What is Office 365?

Microsoft Office 365 is a suite of essential programs required for College-level work.

Primarily it contains your email service (Outlook) for university communication, a word processor (Word) for completing written assignments, and Microsoft Teams for online collaborative work and communication. The online suite also includes Excel and PowerPoint, which are commonly used for coursework and assignments.

Students who have their own computer should also download and install the free version of Microsoft Office 365 Professional Plus from the college portal. This includes all the base programs from the online suite but also has MS Access (NOTE: MS Access is not available for MacBooks, tablets, etc.) as well as a number of other applications not part of the web-based system.

VIDEO: How to log-in and access your Office 365 Apps and services

How to Log-In and Access your Office 365 Apps and Services

• Login to the College Portal
• Login using your college login ID: c0123456@cotr.bc.ca and your college network password.
• If this is your first time logging in, you will be prompted to set up your password and MFA
• If you are unable to login, click on the link for Student Account Set-Up and Password Support.
• In the Software & Apps links window, find and click on the link for Office 365 - login.
• Use the same login ID and password as you did for the Portal (this is your COTR Network ID and Password)
• If you have issues logging in at this point, and were successful logging into the Portal, contact IT Student Help at studenthelp@cotr.bc.ca
• Once logged in, click on the Install and More dropdown and select the Install Microsoft 365 apps button in the upper right.

• Save the file to your local computer. 
  NOTE: This is a large install and the file can take some time to download, so if you have a slow internet connection, you may want to visit a friend with a faster connection or visit the College of the Rockies Campus.
  
• Last, install the file - this may take a little while.

There is a Mac version, but it is limited to newer versions of MacOS. Note, this does not include MS Access.

There are also MS Office versions available for iOS, Android, and Windows phones and tablets.

Basic Troubleshooting

• If one browser doesn't work, try another. 
  
• If you continue to have problems, contact the IT Help Desk.

NOTE: The license will expire when you are no longer a student / employee at College of the Rockies.

Any questions or problems, please contact the IT Help Desk at 250-489-2751 Local 3701  or studenthelp@cotr.bc.ca