Email & calendars

You might have 2 versions of Outlook installed on your Windows computer, named "Outlook (classic)" and "Outlook (new)".

The new Outlook has a simplified interface that fits together with other Microsoft 365 apps better.

Classic Outlook has a few advanced features that aren't available in new Outlook yet. If you're an email power user, you might continue to use classic Outlook. If you're an employee working with legacy role-based email (RBE), you have to use classic Outlook.

The new Outlook app is part of Windows 11. You don't need to download and install it.

Follow these steps if you're using Windows 10 or if you're using Windows 11 and want to use the classic app.

You can download and install Outlook from the Microsoft Store.

Alternately, if you're a student or if you have an upgraded Microsoft 365 license, you can install Outlook in a bundle with Microsoft's other desktop office software. To get the bundle:

1. Go to Microsoft 365on the web.
2. On the Microsoft 365 home page, go to ​ Install and more (in the upper-right corner of the page in a desktop browser) and select Install Microsoft 365 apps.
3. This will take you to the Apps & devices page in your Microsoft 365 account. Look for the Office card and select Install Office.

Once you've downloaded the Office installer, run it and follow the onscreen prompts to finish installing it.

You can get Outlook from the Mac App Store.

Alternately, if you're a student or if you have an upgraded Microsoft 365 license, you can install Outlook in a bundle with Microsoft's other desktop office software. To get the bundle:

1. Go to Microsoft 365on the web.
2. On the Microsoft 365 home page, go to ​ Install and more (in the upper-right corner of the page in a desktop browser) and select Install Microsoft 365 apps.
3. This will take you to the Apps & devices page in your Microsoft 365 account. Look for the Office card and select Install Office.

Once you've downloaded the Office installer, run it and follow the onscreen prompts to finish installing it.

To get the Outlook app, go to Microsoft's download page on your mobile device. Alternatively, you can search for "Outlook" in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store.

Follow the instructions in Set up the Outlook app for iOS (for iPhone or iPad) or Set up email in the Outlook for Android app.

Your device must have a passcode set before you can add your UVic email to a mobile mail client.

New Outlook

1. On your computer, open Outlook (new).
2. If you haven't used Outlook on your computer before, you'll be prompted to add your account—skip to step 5. If you've already added an account and want to add another one, follow steps 3 and 4.
3. Go to View > ​ View Settings.
4. Select Accounts > Your accounts > Add account.
5. Enter your UVic email address where you're prompted in the pop-up, then select Continue.
6. If prompted, sign in to Microsoft 365 using your UVic account and MFA.

Classic Outlook

Follow Microsoft's instructions. Make sure you select the Classic Outlook tab.

1. On your computer, open Outlook
2. Go to Outlook > Settings.
3. Under Personal settings, select Accounts.
4. Select the plus (​) icon, then Add an account.
5. Go to View > ​ View Settings.
6. Select Accounts > Your accounts > Add account.
7. Enter your UVic email address where you're prompted in the pop-up, then select Continue.
8. If prompted, sign in to Microsoft 365 using your UVic account and MFA.

You can also read Microsoft's instructions.

Import your course schedule from Online tools

You’ll have to download a new .ics calendar file whenever your course schedule changes.

1. Sign in to the UVic website and go to Online tools.
2. Go to Student services.
3. Scroll down to the Registration section and click Current and past schedules. This will open the student registration dashboard.
4. You can find your schedule for the current term under the Class Schedule section.
5. Select your term schedule from the drop-down menu, then select the Email icon in the right-hand corner. This will send you an .ics calendar file by email.
6. Sign in to your Outlook account.
7. Open the message with the attached .ics file. Click the drop-down arrow on the attachment and select Add to calendar.
8. Select the Calendar tab on the navigation bar. You can now see your added course schedule in your calendar.

You'll have to repeat this process if you add or remove courses from your schedule.

Add your Brightspace calendar

Follow the instructions on TeachAnywhere to add your Brightspace calendar to Outlook.

Exchange Online is cloud-hosted so any internet connection issues can slow down your inbox. Cached Exchange Mode saves a copy of your mailbox on your computer so you always have quick access to your email.

