University Systems help centre

Email and calendar

Email and calendaring for faculty and staff

All active UVic employees are eligible for an @uvic.ca Exchange email account. Microsoft Exchange accounts are used for university communications, including email, calendaring, and scheduling.

This section covers support information for UVic Microsoft Exchange accounts used by faculty and staff. You can find additional information about role-based email and resource accounts on their support pages.

Account questions

Am I eligible for an Exchange account?

All new UVic employees automatically receive an Exchange account when you register for a NetLink ID.

When you leave UVic, your email account will be disabled.

Former employees retain their NetLink IDs indefinitely and will have access to Online tools.

How do I request an Exchange account?

If you are an existing faculty or staff member and would like to request an Exchange account, contact your Desktop Support Services personnel or the Computer Help Desk.

I'm a student. Can I get an Exchange account?

Student email is offered through the Microsoft 365 Email service. New UVic students are issued a Microsoft 365 email account automatically. You will receive an email when it has been created.

Only current students can create a UVic email address. Student applicants are not eligible.

Technical questions

How do I access my Exchange account?

You can access your Exchange account through a desktop mail client or using Outlook on the web through mail.uvic.ca

Our recommended desktop email clients are Outlook 365 or 2016 for Windows and Outlook 365 for Mac.

Outlook 365 and 2016 support email access, out of office reply set up, connecting to other mailboxes, creating message rules, configuring delegates, access to the global address list, restoring deleted items, and managing junk mail settings.

Outlook on the web can be used to share your calendar or folders but not to configure delegates.

Can I use Thunderbird with my Exchange account?

Microsoft does not support Thunderbird as a mail client for Exchange. University Systems can only provide best effort support for clients who wish to use an unsupported mail client. If you are interested in configuring your Exchange with Thunderbird, here is the necessary server information:

Incoming (IMAP) server: mail.uvic.ca

"Port" = 993
"SSL" = SSL/TLS
"Authentication" = Normal password

Outgoing (SMTP) server: mail.uvic.ca

"Port" = 587
"SSL" = SSL/TLS
"Authentication" = Normal password

What happens to items that I delete?

When you delete an item on the Exchange server, it will be moved to your Deleted Items folder. Items in your Deleted Items are not automatically purged on a regular schedule.

Do I have to accept a meeting for it to appear in my calendar?

No. When you receive a meeting request the meeting will immediately appear in your calendar and the meeting's date and time slot will be marked as "tentative." However, you should always reply to the request so that the meeting organizer will know if you are planning to attend or have declined the invitation.

If I give someone "owner" permission over my calendar, will they be able to see items that are marked as "private"?

No. Items that are marked as private will only be visible to the actual calendar owner and not to a person with whom the calendar is shared. Only a delegate can be provided with explicit permission to view items that are marked as private.

How do I change my preferred name and title?

Your preferred first name is the name by which you are normally addressed, and can be different than your legal first name registered with UVic. It is used together with your last name in a number of university systems. For faculty and staff this includes but is not limited to:

Exchange Email and Calendar - This is the name on all of your outgoing emails and in the Global Address List
UVic Online Directory - This is the name used for your directory entry

You can update your preferred name and title in Online tools.

For instructions see the Online tools help page.

How do I add the Religious Observances calendar to my Exchange calendar?

Download the up-to-date calendar file from the EQHR Religious Observances page. The file is not exhaustive of all faith groups. Please consult with Equity and Human Rights for further information. To view important dates at the University of Victoria please see the UVic Online Calendar Academic Year Important Dates Page.

For instructions on managing calendar files, see Microsoft Support article: Import and export Outlook email, contacts, and calendar