Ithaca College

The latest version of Microsoft Office, Office 365 ProPlus, will be installed on college-owned devices (on and off campus) beginning January 6, 2021.

Office 365 ProPlus has been available as a self-service update and has come with technology-renewed computers since January 2020. Bringing remaining college-owned computers to the latest version will ensure a consistent experience across devices and the latest security and feature updates to all machines. If you have not already performed a self-service upgrade and would like to do so before January 6, 2021, please see this IT knowledge base article for details.

What is Office 365 ProPlus?

Office 365 ProPlus is a suite of familiar Office applications that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneDrive, Outlook, and Teams, and is part of our Office 365 subscription. Office 365 ProPlus applications are updated regularly with new features, security updates, and provide an enhanced collaboration experience for Office products.

How does this impact me?

Visit our IT knowledge base article for complete details on the Office upgrade. Here is a summary of what you will experience:

Windows users

All Windows users, regardless of whether they have previous versions of Office (e.g. Office 2016) or Office 365 ProPlus, will be brought up to the latest installation of Office beginning January 6, 2021.

• The installation will happen automatically when your computer is on and Office applications are closed.
• If you launch Office while it is updating, you will see a message saying, “Updating Office, please wait a moment”.
• Upon launching any Office application for the first time after the update, you will receive the first-launch dialog prompts informing you of the new installation and features such as Focused Inbox for Outlook.
• Applications that were previously pinned to the taskbar for Office 2016 will need to be pinned again. You can launch the application, right-click the taskbar button for the app, then click Pin to taskbar.
• OneNote: If you have been using the desktop version of OneNote 2016, this application is replaced with OneNote for Windows 10. This application can be accessed via the Start Menu or via Windows search.

Mac users

Mac users who have an older version of Office (e.g. Office 2016) will be updated to Office 365 ProPlus beginning January 6, 2021.

• The installation will happen automatically when your computer is on and Office applications are closed.
• If you launch Office while it is updating, you will see a message saying, “Updating Office, please wait a moment”.
• Upon launching any Office application for the first time after the update, you will receive the first-launch dialog prompts informing you of the new installation and features such as Focused Inbox for Outlook or the New Outlook for Mac experience.

Prior to January 6, 2021, if you would like to update to Office 365 ProPlus on your college-owned device at your convenience, refer to this knowledge base article for instructions. Starting January 6, 2021 please follow the article Updating to Office 365 ProPlus on College-Owned Devices for complete details.

Please contact the Information Technology Service Desk at Servicedesk@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-1000 if you have any questions.

Information Technology Service Desk
Ithaca.edu/itchat
servicedesk@ithaca.edu
607-274-1000
104 Job Hall