Office 365, University Exchange Account Installion Guides and Best Practices

This document covers all methods of supported installation for known OS for Outlook and 3rd party support.

Table of Contents

Overview
POP3 Support
Installation Instructions
Windows Configuration
MacOS Configuration 
Android Configuration
iOS/iPadOS Configuration 
AppleMail Configuration
Third-Party and IMAP

Overview

University of Illinois email accounts can be used on many devices through the Microsoft Exchange service. This is best handled by the official Microsoft Outlook application, but can also be done through iOS or Android's built-in mail app or any 3rd-party application that supports the OAuth2 protocol.

Before Microsoft started to require OAuth2 (sometimes called Modern Authentication), many email apps used Basic Authentication. The Basic Authentication protocol is considered outdated and insecure, and was disabled for University accounts in August of 2022.

POP3 Support 

I want to POP3 my Exchange email to an email client or via another email service, like Gmail.

Unfortunately, the POP3 (Post Office Protocol) protocol is not allowed for connections to Exchange accounts. We do not allow POP3 on the Exchange system for a few reasons:

  • The protocol is extremely resource intensive for the mail servers.
  • Mail cannot be restored.
  • POP3 client applications can only be used to download messages from the e-mail server to a single folder (usually the Inbox) on the client computer.
  • The POP3 protocol can't synchronize multiple folders on the e-mail server with multiple folders on the client computer.
  • POP3 also doesn't support public folder access.

Installation and Activation instructions for Office 365:

Office 365 Software Installation Instructions  - Use these instructions to ensure all trial or previously installed Office software is removed first as removal of old Office versions may not be necessary to install the latest version of Office from the My Software page on Office 365 - especially if the previous version was an install from Office 365 - however it is generally best practice to remove all previous versions of Office before a new install. 

Additionally, you may need to deactivate the previous version on the Install Status page of the Office 365 site before beginning a new install. You can find the list of previous installations by 

  • logging into the Office 365 portal,
  • clicking Install and more in the upper right corner
  • click Install Microsoft 365 apps
  • clicking on Devices under Office to view your Registered Devices
  • Sign Out of the device you are currently on if it is registered to an older version of office

Configure Outlook Client for Windows 

Current Instructions for Classic Outlook can be found here.
Current Instructions for New Outlook can be found here.

Configure Outlook 2016 for Mac 

Office 2016 for Mac (including Outlook) is available as a free download from the University of Illinois WebStore.

If you wish to to use your University of Illinois Exchange account with a new installation of MS Outlook, follow these instructions:

  1. Run Outlook.
  2. In the welcome screen that appears, if it doesn't detect your @illinois.edu account, click Add Email Account.
  3. Choose Exchange or Office 365 as the Account Type
  4. In the Set Up Your Email window that opens:
    • Enter your email address: yournetid@illinois.edu
    • The Outlook client should use autodiscover to determine that your account is in Office 365
    • The University Sign in page will ask for your Active Directory password

Add Exchange to Your Existing Outlook Installation

If you are already running Outlook 2016 and wish to add a University of Illinois Exchange account, follow these instructions:

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Under the Tools menu, choose Accounts…
  3. In the left pane, click the plus (+) button and add a New Account...
  4. Follow the same steps as above.

Less common install options are listed below. 

iOS/iPadOS Apple Mail

The most reliable method to check your University email on an iOS device is with the Microsoft Outlook app.

The built-in Mail app also supports Modern Authentication; these instructions should be accurate or similar for any iOS version 12 or newer.
Illinois accounts can be set up in the stock Mail and Calendar apps that are built in to iOS, by way of the Microsoft Exchange protocol:

  1. Open the Settings app, scroll down, and tap Mail. It has a gradient blue icon with a white envelope, and will be in the same section as other built-in apps (Contacts, Calendar, Notes, Phone, etc.)
  2. Tap Accounts to see a list of accounts you've already set up in iOS.
  3. Tap Add Account at the bottom of this list, and select Microsoft Exchange from the options.
  4. Enter your full University email address (usually your NetID followed by @illinois.edu) in the Email field. The Description field may automatically fill, though you can change it to any title you'd like it to appear under in the Accounts list.
  5. Tap Next in the upper-right corner. A popup will appear asking about signing in using Microsoft to discover your Exchange account information, and if you'd like to Configure Manually or Sign In. Select Sign In, then Continue if asked for confirmation.
  6. A University-branded sign in screen will load, with your address already filled in and a prompt for your password. Use the same password as for other University services, and tap the blue Sign in button.
  7. You may be asked to perform 2-factor authentication if you have it configured for your account.
  8. You may be shown a warning about iOS Accounts using Microsoft features; select Accept.
  9. Use the switches to select which iOS apps you'd like to use with your Illinois account, then tap Save in the upper-right corner.
    You'll be taken back to the list of accounts, which will now include an entry with the title given for Description in step 4.
  10. Navigate to the Mail app (or any other iOS app you selected) to verify that data from your University account appears. It may take several minutes to download all contents of your mailbox.

