time, as described in the previous section, your users will have email accounts that use your custom domain address, and your website will still be available at your current website hosting provider after you change the name server records.

Caution:

When you change your domain’s name server records as described here, you change the destination of domain services, such as email, to point to Office 365. Remember: if you’re already using your custom domain for email outside of Office 365, make sure that you have created Office 365 email addresses with the domain name for your users (such as ellenadams@contoso.com) so that they won’t lose email messages when you update the domain name server records to point to Office 365.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains.

2. Click the domain name that you’d like to edit.

3. Click Troubleshoot domain.

4. Select the first option, and then click Next.

5. Follow the steps provided on the page to update your name server records. For more information about changing name server records, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

After you’ve updated your name server records, email will begin to be routed to Office 365, but traffic to your website address will continue to go to your current hosting provider.

See Also

Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider

Add your domain to Office 365

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Change name server records at a domain registrar

Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365

Typically, when small business owners add their domain to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, they update the name server records for their domain name to point to Office 365-hosted name servers so Office 365 manages their DNS records. Office 365 then creates all the DNS records that are required for the domain name to work with each service, such as Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online. This simplifies the process of setting up Office 365.

However, if you want to use your domain name with Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365, you need to configure the required DNS records yourself, using the information in this article.

Important

This workaround is provided for customers who can’t add their domain name to Office 365 for the following reasons:

The customers are under restrictions enforced by their domain registrar.

The customers have specific technical needs that require them to continue to host their DNS with their current provider.

These steps are intended for advanced users who are familiar with managing DNS. When you configure Office 365 services without redirecting your name server records to the Office 365 name servers, there are limitations on your Office 365 services. For more information, see Limitations in Office 365 services when Office 365 doesn’t host your DNS.

What do you want to do?

• Prepare before you add your domain name

• Add and verify your domain

• Add the required DNS records for Office 365 services

• Learn about the limitations in Office 365 services when Office 365 doesn’t host your DNS

Prepare before you add your domain name

Before you add your domain name, keep in mind the following.

• To add a domain name, you must have already registered a domain name and have the sign-in credentials needed for your domain name registrar.

• If you don’t have a custom domain name, you can buy one from a domain name registrar.

• If you already have a domain name but you don’t have the sign-in credentials at your domain name registrar, contact the person who registered the domain name.

For more information, see Locate your domain services or buy a new domain.

• If you are currently using custom domains in Microsoft Business Productivity Online Standard Suite, you cannot add the same domains to Office 365.

• When you verify your domain ownership to Office 365, you add a DNS record at your domain registrar and have to wait for the record to propagate through the DNS system. The process usually takes about 15 minutes but can take up to 72 hours.

• Please remember! Although you configure your domain to work with the Office 365 services, you can’t let your domain expire by not paying your domain name registrar. If you don’t renew your domain registration, your Office 365 services won’t work. For example, email won’t be delivered, and Lync Online won’t work. Your domain name registrar will notify you when your domain registration is about to expire.

Add and verify your domain

To add a custom domain to Office 365, use the Add domain wizard as follows.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains, and then click Add a domain.

2. On the Add a domain page, under Specify domain, type the domain name that you want to add, and then click Next.

3. Follow the steps in the wizard to verify with Office 365 that the domain name you have added belongs to you. For step-by-step directions, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

4. After your domain is verified, click Cancel in the Add a domain wizard. Don’t continue to the page where you update your name server records to point to Office 365 name servers. Instead, configure the DNS records in the Office 365 DNS manager to set up your Office 365 services, as described in the following section.

Tip:

After you add your domain to Office 365, you can change the default domain for new email addresses. For more information, see Change the default domain name. You can also update your own email address (which is also your user ID) to use your custom domain name instead of the onmicrosoft.com domain. For more information about working with user accounts in Office 365, see Create or edit users.

To check the status of your domain, on the Domains page, select the domain, and then, on the Domain properties page, click Troubleshoot domain.

If you have any problems, see Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name. If your changes still aren’t working properly, see Get support for Office 365.

Add the required DNS records for Office 365 services

You configure your domain to work with Office 365 services by adding the required DNS records at your DNS hosting provider. This might be your domain name registrar or another hosting provider where you manage your DNS records.

First, get the information you’ll need to create the DNS records by viewing the DNS records in Office 365, and then, at your hosting provider, create the DNS records.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains.

2. On the Domains page, click the domain name that you just added to Office 365.

3. On the DNS manager tab, note the DNS records for Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online.

Note:

The DNS manager tab also lists DNS records for Office 365 that you cannot edit or remove.

4. Create the DNS records for Office 365 services at your DNS hosting provider, which might be your domain name registrar. Sign in to your current DNS hosting provider and, using the information on the DNS manager tab as a guide, create the same DNS records.

Use the following guidance to help you create the DNS records.

Service

Required DNS records

Purpose

Exchange Online

MX record

Configures email routing.

Exchange Online

CNAME record

Autodiscover record that is used to help users easily set up a connection between Exchange Online and users’ Outlook desktop client or a mobile email client.

Exchange Online

TXT/SPF record

Specifies that outlook.com, the domain used by the Office 365 mail servers, is authorized to send mail on behalf of your domain. Create this SPF record to help prevent your outbound mail from being flagged as spam.

Lync Online

SRV record

Helps enable federation with other instant messaging services such as Windows Live or Yahoo!.

Lync Online

CNAME record

Autodiscover record that is used to help users easily set up a connection between the Lync desktop client and Lync Online.

Lync Online

CNAME record

Autodiscover record that is used to help users easily set up a connection between the Lync mobile client and Lync Online.

SharePoint Online

A record

Routes traffic to your public-facing SharePoint Online website.

SharePoint Online

“www” CNAME record

Routes traffic to your public-facing SharePoint Online website.

Click here to view table as image

For more information about the SharePoint Online records, see Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address.

After you complete these steps and after the DNS records have propagated through the DNS system, your domain is ready to use with Office 365 services.

Limitations in Office 365 services when Office 365 doesn’t host your DNS

If you add your domain name to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365, consider the following:

• SharePoint Online: If you enable SharePoint Online to host your public website, the DNS records that are required to route traffic to SharePoint Online won’t be created automatically by Office 365. You have to manually create those DNS records at your DNS provider, as described in this article, because Office 365 isn’t hosting the DNS records for your domain.

• Domains troubleshooting tool: Because you didn’t configure your name server records to point to Office 365 name servers, the Office 365 domains troubleshooting wizard will always report that your name server records are incorrect. You can disregard this warning because you have manually created the DNS records for each of your services.

• DNS manager: Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses provides DNS management tools that you can use to add custom DNS records. However, if you create, or have already created, custom records by using this tool, because the name server records for your domain don’t point to Office 365, the custom records won’t work. You must create, or recreate, any custom records by using your current DNS hosting provider.

• Future Office 365 updates: When we add new services to Office 365, we won’t be able to automatically add the DNS records that are required to enable the services to work on your domain. To use the services, you must manually add the DNS records at your DNS hosting provider.

See Also

Verify a domain at a domain name registrar

Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address

DNS basics

Domains are managed by using a worldwide system of domain registrars and databases. The Domain Name System (DNS) provides a mapping between human-readable computer hostnames and the IP addresses used by networking equipment. An understanding of DNS and domain registrar basics will help administrators manage domains in Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses.

Also, it’s helpful to have a basic understanding of DNS and the difference between domain registrars and domain hosting services. Understanding these terms can help you understand how to register and manage domains. Get a quick overview by reading the summary in Domain Name Registration and DNS Hosting Services.

What do you want to do?

Learn about domain names

Understand DNS record types and functions

Domain names

Domain names are used in URLs and email addresses. Domain names are constructed in levels. For example, mail.contoso.com is a domain name with the following three levels:

• .com is the top-level domain

• contoso is the second-level domain

• mail is the third-level domain

Note:

Sometimes third-level domains are used to designate webpages that serve specific functions, such as blog.contoso.com.

For more information, see Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365.

Understand DNS record types and functions

DNS records are used to direct traffic to and from your domain. These records associate a domain name with a specific IP address. The following table describes frequently used DNS records and their functions.

Name server record

Identifies which name servers are the authoritative name servers for a specific domain. DNS information can be cached in several name servers for a period of time, but when the cache expires, non-authoritative name servers contact the authoritative name server for updated information about a domain.

A record (address record)

Associates a domain name with an IP address.

CNAME (Alias or canonical name) record

Specifies that the domain name is an alias of another canonical domain name. When a name server looks up a domain and finds a CNAME record, it replaces the first domain name with the CNAME and then looks up the new name.

MX (mail exchanger) record

Identifies the server to which email is directed. It also contains a priority field so that mail can be directed to multiple servers in a prescribed order.

SPF (sender policy framework)

An email validation system designed to help prevent email spoofing and phishing.

SRV (service record)

Specifies information about available services. SRV records are used by Lync Online and Exchange Online to coordinate the flow of information between Office 365 services.

TTL (time-to-live)

The amount of time that a DNS record is retained or cached by a name server or other servers before the server does another lookup on the authoritative name server. You use this to control the number of queries made to a given name server.

Click here to view table as image

See Also

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

To add a domain name to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you, as an administrator, must own a domain and change some of the DNS records for your domain. If you don’t already own a domain name, you can buy one from a domain name registrar.

Your domain name registrar usually, but not always, manages the DNS records for your domain. If your registrar doesn’t manage your DNS records, you’ll need to locate your DNS service provider. If you don’t recall the domain name registrar where you registered your domain, follow the steps provided here to locate the correct registrar.

Important:

If you’re moving a domain from Office Live Small Business, do not follow the instructions here. Instead, see the information at the Office Live Small Business to Office 365 Transition Center.

What do you want to do?

Locate your domain name registrar

Locate your DNS service provider

Learn how to buy a domain name

Locate your domain name registrar

1. Open a browser, and then go to the InterNIC search page.

2. In the Whois Search box, type your domain name; for example, contoso.com.

3. Select the Domain option, and then click Submit.

4. On the Whois Search Results page, locate the Registrar entry. This entry lists the name of the organization that provides registrar service for the domain name that you entered.

Locate your DNS service provider

1. Open a browser, and then go to the InterNIC search page.

2. In the Whois Search box, type your domain name; for example, contoso.com.

3. Select the Domain option, and then click Submit.

4. On the Whois Search Results page, locate the first Name Server entry.

5. Copy the name server information that appears after the colon (:), and then paste it into the Search box at the top of the page. Select Nameserver, and then click Submit.

6. On the Whois Search Results page, locate the Registrar entry. This entry lists the DNS service provider who owns the name server.

Buy a domain name

When you sign up for Office 365, you are issued a domain name that you can use with the service, for example, contoso.onmicrosoft.com. But you can also use your own domain name with Office 365 to personalize your email addresses and instant messaging addresses, or to host a website. If you don’t already have your own domain name, you can easily purchase one online at a domain name registrar, domain reseller, or even at your current Internet provider.

The following are some common domain registrars:

• Go Daddy

• Melbourne IT

• Network Solutions

• Hover

• eNom Central

• 1&1 Internet

• Register.com

After you register your domain name, you can sign in to Office 365 and add the domain name to Office 365.

See Also

DNS basics

Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365

Troubleshoot issues after changing your domain name

If you’ve tried to add your domain to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses and are running into problems, read on to see if we’ve addressed your problem. If you still need help, check out Get help with Office 365.

Note:

About adding your own domain: When you sign up for Office 365, you’re issued a domain name that has the following format: contoso.onmicrosoft.com. You can continue to use that initial domain name, or you can add your own custom domain name to Office 365. For more information, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Get help with one of these errors or issues

• I’m moving my domain from Office Live Small Business and I’m confused by the information here.

• I added my domain to Office 365 and now customers can’t get to my website.

• I made changes to my domain, but Office 365 doesn’t show the changes yet.

• I added a domain, verified it, and updated the name server records on my domain registrar site. Why aren’t new email accounts getting mail yet?

• I can’t verify my domain name. How can I find out what’s wrong?

• I added and verified my domain, but the new domain name isn’t working for users’ email addresses.

I’m moving my domain from Office Live Small Business and I’m confused by the information here.

If you’re transitioning from Office Live Small Business, you need to take different steps to move your domain to Office 365 than people who are adding their domains from other providers. For assistance, see the information at the Office Live Small Business to Office 365 Transition Center.

I added my domain to Office 365 and now customers can’t get to my website.

When you add your domain to Office 365, you can keep your website with your current hosting provider but you must take some extra steps to help make sure customers can still get to your website. For more information, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

I made changes to my domain, but Office 365 doesn’t show the changes yet.

Because of the way updates move through the domain name system (DNS), it can take up to 72 hours before the changes you make at a domain registrar or hosting provider fully propagate through the Internet and you can begin using your domain name with your services.

In addition, the edits that you make at the domain registrar must be exactly correct. If you go back to correct an error, it may take several days for the updated setting to appear on your Office 365 site.

How long will it take? It depends in part on the time to live (TTL) setting you’ve specified for the DNS record that you are replacing or updating. Until the TTL expires, Internet servers that have cached the previous data won’t query the authoritative name server to request the new value.

In addition, make sure that you’ve updated your name server records in addition to adding and verifying your domain with Office 365. Office 365 can’t make the necessary changes to your DNS records to configure email and other services until you’ve redirected your DNS hosting to Office 365.

I added a domain, verified it, and updated the name server records on my domain registrar site. Why aren’t new email accounts getting mail yet?

After you have finished adding or updating DNS records for your domain, it can take up to 72 hours for the changes to take effect. In addition, the settings information must be exactly correct on the domain registrar site. Double-check your settings, and make sure that you’ve allowed enough time for the changed DNS records to propagate through the system.

Are some email messages not getting sent or are you getting NDR (non-delivery report) replies that look like this? smtp;550 SPF MAIL FROM check failed (PermError)

To get help with tracking down these issues, see this KB article: You cannot send email messages from Office 365 for a domain that is configured for full redelegation.

I can’t verify my domain name. How can I find out what’s wrong?

One way to track down issues is to use the domains troubleshooting wizard. To start the wizard, do the following: In Office 365, on the Admin page, click Domains. Select the domain name that you want to verify, and then click Troubleshoot.

The troubleshooting wizard asks you for information about where you are in the verification process, and then provides you with information to help you complete the verification.

I added and verified my domain, but the new domain name isn’t working for existing users’ email addresses.

If you add your custom domain name to Office 365 after you have already added user accounts or worked on your Office 365 website, you may have to make updates to use the new domain name. For example, you will need to change your users’ accounts to set their email addresses to use your custom domain. For more information about updating your users’ email accounts, see Create or edit users.

See Also

Add your domain to Office 365

Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365

Use a custom domain name for your SharePoint Online public-facing website address

You can change your public-facing website on SharePoint Online to use a custom domain name instead of using the domain name that you chose when you signed up for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, for example, contoso .sharepoint.com.

Why do this? So customers can access your SharePoint Online website by using a familiar domain name that you already own or a new domain name that you’ve chosen and purchased for your business.

