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WCL Microsoft 365 Transition
(Email, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint)

On June 17, WCL transitioned faculty and staff Microsoft accounts to a single, unified Microsoft 365 platform managed by the Office of Information Technology. As of June 18, all WCL users should now utilize their unified Microsoft 365 account for access to email and other Microsoft 365 services.

The Microsoft 365 portal is accessible through portal.office.com and uses your @american.edu credentials. Your @american.edu credentials are the same information you would use to login to MyAU or Workday.

Please confirm that you can successfully login to AU webmail at mail.american.edu and the Microsoft 365 Portal at portal.office.com. 

Note: If you're automatically signed into your WCL account when attempting this access, use a private/incognito browsing window.

For more information on the email transition, please read below to understand how this transition will impact your email usage and other Microsoft applications once it is complete.

Selected
Post-Transition Checklist
Outlook Instructions
Teams Instructions
Word / Excel / Powerpoint

As the transition completes, the following items require your attention:

Outlook

  • Confirm your email has completely transferred. Launch mail.american.edu and login with your @american.edu credentials. 
  • If you use the Outlook desktop client, it will need to be configured. See the Outlook Instructions tab for more info.

Teams

  • Teams will require that you reauthenticate using your @american.edu credentials. See the Teams Instructions tab for more info.

Office Applications

  • Applications like Word / Excel / Powerpoint will need you to reauthenticate under your new @american.edu account. See the Word / Excel / Powerpoint tab for more info.

Shared Mailboxes

  • Individuals requiring access to the shared account must contact WCL Technology (helpdesk@wcl.american.edu) and request to be added as a delegate of that shared accounts.

Setting up Outlook

Please see the following instructions for configuring either the New Outlook or the Classic Outlook. Each requires specific steps, outlined below.

New Outlook (MacOS and Windows)

  1. Open Outlook.
  2. Click your profile icon in the top-right corner.
  3. Select Settings (gear icon) > Accounts > Email Accounts
  4. Add Account
    • Click “+ Add Account”
    • Enter your @american.edu email address
    • Sign in and approve Duo MFA
  5. Once the new account is added, Outlook will sync it alongside the old one (initially).
  6. Remove the Old Account (@wcl.american.edu):
  7. Go to the same Accounts menu
  8. Click on the old account > Remove Account

Classic Outlook (Windows)

  1. Close Outlook.

  2. Open Control Panel

    1. Press (Windows + R), type control, and press Enter.

  3. Search for and open “Mail (Microsoft Outlook)”

  4. Click “Show Profiles…”

  5. Click “Add…” to create a new profile.

    1. Name it something like "AU Outlook".

  6. When prompted, enter only your @american.edu email address.

  7. Click Next.

    1. Outlook will auto-detect the new configuration.

    2. Sign in with your @american.edu credentials and approve the Duo MFA prompt.

  8. Back in the Mail Profiles window, select:

    1. “Always use this profile”, and choose the new profile you just created.

  9. Launch Outlook — your mailbox should now open under the new account. Please allow it time to sync.

Reconfigure Teams

To resume use of Microsoft Teams, users will need to perform a complete sign out, and sign back in. 
Note: Users receiving the "We need you to sign in again" prompt in Teams should still perfom the complete sign out, as outlined below. 

Fully Sign Out of Teams

  1. Open Microsoft Teams.

  2. Click your profile icon in the top-right corner.

  3. Select Sign out.

  4. If prompted, close Teams completely after sign-out.

    1. Relaunch Teams and Sign In

    2. Reopen Microsoft Teams.

  5. When prompted, sign in using your @american.edu credentials.

  6. Complete Duo MFA.

  7. Teams will sync with your new Microsoft 365 profile. You may notice:

    • Reappearance of Teams, chats, and meetings.

    • Need to re-pin favorites or adjust some preferences.

Office Applications

To resume use of Office applications like Word, Excel, or Powerpoint, users will need to reauthenticate to Microsoft Office using @american.edu credentials.

  1. Open any Office Application (eg. Word or Excel)

    1. Windows: Click File > Account (on Windows)

    2. MacOS: Click Word (or Excel) in the top menu > Preferences > Accounts

  2. Locate your @wcl.american.edu account under “User Information” or “Connected Services.”

  3. Click Sign Out (Windows) or Remove (macOS) next to the account.

  4. Click Sign In or Add a Service

  5. Enter your @american.edu email address when prompted

  6. Complete Duo multi-factor authentication 

Updates


June 20, 5:00 PM
A majority of the Microsoft 365 migration is complete. Email, OneDrive, and Sharepoint data has migrated successfully. Please review the Post-Transition Checklist below for guidance on resolving any access issues.
If you have any issues and require support, please consider visiting the WCL Help Desk in the Warren Building, Room NT10, Monday through Friday from 9 AM - 5 PM.

