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Overview
Spartan 365 is a suite of Microsoft Office software customized, configured, and secured for MSU’s unique environment. It provides a common collaboration platform for the MSU community and can be used on multiple devices. The service is provided to students, active faculty/staff, and official retirees (including Emeriti / Emerit). For all others, former employees, former students who left before completing a degree program, access to MS 365 licensed services including e-mail, teams, one drive, office downloads. etc., will expire no more than 30 days after leaving the university.
Licensing notation
Spartan 365 is provided primarily for conducting MSU-related (institutional) business, teaching, and research. Ongoing access to messages and saved files is dependent on licensing status and will not persist for non-eligible individuals. Because institutional licensing and eligibility criteria may change, it is not recommended to use your MSU account as a primary email account, nor is it recommended to use it for password recovery options of other accounts.
You can login to your Spartan 365 account at spartan365.msu.edu (link).
Additional Help and FAQs are available at https://michiganstate.sharepoint.com/sites/Spartan-365-Help-FAQ (link).
What is Provided and Supported
Details on the current service offering and provided support are available on tech.msu.edu (link). Keep in mind:
- The license can be used on both personal and MSU-owned computers and devices.
- The license expires when you leave Michigan State University.
- The license is a per-person license. It is not appropriate to share Office 365 ProPlus with family and friends as the software occasionally requires the user to present a MSU NetID and password. Sharing your MSU NetID password with others is strictly prohibited.
MSU Extension Licensing
MSU Extension employees receive licensing for many online Spartan 365 apps but may not install them locally. Login at portal.office.com (link) to access them.
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When Are New Accounts Issued?
- Undergrad Students are notified of their NetID and email accounts thru the admissions portal as they are accepted to MSU.
- Grad Students should check with their department.
- Newly hired staff will obtain their NetID and email accounts after their hiring paperwork has been background checked by HR and they have been finalized for hiring. The hiring department in the unit that is hiring them will let them know when this happens. Once this happens, they can contact the ID Office as needed to obtain their activation PIN.
- New faculty can obtain a NetID and account before their start date after their unit has submitted draft paperwork for their hire. After this has happened they can contact the ID office to obtain a PIN to activate their NetID. Once their NetID is activated, their email account will be created the next day.
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How to Download Spartan 365
- University-purchased devices should have the software automatically installed. If not, contact your local IT for assistance, or reach out to the IT Service Desk at (517)432-6200
- For other devices:
- Check if your licensing (as detailed on tech.msu.edu (link)) allows Office downloads.
- If it does, then the license provides for installation on:
- up to five PCs and Macs; and
- up to five Windows tablets, iPads and smartphones.
- Else, you cannot install the apps on any devices.
- Log in to http://portal.office.com (link) and click on the Install Office button at the top right of the screen.
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Multi-Factor Authentication
MFA authentication adds a layer of protection to your Spartan 365 account that protect you from someone else using your username and password to login. Learn more about MFA at SecureIT.msu.edu (link).
When you setup your device to connect to Spartan Mail, or other services like Microsoft Word, you will be prompted for MFA. MFA cannot be disabled.
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Spartan Mail - MSU's Email Solution
Spartan Mail is the robust email and calendaring solution in Office 365. Microsoft started enforcing Modern Authentication in October of 2022. Now only clients that support Modern Authentication will be able to access MSU email. Supported clients are listed in the Office 365 Support section at the bottom of tech.msu.edu (link).
How to Configure Clients for Spartan Mail
Note that email clients such as MacOS (Apple) or Windows Mail that support modern authentication will work with the Spartan / Microsoft 365 service on a self-support basis. However, if you are no longer licensed for the use of the MS Outlook client, the BEST options is to use the Outlook Web Application (OWA) through a web browser, at https://spartanmail.msu.edu.