To watch a video about this task, see Assigning a Domain Name to a SharePoint Public Site.

Note:

Be sure to customize your website before you update Office 365 to use your custom domain name for your SharePoint Online website. Otherwise, customers will see the sample website that is provided with SharePoint Online.

In this article

• Change your SharePoint Online website to use the domain name you want

• Prepare to change the domain name for your SharePoint Online website

Change your SharePoint Online website to use the domain name you want

1. If you haven’t done so already, add your custom domain to Office 365. For more information, see Add your domain to Office 365.

2. Customize your Office 365 public-facing website by adding your company name, logo, and business information. For more information, see Customize a public-facing website.

3. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains.

4. Click Change address, and then step through the wizard.

Tips:

If you want to keep your current public-facing website, hosted outside of Office 365, instead of creating a new public website that uses your domain on SharePoint Online, don’t use the Change address option to point traffic to your SharePoint Online website.

Instead, redirect your website traffic from Office 365 back to the hosting provider where your website is located. To learn how, seeUpdate DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

You can now access your website using your custom domain, for example: http://www.contoso.com/, instead of your temporary Office 365 domain, for example: http://contoso.sharepoint.com/.

Prepare to change the domain name for your SharePoint Online website

When you change your website to use your custom domain name, keep in mind the following.

• If you set up Office 365 to use your custom domain name for your SharePoint Online website, you can easily change the site later to use another custom domain name, or change back to the original domain name that you used, for example, contoso .sharepoint.com, by using the Change address option. Or later, you can move the site to be hosted by another third-party service.

• You can only host one public-facing website with your Office 365 account, and you can only redirect one domain to the website.

• You can’t use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol with a website hosted by Office 365.

• Some DNS records must be overwritten by Office 365 to change the website to use your custom domain name. For example, if you have a DNS record named www, Office 365 must update that record to point to SharePoint Online.

See Also

Add your domain to Office 365

Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider

Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider

When you add your domain to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you can keep your current public-facing website that uses your domain with an outside website hosting provider instead of hosting your website with Office 365. For example, suppose that you want to use Office 365 for your email and communications, but you want to continue to host your website with your current hosting provider.

To route customers to your website after you’ve added and verified your domain in Office 365, create a DNS record in Office 365 called an A record that points to the IP address for your website, for example, 10.0.0.1.

Don’t know your IP address? Contact your current hosting provider and explain that you need your IP address to create an A record to route customers to your website. You may need to make other changes to your account to help make sure that customers can access your website correctly. Contact your current hosting provider, explain what you’re doing, and follow their guidance.

For more information about adding and using your domain with Office 365 when you want to keep your website with your current hosting provider, see Move your email to Office 365 and keep your current public-facing website.

To route traffic to your website after you add your domain to Office 365, do the following.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains, and then select the domain that you’d like to edit.

2. Click Manage DNS, click New, and then choose A (Address).

3. On the Add a DNS record page, type the following:

• For Host name or Alias, type @

• For IP Address, type the IP address where your website is currently hosted, for example: 172.16.140.1

4. Click Save.

5. You can also create a CNAME record to help customers find your website. On the DNS manager tab, click New, and then choose CNAME (Alias).

Note:

Creating a CNAME record is optional, but we recommend it. The CNAME record helps make sure that customers can find your website whether or not they include www with your domain name.

6. On the Add a DNS record page, type the following:

• For Host name or Alias, type www

• For Points to address, type the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for your website. For example: contoso.com

7. Click Save.

8. Update your domain name server records to point to Office 365. When your domain name server records have been updated to point to Office 365, the configuration of your domain is complete. Email will be routed to Office 365, but traffic to your website address will continue to go to your current hosting provider. For more information, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

See Also

Change name server records at a domain registrar

Move your email to Office 365 and keep your current public-facing website

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add or edit custom DNS records in Office 365

After you move your domain to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses and switch your name server records to point to Office 365, you can add custom DNS records for your domain. You also edit your custom DNS records later if you need to make changes.

Note:

You can’t, however, update the DNS records that Office 365 created for you when you added your domain. These DNS records are listed on the DNS manager table under DNS records for Microsoft Office 365.

To add or edit DNS records in Office 365, do the following:

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Management, click Domains, and then click the domain that you’d like to edit.

2. Click DNS manager.

3. Do one of the following:

• To add a DNS record, click New, and then in the drop-down list, choose the type of record that you want to add, and then provide the information requested: Host name or Alias and IP Address.

• To edit a DNS record, click a DNS record, click Edit, and then make changes to the information.

4. Click Save.

See Also

DNS basics

Work with domain names and DNS records in Office 365

Add your domain to Office 365

Verify a domain

Insert introduction here.

Section Heading

Insert section body here.

Subsection Heading

Insert subsection body here.

Verify a domain at a domain name registrar

If you already own a domain name, you can configure it to work with your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses services. After you configure your domain to work with Office 365, you can change the destination of domain services—such as email and web hosting—to point to Office 365. For more information, see Add your domain to Office 365.

If you already have a domain registered with a domain name registrar, and you want to configure it to work with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, domain verification is required to confirm that you own the domain. To verify your domain, you create a DNS record at the domain name registrar or wherever your DNS is hosted, and then Office 365 uses that record to confirm that you own the domain.

Notes:

If you’re moving a domain from Office Live Small Business, do not follow the instructions here. Instead, see the information at the Office Live Small Business to Office 365 Transition Center.

Before you can verify your domain, you must add the domain to Office 365. When you’ve added a domain but the domain hasn’t yet been verified, the status is Click to verify domain.

You can add and verify a domain name only once. If someone else in your company has already added and verified a domain name in Office 365, you will receive an error message if you try to add the same domain again.

If your current DNS hosting provider, which might be your domain name registrar, appears in the following list, click that link for step-by-step instructions for verifying your domain. You must complete all the steps to verify your domain in Office 365.

• Verify a domain at 1&1 Internet

• Verify a domain at eNom Central

• Verify a domain at Go Daddy

• Verify a domain at Hover

• Verify a domain at Melbourne IT

• Verify a domain at Network Solutions

• Verify a domain at Register.com

Note:

After you verify your domain, to finish configuring your domain to work with Office 365, you must change the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. For more information, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

Complete these steps

1. Gather your domain information

2. Create a DNS record at your DNS hosting provider

3. Verify your domain with Office 365

Step 1. Gather your domain information

You’ll need some information about your domain so that you can create the DNS record that will be used for verification.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains. Follow the instructions to add a domain to Office 365.

Note:

If you’ve already added a domain to Office 365, on the Domains page, in the list of domain names, find the domain that you are verifying. In the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

3. On the Verify domain page, in the See instructions for performing this step with: drop-down list, choose your DNS hosting provider. If your provider doesn’t appear in the list, choose General instructions.

4. In the Select a verification method: drop-down list, choose Add a TXT record (preferred method) or Add an MX record (alternate method).
Not sure which verification method to choose? See Verify your domain by using a TXT record or an MX record?.

5. From the table, copy or record the Destination or Points to Address information.

You will need this information when you create the new DNS record at your DNS hosting provider in the next section.

Step 2. Create a DNS record at your DNS hosting provider

Office 365 uses a DNS record that you create at your DNS hosting provider to confirm that you own the domain. Use the instructions below to create a TXT record (or, if you prefer, an MX record) for your domain.

Note:

You may notice differences between your DNS hosting provider’s website and the website described in these instructions.

To add a TXT record to verify your domain in Office 365, do the following.

1. Sign in to your DNS hosting provider’s website, and then select the domain that you’re verifying.

2. In the DNS management area for your account, select the option to add a TXT record for your domain.

3. In the TXT box for the domain, type the following: @

4. In the Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or Points to box, type or paste the Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

5. Where it asks for TTL information, type 1 to set TTL to one hour.

6. Save your changes, and then sign out of your domain registrar’s website.

If you prefer, you can instead create an MX record to verify your domain in Office 365. To create an MX record to enable Office 365 to verify your domain, do the following.

1. Sign in to your DNS hosting provider’s website, and then select the domain that you’re verifying.

2. In the DNS management area for your account, select the option to add an MX record for your domain.

3. In the MX box for the domain, type the following: @

4. In the Fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or Points to box, type or paste the Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

5. Where it asks for TTL information, type 1 to set TTL to one hour.

6. Where it asks for a priority (or preference), type a number that is larger than the number you’ve specified for existing MX records. This can help prevent the new MX record from interfering with mail routing for the domain. Instead of a priority, you may see the following options: Low, Medium, High. In this scenario, choose Low.

7. Save your changes, and then sign out of your domain name registrar’s website.

After you create either the TXT record or the MX record and sign out of the website, return to Office 365 to verify the domain.

Note:

Typically it takes about 15 minutes for your changes to take effect. But it can take up to 72 hours for the record that you created to propagate through the DNS system.

Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365

After the record that you created for your domain has propagated successfully through the DNS system, do the following to finish verifying your domain with Office 365.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains.

3. In the Domains list, find the domain that you’re verifying, and then, in the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

4. On the Verify domain page, click Verify.

• If domain verification succeeds, a dialog box appears to let you know that your domain has been added to your account.

• If domain verification fails, then the changes that you made at the domain registrar might need more time to propagate. Cancel the verification in Office 365, and return later to try domain verification again.

Note:

If it has been more than 72 hours since you made the changes to your domain, sign in to the domain registrar’s website and verify that you entered the DNS record information correctly. If you entered the information incorrectly, you must remove the incorrect record and create a new one with the correct information by using the procedures in this topic.

5. Click Finish. Your domain status is now listed as Verified in the list of domains.

After you’ve verified your domain and changed the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar, you can configure your domain to work with Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online in Office 365.

See Also

DNS basics

Change name server records at a domain registrar

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Verify a domain at eNom Central

If you already have a domain registered with eNom Central, and you want to configure it to work with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, domain verification is required to confirm that you own the domain. To verify your domain, you create a DNS record at eNom Central, and then Office 365 uses that record to confirm that you own the domain.

Notes:

If you registered your domain with eNom Central but moved your DNS hosting to another provider, you’ll need to create the DNS record where your DNS is now hosted.

Before you can verify your domain, you must add the domain to Office 365. When you’ve added a domain but the domain hasn’t yet been verified, the status is Click to verify domain. For more information about adding a domain, see Add your domain to Office 365.

You can add and verify a domain name only once. If someone else in your company has already added and verified a domain name, you will receive an error message if you try to add the same domain again.

The following instructions describe how to verify a domain that is registered at the domain registrar eNom Central. You must complete all of these steps to verify your domain in Office 365. For general instructions about verifying a domain, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

Note:

After you verify your domain, to finish configuring your domain to work with Office 365, you must change the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. For more information, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

Complete these steps

1. Gather your domain information

2. Create a DNS record at eNom Central

3. Verify your domain with Office 365

Step 1. Gather your domain information

You’ll need some information about your domain so that you can create the DNS record that will be used for verification.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains. Follow the instructions to add a domain to Office 365.

Note:

If you have already added a domain to Office 365, on the Domains page, in the list of domain names, find the domain that you are verifying. In the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

3. On the Verify domain page, in the See instructions for performing this step with: drop-down list, choose your DNS hosting provider. If your provider doesn’t appear in the list, choose General instructions.

4. In the Select a verification method: drop-down list, choose Add a TXT record (preferred method) or Add an MX record (alternate method).
Not sure which verification method to choose? See Verify your domain by using a TXT record or an MX record?.

5. From the table, copy or record the Destination or Points to Address information.

You’ll need this information when you create the new DNS record at eNom Central in the next section.

Step 2. Create a DNS record at eNom Central

Office 365 uses a DNS record that you create at eNom Central to confirm that you own the domain. Use the instructions below to create a TXT record (or, if you prefer, an MX record) for a domain that is registered at your registrar.

Note:

You may notice differences between eNom Central’s website and the website described in these instructions.

To add a TXT record to verify your domain in Office 365, do the following.

1. Sign in to your account at eNom Central.

2. In the header, under Domains, click My Domains.

3. On the my domains tab, select the domain name that you’re verifying.

4. In the Manage Domain drop-down list, choose Host Records.

5. In the first empty row of the Edit Host Records section, in the Host Name box, type the following: @

If no empty rows are available in the Edit Host Records section, click new row.

6. In the Record Type box, select TXT.

7. In the Address box in the same row, type or paste your Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

8. Click Save.

If you prefer, you can instead create an MX record to verify your domain in Office 365. To create an MX record to enable Office 365 to verify your domain, do the following.

1. Sign in to your account at eNom Central.

2. In the header, under Domains, click My Domains.

3. On the my domains tab, select the domain name that you’re verifying.

4. In the Manage Domain drop-down list, choose Email Settings.

5. In the Service Selection drop-down list, choose User (MX).

6. In the first empty row of the Edit Host Records section, in the Host Name box, type the following: @

If no empty rows are available in the Edit Host Records section, click new row.

7. In the Address box in the same row, type or paste your Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

8. In the Pref box, type a number that is larger than the number you’ve specified for existing MX records. This can help prevent the new MX record from interfering with mail routing for the domain.

9. Click Save.

After you create either the TXT record or the MX record and sign out of the eNom Central website, return to Office 365 to verify the domain.

Note:

Typically it takes about 15 minutes for your changes to take effect. But it can take up to 72 hours for the record that you created to propagate through the DNS system.

Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365

After the record that you created for your domain has propagated successfully through the DNS system, do the following to finish verifying your domain with Office 365.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains.

3. In the Domains list, find the domain that you’re verifying, and then, in the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

4. On the Verify domain page, click Verify.

• If domain verification succeeds, a dialog box appears to let you know that your domain has been added to your account.

• If domain verification fails, then the changes that you made at the domain registrar might need more time to propagate. Cancel the verification in Office 365, and return later to try domain verification again.

Note:

If it has been more than 72 hours since you made the changes to your eNom Central account, sign in to the eNom Central website and verify that you entered the DNS record information correctly. If you entered the information incorrectly, you must remove the incorrect record and create a new one with the correct information by using the procedures in this topic.

5. Click Finish. Your domain status is now listed as Verified in the list of domains.

After you’ve verified your domain and changed the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar, you can configure your domain to work with Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online in Office 365.

See Also

DNS basics

Change name server records at eNom Central

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Verify a domain at Go Daddy

If you already have a domain registered with Go Daddy, and you want to configure it to work with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, domain verification is required to confirm that you own the domain. To verify your domain, you create a DNS record at Go Daddy, and then Office 365 uses that record to confirm that you own the domain.

Notes:

If you registered your domain with Go Daddy but moved your DNS hosting to another provider, you’ll need to create the DNS record where your DNS is now hosted.

Before you can verify your domain, you must add the domain to Office 365. When you’ve added a domain but the domain hasn’t yet been verified, the status is Click to verify domain. For more information about adding a domain, see Add your domain to Office 365.

You can add and verify a domain name only once. If someone else in your company has already added and verified a domain name, you will receive an error message if you try to add the same domain again.