You can choose how much mail you want to download. We recommend setting it under 1 year to save space on your computer. You can still see older emails if you need them, but the inbox search will take a little longer.

Follow Microsoft's instructions for turning on Cached Exchange Mode.

File storage

If you have a busy inbox or regularly receive large attachments, you could run low on file storage. Low file storage can cause issues with applications and security updates on your computer. Make sure you check your hard drive space first.

If you have limited hard drive space, we recommend picking 3 months or less.

Occasionally, legitimate messages are labelled as spam. In Outlook, messages that look like spam are delivered to the Junk Mail folder instead of your inbox.

If this happens, you can:

• Report the message as Not Junk with the Report Message tool
  • This will move the message to your inbox and send a copy of the message to Microsoft to help them improve their spam filter.
• Add the sender to your safe senders list
  • This will ensure that all messages from that sender or domain are delivered to your inbox.
  • If you don’t do this, there is still a chance that future messages from the same sender may be labelled as spam.

UVic has two separate global address lists (GALs):

• one for employees, which includes all UVic employees and mailboxes that haven’t intentionally been hidden
• one for students, which includes a short, curated selection of contacts for student support services

If you can’t find someone in a GAL, it may be because:

• students aren’t listed in either GAL
  • neither employees nor students can email students directly without knowing their email address
• an employee has opted out of being listed in the GAL
• you’re a student and don’t have access to the employee mailing list
  • students can only email employees if they already know their email address

Emails caught by spam filters can end up in quarantine. If someone sends you an email that ends up in quarantine, you'll receive a notification email within 24 hours. This notification will tell you:

• the reason the email was quarantined
• how you can preview the email
• how to request release of the email to your inbox
• how to delete the email
• how to block the sender

Emails will be quarantined if they’re flagged for:

• phishing
• malware
• blocked attachment types, including files in attached zip files

If you request release of an email, it will alert UVic’s information security team. They will review the email and release it if it’s safe to do so. Emails that were quarantined because they included a blocked file type won’t be released.

If a time-sensitive email has ended up in quarantine, contact the sender to let them know. If the email included blocked file types, ask the sender for a link to the files rather than attaching them to an email.

You can review quarantined emails in the Microsoft Defender Quarantine Portal. You can view the details of quarantined emails and request their release.

If you’re a student and have never been a UVic employee, you can have your email forwarded to a non-UVic email address that you use.

Contact us to request email forwarding.

We use many products and strategies to filter out spam and malicious messages. You can read more about how we keep email secure.

You can help by reporting phishing messages you receive. Other people are probably receiving the same messages. If a message is reported, we can block the sender or malicious URLs and attachments before they cause any harm.

Only email clients that have been added to an allow list can connect to UVic email. We've approved:

• Mail for iPhone and iPad
• Mail for Mac
• Mozilla Thunderbird
• Gnome Evolution

University Systems offers limited best-effort support for them. If you can't use Outlook or any of these, contact IT support to discuss your options

Outlook supports all of the standard Microsoft 365 accessibility features:

• keyboard shortcuts
• screen readers
• voice dictation
• immersive reader

Learn more about accessibility features in Outlook.

You have control over who can see your calendar. The default sharing settings are:

• For employees: Everyone at UVic can see when you're busy.
  • Details, including the names and locations of your meetings and appointments, are private.
  • Sharing free/busy information is necessary for Outlook's scheduling tools to work.
• For students: Your calendar is private.

We strongly recommend that you keep these default settings. If you want to share your calendar, share it with the individual people who need access.

Learn about calendar sharing:

• Outlook Calendar Permissions--What you need to know
• Share an Outlook calendar in Outlook for Windows and Outlook on the web
• Delegation and shared calendars in Outlook for Mac
• Calendar sharing in Outlook for iPhone, iPad and Android
• Open another person's Exchange Calendar in Outlook for Windows
• Manage someone else's calendar in Outlook on the web
• Open a shared calendar in Outlook for Mac
• Open a shared calendar in Outlook for iPhone, iPad and Android