Office 365, Email, Exchange account, Outlook Desktop and Outlook on the Web FAQ
Eligibility for Exchange Accounts
Some campus individuals are automatically eligible for Exchange accounts; others can have accounts created for them by request.
Whether or not you are automatically eligible for an Exchange account depends on your identity type in the campus identity management directory. If you want to see whether your identity type qualifies for an Exchange account, log in to the Electronic Directory Editor and look at the contents of your uiucEduType field.
The Microsoft 365 services are attached to an account during an automated process which is started at the end of the Claim or New Hire process. This means that users MIGHT not be able to sign in to email until they have waited 2 hours after NetID Claim / UI New Hire.
Accounts that existed before the University transitioned to Microsoft services, such as those of returning former students, do not use the NetID Claim process, and thus may not have a mailbox automatically provisioned. Your mailbox is provisioned after you register for classes (usually 1 to 2 days). Please see this article for undergraduate to graduate transition (https://answers.illinois.edu/illinois/62783
If it seems like your University account has not been provided with email even after waiting 48 hours, or if you are newly hired or enrolled and having any other trouble with your University email, contact the Technology Services Help Desk at consult@illinois.edu or 217-244-7000.
Automatically eligible for Exchange accounts
People in the following groups (determined by the following types) are automatically eligible for Exchange accounts:
- Urbana faculty, staff and academic hourly employees (required type: staff)
- Urbana undergrads, graduate and professional students (must have type "student" or level code must be 1G, 1V, 1L, or 1M)
- Urbana Foundation and Alumni Association staff (required type: allied)
- UIC Medicine and Nursing (required types: must have both extramural and allied-medicine or allied-nursing)
If you are a member of one of these groups and do not already have an Exchange mailbox, your Exchange online mailbox will be automatically provisioned.
Account created by request
People in the following areas (determined by the following types) can have Exchange accounts created for them by request of the proxy or sponsoring department:
- Urbana guest users (required type: special)
- See What is a sponsored NetID?, under Identity and Access Management, Affiliate NetID Manager FAQ
- University High School students (required type: unihigh)
- Visiting Scholars
- People on approved leave of absence
- Other affiliates that work in some capacity with the University
Account policies
Your login and password serve as your identity within the campus computing system and control access to sensitive personal information. Because of the potential for harm, it's very important that you never let anyone else use your account, login, or password - not even your parents, siblings, friends, or roommates. Any sharing is against campus computing policy and could result in losing your account privileges. A complete guide to the University's computing policies is located at: http://www.cio.illinois.edu/policies.html
Leaving the University
Faculty/Staff should refer to Identity Management, Leaving Campus for Faculty and Staff.
Students should refer to Identity Management, Leaving Campus for Graduating Students
Setting up and accessing your account
Configuring the Outlook App for Android and iOS
You can log in to your Exchange account using Outlook on the Web: https://outlook.office365.com
If you need to reset your password go to: https://go.illinois.edu/password
Configure the Apple Mail and Calendar Apps for iPhone or iPad
Add a second account to Outlook
How To Delete and Re-Add An Email Account in Outlook
Configure Outlook for Windows
Setting up Apple Mail
Outlook 2016/365 for Mac
What are my Mailbox Size Limits and how do I check how much email I have?
- 98GB: Warning regarding Inbox Size
- 99GB: Unable to Send Email
- 100GB: Unable to Send and Receive Email
Additionally users may experience performance issues when exceeding the following thresholds:
Total Mailbox Items: 250,000
Total Calendar Items: 5,000
- click the gear icon in the upper-right corner
- click on "Account" in the left column
- click on "Storage" in the middle column
Outlook on the Web, Email to a group of people using a Personal List
How to email a group of people on Outlook on the Web:
- Login to https://outlook.office365.com
- Select the People view.
- Click on the Arrow next to New contact.
- Select New Contact List.
- Name the Contact List.
- Add recipients, you can type any email address and hit Enter to add them to the List.
- Click Save and Close.
- Once the list is created, switch back to your Inbox view.
- Select the New Message icon in the top left. A new message window will appear. Personal Contact lists will populate as you type in the To, CC, BCC fields. Type your message and click Send.
Note: Creating a Contact list on the Mac app (not website) is currently not available on the new Outlook app (but is "Coming
soon"): https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/the-new-outlook-for-mac-6283be54-e74d-434e-babb-b70cefc77439#bkmk_coming-soon
Note: There is a limit of 500 recipients per list. A possible work around is to use multiple groups. If a more permanent solution is needed, please contact your local IT Pro and request an AD Distribution List.
Legitimate email ending up in Junk Mail
Microsoft has changed the way Junk Mail is filtered within the Outlook Client.
This filtering controlled by Exchange Online Protection (EOP) will utilize it's own mailflow delivery agent to determine if any given email is Spam and will move email to the Junk folder. This means it no longer reads the user setting in Outlook's Junk Email Options for choosing the level of junk email protection: No Automatic Filtering/Low/High/Safe Lists Only. This EOP will continue to honor the user safe sender/block sender preferences set in Outlook just as the junk email rule does today.
If you do have legitimate email being filtered as junk there are steps you can take to prevent this from happening in the future:
- Add the Sender's address to your safe sender list in Outlook or Outlook on the Web.
- In Outlook on the Web, Microsoft has a process for Reporting to them email that should not be junk:
- In Outlook on the Web, go to the Junk Email folder and find the message that was incorrectly marked as junk.
- Right-click the message, and then click Mark as not junk.
- In the Report as not junk dialog, click Report.
Your report automatically goes to the Microsoft Spam Analysis Team at not_junk@office365.microsoft.com.
Microsoft will use your report to help improve their spam filters.
You receive an error message about insufficient space for rules
The default quota size for rules on Microsoft Exchange is around 64 kb. The Exchange group can up this quota on a per user basis.
The rule space allotted to a mailbox is not unlimited as there is a firm maximum as defined by Microsoft as 256 kb.
Please send Requests for rule space extensions to exchange@illinois.edu
Help with your account
Technology Services Help Desk
Phone: (217) 244-7000 or (800) 531-2531
Email: consult@illinois.edu