The following instructions describe how to verify a domain that is registered at the domain registrar Go Daddy. You must complete all of these steps to verify your domain in Office 365. For general instructions about verifying a domain, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

Note:

After you verify your domain, to finish configuring your domain to work with Office 365, you must change the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. For more information, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

Complete these steps

1. Gather your domain information

2. Create a DNS record at Go Daddy

3. Verify your domain with Office 365

Step 1. Gather your domain information

You’ll need some information about your domain so that you can create the DNS record that will be used for verification.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains. Follow the instructions to add a domain to Office 365.

Note:

If you have already added a domain to Office 365, on the Domains page, in the list of domain names, find the domain that you are verifying. In the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

3. On the Verify domain page, in the See instructions for performing this step with: drop-down list, choose your DNS hosting provider. If your provider doesn’t appear in the list, choose General instructions.

4. In the Select a verification method: drop-down list, choose Add a TXT record (preferred method) or Add an MX record (alternate method).
Not sure which verification method to choose? See Verify your domain by using a TXT record or an MX record?.

5. From the table, copy or record the Destination or Points to Address information.

You’ll need this information when you create the new DNS record at Go Daddy in the next section.

Step 2. Create a DNS record at Go Daddy

Office 365 uses a DNS record that you create at Go Daddy to confirm that you own the domain. Use the instructions below to create a TXT record (or, if you prefer, an MX record) for a domain that is registered at Go Daddy.

Note:

You may notice differences between Go Daddy’s website and the website described in these instructions.

To add a TXT record to verify your domain in Office 365, use the steps in the following table.

Sign in to your account at Go Daddy.

1. On the Go Daddy website, at the top of the page, find the Username / Customer # box. Type your user name, and then in the Password box, type your password.

2. Click Log In.

Go to your account area.

On the far right of the green header bar, click the black My Accounts tab.

Click the domain name that you’re verifying.

1. On the Products tab, at the end of the DOMAINS row, click Launch.

2. On the Domains page, find the domain name that you’re verifying.

3. Click the domain name. The Domain Details page opens in a new tab in your browser.

Go to the page where you can work with your DNS records.

1. On the Domain Details page, under the DNS Manager section, click Launch (you may need to scroll down to see the link).

2. The Zone File Editor page opens.

Add your TXT record.

Note:

This is just used to verify that you own your domain. It doesn’t affect anything else.

1. Click the Add Record option, which is under your domain name in the upper left.

2. When you click Add Record, the Add DNS Record dialog box appears.

3. Click the down arrow for the Record type: box and choose TXT (Text).

• For TXT Name:, type the following: @

• For Enter Go to Address:, type or paste the exact information under Points to address that you copied down in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

• For TTL:, leave the value set to 1 Hour.

4. Click OK.

Save the new TXT record for your domain in your zone file.

1. To save your new TXT record, click Save Zone File, a black button in the upper right of the Zone File Editor page.

2. Click OK.

3. You’ll see the Zone File Saved dialog box, which means it worked and you’ve created the TXT record.

Click here to view table as image

If you prefer, you can instead create an MX record to verify your domain in Office 365. To create an MX record to enable Office 365 to verify your domain, use the steps in the following table.

Sign in to your account at Go Daddy.

1. On the Go Daddy website, at the top of the page, find the Username / Customer # box. Type your user name, and then in the Password box, type your password.

2. Click Log In.

Go to your account area.

On the far right of the green header bar, click the black My Accounts tab.

Click the domain name that you’re verifying.

1. On the Products tab, at the end of the DOMAINS row, click Launch.

2. On the Domains page, find the domain name that you’re verifying.

3. Click the domain name. The Domain Details page opens in a new tab in your browser.

Go to the page where you can work with your DNS records.

1. On the Domain Details page, under the DNS Manager section, click Launch (you may need to scroll down to see the link).

2. The Zone File Editor page opens.

Add your MX record.

Note:

This is just used to verify that you own your domain. It doesn’t affect anything else.

1. Click the Add Record option, which is under your domain name in the upper left.

2. When you click Add Record, the Add DNS Record dialog box appears.

3. Click the down arrow for the Record type: box and choose MX (Mail Exchanger).

• For Priority:, choose a number that is larger than the number you’ve specified for existing MX records. This helps prevent the new record from interfering with mail routing for the domain.

• For Host Name:, type the following: @.

• For Enter Go to Address:, type or paste the exact information that you got from the table under Points to address in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

• For TTL:, leave the value set to 1 Hour.

4. Click OK.

Save the new MX record for your domain in your zone file.

1. To save your new MX record, click Save Zone File, a black button in the upper right of the Zone File Editor page.

2. Click OK.

3. You’ll see the Zone File Saved dialog box, which means it worked and you’ve created the MX record.

Click here to view table as image

After you create either the TXT record or the MX record and sign out of the Go Daddy website, return to Office 365 to verify the domain.

Note:

Typically it takes about 15 minutes for your changes to take effect. But it can take up to 72 hours for the record that you created to propagate through the DNS system.

Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365

After the record that you created for your domain has propagated successfully through the DNS system, do the following to finish verifying your domain with Office 365.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains.

3. In the Domains list, find the domain that you’re verifying, and then, in the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

4. On the Verify domain page, click Verify.

• If domain verification succeeds, a dialog box appears to let you know that your domain has been added to your account.

• If domain verification fails, then the changes that you made at the domain registrar might need more time to propagate. Cancel the verification in Office 365, and return later to try domain verification again.

Note:

If it has been more than 72 hours since you made the changes to your Go Daddy account, sign in to the Go Daddy website and verify that you entered the DNS record information correctly. If you entered the information incorrectly, you must remove the incorrect record and create a new one with the correct information by using the procedures in this topic.

5. Click Finish. Your domain status is now listed as Verified in the list of domains.

After you’ve verified your domain and changed the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar, you can configure your domain to work with Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online in Office 365.

See Also

DNS basics

Change name server records at Go Daddy

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Verify a domain at Melbourne IT

If you already have a domain registered with Melbourne IT, and you want to configure it to work with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, domain verification is required to confirm that you own the domain. To verify your domain, you create a DNS record at Melbourne IT, and then Office 365 uses that record to confirm that you own the domain.

Note:

If you’re moving a domain from Office Live Small Business, do not follow the instructions here. Instead, see the information at the Office Live Small Business to Office 365 Transition Center.

If you registered your domain with Melbourne IT but moved your DNS hosting to another provider, you’ll need to create the DNS verification record where your DNS is now hosted.

Before you can verify your domain, you must add the domain to Office 365. When you’ve added a domain but the domain hasn’t yet been verified yet, the status is Click to verify domain. For more information about adding a domain, see Add your domain to Office 365.

You can add and verify a domain name only once. If someone else in your company has already added and verified a domain name, you will receive an error message if you try to add the same domain again.

The following instructions describe how to verify a domain when the DNS for that domain is managed at the domain registrar Melbourne IT. You must complete all of these steps to verify your domain in Office 365. For general instructions about verifying a domain, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

Note:

After you verify your domain, to finish configuring your domain to work with Office 365, you must change the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. For more information, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

Complete these steps

1. Gather your domain information

2. Create a DNS record at Melbourne IT

3. Verify your domain with Office 365

Step 1. Gather your domain information

You’ll need some information about your domain so that you can create the DNS record that will be used for verification.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains. Follow the instructions to add a domain to Office 365.

Note:

If you have already added a domain to Office 365, on the Domains page, in the list of domain names, find the domain that you are verifying. In the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

3. On the Verify domain page, in the See instructions for performing this step with: drop-down list, choose Melbourne IT.

4. In the Select a verification method: drop-down list, choose Add a TXT record (preferred method).

5. Locate the information that you’ll need when you create the verification record.

a. Under the Task column, go to Step 4, Add your TXT record.

b. Under the Action column for Step 4, go to Step 2, which starts with Under TXT Records…

c. Copy or record the value that is provided for completing the TXT Value field. You’ll use this information when you create the new DNS record at Melbourne IT in the next section.

Step 2. Create a DNS record at Melbourne IT

Office 365 uses a DNS record that you create at Melbourne IT to confirm that you own the domain. Use the instructions below to create a TXT record (or, if you prefer, an MX record) for a domain that is registered at Melbourne IT. Not sure which verification method to choose? See Verify your domain by using a TXT record or an MX record?.

Note:

You may notice differences between Melbourne IT’s website and the website described in these instructions.

To add a TXT record to verify your domain in Office 365, use the steps in the following table.

Task

Action

1. Sign in to your account at Melbourne IT.

1. On the Melbourne IT website, in the upper-right corner of the page, click Log In. On the My Account page, under Log in to your My Account, type the following:

• In the My Account Username box, type your user name.

• In the My Account Password box, type your password.

2. Click Log In.

2. Go to the page where you can manage your domains.

On the My Account Console page, under Manage Domain Names, click Manage Domain Names.

3. Go to the page where you can work with your DNS records.

1. On the Manage Domain Names page, select the domain name you’re verifying.

2. Above the list of domain names, select Manage DNS.

3. Next to Manage DNS for selected domain, click Go.

4. Add your TXT record.

Note:

This record is just used to verify that you own your domain; it doesn’t affect anything else.

1. On the Managedomain_name / Edit DNS records page, where domain_name is the domain you’re verifying, go to the TXT Records section. You may need to scroll down on the page.

2. Under TXT Records, type the following information.

• For HOSTNAME, type or paste the following: @

• For TXT VALUE, type or paste the value that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

3. Click Add. The STATUS for the domain changes to Published.

5. Check to see if Office 365 can find the TXT record you created.

1. Wait at least 15 minutes for the changes to take effect across the Internet.

Note:

Typically it takes about 15 minutes for your changes to take effect. But it can take up to 72 hours for the record that you created to propagate through the DNS system.

2. Come back to Office 365 to verify that you own the domain. See Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365.

Click here to view table as image

If you prefer, you can instead create an MX record to verify your domain in Office 365. The record will just be used to verify your domain; it won’t affect mail flow.

To create an MX record to enable Office 365 to verify your domain, use the steps in the following table.

Task

Action

1. Sign in to your account at Melbourne IT.

3. 1. On the Melbourne IT website, in the upper-right corner of the page, click Log In. On the My Account page, under Log in to your My Account, type the following:

• In the My Account Username box, type your user name.

• In the My Account Password box, type your password.

2. Click Log In.

2. Go to the page where you can manage your domains.

On the My Account Console page, under Manage Domain Names, click Manage Domain Names.

3. Go to the page where you can work with your DNS records.

1. On the Manage Domain Names page, select the domain name you’re verifying.

2. Above the list of domain names, select Manage DNS.

3. Next to Manage DNS for selected domain, click Go.

4. Add your MX record.

Note:

This record is just used to verify that you own your domain; it doesn’t affect anything else.

1. On the Managedomain_name / Edit DNS records page, where domain_name is the domain you’re verifying, go to the MX Records section. You may need to scroll down on the page.

2. Under MX Records, type the following information.

• For HOSTNAME, type or paste the following: @

• For ADDRESS, type or paste the value that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

Important:

You must add a trailing period (“.”) at the end of the value you copied (similar to ms123. contoso.com.).

• For PRIORITY, type a number that is larger than the number you’ve specified for existing MX records. This can help prevent the new MX record from interfering with mail routing for the domain.

3. Click Add. The STATUS for the domain changes to Published.

5. Check to see if Office 365 can find the MX record you created.

1. Wait at least 15 minutes for the changes to take effect across the Internet.

Note:

Typically it takes about 15 minutes for your changes to take effect. But it can take up to 72 hours for the record that you created to propagate through the DNS system.

2. Come back to Office 365 to verify that you own the domain. See Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365.

Click here to view table as image

Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365

After the record that you created for your domain has propagated successfully through the DNS system, do the following to finish verifying your domain with Office 365.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains.

3. In the Domains list, find the domain that you’re verifying, and then, in the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

4. On the Verify domain page, click Verify.

• If domain verification succeeds, a dialog box appears to let you know that your domain has been added to your account.

• If domain verification fails, then the changes that you made at the domain registrar might need more time to propagate. Cancel the verification in Office 365, and return later to try domain verification again.

Note:

If it has been more than 72 hours since you made the changes to your Melbourne IT account, sign in to the Melbourne IT website and verify that you entered the DNS record information correctly. If you entered the information incorrectly, you must remove the incorrect record and create a new one with the correct information by using the procedures in this topic.

5. Click Finish. Your domain status is now listed as Verified in the list of domains.

After you’ve verified your domain and changed the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar, your domain is ready to use with Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online in Office 365.

See Also

DNS basics

Change name server records at Melbourne IT

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Verify a domain at Network Solutions

If you already have a domain registered with Network Solutions, and you want to configure it to work with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, domain verification is required to confirm that you own the domain. To verify your domain, you create a DNS record at Network Solutions, and then Office 365 uses that record to confirm that you own the domain.

Notes:

If you registered your domain with Network Solutions but moved your DNS hosting to another provider, you’ll need to create the DNS record where your DNS is now hosted.

Before you can verify your domain, you must add the domain to Office 365. When you’ve added a domain but the domain hasn’t yet been verified, the status is Click to verify domain. For more information about adding a domain, see Add your domain to Office 365.

You can add and verify a domain name only once. If someone else in your company has already added and verified a domain name, you will receive an error message if you try to add the same domain again.

The following instructions describe how to verify a domain that is registered at the domain registrar Network Solutions. You must complete all of these steps to verify your domain in Office 365. For general instructions about verifying a domain, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

Note:

After you verify your domain, to finish configuring your domain to work with Office 365 you must change the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. For more information, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

Complete these steps

1. Gather your domain information

2. Create a DNS record at Network Solutions

3. Verify your domain with Office 365

Step 1. Gather your domain information

You’ll need some information about your domain so that you can create the DNS record that will be used for verification.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains. Follow the instructions to add a domain to Office 365.

Note:

If you have already added a domain to Office 365, on the Domains page, in the list of domain names, find the domain that you are verifying. In the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

3. On the Verify domain page, in the See instructions for performing this step with: drop-down list, choose your DNS hosting provider. If your provider doesn’t appear in the list, choose General instructions.

4. In the Select a verification method: drop-down list, choose Add a TXT record (preferred method) or Add an MX record (alternate method). Not sure which verification method to choose? See Verify your domain by using a TXT record or an MX record?.

5. From the table, copy or record the Destination or Points to Address information.

You’ll need this information when you create the new record at Network Solutions in the next section.

Step 2. Create a DNS record at Network Solutions

Office 365 uses a DNS record that you create at Network Solutions to confirm that you own the domain. Use the instructions below to create a TXT record (or, if you prefer, an MX record) for a domain that is registered at your registrar.

Note:

You may notice differences between the Network Solutions website and the website described in these instructions.

To add a TXT record to verify your domain in Office 365, do the following.

