...
...
...
...
...
...
Why are we changing licenses
...
to ‘A1’?
Two things require us to reassign license types to individuals:
Original license | Reason for the change |
|---|---|
A5 | Only employees are eligible for A5 licenses. To comply with legal requirements related to our Microsoft license agreements, anyone who is not an employee but who currently uses an A5 license, will be issued an A1 license on February 3, 2025. (except students, who have a different type) |
A1 Plus | Microsoft no longer offers the A1 Plus type license type. Organizations like RRU are required to issue different licenses to remain legally compliant with license agreements. We |
...
replaced A1 Plus license |
...
types with |
...
an A1 license type |
...
on December 9, 2024. |
No action is required by you related to the license type change BUT this may impact you. You may need to change how you work with Office applications.
Q&A
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
No, it does not. You log into Moodle using your RRU Login + password. This change only affects the way you access Microsoft Office applications. |
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
MS requires that all users of MS applications have an appropriate access license. These licenses also allow Microsoft to provide updates, security enhancements, and support for the tools we use daily. RRU issues MS licenses to all students, staff, faculty, guests, etc. based on your role and needs to ensure that each person has appropriate authorized access to MS software and services. |
| Expand | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
You may be affected, depending on whether you used the license issued by RRU and even depending on how you used it.
If you previously installed Office on your computer using the RRU license, the installed version of Office will have many features disabled. At this point, you must use the online version of Office 365 available at https://www.office.com/, accessible by using your RRU Login and password to login.
|
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
The fastest way to tell if you are using a personal license or not is to open an Office app like Word, Excel, or PowerPoint and look in the upper right of the screen. You’ll see the name of whoever is logged in. Click on the little image (This could be a picture as shown below, or it may be your initials, etc.).  If you see “@royalroads.ca” in the area highlighted in yellow, you’re using an RRU license. If you see gmail.com, outlook.com, hotmail.com, etc. showing there, you’re not currently logged in using an RRU license. |
| Expand | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
The new A1 license is primarily designed for lightweight, cloud-based use, which is optimal for educational environments that rely on internet connectivity and browser-based applications.
|
| Expand | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||
You may be affected, depending on whether you used the license issued by RRU and even depending on how you used it.
If you previously installed Office on your computer using the RRU license, the installed version of Office will no longer function either on December 9 or after a 30 day grace period, so January 9.
| ||||
| Expand | ||||
| ||||
Yes, you will still be required to use MFA to access this online resource. If you have not yet set up MFA, please refer to these instructions to do that. |
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
|
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
You may be prevented from opening documents in office.com if Pop-ups are an issueyou are running a pop-up blocker. In this case, in most cases look at the far right of the URL in your browser. You will see this little notice saying “Pop-up blocked”. Click on it, then click the radio button for ‘Always allow...”, then click 'Done’. You will only need to do this once.  |
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
Once logged into office.com, click on the Apps icon on the left of the screen:  Then click Click on the icon representing the app you wish to use, like Word:  Under ‘Create’, click on ‘Blank document’:
Click on the little right arrow next to ‘Open’, then click on 'Open files from this device  Browse to the location where your file exists, highlight it, and click ‘Open’. You may see a message that says your file is being uploaded to ‘My Files’ in OneDrive… if you don’t see it, check your browser for pop-up blockers“. This message may disappear quite quickly!  If your document does not open in a new tab, as expected, look at the far right of the URL in your browser. You will see this little notice saying “Pop-up blocked”. Click on it, then click the radio button for ‘Always allow..”, then click 'Done’. You will only need to do this once. Your document should open in a new tab. |
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
Yes, it does. You can save your files there and/or download them if your preference is to keep them on your computer. You will have 100gb of space. |
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
You can’t save on directly to your computer. Office.com saves to OneDrive by default. But you can download a copy of the document to your computer if you likeafter it’s been saved: While looking at the document:  OR while on the office.com landing page and while logged in, click on the ellipses to the right of the file you wish to download, then click ‘download’.  |
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
Our understanding is that there will be a grace period of 30 days during which the installed apps will function normally. After that, you can continue to open documents and print them, but you can no longer edit them. For that, you’ll need to log into office.com |
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
Your A1 license will continue to give you access to your OneDrive for Business (RRU) account. You will not lose access to files you’ve already saved on your RRU OneDrive. You can choose to leave your RRU files on your RRU OneDrive and access them just as you do now using the OneDrive for Business app on your desktop. If you choose to purchase your own Office 365 subscription, then when you can install your Personal OneDrive app (which will give you access to a personal OneDrive space as well). These will show up as a second OneDrive in File Explorer similar to this:  But if you prefer to move your RRU OneDrive files to your new personal OneDrive space, you can use one of these two methods:
Please note: always be aware of information privacy when downloading files. Identifying information should not be downloaded to your personal computer. |
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
Your RRU email address is linked to your RRU Login, so as long as you have an active RRU Login, you will continue to have an RRU email address. The license change we are talking about A1 only impacts “how” to access your RRU email. You will not lose access at all. If you usually check your RRU email using Outlook.office.com, you can keep doing that. No change is required. If you usually check your email on your phone, you can keep doing that. No change is required. If you usually check your email on a iPad or tablet, you will need to have a personal subscription for this to work. The A1 licenses does not include app support on mobile devices over 10”. If you check your email using Outlook on your computer using your RRU issued license, you will need to purchase a new personal license for Office. Then you need to switch the license on your computer. We recommend you do the following for the smoothest transition.
|
| Expand | ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
Please let us know if you have any questions about this change or connect with the Helpdesk if you have difficulties accessing Office 365. We appreciate your cooperation as we make this adjustment to better align with organizational requirements and licensing standards. |
...