SMUS Office 365

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Shared Mailboxes

If you previously had access to a shared mailbox (such as info, admissions, lrc, bolton.house), access to these mailboxes has changed. We have posted new instructions on how to access your shared mailbox.

Junk Email

In Office 365 we have a new junk/spam scanning solution. You should now check your Junk E-mail folder when you are reading your email.

Junk email stored in your Junk E-mail folder is automatically deleted after 30 days, so don't bother tidying it up manually. You can right click legitimate email and select "mark as not junk" to move it to your inbox. The system will start to learn your preferences and deliver similar email directly to your inbox. You can also click email in your inbox and choose "mark as junk" to filter that email in the future.

How to set up your personal device with Office 365

You will need to reconfigure email on your personal device. Follow these steps to set it up again:

Type of Device Instructions
iOS (iPad, iPod, iPhone) In settings - Mail, Contacts, Calendars -- delete the current SMUS email connection. Then choose Add Account - Exchange - input your @smus.ca address and your current SMUS password and it will set up everything for you again.
Android Phone or Tablet In settings delete the old SMUS email connection, and add a new connection. Choose MS Exchange or corporate account type and input your @smus.ca address and SMUS password. The automatic configuration will fail, but you just have to provide the user name (your email address) and server name: outlook.office365.com and then it will successfully set up your new connection.
Outlook 2010 or 2013 Sign in with your email address and password.
Other email program Sign into Office 365. Click the gear in the top right and choose Options, then click Settings for POP or IMAP access. Update your email program to use the new settings.

Microsoft Lync Messenger

SMUS is now supporting instant messaging using the Microsoft Lync application. This allows for communication between users at SMUS (staff and students) along with users at other organizations using Lync and Skype users.

We have provided additional details on Microsoft Lync.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the new email system.

Logging In

I have to log in or provide my email address several times before I can access email
This happens if you are going to the wrong login page. Usually this happens if you have a bookmark pointing to an old location. Update your bookmarks to http://email.smus.ca and you will only be asked to log in once (at the SMUS Login page). if you are already logged into another SMUS SSO service (like Moodle, Mahara, Google Docs, Library, etc.) then you will not have to log in at all!

Composing Email

I want to write an email in a new window
Click "New mail" then click the window panes in the top right of the compose panel (beside Send/Discard/Insert/Apps/...) to pop out into a new window.
I always want to write an email in a new window
Click the gear beside your picture on the right of the top blue bar, then choose Options. Choose settings in the left bar. Select "Type in a new window" under "When writing email messages" then click the Save button at the bottom.
I do not want my signature to always be attached to an email I'm sending
Click the gear beside your picture on the right of the top blue bar, then choose Options. Choose settings in the left bar. Uncheck "Automatically include my signature on messages I send", then click the Save button at the bottom. When composing a message, click Insert -> Your signature to include your signature.
I always want to see BCC when writing an email
Click the gear beside your picture on the right of the top blue bar, then choose Options. Choose settings in the left bar. Check "Always show BCC" under "Message Format", then click the Save button at the bottom.
I want to send an email to a distribution list
Go to the People tab at the top, choose "All distribution lists" on the left bar, select the distribution list, then click the Mail button under the name of the distribution list.
If you're already composing the email and want to add a distribution list, you need to know the beginning of the list's name. It usually starts with _General, _Senior, _Middle, _Junior, _Boarding, or _Admin. Type that part in and search and the corresponding distribution lists will come up.