1. Go to Network Solutions and click Manage My Domain Names.

2. Click Log in, and then type your user ID and password.

3. In the Log in to: drop-down list, select Manage My Domain Names, and then click Login.

4. Select the domain name that you’re verifying, and then go to the Domain Names page.

5. On the Domain Names page, click Edit Advanced DNS Records.

6. On the Update Advanced DNS page, under Text (TXT Records), click Edit TXT Records.

7. In the first empty row, in the Host box, type the following: @

8. In the TTL box, type 3600 to set TTL to one hour.

9. In the Text box, type or paste the Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

10. Click Continue.

11. In the Confirm Your Request dialog box, review the record that you created, and then click Save Changes.

If you prefer, you can instead create an MX record to verify your domain in Office 365. To create an MX record to enable Office 365 to verify your domain, do the following.

1. Go to Network Solutions and click Manage My Domain Names.

2. Click Log in, and then type your user ID and password.

3. In the Log in to: drop-down list, select Manage My Domain Names, and then click Login.

4. Select the domain name that you are verifying, and then go to the Domain Names page.

5. On the Domain Names page, click Edit Advanced DNS Records.

6. On the Update Advanced DNS page, under Mail Servers (MX Records), click Edit MX Records.

7. In the first empty row, in the Priority box, type a number that is larger than the number you’ve specified for existing MX records. This can help prevent the new MX record from interfering with mail routing for the domain.

8. In the TTL box, type 3600 to set TTL to one hour.

9. In the Mail Server box, type or paste the Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

10. Click Continue.

11. In the Confirm Your Request dialog box, review the record that you created, and then click Save Changes.

After you create either the TXT record or the MX record and sign out of the website, return to Office 365 to verify the domain.

Note:

Typically it takes about 15 minutes for your changes to take effect. But it can take up to 72 hours for the record that you created to propagate through the DNS system.

Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365

After the record that you created for your domain has propagated successfully through the DNS system, do the following to finish verifying your domain with Office 365.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains.

3. In the Domains list, find the domain that you’re verifying, and then, in the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

4. On the Verify domain page, click Verify.

• If domain verification succeeds, a dialog box appears to let you know that your domain has been added to your account.

• If domain verification fails, then the changes that you made at the domain registrar might need more time to propagate. Cancel the verification in Office 365, and return later to try domain verification again.

Note:

If it has been more than 72 hours since you made the changes to your Network Solutions account, sign in to the Network Solutions website and verify that you entered the DNS record information correctly. If you entered the information incorrectly, you must remove the incorrect record and create a new one with the correct information by using the procedures in this topic.

5. Click Finish. Your domain status is now listed as Verified in the list of domains.

After you’ve verified your domain and changed the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar, you can configure your domain to work with Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online in Office 365.

See Also

DNS basics

Change name server records at Network Solutions

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Verify a domain at Register.com

If you already have a domain registered with Register.com, and you want to configure it to work with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, domain verification is required to confirm that you own the domain. To verify your domain, you create a DNS record at Register.com, and then Office 365 uses that record to confirm that you own the domain.

Notes:

If you registered your domain with Register.com but moved your DNS hosting to another provider, you’ll need to create the DNS record where your DNS is now hosted.

Before you can verify your domain, you must add the domain to Office 365. When you’ve added a domain but the domain hasn’t yet been verified, the status is Click to verify domain. For more information about adding a domain, see Add your domain to Office 365.

You can add and verify a domain name only once. If someone else in your company has already added and verified a domain name, you will receive an error message if you try to add the same domain again.

The following instructions describe how to verify a domain that is registered at the domain registrar Register.com. You must complete all of these steps to verify your domain in Office 365. For general instructions about verifying a domain, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

Note:

After you verify your domain, to finish configuring your domain to work with Office 365, you must change the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. For more information, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

Complete these steps

1. Gather your domain information

2. Create a DNS record at Register.com

3. Verify your domain with Office 365

Step 1. Gather your domain information

You’ll need some information about your domain so that you can create the DNS record that will be used for verification.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains. Follow the instructions to add a domain to Office 365.

Note:

If you have already added a domain to Office 365, on the Domains page, in the list of domain names, find the domain that you are verifying. In the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

3. On the Verify domain page, in the See instructions for performing this step with: drop-down list, choose your DNS hosting provider. If your provider doesn’t appear in the list, choose General instructions.

4. In the Select a verification method: drop-down list, choose Add a TXT record (preferred method) or Add an MX record (alternate method). Not sure which verification method to choose? See Verify your domain by using a TXT record or an MX record?.

5. From the table, copy or record the Destination or Points to Address information.

You’ll need this information when you create the new DNS record at Register.com in the next section.

Step 2. Create a DNS record at Register.com

Office 365 uses a DNS record that you create at Register.com to confirm that you own the domain. Use the instructions below to create a TXT record (or, if you prefer, an MX record) for a domain that is registered at Register.com.

Note:

You may notice differences between Register.com’s website and the website described in these instructions.

To add a TXT record to verify your domain in Office 365, do the following.

1. Sign in to your account at Register.com.

2. On the MY ACCOUNTS tab, click the name of the domain that you are verifying.

3. At the bottom of the page, under Advanced Technical Settings, in the TXT row, click Edit TXT Records (SPF).

4. On the Add TXT Record page, in the Host Name box, type the following: @

5. In the TXT Record box, type or paste the Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

6. Click Continue.

7. On the Confirm Changes to Domain Alias page, review the DNS record that you created, and then click Continue.

8. Sign out of the Register.com website.

If you prefer, you can instead create an MX record to verify your domain in Office 365. To create an MX record to enable Office 365 to verify your domain, do the following.

1. Sign in to your account at Register.com.

2. On the MY ACCOUNTS tab, click the name of the domain that you’re verifying.

3. At the bottom of the page, under Advanced Technical Settings, in the MX row, click Edit Mail Exchanger Records.

4. On the Add MX Records page, in the Host Name box, type the following: @

5. In the Priority drop-down list, select Low.

6. In the Mail Server box, type or paste the Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

7. Click Continue.

8. On the Confirm Changes to Domain Alias page, review the DNS record that you created, and then click Continue.

9. Sign out of the Register.com website.

After you create either the TXT record or the MX record and sign out of the website, return to Office 365 to verify the domain.

Note:

Typically it takes about 15 minutes for your changes to take effect. But it can take up to 72 hours for the record that you created to propagate through the DNS system.

Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365

After the record that you created for your domain has propagated successfully through the DNS system, do the following to finish verifying your domain with Office 365.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains.

3. In the Domains list, find the domain that you’re verifying, and then, in the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

4. On the Verify domain page, click Verify.

• If domain verification succeeds, a dialog box appears to let you know that your domain has been added to your account.

• If domain verification fails, then the changes that you made at the domain registrar might need more time to propagate. Cancel the verification in Office 365, and return later to try domain verification again.

Note:

If it has been more than 72 hours since you made the changes to your Register.com account, sign in to the Register.com website and verify that you entered the DNS record information correctly. If you entered the information incorrectly, you must remove the incorrect record and create a new one with the correct information by using the procedures in this topic.

5. Click Finish. Your domain status is now listed as Verified in the list of domains.

After you’ve verified your domain and changed the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar, you can configure your domain to work with Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online in Office 365.

See Also

DNS basics

Change name server records at Register.com

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Verify a domain at Hover

If you already have a domain registered with Hover, and you want to configure it to work with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, domain verification is required to confirm that you own the domain. To verify your domain, you create a DNS record at Hover, and then Office 365 uses that record to confirm that you own the domain.

Notes:

If you registered your domain with Hover but moved your DNS hosting to another provider, you’ll need to create the DNS record where your DNS is now hosted.

Before you can verify your domain, you must add the domain to Office 365. When you’ve added a domain but the domain hasn’t yet been verified, the status is Click to verify domain. For more information about adding a domain, see Add your domain to Office 365.

You can add and verify a domain name only once. If someone else in your company has already added and verified a domain name, you will receive an error message if you try to add the same domain again.

After you verify your domain, to finish configuring your domain to work with Office 365, you must change the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. For more information, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

The following instructions describe how to verify a domain that is registered at the domain registrar Hover. You must complete all of these steps to verify your domain in Office 365. For general instructions about verifying a domain, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

Complete these steps

1. Gather your domain information

2. Create a DNS record at Hover

3. Verify your domain with Office 365

Step 1. Gather your domain information

You’ll need some information about your domain so that you can create the DNS record that will be used for verification.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains. Follow the instructions to add a domain to Office 365.

Note:

If you have already added a domain to Office 365, on the Domains page, in the list of domain names, find the domain that you are verifying. In the Statuscolumn, click Click to verify domain.

3. On the Verify domain page, in the See instructions for performing this step with: drop-down list, choose your DNS hosting provider. If your provider doesn’t appear in the list, choose General instructions.

4. In the Select a verification method: drop-down list, choose Add a TXT record (preferred method) or Add an MX record (alternate method). Not sure which verification method to choose? See Verify your domain by using a TXT record or an MX record?

5. From the table, copy or record the Destination or Points to Address information.

You’ll need this information when you create the new DNS record at Hover in the next section.

Step 2. Create a DNS record at Hover

Office 365 uses a DNS record that you create at Hover to confirm that you own the domain. Use the instructions below to create a TXT record (or, if you prefer, an MX record) for a domain that is registered at your registrar.

Note:

You may notice differences between the Hover website and the website described in these instructions.

To add a TXT record to verify your domain in Office 365, do the following.

1. Sign in to your Hover account at Hover,

2. On the List of Domains grid, click the domain name that you’re verifying, and then click the DNS tab.

3. Click Add new.

4. In the Hostname box, type the following: @

5. In the Type box, select TXT.

6. In the Value box, type or paste the Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

7. Click Save.

If you prefer, you can instead create an MX record to verify your domain in Office 365. To create an MX record to enable Office 365 to verify your domain, do the following.

1. Sign in to your Hover account at Hover.

2. On the List of Domains grid, click the domain name that you’re verifying, and then click the DNS tab.

3. Click Add new.

4. In the Hostname box, type the following: @

5. In the Type box, select MX.

6. In the Priority box, type a number that is larger than the number you’ve specified for existing MX records. This can help prevent the new MX record from interfering with mail routing for the domain.

7. In the Mail Host box, type or paste the Destination or Points to Address that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

8. Click Save.

After you create either the TXT record or the MX record and sign out of the Hover website, return to Office 365 to verify the domain.

Note:

Typically it takes about 15 minutes for your changes to take effect. But it can take up to 72 hours for the record that you created to propagate through the DNS system.

Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365

After the record that you created for your domain has propagated successfully through the DNS system, do the following to finish verifying your domain with Office 365.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains.

3. In the Domains list, find the domain that you’re verifying, and then, in the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

4. On the Verify domain page, click Verify.

• If domain verification succeeds, a dialog box appears to let you know that your domain has been added to your account.

• If domain verification fails, then the changes that you made at the domain registrar might need more time to propagate. Cancel the verification in Office 365, and return later to try domain verification again.

Note:

If it has been more than 72 hours since you made the changes to your Hover account, sign in to the Hover website and verify that you entered the DNS record information correctly. If you entered the information incorrectly, you must remove the incorrect record and create a new one with the correct information by using the procedures in this topic.

5. Click Finish. Your domain status is now listed as Verified in the list of domains.

After you’ve verified your domain and changed the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar, you can configure your domain to work with Microsoft Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online in Office 365.

See Also

DNS basics

Change name server records at Hover

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Verify a domain at 1&1 Internet

If you already have a domain registered with 1&1 Internet, and you want to configure it to work with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, domain verification is required to confirm that you own the domain. To verify your domain, you create a DNS record at 1&1 Internet, and then Office 365 uses that record to confirm that you own the domain.

Notes:

If you registered your domain with 1&1 Internet but moved your DNS hosting to another provider, you’ll need to create the DNS verification record where your DNS is now hosted.

Before you can verify your domain, you must add the domain to Office 365. When you’ve added a domain but the domain hasn’t yet been verified yet, the status is Click to verify domain. For more information about adding a domain, see Add your domain to Office 365.

You can add and verify a domain name only once. If someone else in your company has already added and verified a domain name, you will receive an error message if you try to add the same domain again.

The following instructions describe how to verify a domain when the DNS for that domain is managed at the 1&1 Internet domain registrar. You must complete all of these steps to verify your domain in Office 365. For general instructions about verifying a domain, see Verify a domain at a domain name registrar.

Note:

After you verify your domain, to finish configuring your domain to work with Office 365, you must change the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. For more information, see Change name server records at a domain registrar.

Complete these steps

1. Gather your domain information

2. Create an MX record at 1&1 Internet

3. Verify your domain with Office 365

Step 1. Gather your domain information

You’ll need some information about your domain so that you can create the DNS record that will be used for verification.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains. Follow the instructions to add a domain to Office 365.

Note:

If you have already added a domain to Office 365, on the Domains page, in the list of domain names, find the domain that you are verifying. In the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

3. On the Verify domain page, in the See instructions for performing this step with: drop-down list, choose 1&1 Internet. If 1&1 Internet doesn’t appear in the list, choose General instructions.

Important:

If 1&1 Internet doesn’t appear in the list, follow the instructions in this topic. Don’t follow the general steps that appear on the page when you click General instructions.

4. From the table, copy or record the Destination or Points to Address information.

You’ll need this information when you create the new MX record at 1&1 Internet in the next section.

Step 2. Create an MX record at 1&1 Internet

Office 365 uses an MX record that you create at 1&1 Internet to confirm that you own the domain. This MX record isn’t part of your Exchange Online email flow. It’s just to let Office 365 make sure that you own the domain. Use the instructions below to create the record at 1&1 Internet.

Note:

You may notice differences between the 1&1 Internet website and the website described in these instructions.

To add an MXT record to verify your domain in Office 365, use the steps in the following table.

Sign in to your account at 1&1 Internet.

1. On the 1&1 Internet website, on the top line of the page, click Customer Login.

2. On the CONTROL PANEL page, type your Customer ID and your password.

3. Click Login.

Go to your domain.

1. In the Domains & Web Space area, click Domains.

2. On the Domains Overview page, in the list of domains, select the check box next to the domain you want to verify.

Go to the area where you can add DNS records.

1. Click DNS in the row of options just above the table of domain names.

2. In the drop-down list, select Edit DNS Settings.

Add an MX record.

Note:

This is just used to verify that you own your domain. It doesn’t affect anything else.

On the DNS Settings page, in the Advanced DNS settings area, create a new MX record.

1. Look for the first empty MX record field. This is where you’ll create your MX record. It might have an MX 2 / Prio: label, for example.

2. In the first record field for the new MX record, type or paste the value that you wrote down earlier from the Destination or Points To Address field. This is the information that you recorded in Step 1. Gather your domain information.

3. Add to the end of that information “.outlook.com” (without the quotes). The final text in the first field for the MX record will look something like this, but with your unique value for the “ms” portion: ms13032104. msv1. invalid.outlook.com

4. The second text box (for the same MX record) is the priority field. In this box, type a number that is higher than the number for other MX records you already have. This will create an MX record that has lower priority than your other MX records.
For example, if the highest priority you have for an MX record now is 100, you could set the new MX record’s priority to 200.

5. Click OK.

Sign out from the 1&1 Internet website.

Click Logout in the upper-right corner of the page to sign out of your 1&1 Internet account.