Instructions to configure different clients for Spartan Mail are listed below:
- Recommended and Supported:
- Not Recommended but Limited Support:
- Not Recommended and Not Supported Clients:
- Most new clients will automatically configure themselves if you choose the "exchange server" option and enter your netid@msu.edu email address. If that fails, the manual settings for the MSU Exchange Server are:
- User Name / Email Address:
- Exchange Server: outlook.office365.com
- MSU does not accommodate the use of outside mail services such as Gmail to access Spartan Mail accounts. The use of "send as" configuration in outside services is also not accommodated.
- Yahoo Mail has had to be blocked due to unexpected issues with connected MSU mail accounts. See KB 1875 (link).
- Changing the Time Zone (link)
- Deleted Items
- Items in the deleted folder are deleted after 30 days.
- After deleted you can recover them for around 14 days. See KB 1150 (link) for instructions.
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Email Forwarding
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Known Issues and Other Information
- Okta has been implemented (link) for Office 365 since January 2022.
- The "can't access your account" link on the Microsoft portal page is NOT linked to MSU and will not operate correctly as a way to reset an Office 365 password.
- The size limit for email attachments is 100mb in Office 365. If you are emailing to other services, however, those limits may be different. Additional information from Microsoft is available (link).
- For student employees (or former employees), Office 365 uses data from the individual's EBS/HR record for the name displayed in the account. This overrides any information that is in the Student Information System.
- Name display: CampusAD governance dictates that the name display in the format of Lastname, Firstname. This is not a preference that can be changed by an end user. Email From header will be in the form of Lastname, Firstname <netid@msu.edu>.
- Spartan Mail is only showing my NetID instead of Lastname, Firstname (link, KB 774)
- Deleted email retention:
- Emails and other items placed in the Deleted Items folder of a Spartan Mail account will be automatically sent to the Recoverable Items folder after 30 days. All items in the Recoverable Items folder will be permanently deleted after 14 days.
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Other Office Software in Spartan 365
Note the list below is a non-exhaustive. To see all Office 365 applications you have access to:
- Log in to portal.office.com (link)
- Select the waffle menu (a grid of 9 dots) in the upper-left corner
- Select All apps
- You're done! You should now have a list of all the apps you have access to
Spartan Drive
Spartan Drive is available to current MSU Faculty, Staff, and Students. After leaving the university, individuals will want to move any information to another source if desired (personal one drive or personal Google Drive or other). Individuals leaving the university should receive a 30 day notice before their storage space is removed.
Microsoft Teams
Microsoft Teams is available to current MSU Faculty, Staff, and Students. Individuals should receive a 30 day notice before their teams will be removed after graduating or leaving the university.
Microsoft To-Do
Microsoft Teams is available to current MSU Faculty, Staff, and Students. Individuals should receive a 30 day notice before their To-Do will be removed after graduating or leaving the university.
Visio and Project for Department Use
Departments may purchase Project and Visio licenses through the MSU Tech Store for individuals that work in their units. Go to the MSU TechStore page (link) and enter visio or project in the search bar.
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Problems With an Installed Spartan 365 Application
If an Office application such as Word or Excel isn’t working correctly such as opening in a "Read Only" mode:
- Restart the app. This will often fix the problem.
- If the app still does not work correctly, restart your computer.
- If the app still does not work correctly, open Word or Excel, etc, and sign out of the Microsoft account. Sign in again using your netid@msu.edu credential.
- If none of the above work try repairing your installation (link).
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Available Training
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When I Leave MSU
As described on tech.msu.edu (link), MSU licenses MS Office for eligible MSU persons. When you leave the university you will lose access to your licenses (normally within 30 days after you are no longer considered current). You should receive a 30 day notice before any licenses are removed. If you have formally retired from the university or were attending classes at MSU after June 1st, 2015 and graduated with a degree, you will lose your licenses but will be allowed to keep your email.
If you want to continue using Office 365 after your departure, see Can I pay to keep my MSU O365 license (link, KB 776).
How to Move My MSU Email and OneDrive
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