Viewing Email

I don't like threaded conversation view or Emails disappear after I reply to them
Above the list of messages where it says "Conversations by date", click the down arrow and choose "Off" underneath "Conversations".
I want to see my email in a new window
Double click a message to bring it up in a separate window.
I do not want the preview pane or I want to see more email in the list
Click the gear beside your picture on the right of the top blue bar, then choose Display Settings. Choose the "Reading Pane" option, then choose "Hide reading pane". Check "Apply to all folders" then click OK at the top.
How do I print an email
When viewing an email, click "..." beside Reply/Forward and choose Print.
I don't like the attachment viewer
When viewing an email with an attachment, click "..." beside the attachment and choose Download. Save it to your computer or open it directly if you will not be making any changes.
I can't tell which emails are unread
Many people have identified an issue where the subject lines highlighted in blue are not easily distinguishable. The easiest way to fix this is to change your theme. Click the gear beside your picture on the right of the top blue bar, then choose Change Theme. We suggest the second one from the left in the top row (which is called "Super sparkle happy" when you hover the mouse over it) as it lists unread messages in orange.
We have also found that if you turn off the preview pane (see the question above) it's easier to identify unread messages.
After searching, I can't figure out how to get back to my email
Click the "X" on the right side of the search box to clear your search results.
Email is slow
If you are using Outlook Web Access (OWA) by signing it at http://email.smus.ca, your choice of web browser may impact the speed that you are seeing. The latest versions of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer all work well with OWA. If you are using and older version, you should upgrade to the latest and try again. As of this writing, you should use Google Chrome version 37 or later, Mozilla Firefox version 31 or later, or Internet Explorer version 11 or later. You can find out what browser you're running by going here: http://whatbrowser.org/ . If you are running an older browser and don't know how to update, please contact help@smus.ca.
If you are using the Microsoft Outlook email application (which is part of Microsoft Office), then email may not be as fast as it was with on-premises Exchange 2010. This is because the email is stored offsite in one of Microsoft's datacenters. We have a fix that makes email access significantly faster by storing some or all of your mailbox on your local computer. If you have an assigned computer and use the Microsoft Outlook email application, please contact help@smus.ca and we can set this up.

Organizing Email

How to create folders and move email
Right click your name and choose New Folder to create a folder. You can also right click a folder and choose New Folder to create a subfolder of that folder. Click and drag a message to the folder to move it there.
How to automatically sort email
Once you have folders, you can set up inbox rules to sort your email. Right click a message that matches the type you'd like to automatically sort, then choose "Create rule".
Enter a name for the rule, then check what should trigger the rule (when the message is from a certain person, to a certain list, or has specific words in the subject line), then select a folder to move it to. Once you're done, click the Save button and any incoming emails that match the rules you set up will be filed automatically.
Sometimes emails are not marked as read after I read them
You can change your setting for how long OWA waits before marking the email as read. Click the gear beside your picture on the right of the top blue bar, then choose Options. Choose settings in the left bar. Select "Mark the item displayed in the reading pane as read" under "Reading pane" and enter a number of seconds immediately below that. Then, click the Save button.

Multitasking

I want calendar and email at the same time
Once you're signed into email, middle click (with the scroll wheel) on the Office 365 logo at the top left. You can also right click on it and choose "Open link in new tab" or "Open in new tab". In this new tab, click Calendar. You should now have your calendar and email open in two separate tabs.
I want to view a shared mailbox
We have posted instructions for this here.

Mobile

What is the best way to check my email/calendar on an iOS device (iPhone, iPad, iPod)
We recommend using Activesync to receive your email on an iOS device. There are instructions here. If you follow these instructions, your email and calendar will be fully integrated with your device. You will not have to use the OWA app or sign into your email in a browser.
What is the best way to check my email/calendar on an Android device
We recommend using Activesync to receive your email on an Android device. There are instructions here. If you follow these instructions, your email and calendar will be fully integrated with your device. You will not have to use the OWA app or sign into your email in a browser.

Calendar

How to make meeting attendance optional
Once you have added an attendee to a meeting you're creating, right click them and choose "attendance optional"
I have a calendar that's stuck that I can't remove
Sometimes calendars in OWA get stuck and you can't remove them. After a minute or two you'll get an error message stating that the calendar can't be removed. If you experience this issue, come down to the IT department and we'll get you logged into Microsoft Outlook, which is capable of removing these calendars.

Recent Changes

Where did the links to Calendar, OneDrive, etc. go?
These links are now under the Apps button in the top left corner. Click this button to see all of the available apps. If you want quick links along the top right, hover over the app's button, click "..." and click "Pin to nav bar".

Why did we migrate to Office 365/Exchange Online?

  • 50GB of email for every account - previously staff had 5GB and students had 2GB on SMUS Legacy Email.
  • More reliable infrastructure - Microsoft uses a more advanced architecture meaning that there are fewer and shorter mailbox outages during maintenance.
  • Integration with other services - Microsoft provides OneDrive, which can store up to 1TB of files than you can edit using Office Web Apps plus Lync, an instant messaging application integrated with your mailbox.
  • Cost and infrastructure savings - Email is one of the more resource intensive applications on campus, requiring fast storage, large backup capacity, and powerful servers. These resources have been freed up to handle other tasks.
  • Modern look - The Office 365 services match the new looks of the Office 2013 applications.
  • Fully functional email on more devices - Chromebooks now support the "premium" Outlook Web Access view, matching functionality with other browsers and devices.