Click here to view table as image

After you sign out of the 1&1 Internet website, return to Office 365 to verify the domain.

Note:

Typically it takes about 15 minutes for your changes to take effect. But it can take up to 72 hours for the MX record that you created to propagate through the DNS system.

Step 3. Verify your domain with Office 365

After the MX record that you created for your domain has propagated successfully through the DNS system, do the following to finish verifying your domain with Office 365.

1. In Office 365, in the header, click Admin.

2. Under Management, click Domains.

3. In the Domains list, find the domain that you’re verifying, and then, in the Status column, click Click to verify domain.

4. On the Verify domain page, click Verify.

• If domain verification succeeds, a dialog box appears to let you know that your domain has been added to your account.

• If domain verification fails, the changes that you made at the domain registrar might need more time to propagate. Cancel the verification in Office 365, and return later to try domain verification again.

Note:

If it has been more than 72 hours since you made the changes to your 1&1 Internet account, sign in to the 1&1 Internet website and verify that you entered the DNS record information correctly. If you entered the information incorrectly, you must remove the incorrect record and create a new one with the correct information by using the procedures in this topic.

5. Click Finish. Your domain status is now listed as Verified in the list of domains.

After you’ve verified your domain and changed the domain’s name server settings on your domain name registrar, you can configure your domain to work with Exchange Online, Lync Online, and SharePoint Online in Office 365.

See Also

DNS basics

Change name server records at 1&1 Internet

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Verify your domain by using a TXT record or an MX record?

To verify your domain in Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you create a DNS record at your DNS hosting provider, and then Office 365 uses that record to confirm that you own the domain. The DNS record you create can be a TXT record or an MX record. Which should you choose?

• If your DNS hosting provider allows you create TXT records, we recommend you use a TXT record for verification. Why? TXT records are straightforward to create and don’t introduce the possibility of interfering with email delivery if an incorrect value is accidentally entered.

• If your DNS hosting provider doesn’t allow users to create their own TXT records, go ahead and create an MX record for verification instead. If the provided steps are carefully followed, your email delivery won’t be affected.

• What if your DNS hosting provider doesn’t allow you to create TXT records or MX records? If this is your situation, you’ll need additional help to verify your domain. Try contacting your DNS hosting provider for more information. You can also post a question in the Microsoft Community forum for Office 365 for small business administration. In the forum, other Office 365 users, as well as Microsoft support administrators, may be able to assist you.

See Also

Verify a domain at a domain name registrar

Add your domain to Office 365

Change name server records

Insert introduction here.

Section Heading

Insert section body here.

Subsection Heading

Insert subsection body here.

Change name server records at a domain registrar

If you already own a domain name, you can add the domain to your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses account. This topic describes the necessary steps for adding your domain name to Office 365 after Office 365 has verified that you own the domain, so that you can use the domain with Office 365.

Important:

If you’re moving a domain from Office Live Small Business, do not follow the instructions here. Instead, see the information at the Office Live Small Business to Office 365 Transition Center.

To finish adding the domain, you change the domain’s name server (NS) records on your domain registrar to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with DNS management and you want to set up and manage your Office 365 DNS records yourself, see Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365. For more information about adding your domain to Office 365, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Caution

When you change your domain’s NS records to point to Office 365, all of the services that are currently associated with your domain—for example email, websites, blogs, and shopping carts—are affected. If you’re using your domain for any of these services, make sure you take the necessary steps to ensure that this transition does not result in downtime for the services.

If you don’t take the necessary additional steps, your users might lose their email access and your current website might be inaccessible. For more information, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

If your current domain name registrar appears in the following list, click that link for step-by-step directions for updating NS records for your domain. If your domain registrar is not listed, contact your domain registrar for more information about changing NS records.

• Change name server records at Go Daddy

• Change name server records at Melbourne IT

• Change name server records at Network Solutions

• Change name server records at Hover

• Change name server records at eNom Central

• Change name server records at Register.com

NS record updates may take up to 72 hours to propagate through the DNS system. Your domain will be ready to use with Office 365 after DNS propagation finishes.

See Also

DNS basics

Verify a domain at a domain name registrar

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Change name server records at eNom Central

If you already own a domain name, you can add the domain to your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses account. This topic describes the necessary steps for adding your eNom Central domain name to Office 365 after Office 365 has verified that you own the domain, so that you can use the domain with Office 365.

To finish adding the domain, you change the domain’s name server (NS) records on eNom Central to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with DNS management, and you want to set up and manage your Office 365 DNS records yourself, see Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365. For more information about adding your domain to Office 365, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Caution

When you change your domain’s NS records to point to Office 365, all of the services that are currently associated with your domain—for example email, websites, blogs, and shopping carts—are affected. If you’re using your domain for any of these services, make sure you take the necessary steps to ensure that this transition does not result in downtime for the services.

If you don’t take the necessary additional steps, your users might lose their email access and your current website might be inaccessible. For more information, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

The following instructions describe how to change NS records at eNom Central. We provide detailed instructions for editing NS records at several other domain registrars. See the list that’s included in Change name server records at a domain registrar.

To change your domain’s NS records at eNom Central, follow these steps.

1. Sign in to your account at eNom Central.

2. In the header, click Domains, and then click My Domains.

3. On the my domains tab, click the domain name that you’re verifying.

4. The Edit DNS Servers page should be displayed.
If the page is not displayed, then on the Manage Domain drop-down list box, click DNS Server Settings.

5. On the Edit DNS Servers page, select Custom, and then edit Name Server 1 and Name Server 2 to be ns1.bdm.microsoftonline.com and ns2.bdm.microsoftonline.com, respectively.

6. Click Save.

7. Click OK.

8. When you see the notification Updated Successfully, sign out of the account.

Your name server update updates may take up to 72 hours to propagate through the DNS system. Your custom domain will be ready to use with Office 365 after DNS propagation finishes.

See Also

DNS basics

Verify a domain at eNom Central

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Change name server records at Go Daddy

If you already own a domain name, you can add the domain to your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses account. This topic describes the necessary steps for adding your Go Daddy domain name to Office 365 after Office 365 has verified that you own the domain, so that you can use the domain with Office 365.

To finish adding the domain, you must change the domain’s name server (NS) records on Go Daddy to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with DNS management, and you want to set up and manage your Office 365 DNS records yourself, see Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365. For more information about adding your domain to Office 365, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Caution

When you change your domain’s NS records to point to Office 365, all the services that are currently associated with your domain—for example, email, websites, blogs, and shopping carts—are affected. If you’re using your domain for any of these services, make sure you take the necessary steps to ensure that this transition doesn’t result in downtime for these services.

If you don’t take the necessary additional steps, your users might lose their email access and your current website might be inaccessible. For more information, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

The following instructions describe how to change NS records at Go Daddy. We provide detailed instructions for editing NS records at several other domain registrars. See the list that’s included in Change name server records at a domain registrar.

To change your domain’s NS records at Go Daddy, follow these steps.

Task

Action

Sign in to your account at Go Daddy.

1. On the Go Daddy website, at the top of the page, find the Username / Customer # box. Type your user name, and then in the Password box, type your password.

2. Click Log In.

Go to your account area.

On the far right of the green header bar, click the black My Accounts tab.

Click the domain name that you’re verifying.

1. On the Products tab, at the end of the DOMAINS row, click Launch.

2. On the Domains page, find the domain name that you’re verifying.

3. Click the domain name. The Domain Details page opens in a new tab in your browser.

Go to the page where you can work with your name server records.

1. On the Domain Details page, under the Nameservers section, click Set Nameservers (you may need to scroll down to see the link).

2. The Set Nameservers page opens.

Change your name server records to point to Office 365 name servers.

1. On the Set Nameservers page, choose this option: I have specific nameservers for my domains.

2. Now replace the name servers that you currently have. In the Nameserver1 box, type (or copy and paste) the following: ns1.bdm.microsoftonline.com

3. In the Nameserver2 box, type (or copy and paste) the following: ns2.bdm.microsoftonline.com

4. If there are any name server names in other name server boxes, delete them.

5. Click OK.

Click here to view table as image

Your name server record updates may take up to 72 hours to propagate through the DNS system. Your custom domain will be ready to use with Office 365 after DNS propagation finishes.

See Also

DNS basics

Verify a domain at Go Daddy

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Change name server records at Melbourne IT

If you already own a domain name, you can add the domain to your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses account. This topic describes the necessary steps for adding your Melbourne IT domain name to Office 365 after Office 365 has verified that you own the domain, so that you can use the domain with Office 365.

Important:

If you’re moving a domain from Office Live Small Business, do not follow the instructions here. Instead, see the information at the Office Live Small Business to Office 365 Transition Center.

To finish adding the domain, you must change the domain’s name server (NS) records on Melbourne IT to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with DNS management and you want to set up and manage your Office 365 DNS records yourself, see Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365. For more information about adding your domain to Office 365, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Caution

When you change your domain’s NS records to point to Office 365, all of the services that are currently associated with your domain—for example email, websites, blogs, and shopping carts—are affected. If you’re using your domain for any of these services, make sure you take the necessary steps to ensure that this transition does not result in downtime for the services.

If you don’t take the necessary additional steps, your users might lose their email access and your current website might be inaccessible. For more information, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

The following instructions describe how to change NS records at Melbourne IT. We provide detailed instructions for editing NS records at several other domain registrars. See the list that’s included in Change name server records at a domain registrar.

To change your domain’s NS records at Melbourne IT, follow these steps.

1. Sign in to your account at Melbourne IT.

2. On the My Account Console page, under Manage Domain Names, click Manage Domain Names.

3. On the Manage Domain Names page, in the list of domain names, select the domain name that you are verifying.

4. Select the Change Nameservers radio button, and then click Go.

If the Change Nameservers radio button is unavailable, you must first cancel DNS management before you can update the name server records. To cancel DNS, do the following:

a. On the Manage Domain Names page, click the domain name you are verifying.

b. On the Manage page, under DNS, click Cancel DNS.

c. When the warning message is displayed, click Yes, I am sure.

d. After the DNS management is canceled, return to the Manage page.

5. On the Manage page, under DNS pane, click Redelegate Domain Name.

6. On the name server settings page, remove the existing name servers and edit the primary and secondary name servers to be ns1.bdm.microsoftonline.com and ns2.bdm.microsoftonline.com, respectively, and then click Continue.

7. A confirmation message will appear with the details of the updated name servers.

8. Sign out of your Melbourne IT account.

Your name server record updates may take up to 72 hours to propagate through the DNS system. Your custom domain will be ready to use with Office 365 after DNS propagation finishes.

See Also

DNS basics

Verify a domain at Melbourne IT

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Change name server records at Network Solutions

If you already own a domain name, you can add the domain to your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses account. This topic describes the necessary steps for adding your Network Solutions domain name to Office 365 after Office 365 has verified that you own the domain, so that you can use the domain with Office 365.

To finish adding the domain, you must change the domain’s name server (NS) records on Network Solutions to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with DNS management and you want to set up and manage your Office 365 DNS records yourself, see Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365. For more information about adding your domain to Office 365, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Caution

When you change your domain’s NS records to point to Office 365, all of the services that are currently associated with your domain—for example email, websites, blogs, and shopping carts—are affected. If you’re using your domain for any of these services, make sure you take the necessary steps to ensure that this transition does not result in downtime for the services.

If you don’t take the necessary additional steps, your users might lose their email access and your current website might be inaccessible. For more information, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

The following instructions describe how to change NS records at Network Solutions. We provide detailed instructions for editing NS records at several other domain registrars. See the list that’s included in Change name server records at a domain registrar.

To change your domain’s NS records at Network Solutions, follow these steps.

1. Sign in to your account at Network Solutions by doing the following.

a. Click Log in, and then type your user ID and password.

b. In the Log in to: drop-down list, select Manage All Services, and then click Login.

2. Select the domain name that you are verifying, and then click Domain Name Server (DNS).

3. On the Domain Names page, edit Name Server 1 and Name Server 2 to be ns1.bdm.microsoftonline.com and ns2.bdm.microsoftonline.com, respectively, and then click Continue.

4. In the Confirm Your Changes dialog box, review your domain pointing details, and then click Apply Changes.

Your name server record updates may take up to 72 hours to propagate through the DNS system. Your custom domain will be ready to use with Office 365 after DNS propagation finishes.

See Also

DNS basics

Verify a domain at Network Solutions

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Change name server records at 1&1 Internet

If you already own a domain name, you can add the domain to your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses account. This topic describes the necessary steps for adding your 1&1 Internet domain name to Office 365 after Office 365 has verified that you own the domain, so that you can use the domain with Office 365.

To finish adding the domain, you change the domain’s name server (NS) records on 1&1 Internet to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with DNS management and you want to set up and manage your Office 365 DNS records yourself, see Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365. For more information about adding your domain to Office 365, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Caution

When you change your domain’s NS records to point to Office 365, all of the services that are currently associated with your domain—for example email, websites, blogs, and shopping carts—are affected. If you’re using your domain for any of these services, make sure you take the necessary steps to ensure that this transition does not result in downtime for the services.

If you don’t take the necessary additional steps, your users might lose their email access and your current website might be inaccessible. For more information, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

The following instructions describe how to change NS records at Hover. We provide detailed instructions for editing NS records at several other domain registrars. See the list that’s included in Change name server records at a domain registrar.

To change your domain’s NS records at 1&1 Internet, use the steps in the following table.

Task

Action

Sign in to your account at 1&1 Internet.

1. On the 1&1 Internet website, on the top line of the page, click Customer Login.

2. On the CONTROL PANEL page, type your Customer ID and password.

3. Click Login.

Go to your domain.

1. In the Domains & Web Space area, click Domains.

2. On the Domain Overview page, in the list of domains, select the check box next to the domain you want to verify.

Go to the area where you can update DNS records.

1. Click DNS in the row of options just above the table of domain names.

2. In the drop-down list, select Edit DNS Settings.

Choose to update your name server records.

On the DNS Settings page, in the Basic DNS Settings area, you’ll see a box labeled Name server. Click the arrow, and select My name server.

Change your name server records to point to Office 365. This switches DNS hosting for your domain to Office 365.

1. In the Primary name server: box, type the following: ns1.bdm.microsoftonline.com

2. In the Secondary name server: drop-down list, select My secondary name server.

3. In the 1. Secondary name server: box, type the following: ns2.bdm.microsoftonline.com

4. If there are any server names in other name server boxes, delete them.

5. Click OK. You’ll see the message: Process Successful.

Sign out from the 1&1 Internet website.

Click Logout in the upper-right corner of the page to sign out of your 1&1 account.

Click here to view table as image

Your name server record updates may take up to 72 hours to propagate through the DNS system. Your custom domain will be ready to use with Office 365 after DNS propagation finishes.

See Also

DNS basics

Verify a domain at 1&1 Internet

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Change name server records at Register.com

If you already own a domain name, you can add the domain to your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses account. This topic describes the necessary steps for adding your Register.com domain name to Office 365 after Office 365 has verified that you own the domain, so that you can use the domain with Office 365.