These settings have been verified to be accurate using an iPhone 13 running iOS 17.3.1, but should be similar for any iPhone or iPad with any relatively recent version of iOS.

These steps can be used to add multiple University accounts to the same device, if required.

To troubleshoot problems with the iOS mail app, remove the account and add it back:

  1. Open the Settings app, and scroll down to find and tap the Mail entry.
  2. Tap Accounts (Passwords & Accounts in some versions) to see a list of accounts that are configured in iOS.
  3. Select "Exchange" (or whichever entry represents your University account) and choose "Delete Account" on its page. iOS will warn you about removing things, but data stored on the University mail server will not be lost; this is only removing it from your device.
  4. Choose Add Account on the Accounts page to add back your University account following the on-screen prompts. Detailed instructions for doing this can be found in this article: [Link for document 81535 is unavailable at this time]

Android 

The most reliable method to check your University email on an Android device is with the Microsoft Outlook app.

If you choose not to use the Outlook app, please note that not all versions of Android have the same built-in mail clients, so support is provided on a best-effort basis.

  • Your University account may appear in Android's Settings app, under an Accounts heading. 
  • Your University account may appear in the settings screen of the Email app. Sign out of the account, then sign back in to it.

You can safely disregard any prompt that warns about management policies that may be applied when setting up your account; we do not make use of any of these features, other than allowing you to remotely wipe email from your device. See Mobile Device Remote Wipe and Admin Access

In general, use the following settings where you are prompted:

  • Protocol: Microsoft Outlook or OAuth2
  • Email Address or Username: yourNetID@illinois.edu
  • Domain: illinois.edu
  • Server: outlook.office365.com

macOS Apple Mail 

The Apple Mail application in macOS can reliably be used to access your University of Illinois email account. These instructions are accurate for recent versions of macOS, 10.14 (Mojave) and newer, though buttons and menu entries may have different names and locations in macOS 13 (Ventura). The built-in Mail app in recent versions of macOS (10.14 Mojave or newer) supports Modern Authentication and can be used with University email accounts.

Adding an Account with Modern Authentication

  1. Click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of the screen and choose System Preferences...
  2. Click Internet Accounts to open a window listing the accounts that macOS has been configured with.
  3. Click the [+] (plus icon) in the lower-left corner of the list of accounts.
  4. Choose Microsoft Exchange as the mail service provider when prompted.
  5. Input your Illinois email address yourNetID@illinois.edu and click Sign In.
  6. If asked whether you want to sign in using Microsoft, choose Sign In (do not choose Configure Manually).
  7. A window with an Illinois-branded sign-in screen will appear with your email address already filled in and a prompt for your password. Input the same password that you use for other University websites and services, and click Sign In.
  8. Check the boxes for the Exchange account features you'd like to use in macOS, then click Done.

Third-Party, and IMAP Limitations 

We recommend that people use the official Outlook mail clients to access their mailbox, but people have the option to use alternative mail clients. The configuration information given below should be helpful for using the IMAP protocol to connect to your Exchange Online mailbox. Any mail clients using the IMAP protocol must be configured to use Modern Authentication. At this time, any mail clients using the IMAP protocol that only support basic authentication will not function. 

Note: that IMAP only provides an email connection. You won't receive calendar information through IMAP.

There are many other third-party email applications that may be able to use Modern Authentication. Due to the many softwares, operating systems, and devices that a user can choose from, Technology Services are unable to test or provide in-depth support for them.

If a third-party application supports OAuth2 but does not offer an Exchange sign-in option, you can try connecting with the IMAP protocol.
Please note that IMAP will not provide calendar event details or mailbox subfolders.

Use the following settings to configure third-party email clients:

  • Email Address/Username: yourNetID@illinois.edu
  • Password: same password as with other University websites and services
  • Incoming mail server: outlook.office365.com
  • Incoming protocol: port 143 and TLS (Thunderbird uses STARTTLS, other unsupported clients use SSL and 993), OAuth2
  • Outgoing mail server: smtp.office365.com
  • Outgoing protocol: requires authentication,  port 587 and TLS (Thunderbird uses STARTTLS, other unsupported clients use SSL), OAuth2

Keywords:
Outlook, Office, 365, Office365, Install, Installation, setup, iOS, android, IMAP, MacOS, Mac, Windows, iPad, Applemail 
Doc ID:
150086
Owned by:
Office 365 G. in University of Illinois Technology Services
Created:
2025-04-24
Updated:
2025-04-25
Sites:
University of Illinois Technology Services