Graduates - Action Needed to Maintain Office 365 Access & OneDrive Files

By Dusan Ducic, April 24, 2023

If you are graduating this May, there are changes to your Microsoft Office 365 account, including OneDrive, that you need to be aware of. You will no longer have access to the full Microsoft Office 365 subscription through Ithaca College after June 15, 2023. For complete details, please see the Information Technology Knowledge Base article, Office 365 for Graduating Students, or review the information below. 

How does this impact me? 

Outlook (Email) and Calendar: You will be able to keep and use your IC email account for as long as you like. This means that you will be able to send and receive email from your @ithaca.edu address. 

OneDrive: If you are storing files in OneDrive you will no longer have access to these files after June 15, 2023. Prior to this date, you should transfer all relevant files from your Ithaca College OneDrive account to a free Microsoft Account or to a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription. You may also use other media such as personal cloud storage (e.g. Google Drive, Dropbox), a physical hard drive, or a flash drive. 

OneNote: If you are storing data in OneNote you will no longer have access to this data after June 15, 2023. Prior to this date, you should transfer any data from your IC OneNote notebook(s) to a personal OneNote notebook through a free Microsoft account or a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription to prevent any loss of OneNote data. Refer to OneNote: How To Transfer Data

To Do: You will be able to keep and use Microsoft To Do, a personal task management application with automatic integration with Outlook Tasks. Learn more about Microsoft To Do.  

Office 365 Applications & Services: Your Office 365 subscription through Ithaca College will end after June 15, 2023, and you will lose access to the following Office 365 applications and services: Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Shifts, Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote), OneDrive, Sway, and Whiteboard. 

  • If you wish to continue using Office Online applications, you will need to sign up for a free Microsoft account. 

  • If you wish to use the installed Windows or macOS desktop applications of Office, you will need to purchase a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription

How do I obtain a free Microsoft account? 

If you wish to continue using Office Online applications (Word Online, Excel Online, PowerPoint Online, and OneNote), you will need to sign up for a free Microsoft account. This account comes with 5 GB of free storage in OneDrive. You can also access Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Shifts, Sway, and Whiteboard with a personal account. 

To create a free Microsoft account, visit https://account.microsoft.com/account and click Create a Microsoft Account. 

After transferring relevant data, you will then need to uninstall the desktop applications of Office, Office 365 ProPlus (your IC subscription), from your Windows or macOS device(s). 

How do I purchase a Microsoft 365 Personal subscription? 

If you wish to use the installed Windows or macOS desktop applications of Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) you will need to purchase a new Microsoft 365 Personal subscription. A personal subscription comes with 1 TB of storage in OneDrive.  

To purchase a new Microsoft 365 Personal subscription, visit https://www.microsoft.com. You will first be prompted to sign in with a free Microsoft account. You can then purchase your Microsoft 365 Personal subscription. To review standard pricing, visit https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/buy/compare-all-microsoft-365-products.  

After transferring relevant data, you will then need to uninstall the desktop applications of Office, Office 365 ProPlus (your IC subscription) from your  Windows or macOS device(s). You will then need to install a new copy of Office using your Microsoft 365 Personal subscription (instructions for both Windows and macOS). 

 
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