To finish adding the domain, you must change the domain’s name server (NS) records on Register.com to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with DNS management and you want to set up and manage your Office 365 DNS records yourself, see Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365. For more information about adding your domain to Office 365, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Caution

When you change your domain’s NS records to point to Office 365, all of the services that are currently associated with your domain—for example email, websites, blogs, and shopping carts—are affected. If you’re using your domain for any of these services, make sure you take the necessary steps to ensure that this transition does not result in downtime for the services

If you don’t take the necessary additional steps, your users might lose their email access and your current website might be inaccessible. For more information, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

The following instructions describe how to change NS records at Register.com. We provide detailed instructions for editing NS records at several other domain registrars. See the list that’s included in Change name server records at a domain registrar.

To change your domain’s NS records at Register.com, follow these steps.

1. Sign in to your account at Register.com.

2. On the MY ACCOUNTS tab, click the name of the domain you are verifying.

3. In the DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM SERVERS (DNS SERVERS) pane, edit the first and secondary name servers to be ns1.bdm.microsoftonline.com and ns2.bdm.microsoftonline.com, respectively, and then click Continue.

4. Confirm your changes, and then click Continue.

5. Sign out of the account.

Your name server record updates may take up to 72 hours to propagate through the DNS system. Your custom domain will be ready to use with Office 365 after DNS propagation finishes.

See Also

DNS basics

Verify a domain at Register.com

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Change name server records at Hover

If you already own a domain name, you can add the domain to your Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses account. This topic describes the necessary steps for adding your Hover domain name to Office 365 after Office 365 has verified that you own the domain, so that you can use the domain with Office 365.

To finish adding the domain, you change the domain’s name server (NS) records on Hover to the Office 365 primary and secondary name servers. Alternatively, if you’re comfortable with DNS management and you want to set up and manage your Office 365 DNS records yourself, see Add your domain to Office 365 without redirecting your name server records to Office 365. For more information about adding your domain to Office 365, see Add your domain to Office 365.

Caution

When you change your domain’s NS records to point to Office 365, all of the services that are currently associated with your domain—for example email, websites, blogs, and shopping carts—are affected. If you’re using your domain for any of these services, make sure you take the necessary steps to ensure that this transition does not result in downtime for the services.

If you don’t take the necessary additional steps, your users might lose their email access and your current website might be inaccessible. For more information, see Update DNS records to keep your website with your current hosting provider.

The following instructions describe how to change NS records at Hover. We provide detailed instructions for editing NS records at several other domain registrars. See the list that’s included in Change name server records at a domain registrar.

To change your domain’s NS records at Hover, follow these steps.

1. Sign in to your account at Hover.

2. On the List of Domains grid, click your domain name.

3. Click Edit next to Name Servers.

4. If your domain is locked, you must unlock it before you can add or modify name server settings.

To unlock your domain, click domain settings, and then, at bottom of the Registry Records pane, in the Lock Status box, select Unlocked. Click Save.

5. Replace Nameserver 1 with ns1.bdm.microsoftonline.com and Nameserver 2 with ns2.bdm.microsoftonline.com.

6. Remove any other name servers that are specified, by clicking Delete next to each one.

7. Click Save.

Your name server record updates may take up to 72 hours to propagate through the DNS system. Your custom domain will be ready to use with Office 365 after DNS propagation finishes.

See Also

DNS basics

Verify a domain at Hover

Locate your domain services or buy a new domain

Add your domain to Office 365

Subscriptions and billing

Subscriptions and billing

View your bill

Pay by invoice

Change licenses or storage space for your subscription

Update your credit card information

Try additional offers

Buy additional subscriptions

Buy a subscription after trying Office 365

Buy subscriptions for your company

License restrictions for Office 365

About expired subscriptions

Manage licenses

Cancel my subscription

View your bill

As an administrator you can view your Office 365 bill or invoice. Your bill provides information about your current subscription charges.

Depending on when you purchased your original Office 365 subscription, you may also have the ability to view billing history and details about your orders, and obtain official PDF invoices.

View my bill

To view your bill, do one of the following:

• On the Admin page, under Subscriptions, click Manage, click a subscription name, and then click View bill.

• On the Admin page, under Subscriptions, click Manage, and then click Billing.

View billing history

Go to Admin > Subscriptions > Manage > Billing history.

When you view billing history you can:

• See a history of the charges on your account. You can view charges for the current billing period and previous months.

• See all the orders for a given charge in a billing period. An order includes one or more subscriptions that you have purchased, such as an Office 365 plan or a service, such as SharePoint Online.

• See detailed information about each order, such as the cost of each subscription and the unit price and number of licenses.

• Access the official PDF invoice for your orders.

See Also

Pay by invoice

Pay by invoice

Your company can pay for subscriptions by credit card, or you may have the option to receive an invoice. Depending on your choice of services, you will be billed monthly or annually.

The following provides some additional information about how invoicing works.

• If you are invoiced for subscription payments, administrators for your company will receive an email message that your invoice is ready to view. If you enter a purchase order (PO) number when you buy subscriptions, the number is included in your invoice for your reference. Administrators can view the invoice for your company’s subscriptions. For more information, see View your bill.

• Payment terms are net due in 30 days. Your invoice will include details about your options for making a payment.

• If a credit check is required as part of the payment process, you will be notified when you purchase your subscriptions and, if you agree to be contacted, you will receive an email message that includes more information about applying for credit approval. If you prefer not to complete a credit check, choose a different payment option when you buy subscriptions.

Change licenses or storage space for your subscription

If you are a Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses administrator, you can increase or reduce the number of licenses or the amount of storage space that you bought originally. The cost for more or fewer licenses or for more or less storage is prorated for the rest of the subscription term. You have to use the same payment method that you used when you bought the original licenses. To change the number of licenses or the amount of storage space for a subscription, follow these steps.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Manage.

2. On the Billing and subscription management page, click a subscription name.

3. On the Subscription details page, click Change quantity.

4. Follow the steps in the Add licenses wizard to complete your order.

If you paid for the subscription by credit card, any new licenses or storage space that you order will be available immediately after you receive an order confirmation. If you’re invoiced for subscription payments, you may be asked to complete a credit check. In this scenario, the new licenses will not be available until the credit check is complete.

See Also

Cancel my subscription

Add, change, or remove a subscription advisor partner

Buy additional subscriptions

Update your credit card information

If you have a Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses subscription, it’_s important to keep your organization’s payment information current so that when Office 365 renews your subscription, your service will continue without interruption. For example, if the credit card that you’ve been using is reissued and has a new expiration date, make sure to update the information in Office 365.

Note:

If a subscription was purchased by another administrator at your organization, you won’t be able to update the credit card information for the subscription. If the credit card that was used to purchase the subscription is about to expire, and the other administrator isn’t able to update the information, you can prevent service interruption by adding a different credit card for the subscription.

To update credit card information or add a credit card, follow these steps.

1. On the Admin page, on the left pane, under Subscriptions, choose Manage.

2. On the Billing and subscription management page, click a subscription name.

3. On the Subscription details page, under Payment details, click Edit.

4. In the Change payment details wizard, choose a credit card. Or, to add a new credit card, choose New credit card.

5. Update the information, and then click Next.

See Also

View your bill

Try additional offers

If you’re already in trial with a Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses subscription, additional subscriptions may be available for you to try.

Note:

You can try additional subscriptions without affecting your current trial.

To try additional subscriptions, follow these steps.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Purchase.

2. On the Purchase subscriptions page, click Trial next to each service that you would like to purchase.

Note:

If you don’t see options to try additional subscriptions, that’s because more subscriptions aren’t available for you to try at this time.

3. On the Check out page, click Try now.

4. On the Order receipt page, click Continue.

See Also

Buy subscriptions for your company

Buy a subscription after trying Office 365

Buy additional subscriptions

If your company already has one or more subscriptions for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, as an administrator, you can buy additional subscriptions. To buy more subscriptions, you look through the list of available subscriptions, and then choose one or more to purchase.

Notes:

The list of subscriptions available for you to purchase depends on the services to which you’ve already subscribed.

For more information about buying subscriptions, see Buy subscriptions for your company.

To add subscriptions, follow these steps.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Purchase.

2. On the Purchase subscriptions page, click Add next to each service that you would like to purchase.

Note:

If you don’t see the option to add additional subscriptions in the list, there aren’t any subscriptions available for you to add at this time.

3. Click Add to cart.

4. When your cart includes all of the subscriptions that you want to purchase, click Check out, and then complete the rest of the purchasing wizard to finish buying your subscriptions.

See Also

Buy a subscription after trying Office 365

Change licenses or storage space for your subscription

Buy a subscription after trying Office 365

After using a trial subscription in Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you can buy the subscription or choose a different Office 365 service to purchase.

When you buy a subscription for a product you have used in a trial, user accounts created during your trial subscription are automatically included, although you need to specify how many licenses you want to buy. If you buy other subscriptions—subscriptions that you have not used in a trial—you will need to assign to users licenses for the new subscriptions after you make your purchase. To learn more about assigning licenses, see Assign a license to a user.

To buy subscriptions after trying Office 365

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Manage.

2. On the Billing and subscription management page, click the trial plan that you want to buy.

3. On the Subscription details page, click Buy now.

4. On the Customize your order page, type the number of user licenses that you want to buy, and then click Check out.

5. Complete the rest of the purchasing wizard to finish buying your subscriptions.

As you step through the wizard, be aware of these things:

• The company address that you provided when you signed up for the trial is the default service usage address for your subscriptions. You can edit the service usage address for subscriptions in your order by doing the following: on the right pane, under Service usage address, click Edit.

Note:

The service usage address is used to determine your taxes and your data center location.

• If a Microsoft Authorized Partner helped you with this purchasing decision and gave you advice about Office 365 and you want to associate your subscriptions with the partner in your order, do the following: in the right pane, under Partner information, click Add.

See Also

Pay by invoice

Change licenses or storage space for your subscription

Buy subscriptions for your company

Assign a license to a user

Buy subscriptions for your company

To purchase services in Microsoft Online Services, you choose one or more subscriptions from the catalog and then pay for the services by using a credit card or by requesting an invoice. Your subscriptions are renewed automatically every year. If you like, you can try a subscription first to see how the service works and then purchase that subscription later, carrying over any data or configuration you have done while in trial.

Note:

For more information about trying a subscription in Microsoft Online Services, see Try additional offers.

What do you want to do?

Buy a subscription

Learn about payment options

Learn about auto-renew

Buy a subscription

You can buy subscriptions by looking through the list of available services and then choosing one or more services to purchase.

Note:

If you already have an Office 365 trial, the steps for purchasing a subscription are a little different. For more information, see Buy a subscription after trying Office 365.

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Purchase.

2. On the Purchase subscriptions page, click Add next to each service that you would like to purchase.

3. Click Add to cart.

4. When your cart includes all of the subscriptions that you want to purchase, click Check out, and then complete the rest of the purchasing wizard to finish buying your subscriptions.

Payment options

You can pay for Office 365 services by using a credit card or by requesting an invoice.

Pay by credit card

When you choose to pay by using your credit card, your subscription amount will appear on your monthly credit card statement.

Make sure you keep your credit card information up to date. For more information, see Update your credit card information.

Pay by requesting an invoice

Instead of paying by credit card, you can choose to be invoiced for your subscriptions. When you choose this option, you will receive an email message when your bill is ready to be viewed, and you can verify the charges before you pay the bill. For more information, see Pay by invoice.

Auto-renew

By default, subscriptions renew automatically each year on the day that you subscribed. Your subscriptions will continue to renew automatically unless you cancel your subscriptions. For more information, see Cancel my subscription.

See Also

Buy a subscription after trying Office 365

Update your credit card information

Pay by invoice

Cancel my subscription

License restrictions for Office 365

The availability of services and features in Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses varies by country or region. A service, such as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), may be available in one country or region, and not available in another. Features within a service can be restricted for legal reasons in certain countries or regions. To see if a service or feature is available with or without restrictions, look for your country or region on the License restrictions site.

Cancel my subscription

As an administrator for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you can cancel your subscription. Cancellation becomes effective as of the next billing cycle.

You can also reinstate your subscription in one of two ways:

• If you decide to reinstate your subscription before your next billing cycle, use the steps in this topic.

• If you want to reinstate your subscription and it is after the next billing cycle, contact Support by phone within 90 days of cancellation. Find the phone numbers and business hours for your location.

Important

Take these steps before you cancel your subscription:

Remove domains from Office 365: If you have added your own domain names for your organization to use with Office 365, you need to remove those domains.

Save your data: After you cancel your subscription, all the data associated with your online services—for example, email and documents on Team sites—is deleted 90 days after cancellation. If you need any data from any of the Office 365 services, download and save your files to another location before the next billing cycle when your subscription is canceled.

What do you want to do?

• Cancel my subscription

• Reinstate my subscription

Cancel my subscription

To cancel your subscription, use the steps in the following table.

Sign in to the customer portal.

1. Sign in to Office 365 with your user ID.

Go to the Administration page.

2. In the header, click Admin.

Open the subscription that you are canceling.

3. In the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Manage.

4. On the Billing and subscription management page, click Microsoft Office 365 (Plan P1).

Cancel the subscription.

5. On the Subscription details page, click Cancel this subscription.

6. Note important dates for subscription expiration and data deletion, and then click Next.

7. Select the appropriate check box, and then click Cancel subscription. You can give us feedback about why you are canceling your subscription in Additional comments.

Click here to view table as image

Reinstate my subscription

If you followed the previous steps to cancel your subscription, but then you change your mind or need more time, you can reinstate your subscription before the next billing cycle when your subscription is canceled. Use the steps in the following table.

Sign in to the customer portal.

1. Sign in to Office 365 with your user ID.

Go to the Administration page.

2. In the header, click Admin.

Open the subscription that you want to reinstate.

3. In the left pane, under Subscriptions, click Manage.

4. On the Billing and subscription management page, click Microsoft Office 365 (Plan P1).

Reinstate the subscription.

5. On the Subscription details page, click Reactivate.

Click here to view table as image

See Also

Buy subscriptions for your company

Change licenses or storage space for your subscription

About expired subscriptions

About expired subscriptions

Your organization has purchased one or more subscriptions to Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses. As an administrator, you can assign licenses to individuals within your organization to use these subscriptions.

These subscriptions are purchased for a specific period of time. When a subscription expires, the subscription enters a brief grace period during which administrators receive notification email messages and see alerts, when they log in to the Office 365 portal, that warn that the subscription will soon be disabled.

Note:

Administrators can view the status of all subscriptions on the Billing and subscription management page and confirm which subscriptions have expired.

During this grace period, you can renew the expired subscription, disassociate users from the expired subscription, or reassign users to a new subscription. Users continue to have access to the subscription during the grace period.

If you do not renew the subscription, the subscription will soon be disabled; user accounts assigned to the expired subscription are disabled, and users are unable to access the expired subscription. However, administrators can still access the service. Users assigned to more than one subscription can continue to access subscriptions that are still active (have not expired). Administrators will continue to receive notifications until the expired subscription is removed or renewed. When a subscription is removed, all data is permanently lost.

