Getting started with Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 (M365) is a package of software applications available to students free-of-charge on both their UQ and personal computers.

Collaborating with Microsoft 365

Instructions and guides for collaborating with M365 are available on the Microsoft Support page.

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Available applications

If you're a UQ student or Higher Degree by Research (HDR) student with a staff account, there may be different applications available to you.

Students

Students have access to the following Microsoft 365 applications:

Outlook/Exchange - for email and calendars, 10GB storage
Word - written documents
Excel - for spreadsheets
PowerPoint - for presentations
OneNote - for notetaking
Publisher (PC only)
Access (PC only)
Forms
Lists
Loop - no access to Workspace
OneDrive - 10GB of storage
Calendar
SharePoint
Stream
Sway
Teams
To Do
Visio Web
Viva Connections
Whiteboard

HDR students with a staff account

HDR students with a staff account have access to the following Microsoft 365 applications:

Outlook/Exchange - for email and calendars, 100GB storage
Word - for written documents
Excel - for spreadsheets
PowerPoint - for presentations
OneNote - as a notebook
Publisher (PC only)
Access (PC only)
Bookings - for scheduling and managing appointments
Class Notebook - part of OneNote, includes a content library to share course content
Forms
Lists
Loop
OneDrive - 1TB of storage
Calendar
Power BI Free
Project Essentials
SharePoint
Stream
Sway
Teams
To Do
Visio Web
Viva Connections
Viva Learning
Whiteboard
Viva Engage

Approved access

HDR students can seek approval for access to the following applications.

To gain access to the following applications, ask your manager to speak to the UQ Licensing team. These applications have additional fees.

You can request approval for access to:

Planner
Power Apps
Power Automate (Flows) - Power Automate is available within Teams, OneDrive and SharePoint to all these accounts but is not available for use outside of those applications unless a license has been separately assigned.
Power BI Pro
Project (Plan 5)
Visio (Plan 1 and Plan 2)

Unavailable applications or features

UQ will endeavour to make M365 applications and their features available for use. If you're not given access to an application or feature, it will be due to one of these reasons:

UQ does not have licenses for the product within the student license.
The application has not yet been assessed by ITS.
Preparation for release may be in progress.
The application is not suitable for release at UQ (for example, it exposes user information that breaches privacy).
The application duplicates functionality of an existing UQ system.

Microsoft sometimes releases a new application within an existing license that staff and students have assigned to them. In these situations, staff and/or students may obtain access to a new application before it has been assessed and approved by ITS. In this situation administrators are permitted to remove user access to the application until an assessment and potential planned release can take place.

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Choosing an application

M365 contains multiple applications and services. This table suggests the most suitable service to select for the required activity at UQ. Some non-M365 services are included in the table where other software's features overlap.

Application/Service	Data types	Best for
Outlook/Exchange	Email Calendar Contacts Tasks	Sending messages to one or more people (recipients) where using Teams is unsuitable (e.g. no matching team) Sending messages where the sender doesn’t want the recipient to be immediately notified about the message, which can occur with Teams chat message notifications e.g. outside of hours Sending one-off copies of small files < 20MB in size where shared access to the file and/or collaboration within the file is not desired nor required Calendar appointments Meeting scheduling and booking Contacts lists Tasks and reminders
OneDrive	Files	Storage of files for personal (UQ-related) use Draft documents not ready to be shared with others via Teams or SharePoint Sharing files where using Teams is unsuitable (e.g. no matching Team)
SharePoint/Intranet Sites	Intranet Sites Files Lists Pages Calendar SharePoint Apps	Accessing information published for a defined audience, e.g. for a whole organisation unit(s), or broader than a team
Teams	Messages Audio/Video Calls Files Integrated Applications	Sharing messages and files with a group of people which may or may not include external people Collaborating on files with one or more people Sending small files Document management including version control Real-time audio/video calls and meetings including the ability to record meetings Using features provided by other Teams-aware applications
Traditional file shares (sharing files over a network, allowing multiple users to access and collaborate on the same file)	Files	Traditional file shares can host any file but given the availability of OneDrive, Teams and SharePoint traditional file shares at UQ are intended mostly for: User profiles Device or appliance storage File-based system backups Very large files and stores A complex permission structure.

Teams and Zoom

There is some service overlap between Teams and Zoom. Teams is integrated with the Microsoft 365 Suite and Microsoft Office applications.

Zoom is integrated with UQ’s meeting rooms and lecture theatres. Staff and students are permitted to use either application where available based on personal preference but Zoom is still the preferred video conferencing system for teaching and learning.

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Getting started with Microsoft 365

Collaborating with Microsoft 365

Available applications

Students

HDR students with a staff account

Approved access

Unavailable applications or features

Choosing an application

Teams and Zoom

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