Microsoft Office for Faculty and Staff

As a current USC faculty and staff member, you may download up to five copies of the latest version of Microsoft Office for use on your personal or work computing equipment, including desktop or laptop computers, and up to five copies on your iPhone, iPad, and Android and Windows mobile devices.

Getting Started

Microsoft Office is available to faculty and staff through their USC Office 365 account.

Downloading Software to Your PC or Mac

To download Office software for your PC or Mac:

  1. Log into the Outlook Web App (OWA), at www.usc.edu/office365.
  2. From the upper-left-hand corner of the OWA screen, click Office 365.
office1
  1. On the upper-right-hand side of the OWA screen, click the Install Office 2016 icon.
office2
  1. The software will automatically begin to download to your computer.
  2. Follow the steps on the Just a few more steps… screen to install and activate your Office software.
office3

Downloading Software to Your Mobile Device

From your desktop or laptop computer, follow steps one and two in the above instructions and then click Other Installs to get to the Software page. Click Phone & Tablet in the left-hand menu. Follow the instructions that appear on the screen to complete the download process for your device. You will be redirected to a Microsoft website page where you will have the option of receiving the download link on your mobile device via email or text. Choose one of these options and complete the download process on your mobile device.

officefacstaffphone

NOTE: You may be directed to your device’s app store to complete the Office software download process; however, you will not be charged a fee for the download.

Authenticating Office Software on Your Computer or Mobile Device

The first time you open the software after installation, you will need to authenticate your subscription. Choose the option to Sign in to an existing Office 365 subscription (this wording may vary based on the software version you are installing). Use your USC NetID email address and password to sign in and activate your software. You may periodically be asked to enter your USC NetID email address and password to re-authenticate your desktop copy of Office.

For mobile versions of Office, you will need to download and authenticate each program (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.) separately using your USC NetID email address and password.

Support

If you experience difficulties logging into OWA, please verify that you are using a supported browser. For a list of supported browsers, see Microsoft’s Office 365 System Requirements/ page.

For additional assistance with this service, contact the ITS Customer Support Center.

Learn More

If you would like more information on using Office software in conjunction with your Office 365 account, see Microsoft’s Learn Your Way Around Office 365 website.

Microsoft has also produced quick start guides for the software included in the newest version of Office, Office 2016. These tutorials are available at the following links:

For video tutorials on using the Microsoft Office 2016 and Office Mobile applications, log into Lynda.com at itservices.usc.edu/lynda and view the videos in the following playlists: