Introduction
IT Services are pleased to announce that starting from 1st of November 2019, Staff computers across the University will start to receive Microsoft Office 365 Pro Plus software upgrade.
What is Office 365 Pro Plus?
Office 365 Pro Plus is a subscription based software service from Microsoft that comes with your University Staff Account.
Office 365 Pro Plus ensures that you always have the most up-to-date modern software productivity tools from Microsoft Office. It includes all of the desktop apps that you’re familiar with, like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Publisher, Project and Visio.
With Office 365 Pro Plus, you'll always have the latest features, fixes, and security updates along with ongoing support from IT Services and Microsoft.
Why not use Office 2019?
Office Professional 2019 is a one off feature set of Office applications, meaning that you get a predefined set of features, but no new functionality or features added as months and years go by, whereas with Office 365 Pro Plus you get ongoing monthly features and productivity enhancement to your office apps, helping you to get things done more effectively.
When will I get Office 365 Pro Plus Upgrade on my Staff Desktop PC?
Due to the scale and size of this upgrade, IT Services are rolling this upgrade out in phases to ensure your business critical activities remain uninterrupted. Therefore, this rollout may take several months to reach every staff device throughout the University, we therefore ask that you remain patient.
Once the upgrade of Office 365 Pro Plus software has been targeted to your area, it will occur automatically. This automated upgrade takes place during our system maintenance window overnight, however if you are logged in and Office apps are left open, the upgrade will not start or completely successfully until you have logged out of your computer.
When will I get Office 365 Pro Plus Upgrade on my Staff Laptop?
You can visit the Software Centre on your Windows 10 Staff Laptop and upgrade your Office 2016 Professional Plus to Office 365 Pro Plus today.
Software Centre is located in your Windows Start Menu. Use the Application list or Windows Desktop Search facility to locate it.
Please ensure that you have saved your work and closed all programs before attempting the upgrade.
What Apps Do I get with Office 365 Pro Plus?
- Word
- Outlook
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Publisher
- Project
- Visio
OneDrive and OneNote for Windows is already part of Windows 10 and is therefore not included in this package. Microsoft Teams can be installed via Software Centre separately if not installed already.
What Apps Are Removed During the Office Software Upgrade?
Office 365 Pro Plus Upgrade will remove the following Office 2013/2016 components:
- Office Professional Plus 2013/2016
- OneNote 2016
- SharePoint Designer
- InfoPath
- Skype for Business
The above apps are removed due to the incompatibility with the deployment technology used by the older version of Office.
SharePoint and InfoPath Designer Users:
During the upgrade of your Office Software, SharePoint Designer and InfoPath will be removed, but you can still install SharePoint and InfoPath Designer 2013 from Software Centre after the upgrade. Please note that these Apps are not supported by Microsoft or IT Services and may result in incompatibility with other Office Apps.
Skype For Business Users:
If you are currently an active user of Skype for Business, we highly encourage that you do move onto Microsoft Teams instead, as the upgrade does remove Skype for Business client. Due to the deployment technology utilised by Office 365 and Skype for Business Stand-alone client, it is not possible to deploy Office 365 Pro Plus Software whilst Skype for Business is present on the device.
If you still require Skype for Business after the Office upgrade, you can still install it via Software Centre using your Windows 10 Staff PC. Use Windows Start Menu to search for Software Centre and install Skype for Business client at your own convenience. Before proceeding with the installation, please ensure to save your work and close any running applications on your system, otherwise installation may fail.
OneNote 2016 Users:
If you are currently an active user of OneNote 2016, we highly encourage that you do move onto OneNote for Windows 10 instead, as the upgrade does removes the OneNote 2016 from the system. OneNote for Windows 10 comes pre-installed on your Windows 10 Staff Device already and can be found in the Windows start menu.
If after the upgrade, you find that the features offered by the OneNote for Windows 10 inadequate, you can install the OneNote 2016 version via Software Centre. Software Centre can be found in the Windows Start Many or by using Windows Desktop Search facility. Before proceeding with the installation, please ensure to save your work and close any running applications on your system, otherwise installation may fail.
What are the prerequisites:
Your staff computer must be running Windows 10 version of Operating System. If you are still on Windows 7, please contact IT Service Centre to arrange for your device to be checked and upgraded as soon as possible.
How to prepare your computer for the Office upgrade?
The Office 365 Pro Plus Software Upgrade takes place overnight, during our system maintenance window. Whilst the upgrade is automated, it will not execute if your computer is left logged in or powered off from the wall.
Compatibility with my software and add-ins:
From our internal testing, all of the add-ins we use here at the University, such as Liberty EDRMS plugin or Azure Information Protection are fully compatible with Office 365 Pro Plus.
We use x86 (32-bit) configuration of Office, to ensure compatibility with the existing products and services offered by IT Services.
If you discover that your plugins do not work, or are missing after the upgrade, please contact IT Service Centre using the contact details below.
CONTACT
Email: itservicecentre@ZenUni.ac.uk
Tel: 01332 591234 (24/7 Helpline)
Online: IT Service Centre