Lynden School District’s Microsoft Office 365 Pilot

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ContentsLynden School District’s Microsoft Office 365 Pilot.....................................................................................1

How it Works...........................................................................................................................................2

Connecting to Office 365.........................................................................................................................2

Using Office 365 – the main page............................................................................................................4

What are the Apps?.................................................................................................................................4

OneDrive – your online disk drive...............................................................................................................6

Accessing.................................................................................................................................................6

Installing..................................................................................................................................................6

Uploading/Downloading via the OneDrive Website................................................................................6

Uploading/Downloading via the OneDrive App.......................................................................................8

Loading/saving documents from inside the app......................................................................................9

Office for iPad............................................................................................................................................11

Login Process.........................................................................................................................................11

Loading a document..............................................................................................................................12

Saving a document................................................................................................................................13

Congratulations on being part of Lynden School District’s Office 365 pilot. The pilot allows selected users the use of standard Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) on computers outside of the district facilities.

How it WorksOffice 365 is user-based. Each person is granted a special login and that login allows access to various features of Office 365. Thus you can “log in” to Office 365 and use it on any computer anywhere!

Remember to log out when you are done! Since Office 365 is user-based, others can use your apps/documents if you do not sign out of Office 365.

Connecting to Office 365In order to use Office 365, you need to log in to it. The log in process varies depending on how Office 365 is used.

The primary website is at: https://login.microsoftonline.com

It asks for a login. The login account is NOT your school computer login, it is an Office 365 login.

However, it is related to your school login, in that the “name” portion will always be the same as your school login and the password will always be the same.

The Office 365 login in the format: name@lyndenpublicschools.onmicrosoft.com

Where the “name” is the same one you use to log in to a school computer:

Example:

Instructor “Tom Smith” has a school login of “SmithT”. When using Office 365, his Microsoft Office 365 account is: SmithT@lyndenpublicschools.onmicrosoft.com

The password is always synchronized with the school account, so it will be the same password in both cases.

Note: although typing in the long name is tedious, the website will remember the last used one and allow you to select it without having to retype all the time.

Using Office 365 – the main page

Once logged in, the main page has two separate sections.

The top portion (labeled “Collaborate with Office Online”) allows you to instantly run the browser-based versions of all apps.

The lower section links to installer files that allow you to download and install the software on your home or personal computers.

Note: Do not attempt to install the software on a district computer, they already have the correct version installed and attempting to install the online version over the top will likely corrupt both versions and require a work order to be created to get them working again.

What are the Apps?

Outlook, Calendar, People, Tasks – These are the Office 365 versions of our familiar email, calendar and contacts list. These are currently not working. Please use the Lynden Email Website for email and calendar.

Newsfeed – This is a RSS reader. You can subscribe to “feed’s” and will receive new updates automatically

OneDrive – This is a “disk drive in the cloud” similar to “Google Drive” or “Apple iCloud.” You can create, load and save documents to it, share documents with others, etc. Currently it is not linked to your documents folder on the district’s server. We are working to resolve this.

Sites – this is an advanced feature that has not been implemented yet.

Word, Excel, Powerpoint, OneNote – these are online versions of the familiar Office applications.

OneDrive – your online disk driveThis is a “disk drive in the cloud” similar to “Google Drive” or “Apple iCloud.” You can create, load and save documents to it, share documents with others, etc.

AccessingFor Windows computers, Onedrive has two method of accessing files, web-based and app-based.

Web-based is always available, no installation is needed, just use the website to upload/download/edit files.

App-based allows you to use familiar tools and software easily. Install it to computers that you want to easily access your OneDrive from.

InstallingYou must have administrator rights to the computer. For district computers, please see your tech-coach for assistance.

To install the OneDrive Application on your computer:

Step 1 – From the main Office 365 website, click the OneDrive icon:

Step 2 – click the sync button

Step 3 – Select “Install”

Uploading/Downloading via the OneDrive WebsiteAccessing your files via the website is straightforward. To edit/view an Office document, simply double-click on it to automatically open the appropriate program.

To upload a document from your computer to your OneDrive, click the upload button:

You will get a standard file-selection dialog box:

Select the file(s) you want to upload and click “Open”

Downloading files to your local hard drive takes a couple of steps:

1) Select the file you want by single-clicking on it in OneDrive

2) Click the “3 dots” icon to the right of the name. This will show a preview of the document.

3) Click the “3 dots” at the bottom for a list of functions that can be performed, one of them is “Download a copy”

4) This gives a standard browser download dialog. By default it downloads to the “Downloads” folder on your computer. If you want it to go to a different location (such as the desktop or your documents folder) click the tiny arrow next to “Save” and select “Save As” which will give a standard save dialog allowing you to select what folder you want the doc to go to.

Uploading/Downloading via the OneDrive AppOnce the Onedrive App has been installed it functions as another disk drive and automatically syncs to the online version. Thus you can save/load to either the website or to the local copy and it will appear in both places.

Since it functions just like a regular disk drive, you can move files into it by simply dragging and dropping the file from explorer to the icon on the left side of the file list:

Copying from OneDrive is done similarly. Open OneDrive, select the file and drag it to the desktop or Documents folder:

Loading/saving documents from inside the appWhen working in an app (such as Word) the load/save dialog includes Onedrive as an option. It will function just like loading/saving to your home folders.

Since you now have the option to save locally to your computer or to OneDrive up in the “cloud” when you select “Save” you are asked which location you want to save in – OneDrive or Computer:

Once you select the location, you are then shown a standard save dialog allowing you to select name, folders, etc.

Remember, after you have installed the OneDrive app, it becomes just another location so any app, even non-Office ones can load/save to the Onedrive location.

This example shows Easy Grade Pro ready to load a gradebook from OneDrive:

Sharing DocumentsSharing is a complex subject. This document covers only a basic set of information.

Although each individual file can be shared to a different set of people, it will be easier to manage if sharing is set at the folder level

Select New:

In the dialog box, select “New Folder:

Enter a name for the folder.

And click “Invite People:

At this point you can type in names or groups. Note the dropdown on the right side defining if the people have read-only or edit rights to the folder.

The “Send an email invitation” should be unchecked, we are not currently using the Office 365 email system so the checkbox is non-functional.

Finally, click Create

Now anything in the folder is available to all you selected. They will go to their “Shared With Me” section of their OneDrive and will see the documents.

Office for iPad

A limited number of licenses for Office for iPad have been purchased. If you have a license, you can enable the full functionality of the Office-for-iPad applications.

Typically the applications will be pre-installed for your district-provided iPad as part of the standard iPad support.

Note: Before you can load/save any documents from OneDrive, you MUST log in to the website and click the OneDrive icon. This configures OneDrive for use.

Login ProcessLike all Office 365 applications, you will need the special Office365 user account to connect. When you start up each one of the apps, it will show a splash screen and allow a log in:

Enter your Office 365 “onmicrosoft” login account:

Once successful, you should get a welcome screen:

Loading a documentStarting an app now gives the ability to load/save both to the local iPad as well as your Office 365 OneDrive:

Saving a documentOnline documents are saved automatically with each keypress, thus no “Save” button exists. Instead to get out of a document use the left arrow to get to the save screen:

The save screen will allow you to select a name and a location (OneDrive or inside the iPad)