Office 365

• Faculty, staff and emeriti who have a college-owned computer assigned to you (i.e., not a shared computer)
• Enrolled students, which includes matriculated students, exchange students, and cross-registered students.

1. Full computer installation of the latest versions of MS Office for Mac or Windows PC, that will work as long as your Wellesley account falls under the current licensed account statuses.
2. Online full access to mobile apps
3. Full web access to Office apps via the Microsoft 365 portal website, similar to Google Apps.
4. Note: Micorosft Excel on the web is a bit limited in functionality, so you may need to donwload the Mac or Windows app to get full functionality.

Note: When you leave the college or become an alumnae, you will lose access to the Microsoft 365 website and your installed MS Office apps will go into view-only mode.

There is a free-to-everyone version of Office Online with limited capability (for Excel, for example). The subscription available through the College is different, as it allows you to install the actual software (like Excel) on your devices and make edits for coursework.

Note: for College-owned devices, typically MS Office is already installed or an install or upgrade can be done through the Help Desk. 

If you have used your Wellesley account for Office 365 in the past:

1. If you have MS Office installed on your computer, launch Word, Excel, or Powerpoint and go to the Account Settings and make sure your Wellesley account is listed and activated. If you see a Reactivate button, click that and it should pick up the new license.

2. If you don't have MS Office installed on your computer, log in to the Microsoft 365 Portal and click on Install Apps on the top right, and choose the apps that you want to install on your computer.

   • You can install MS Office apps on up to 5 devices, such as Macs, PCs, tablets and phones.

If you have not used your Wellesley account for Microsoft Office before:

Please contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@wellesley.edu or 781-283-3333 (faculty & staff) or 781-283-7777 (students), or visit them in the Clapp Library.

If you don't remember your password and can't login, contact the Help Desk at helpdesk@wellesley.edu or 781-283-3333 (faculty & staff) or 781-283-7777 (students), or visit them in the Clapp Library.

If you've had MS Office installed and are trying to do the annual renewal on your Mac computer, you may run into an issue where the new login will not work. See if this solution to remove licensing helps.

You may also have a problem using Microsoft Word and other Office software using 10.15 and newer: the usual solution for this would be to check System Preferences, Security & Privacy, Privacy, then check that Word and other Office programs have Full Disk Access.

The following types of connections to the College are currently not covered by our Office 365 license agreement and thus will not be able to login and use the full features of this Office 365 website and apps.

• Alumnae
• Retired staff and non-emeriti faculty
• Contingents (vistors, contractors, vendors, etc.)

If you had an Office 365 license as an active faculty, staff, or student and your status changed, you may see the following changes to your Office 365 account:

• You may no longer be able to login or create new documents in your Wellesley Microsoft 365 website account.
• Your MS Office installed applications may change to view-only mode. 
• To restore full access you will need to purchase your own license and sign up under a personal email account.

If the information on this page does not resolve an issue you're having, please let us know and provide us with details so we can best direct your need for assistance to the right team:

• Call us:

  • Faculty & Staff: 781.283.3333 (x3333).

  • Students: 781.283.7777 (x7777).

• Email us at helpdesk@wellesley.edu