See Also

Change licenses or storage space for your subscription

Buy subscriptions for your company

Cancel my subscription

Manage licenses

Contact Support for a billing or subscription issue

Support

Support

Get help with Office 365

View the status of your services

Get support for Office 365

Contact Support for a billing or subscription issue

Translate a Service Health explanation into my language

Prepare for a change to your time zone

Get help with Office 365

When you have a question about Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you have several options to find the answer you need.

• Search the help topics. To do this, type a question or phrase into the search box at the top of the Help page.

• Ask your Office 365 administrator. The person at your company who manages the installation and maintenance of Office 365 has a lot of knowledge about how Office 365 works. Administrators also have access to additional information and resources if they don’t know the answer to a question. Not sure who your administrator is? Ask your co-workers or find the person who gave you the instructions to set up or access Office 365.

• Read the Office 365 team blog. The Office 365 team writes a blog that highlights new features and solutions to common issues.

• Read and post in the community forum. The community forum is a place where anyone who uses Office 365 can post a question and others can answer. Before you add your question, look to see if someone else has already asked it. Many common questions are already covered.

If you are an Office 365 administrator, for more information about support options see Get support for Office 365.

See Also

Sign in to Office 365

Use email in Office 365

Connect Office 365 to your Outlook desktop application

Get support for Office 365

There are many ways that you as an administrator can get help with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses. Various support options are available to you depending on how your organization purchased Office 365.

If your organization purchased Office 365 directly from Microsoft, you can do the following.

• Search the Help articles. The most common questions and tasks are covered in the Help articles. To search these sources, on the Support overview page, in the Help and community section, type a question or phrase into the search box.

• Troubleshoot. At the top of the Community home page, click Troubleshooting. Follow the steps in the troubleshooting tool to find possible solutions for some common issues with Office 365 and services such as Lync Online or SharePoint Online.

• Read and post in the community forum. The community forum is a place where anyone who uses Office 365 can post a question, and others can answer. Before you add your question, look to see whether someone else has already asked it.

• Read the team blog. The Office 365 team writes a blog that highlights new features and solutions to common issues.

• Contact billing and subscription support. To submit a service request or contact a Support representative by phone, see Contact Support for a billing or subscription issue.

Note:

There is no support by telephone on technical issues for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses.

If your organization did not purchase Office 365 directly from Microsoft, you can do the following.

• Contact your Microsoft partner. Although you cannot contact Office 365 Support directly, for assistance you can contact the Microsoft partner that you identified as a delegated administrator. To find your partner:

a. In the header, click Admin.

b. In the left pane, under Support, click Overview.

c. On the Support overview page, click Manage your delegated administrators.

• Search the Help articles. The most common questions and tasks are covered in the Help articles. To search these sources, on the Support overview page, in the Help and community section, type a question or phrase into the search box.

• Troubleshoot. At the top of the Community home page, click Troubleshooting. Follow the steps in the troubleshooting tool to find possible solutions for some common issues with Office 365 and services such as Lync Online or SharePoint Online.

• Read and post in the community forum. The community forum is a place where anyone who uses Office 365 can post a question and others can answer. Before you add your question, look to see if someone else has already asked it.

• Read the team blog. The Office 365 team writes a blog that highlights new features and solutions to common issues.

Different Help options are available to users. You can learn about those options at Get help with Office 365.

See Also

Sign in to Office 365

Contact Support for a billing or subscription issue

As an administrator for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you can obtain assistance from the Office 365 Support team for billing and subscription issues either online by submitting a service request, or by talking directly to a Support representative by phone. To talk with a Support representative by phone, on the Support overview page, click Find billing and subscription management (non-technical support) phone numbers.

Contact Support by submitting a service request

When you submit a service request, it goes directly to a Support representative.

To create a service request for billing or subscription assistance, do the following:

1. On the Admin page, in the left pane under Support, click Overview.

2. On the Support overview page, click the link in You can contact Support about billing and subscription (non-technical support) issues.

3. Fill in the required fields in the request, and provide as much additional information as possible to describe your issue. Attach files as needed, and submit your request. After you submit your request, you will be contacted by a Support representative by email.

Also, after you submit a service request, you can do any of the following by clicking a link under Billing and subscription management service requests summary on the Support overview page:

• Respond to a request from a Support representative for additional information.

• View the status of service requests that have previously been submitted.

• Add notes and files to an existing service request.

• Close the request when your issue has been resolved or you no longer need assistance.

See Also

Get support for Office 365

Translate a Service Health explanation into my language

Service Health provides administrators with a view of the status of all the Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses services you are subscribed to and various aspects of a service, such as Provisioning, Access, and Delivery for Microsoft Exchange Online. The Service health page provides a snapshot of all service-related events, such as an interruption, an outage, or a maintenance event, as well as normal operation. You can click on an event to find out more about it.

For some service events, the information in Details that describes the circumstances is not translated into your language. In such instances, information has been provided to you as quickly as possible and could not be translated without delaying updates to the Details.

If you click on an event on the Service health page and the Details of the event are not provided in your language (it is in English), it is still possible for you to obtain a translation of the information.

To obtain a translation of the event description, follow these steps.

1. Go to the translation service at Translator.

2. On the Service health page, copy the text under Details describing the event and paste it into the translation service where indicated.

3. In Translator, select the language you want the text translated into, and click Translate.

View the status of your services

As an administrator for Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses, you can view the status of the services to which you have subscribed, and find out when maintenance is scheduled for those services on the Service Health Dashboard. The Service Health Dashboard consists of the Current status page and the Planned maintenance page. These pages display the following information:

• Current availability of each service or tool

• Availability of each service or tool for the preceding six days

• Details about a service disruption or outage

• Planned maintenance periods when a service may be unavailable

Note:

You must be an administrator to see service health information.

The new Service Health Dashboard RSS feed provides you with real-time access to information about service incidents and planned maintenance events. The RSS feed is updated anytime a new event is added or an existing event is updated. To subscribe to the RSS feed, go to the Admin page. In the left pane under Support, click Service Health, and then click the RSS subscription link on the Service Health Dashboard.

What do you want to do?

View current or recent history status

View planned maintenance

View current or recent history status

On the Current status page, icons that represent service availability are displayed in the table. Some of the icons are links to additional information about the status of that service, as well as a timestamp and the current state of the resolution.

In the table, under Service, a blue arrow appears next to the name of some (but not all) services to indicate that the service has component services or features contained within it. You can click the blue arrow to expand the service and see the components. These components have their own statuses displayed in the table.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Support, click Service Health.

3. If the components of a service are not currently displayed, click the blue arrow to display them.

4. In the table on the Current status page, click an icon in the Today column, or in a column that represents one of the previous six days, to see details, the date and time when the event occurred, and progress.

Notes:

Dates and times are captured in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), and displayed according to the time zone in your location. Times are converted to Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time) as appropriate. During the hours when time conversions take place (once in the spring, once in the fall), the time for an event may appear incorrect by an hour in your location.

In countries or regions that do not practice resetting clocks by the season, administrators may nevertheless observe times for events in the Service Health Dashboard that appear incorrect if the data center that serves them is not within their own borders or is also serving other countries or regions.

Current status icon definitions

Normal service availability

The service is available and has suffered no incidents during the reporting time period.

This icon does not link to additional information.

Service degradation

The service is slow, sluggish, or occasionally unresponsive for brief periods.

Service interruption

The service is not functioning. Users cannot access their email, documents, or presence information.

Additional information

An incident was active in a previous day. The incident may be resolved or may remain active. Look at the Today column for the current status.

Normal service restored

An incident was active earlier today, but service has been restored.

View planned maintenance

You can display details about a planned maintenance event, including its date and time.

1. In the header, click Admin.

2. On the Admin page, in the left pane, under Support, click Planned maintenance.

3. On the Planned maintenance page, click the link in the Status column for the planned maintenance event for which you want to see additional information.

Prepare for a change to your time zone

If the country or region where your organization or some of your users reside has changed its policy of recognizing daylight saving time (DST), or changed the local time offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), you may need to update Windows, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft Outlook, or other programs that you use with Microsoft Office 365 for professionals and small businesses to accommodate these changes.

Even if your time zone hasn’t changed, if you interact with other computers or users globally, your computer needs to be able to do accurate date and time calculations for events elsewhere in the world.

Installing the time zone updates as soon as possible minimizes the number of Outlook and Exchange meetings or calendar events that are scheduled during the transition from the old to the new time and dates.

Step 1: Install the Windows DST update on all client computers

Make sure all client computers have installed the Windows DST update. For more information, see How to configure daylight saving time for Microsoft Windows operating systems. Consult the release notes for current issues relating to time zones.

Because the Office 365 authentication system will be updated, all Office 365 client computers need to be updated or they may experience connectivity issues.

Step 2: Install the Windows DST update on all servers

Update all of your on-premises servers with the Windows DST update. If you are running Office 365, any servers that interact with the Office 365 authentication system, such as Microsoft Online Services Directory Synchronization tool or Active Directory Federation Services (AD FS) 2.0, must be updated to ensure uptime.

If you are updating server clusters, make sure you follow the usual process for updating clusters. You update the passive server first, fail over to the passive server (which becomes active), and then update the formerly active (now passive) server. For more information on updating server clusters and high-availability server clusters, see Updating cluster and high-availability servers.

Step 3: Update Exchange 2003 SP2 and Exchange 2007 SP3 servers with the latest updates

Install the latest DST update on your Exchange servers. For more information, see CDO time zone tables.

If you are updating server clusters, again make sure you follow the usual process for updating clusters. See Updating cluster and high-availability servers.

Step 4: Update Exchange and/or Outlook on all client computers

Check whether and which of your users need to run the Exchange or Outlook time zone tools, and which tool to run.

This table shows when users should run the Exchange Calendar Tool or the Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook. Find which version your organization’s servers are running, and then read across to what client programs your users are running.

Organization Version

Client Version

Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

Microsoft Office Outlook 2007

Microsoft Outlook 2010

Exchange 2003 on premises

Exchange Calendar Tool or Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

Exchange Calendar Tool or Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

No action required

Exchange 2007 on premises

Exchange Calendar Tool or Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

Exchange Calendar Tool or Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

No action required

Exchange 2010 on premises

Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

No action required

BPOS Standard (Exchange 2007)

Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

No action required

BPOS Dedicated (Exchange 2010)

Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

No action required

Office 365 (Exchange 2010)

Not supported

Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook

No action required

Click here to view table as image

Lync Online administration

Lync Online administration

What’s new in this release

Set up Microsoft Lync Online

Lync Online settings summary

Set up Lync for mobile devices

Configure mobile phone notifications

Test your Lync Online installation

What’s new in this release

The Cumulative Update for Lync Server 2010 – January 2012 includes the following changes to the administration of Lync Online for Microsoft Office 365:

• Search for users and filter results You can now search for users by display name, user name, or phone number. You can also view a filtered list of users according to individual features that each user is configured to use or not use. For details, see View current Lync Online settings.

• Presence privacy mode You can now change the default privacy settings that affect who can see your users’ presence information. For details, see Configure presence privacy mode.

• Mobile phone notifications Users can receive notifications from Lync even when Lync isn’t actively running on a user’s phone. For details, see Configure mobile phone notifications.

• Call and conference recording You can now give users the option to record their calls, including conference calls. For details, see Configure file transfer, audio-video, and recording.

The names of some settings pages in the Lync Online Control Panel, as well as how settings are grouped within those pages, have also changed in this release. For details, see View current Lync Online settings.

Set up Microsoft Lync Online

With Lync Online, you can stay in touch with colleagues, partners, and customers by using features such as instant messaging, audio and video conferences, and online meetings. For details, see Lync Online – Unified Communications in the Cloud.

Before setting up Lync Online for everyone in your organization, complete the following administrator tasks:

• Set up Office 365

• Plan for Lync Online

• Set up Lync Online

• Review adoption and training resources

Set up Office 365

Task

Description

Learn more

Set up Office 365

Set up your own computer by installing Lync and the Microsoft Office 365 desktop setup program.

Set up your desktop for Office 365

Set up your own domain name

Set up the permanent domain name you plan to use for your Office 365 installation before making any other configuration changes.

Add your domain to Office 365

Add users

After setting up your domain name, add user accounts for everyone in your organization.

User accounts and permissions

Click here to view table as image

Plan for Lync Online

Task

Description

Lean more

Review Lync Online system requirements

Computers running Lync Online must be able to support audio and video conversations.

Review Lync Online system requirements

Choose audio and video devices

Choose “Optimized for Lync” audio devices based on user preference and work location (for example, an open work area versus a private office).

Note:

Lync Online does not support Internet Protocol (IP) phones.

Choose audio and video devices

Contact an audio conferencing provider and obtain accounts for your users

For Lync Online meetings that require dial-in access, set up dial-in conferencing accounts with an audio conferencing provider for your meeting organizers.

Contact an audio conferencing provider

Click here to view table as image

Set up Lync Online

Task

Description

Learn more

Review user settings

Decide if you want to change any of the default values for Lync Online settings.

Lync Online settings summary

Set up Lync for mobile devices

Set up your environment and your users for Lync for mobile devices.

Set up Lync for mobile devices

Set up users for dial-in conferencing

Add the information you received from your audio conferencing provider to the user accounts of your meeting organizers.

Configure mobile phone notifications

Test your Lync Online installation

Save time and support calls by testing Lync Online features and audio devices before you deploy it to everyone in your organization.

Test your Lync Online installation

Click here to view table as image

Review adoption and training resources

Task

Description

Learn more

Review adoption and training resources

Download end-user training and review online help topics.

Lync Online Adoption and Training Kit

Click here to view table as image

See Also

What’s new in this release

Lync Online settings summary

Lync Online settings are as follows:

Setting

Description

Default

Learn more

File transfer

Transfer files using instant messaging (IM)

Enabled

Configure file transfer, audio-video, and recording

Audio and video

Conduct audio and video conversations using Lync

Enabled

Recording

Record calls and meetings

Enabled

External communications

Connect with other organizations that use Lync and Communicate with Windows Live Messenger users

Disabled

Configure external communications

Dial-in conferencing

Telephone access to meetings

Not configured

Configure mobile phone notifications

Mobile phone notifications

Configure push notification services, or disable notifications

Microsoft Push Notification Service and Apple Push Notification Service

Configure mobile phone notifications

Presence privacy mode

Determine who can view a Lync user’s presence status

Automatically display presence information

Configure presence privacy mode

Click here to view table as image

Note:

Depending on your location, you may not have access to all features of Lync Online. For details, see About license restrictions.

View current Lync Online settings

You can view settings for all users or selected users. You can also search, sort, and filter the list of users.

To view Lync Online settings for all users

1. On the Microsoft Office 365 home page, click Admin.

2. Under Lync Online, click Manage. The Lync Online Control Panel opens, and the Overview page displays the current settings for external communications, presence privacy mode, and mobile phone notifications.

To view Lync Online settings for an individual user

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click Users.