June 19, 3:15 PM
In addition to yesterday's data milestones, OneDrive and Sharepoint data transfers are now complete.

June 19, 11:40 AM
In addition to yesterday's milestones the Sharepoint data transfer is now complete. The complete transfer of OneDrive data still remains outstanding.

June 18, 10:30 AM
The migration of individual user email is complete. Shared mailbox mail is 95% complete. Sharepoint, OneDrive, and Teams data is still being migrated and validated.

June 17, 3:30 PM
Zoom - As part of the Microsoft 365 transition, we identified and resolved an issue that temporarily affected access to the WCL Zoom platform. The issue required an update to Zoom’s login configuration, and as a result, you’ll now sign in using your @american.edu credentials.

June 17, 2:00 PM
During the transition, we identified an issue affecting access to the WCL Zoom platform, which is preventing users from logging into Zoom. We are investigating the issue.

June 17, 1:30 PM
Things are progressing as expected. To ensure you have access to your new account, users are reminded that they may login to webmail at mail.american.edu. Email addressed to your @wcl.american.edu address is expected to experience delays in delivery.

June 17, 10:00 AM EDT
The transition has started. Email delivery to your @wcl.american.edu is expected to experience delays in delivery.

Logging Into Your Email

  • After the transition, the most significant difference will be that you will log into your email and any other Microsoft applications (such as Teams, SharePoint, or OneDrive) using your username@american.edu credentials (the same you would use for myAU or Workday) instead of your @wcl.american.edu credentials.
  • You will continue to use your @wcl.american.edu credentials to log in to your workstation and access any other third-party applications for which you previously used your @wcl.american.edu credentials.
  • Depending on how you were previously logging in to your Microsoft accounts, you may need to adjust some settings to make sure you access the correct environment. If you need help ensuring that your email app installed on your compuer or mobile device (like Outlook or the Mail app) is properly configured, please contact helpdesk@wcl.american.edu after the transition is complete.

Shared Accounts

  • Shared email accounts for departments that previously had a username and password will no longer be available with a username and password.
  • Individuals requiring access to the shared account must contact the IT department (helpdesk@wcl.american.edu) to have their university email account granted access to the shared account.
  • Any files previously stored in a shared account OneDrive will be migrated to a Dropbox folder, and access to this folder will be distributed to the necessary users.
  • Access to shared WCL Zoom accounts will also be restricted. To continue scheduling meetings through these accounts, users may be assigned scheduling privileges. For more information, see KB0021071 - Scheduling Zoom Meetings on Behalf of a Shared Account.
  • Please note that there will be no changes to listservs. If you need to set up a new listserv, please continue to email (helpdesk@wcl.american.edu).
  • Due to naming conflicts, some of the shared account names will be modified after the transition is complete. 
  • For reference, here is a list of WCL shared accounts, which includes the name of the account before the transition and the name it will have after the transition.
  • With the email transition, WCL will be subject to American University policies.
  • Because of this, support for third-party email clients, such as Thunderbird, will be limited.
  • For more information on American University's email services, please visit https://www.american.edu/oit/email/fac-staff-email.cfm.

Account Forwarding

  • You will still be permitted to send your university email to a personal email address.
  • These settings, however, must be re-entered once the transition is complete.
  • For assistance with email forwarding, please email helpdesk@wcl.american.edu.
 

What to Expect When you Log in to your Email Account

  • When you first log in to your email account using your username@american.edu credentials, you should see all of your emails received up to and including June 16th. 
  • All previously set up folders and filters should transfer over.
  • After the transition, please check your mail rules for accuracy and completeness.
  • If you notice any discrepancies between what is in your mailbox and what you believe should be there, please email helpdesk@wcl.american.edu for assistance.

Sending/Receiving Email

  • All emails sent by full-time WCL faculty and staff will appear to be sent from your username@wcl.american.edu email address.
  • There will be no changes for adjunct faculty, who will continue to use their username@american.edu email address.
  • For WCL users, emails sent to either username@wcl.american.edu or username@american.edu will successfully appear in your inbox.
  • You will only be able to send email from the given account (either @american.edu or @wcl.american.edu). This will be determined by how your position is listed in Workday. 

Teams/SharePoint/OneDrive/OneNote

  • After the transition, you will log into these Microsoft-based applications using your username@american.edu credentials.
  • Teams groups and chats will be migrated to your new instance of Teams, with approximately the last 30 days of chat history being made available. 
  • Any SharePoint sites and OneDrive files (such as Word Docs, Excel Docs, Visio Docs, etc) will be migrated, with the OneDrive files currently in your WCL OneDrive being made available after the transition. 
  • Any shared links in existing content will not be preserved after the transition and need to be relinked.
  • Please note that to preserve any OneNote files you may have, they need to be synced to your OneDrive.

If you have any questions or need assistance, please reach out to helpdesk@wcl.american.edu