Great news! We launched the new benefit for faculty, staff and teachers.  If your education institution is eligible, you can now provide the Office 365 ProPlus offering to your faculty and staff.

Here is a quick FAQ on the announcement:

Where can I send teachers, faculty and staff?

Send them to this link to download and install Office:

http://office.com/teachers

When can I order this benefit for my faculty/staff from my reseller?

This will be available for use on December 1st. Please ask your reseller for ordering.

Can I use this if my faculty and staff are already on Office 365 Education?

Yes, you can certainly complement your existing Office 365 deployment using the link above. 

Key note: If your Office 365 login/UPN (e.g.  samaccountname@school.edu) does NOT match your primary SMTP address (e.g. firstname.lastname@school.edu)   there may be a mismatch or creation of a duplicate identity.  The solution to this is during the sign up page tell your faculty/staff to use their Office 365 login name (UPN login) and do not use the primary email address. This will ensure a UPN softmatch of the existing Office 365 identity and avoid duplicate account scenario.

screenshot for existing Office 365 users – use their UPN/Office 365 login address on this page and not their SMTP address (in case they are different)

What is included with the Office 365 ProPlus benefit?

Faculty and Staff can now install the following 5 copies on any machine additively on 5 tablets of their choice (home machines/tablets, personal, work):

• Office 2013 Professional Plus
• Office 2011 for Mac  (and new Office for Mac when it comes out next year)
• Outlook for Mac (next generation)
• Office for iPad (full featured)
• Office for iPhone (full featured)
• Office for Android tablet (when it comes available)

See the Office 365 ProPlus benefit FAQ here for more information.

See my other blog posts on the topic here and here.

Where do I grab the new Outlook for Mac?

From your Mac, grab the new Outlook for Mac bits here. (note: PCs will show PC Office versions)

What are some new features?

• Better performance and reliability as a result of a new threading model and database improvements.

• A new modern user interface with improved scrolling and agility when switching between Ribbon tabs.

• Online archive support for searching Exchange (online or on-premises) archived mail.

• Master Category List support and enhancements delivering access to category lists (name and color) and sync between Mac, Windows and OWA clients.

• Office 365 push email support for real-time email delivery.

• Faster first-run and email download experience with improved Exchange Web Services syncing.
• Shibb/SAML 2.0 support

Does this work with my E3 license or the Office 365 ProPlus benefit?

Yes, the new version of Outlook for Mac is available with E3 plans and the Office 365 ProPlus benefit. It will not be available with an E1 only license.  See here on new Office 365 ProPlus benefit.

Can I run this side by side with my existing version of Outlook for Mac 2011?

Yes, however it is recommended to remove the older version of Outlook for Mac. See here.

Where can I find more information?

There are setup instructions for Outlook for Mac here.

I am having trouble activating Outlook for Mac or other install issues?

1) Check to make sure you have the locale set properly:

System Preferences -> Language & Region -> New preferred language “English” as default -> Region “USA” –> Reboot

2) If you have ADFS for Office 365 authentication, ensure that your ADFS server is properly patched. See here

3) Open a ticket with Office 365 support or visit Outlook for Mac support site here with your questions.

This is a common ask in education:

When will OneDrive for Business folder sync client, Office 365 ProPlus/Outlook 2013 and Lync 2013 support SAML 2.0 and Shibboleth authentication with Office 365 Education?

The great news is support for this is now becoming available via an Office 2013 and Office 365 ProPlus November 2014 client update as a tech preview. The update will include a new passive auth module called ADAL which makes this possible. See more information here on ADAL and sign up here for the tech preview. 

New ADAL support in green enabled via Nov tech preview update for Office 2013 and Office 365 ProPlus PC support

Another side benefit to this is Outlook 2013 will no longer prompt for Basic credentials when signed into Exchange Online even if ADFS is in place! This is another big ask from customers.

Note: Office 2011 for Mac via Office 365 ProPlus does not yet support ADAL however the new Outlook for Mac (next gen) and Office for iPad does with the recent updated client bits.

This is a popular topic I get with education customers.  I put together a quick scenario guideline for you:

What does Shared Computer Activation (SCA) provide me with Office 365 ProPlus benefit?

SCA allows you to install the Office 365 ProPlus bits on a machine/instance which is leveraged by multiple fac/staff or students.  e.g. student labs, RDS (Citrix/Remote Desktop) instances, classroom carts. See here on how to enable it.

Can Office 365 ProPlus benefit work with lab computers?

Yes, per the product use rights you are allowed to run the OPP bits on school lab computers.

Can Office 365 ProPlus benefit work with classroom carts?

Yes, per the product use rights you are allowed to run the OPP bits on school lab computers.

Can Office 365 ProPlus benefit work with Citrix/Terminal Services/VDI?

Yes, with the new Shared Computer Activation you can run the OPP bits on Citrix, RDS, VDI instances.

What should I use Office on volume license or Office with Office 365 ProPlus (OPP)?

There are various scenarios I put together where you might have to choose which version of Office to use:

1) If your institution has Office via volume license and OPP benefit then for dedicated lab machines use Office on volume license or Office 365 ProPlus bits with Shared Computer Activation flag enabled.

2) If your institution has Office via volume license, E3 SKU and OPP benefit then for lab machines use Office on volume license or Office 365 ProPlus bits with SCA flag enabled.

3) If your institution has Classroom Computer Carts and Office via EES and OPP benefit use Office on volume license or Office 365 ProPlus with SCA flag enabled.

4) If your institution has Classroom iPad Carts and Office via EES and Office 365 ProPlus benefit use student login with steps to switch Office logins for each student. Note: iPad does not currently have native user profiles therefore unique Office logins are required.

5) If your institution has Terminal Services or Citrix for labs or student/teacher daily use and Office via EES, E3 for faculty, and OPP benefit - use on volume license or Office 365 ProPlus with SCA flag enabled.

6) If your institution has only E3/OPP Office for faculty and OPP benefit for students then for dedicated lab machines use Office 365 ProPlus bits with SCA flag enabled.