Accessing office.com

Why are we changing licenses from ‘A1 Plus’ to ‘A1’?

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 will replace your A1 Plus license type with the new A1 license type effective December 9, 2024.

No action is required by you.

Q&A

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. to ensure that each person has appropriate authorized access to MS software and services.

You may be affected, depending on whether you used the license issued by RRU and even depending on how you used it.

There IS a change for you if:

There is no change for you if:

You previously downloaded and installed Office on your computer at home using the A1 Plus license issued by RRU.

You use your own personal or company MS license on your non-RRU computer.

You use Office 365 through RRU’s license exclusively online.

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.

The fastest way is to open an Office app like Word, Excel, or PowerPooint 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.).

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If you “@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.

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​.

A1 Plus 

A1 

  • allowed downloading & installing of Office apps 

  • provides access to web versions of core Office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote 

  • potentially provided more storage space on OneDrive 

  • supports collaboration and communication through Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Exchange for email 

  • provides access to other tools such as Sway, Forms, and Stream. 

  • provides access to some applications like Access and Publisher

  • does not allow downloading and installing; must use apps online 

  • provides access to web versions of core Office apps like Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote 

  • provides 100GB storage space on OneDrive 

  • supports collaboration and communication through Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, and Exchange for email 

  • provides access to other tools such as Sway, Forms, and Stream. 

 

Yes, you will be required to use MFA to access this online resource. If you have not set up MFA, please refer to these instructions to do that.

  1. Go to https://office.com/

  2. Click the purple ‘Sign in’ button

    image-20241129-001313.png
  3. Enter your RRU Login (for me, cdavid@royalroads.ca) then hit ‘Next’

    image-20241129-001549.png

  4. Enter your usual RRU password (the one you use to log into Moodle, email, etc.) then hit ‘Sign in’

    image-20241129-001658.png

  5. You may be required to use Multifactor authentication to access office.com.
    If you have not set up MFA, please refer to these instructions to do that.
    *** if you are outside Canada, contact the Helpdesk (see ‘How to get help’ below) for assistance ***

You may be prevented from opening documents in office.com if Pop-ups are an issue.

In this case, 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.

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Once logged into office.com, click on the Apps icon on the left of the screen:

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Then click on the icon representing the app you wish to use, like Word:

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Under ‘Create’, click on ‘Blank document’:

 

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Click on the little right arrow next to ‘Open’, then click on 'Open files from this device

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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!

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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.

image-20241127-003407.png

Your document should open in a new tab.

Yes, it does. You can save your files there and/or download them if your preference is to keep them on your computer.

You can’t save on your computer. Office.com saves to OneDrive by default. But you can download a copy of the document to your computer if you like:

While looking at the document:

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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’.

image-20241127-014832.png

 

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

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.

 

How to Contact the Computer Services Department


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