2. Click the name of the user whose settings you want to view.

You can also filter, search, and sort the user list, as follows:

• To filter users, in the View users box, choose the setting you want to filter for.

• To sort users, click on one of the column headings: Display name, User name, or User location.

• To search users, enter a display name, user name, or phone number in the search box at the top of the list.

Note:

To search or sort all users, make sure the View users box is set to All.

Set up Lync for mobile devices

Lync Online now includes support for Lync mobile devices. Users can install Lync on selected Windows Phone, iPhone, iPad, Android, and Nokia devices. Features supported by Lync mobile clients include presence, instant messaging (IM), contacts, and the ability join a conference call by having your audio conferencing provider call the mobile device.

To set up your environment and your users for Lync mobile clients

1. Make sure everyone in your organization has installed the most current desktop version of Lync. For details, see Update Resource Center for Lync.

2. Review the features supported by each mobile client. For details, see the Mobile Client Comparison Tables.

3. Test your setup with one or two mobile devices to make sure everything works as expected.

4. Tell your users how to install Lync on their mobile devices. For details, see Deploying Mobile Clients.

Configure external communications

The External communications setting allows you to communicate with other organizations that use Lync Online, and with contacts who use the Windows Live public IM service. External communication is disabled by default.

Note:

Windows Live public IM clients support instant messaging (IM), audio, and video communication with Lync Online.

To configure external communications

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click External communications.

2. Click Enable or Disable as appropriate, and then click Yes.

Notes:

You may have to wait for up to 24 hours before any changes take effect.

Public IM connectivity with AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Yahoo! Messenger is not supported.

Lync audio and video conferencing and desktop sharing are not supported with public IM contacts.

Configure file transfer, audio-video, and recording

By default, the following features are available to Lync Online users:

• Sending files to another contact during a Lync instant messaging session

• Audio and video conferencing

• Recording of calls and meetings

Typically you make changes to these settings for all users, rather than individual users.

To change file transfer, audio-video, or recording settings for all users

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click Users.

2. In the title row of the list of users, check the box next to Display name, and then click Edit user.

3. On the Bulk edit user settings page, under IM, Audio/Video, and Conferencing, click Changes requested.

4. Do one or both of the following:

• To enable a feature for all users, check the box next to the feature

• To disable a feature for all users, leave the box next to the feature unchecked

5. Click Next > Next > Finish.

Configure presence privacy mode

Presence privacy mode provides Lync Online users with greater control over who can see their presence status, or availability. Possible settings are as follows:

• Automatically display presence information (default) Other Lync Online users—except for those in the External or Blocked privacy relationship groups—can view a person’s presence status.

• Display presence information only to a user’s contacts Only someone in a user’s contact list—except for those in the External or Blocked privacy relationship groups—can view their presence status.

For details about presence and privacy relationships, see Control access to your presence information.

To configure the default presence privacy mode setting for everyone in your organization

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click Presence and Notifications.

2. Under Presence privacy mode, review the current setting.

3. To change the current setting, click Edit, click the appropriate choice, and then click Yes.

Note:

If you set the default value of presence privacy mode to Display presence information only to a user’s contacts, individual users can override this setting in the Lync options dialog box.

Configure mobile phone notifications

Users of mobile phones and tablets with Lync installed can receive alerts about incoming and missed instant messages. Windows Phone 7.5 phones, and the Apple iPhone and iPad, require the use of a push notification service to deliver these alerts when Lync is not active on the device.

Note:

Push notifications are enabled by default. Individual users can disable push notifications by setting the appropriate Lync option on their mobile device.

To enable or disable push notifications for all the Windows Phone or Apple devices in your organization

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click Presence and notifications.

2. Under Mobile phone notifications, review the current setting for Notification support.

3. To change the current setting, click Edit.

4. Check or uncheck the box next to the notification service you want to enable or disable, and then click OK.

Configure dial-in conferencing

Dial-in conferencing provides telephone access to Lync Online meetings for users who can’t get to a computer. Here’s how to set it up:

1. (Optional) Review how dial-in conferencing works.

2. Contact an audio conferencing provider for dial-in numbers, conference codes, and personal identification numbers, or PINs.

3. Add the dial-in numbers and conference codes to the user settings of your meeting organizers, conference call leaders, and users of Lync for mobile devices.

4. Provide each user with his or her PIN. The PIN may be required to join the audio portion of the meeting as a leader, or meeting organizer.

Important:

Users of Lync for mobile devices can join a Lync meeting with a single click only if the meeting supports dial-in conferencing.

What do you want to do?

Review how dial-in conferencing works

Contact an audio conferencing provider

Set up dial-in conferencing for a single user

Set up dial-in conferencing for multiple users

Disable a user for dial-in conferencing

Review how dial-in conferencing works

When you set up an account with an audio conferencing provider, you receive a list of dial-in numbers, and a unique conference code and PIN for each user who schedules or leads meetings.

After you set up users for dial-in conferencing, they receive an automated email message with the dial-in numbers and conference code. This information is also automatically added to new online meeting requests.

However, you still need to send users their dial-in conferencing PIN. The PIN may be required to join the audio portion of the meeting as the leader, or meeting organizer.

Note:

You are only required to add dial-in information to the accounts user who plan to schedule or lead online meetings that require telephone access. Unless the meeting organizer has locked the meeting, anyone who has the dial-in number and conference code can join the call.

Contact an audio conferencing provider

To provide telephone access to Lync Online meetings, you must set up an account with a dial-in audio conferencing provider. For a list of audio conferencing providers, see the Office 365 Marketplace.

Obtain the following information from your audio conferencing provider:

• Toll dial-in numbers, and toll-free numbers if available

• For each user in your organization who schedules or leads meetings, a conference code and personal identification number, or PIN

Set up dial-in conferencing for a single user

To set up dial-in conferencing for a single user

1. In the Lync Online Control panel, click Users.

2. Click the name of the user you want to set up for dial-in conferencing.

3. On the Edit user settings page, under Dial-in conferencing, select your audio conferencing provider.

4. In the Toll number and Toll free number boxes, enter the numbers you received from the audio conferencing provider. Valid number formats are as follows:

• (425) 555-0123

• 425-555-0123

• 425 555 0123

• 1-425-555-0123

• (44) (20) 1111 1111

5. In the Passcode box, enter the passcode, or conference code, for this user.

6. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Set up dial-in conferencing for multiple users

You can add or update the dial-in conferencing information for a large number of users by exporting a list of users, sending it to your audio conferencing provider, and then importing the updated file.

Export a dial-in conferencing user list

To export a list of all users, or a list of users who aren’t set up for dial-in conferencing

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click Users.

2. Click Dial-in conferencing, point to Export user list, and then click one of the following:

a. Dial-in conferencing disabled (lists only those who aren’t set up for dial-in conferencing)

b. All users

3. Click Save, select a location for the user list, enter a unique file name, and then click Save again.

4. Forward the file to your audio conferencing provider for updating.

To export a list of selected users

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click Users.

2. Check the box next to the name of each user you want to set up for dial-in conferencing.

3. Click Save, select a location for the user list, enter a unique file name, and then click Save again.

4. Forward the file to your audio conferencing provider for updating.

Import an updated dial-in conferencing user list

To import an updated dial-in conferencing user list

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click Users.

2. Click Dial-in conferencing, and then click Import user configuration file.

3. On the Provision users for dial-in conferencing page, browse to the location of the file you received from your audio conferencing provider.

4. Select the file, and then click Open.

5. Click Next, and then click Setup.

6. If you encounter errors, click Download error file, and then send the file to your audio conferencing provider.

Disable a user for dial-in conferencing

If you no longer want a user to schedule or lead meetings that use dial-in conferencing, you must delete the dial-in conferencing settings for that user.

To disable individual users for dial-in conferencing

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click Users.

2. Check the box next to the display name of each user you want removed from dial-in conferencing.

3. Click Dial-in conferencing, point to Disable, and then click Selected users.

4. Click Yes.

To disable all users for dial-in conferencing

1. In the Lync Online Control Panel, click Users.

2. Click Dial-in conferencing, point to Disable, and then click All users.

3. Click Yes.

See Also

Set up Microsoft Lync Online

Test your Lync Online installation

You can save time, avoid unnecessary support calls, and increase user satisfaction by testing your Lync Online installation before setting it up for everyone in your organization.

The requirements for testing Lync Online are as follows:

• At least two additional Microsoft Office 365 accounts besides your own for testing purposes.

• A computer for each test account. Equip the test computers with a representative sampling of the communications devices that you use in your organization.

• An account with an audio conferencing provider, which is necessary for testing the online meeting capabilities of Lync Online. For details, see Configure mobile phone notifications.

Set up test accounts

To add two or more test users to your Office 365 installation

1. On the Office 365 portal home page, click Admin.

2. On the Admin home page, under Admin Overview, click Users.

3. On the Users page, click New, and then click User.

4. Under Name, supply the requested information. Disregard the Additional details for now.

5. Click Next to accept the default license assignments, and then click Finish.

6. Repeat the process until you have the number of test users you want.

Note:

You need at least two test users besides yourself in order to test the online meeting capabilities of Lync Online.

Set up test computers

Install Lync Online and Office 365 on the test computers using the accounts you created. For details, see the Office 365 portal Downloads page at https://portal.microsoftonline.com/download/default.aspx.

Set up dial-in conferencing

To provide telephone access to Lync Online meetings, set up an account with a dial-in audio conferencing provider. The audio conferencing provider supplies the following information:

• Toll dial-in numbers, and toll-free numbers if available

• For each user in your organization who schedules or leads meetings, a conference code and personal identification number (PIN)

After you set up users for dial-in conferencing, they receive an automated email message with the dial-in numbers and conference code. This information is also automatically added to new online meeting requests.

For details, see Configure mobile phone notifications.

To add dial-in conferencing information to the account of one of your test users

1. In the Lync Online Control panel, click Users.

2. Click the name of the user you want to set up for dial-in conferencing.

3. On the Edit user settings page, under Dial-in conferencing, select your audio conferencing provider.

4. In the Toll number and Toll free number boxes, enter the numbers you received from the audio conferencing provider.

5. In the Passcode box, enter the passcode, or conference code, for this user.

6. Click Next, and then click Finish.

Test Lync Online features and devices

Verify that the major Lync Online features are working as expected by completing the following tasks:

Category

Tasks

Learn more

Sign in and sign out

• Sign in

• Sign out

• Sign in with a specified presence status

Sign in and sign out

Troubleshooting Lync Online sign-in errors

Contacts, presence, and instant messaging

• Start an instant messaging (IM) session

• Send a file to someone in a IM conversation

• Send an instant message to multiple contacts in the Contacts list

• Manually set presence status

• Search for a contact using first or last name

• Add a contact from the Search Results box

• View a person’s contact card

Contacts, presence, and instant messaging

Person-to-person calls

• Call someone from your Contacts list

• Start an IM session and then add a Lync call

• Add desktop sharing to your IM and Lync conversation

Voice and Video

Sharing and Collaboration

Conferencing

• Schedule an online meeting that uses dial-in audio conferencing

• Join the online meeting

• Mute and unmute meeting participants

• Share your desktop

• Share an application

• Share a PowerPoint presentation

• Upload an attachment to the meeting

Meetings

Sharing and Collaboration

Click here to view table as image

Set up dial-in conferencing so people can join meetings by phone

With dial-in conferencing, you can add telephone access to Lync Online meetings for users who can’t get to a computer. Here’s how to set it up:

1. Contact an audio conferencing provider for dial-in numbers, conference codes, and personal identification numbers (PIN).

2. Add, change, or remove dial-in conferencing settings for meeting organizers and conference call leaders.

Important:

Set up dial-in conferencing if you’re using Lync on mobile phones or tablets. Mobile Lync users can’t join a meeting with a single click unless the meeting includes dial-in conferencing.

Contact an audio conferencing provider

For phone access to Lync Online meetings, first set up an account with one of the audio conferencing providers in the Office 365 Marketplace.

The audio conferencing provider gives you:

• Local dial-in numbers, and toll-free numbers if available

• A passcode (conference code) and PIN for each person who schedules or leads meetings

Keep in mind:

• When you add the dial-in numbers and passcode to each user’s account, the information is automatically added to new Lync Online meeting requests.

• You only need to set up dial-in conferencing for users who plan to schedule or lead meetings. Unless the organizer has locked the meeting, anyone who has the dial-in number and conference code can join the call.

Add, change, or remove dial-in conferencing settings

Add or change dial-in conferencing settings

1. Go to Admin > Service Settings > Instant messaging and Lync meetings.

2. Under Dial-in conferencing, click Setup or Manage to begin the process.

3. If you’re setting up dial-in conferencing for the first time, select your audio conferencing provider, and then click Next.

4. Follow the on-screen instructions, and then click Finish. Added or changed users receive email with the phone numbers and passcode.

5. Send each user the PIN you received from the audio conferencing provider. The PIN may be required to call in as the conference call organizer, or leader.

Remove dial-in conferencing settings for one or more users

1. Go to Admin > Service Settings > Instant messaging and Lync meetings.

2. Under Dial-in conferencing, click Manage.

3. Select the check box next to the name of the users you want to remove.

4. Go to Remove dial-in conferencing > OK > Save > Next > Finish.

See Also

Let Lync Online users communicate outside your organization

Configure online presence

Configure online presence

The Online presence setting for Lync Online gives people more control over who can see whether they are available, in a meeting, or out of the office. For details about Lync presence and privacy settings, see Controlling access to your presence information.

Choose the default presence setting for everyone in your organization

1. Go to Admin > Service Settings > Instant messaging and Lync meetings.

2. Under Online presence, click Set viewing permissions.

3. Choose the setting you want, and then click Save.

Setting

Who can view a user’s presence

Everyone in your company

Any Lync Online user who does not belong to the External or Blocked privacy group.

Only people on the user’s Contacts list

Anyone in a user’s Contacts list who does not belong to the External or Blocked privacy group.
Individual users can change this setting in the Lync Online Options dialog box.

Click here to view table as image

See Also

Let Lync Online users communicate outside your organization

Set up dial-in conferencing so people can join meetings by phone

Let Lync Online users communicate outside your organization

Lync Online helps people in your organization keep in touch. You can also add people outside your organization to your list of Lync contacts. Go to Admin > Service Settings > External communications to turn this feature on or off.

When you turn on External communications, users can add the following types of people to their Lync Contacts list:

• Lync users in other companies that have turned on external communications. All Lync Online features are available when you IM or do computers calls and desktop sharing with these users.

• Microsoft Messenger public IM service users. Only some features are available:

Available with Microsoft Messenger users

Not available with Microsoft Messenger users

• Instant messaging

• Person-to-person audio and video calls

• Audio and video conversations with three or more people

• Desktop and program sharing

Click here to view table as image

You may have to wait for up to 24 hours for changes to the external communications setting to take effect.

Adding contacts who use the AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) or Yahoo! Messenger public IM services isn’t supported.

See Also

Set up dial-in conferencing so people can join meetings by phone

Configure online presence

Appendix: Code and Table Images

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text

Click here to view table as text