Free Microsoft 365 Apps Installation

You are able to install Microsoft 365 Apps for Education on up to 5 devices. To view and manage your installations, log into your GCU email and click on the profile icon in the upper right-hand corner. Select View account from the drop-down menu. On the left side of the next screen, select Devices; from here, you will be able to see all installations on your account and deactivate them, if desired.

The following products will be downloaded depending on your operating system. If you are downloading individual apps from the Apple App Store or Windows App Store, you will be able to select specific apps to download.

Windows

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• OneDrive
• OneNote
• Access
• Publisher

Mac

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• Outlook
• OneDrive
• OneNote

Yes, active GCU students will have 100 Gigabytes (GB) of OneDrive storage available. For more information on how to use OneDrive, check out our article OneDrive for GCU Students.

When using the installed version of Microsoft 365 programs, you can enable the autosave feature to have your assignments saved to OneDrive as you are working on it. To do so, you will need to log into OneDrive that is downloaded onto your computer and sync your account. For detailed instructions on how to set up OneDrive on your device, take a look at the Microsoft 365 Tips article.

Students can download Microsoft 365 Apps for Education once they have classes scheduled. If you are currently scheduled for classes or have active classes, then you can download Microsoft 365.

The downloaded version of Microsoft 365 Apps for Education is available for all active GCU students with scheduled classes. If you are not scheduled for any classes but you are still active with GCU, you will only have access to the online programs and the download program will revert to a limited function version of the application. From the downloaded programs, you will no longer be able to edit documents or create new ones. You will be prompted to sign in with an active subscription or enter a product key to resume using the full version of Microsoft 365.

When you graduate or if you decide to withdraw from GCU, the software will also revert to the limited function version. You will also no longer have access to the online programs and will only have access to your Outlook inbox.

Email: Your GCU issued email address is your username followed by @my.gcu.edu.

Password: The same password used to access your Student Portal.

Microsoft 365 Apps for Education is a fully functional software package with no restrictions.

If you already have Microsoft 365 installed on your computer, you can choose to switch accounts and sign in with your @my.gcu.edu email.

The only versions that are incompatible are 2013 and 2016. All other versions of Microsoft 365 may occur concurrently on the same computer. This should not affect your install of Microsoft 365.

Yes, you can choose to subscribe to Microsoft 365 or choose to reinstall older version of Microsoft.

Unfortunately, Microsoft does not offer a compatible version of Microsoft 365 for XP and Vista users.

When attempting to download Microsoft 365 on a device with Vista/XP, you may encounter this error: “The procedure entry point SetWaitableTimerEx could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.dll”

Check out our Technical Requirements for a list of minimum requirements your computer should meet.

Most Windows tablets are compatible with Microsoft 365 Apps for Education since they are running the Windows operating system. Some Windows tablets may be running the Windows S operating system though, and therefore users may encounter issues downloading and installing Microsoft 365. GCU Technical Support will not assist in disabling Windows S if you have it enabled, as this will make a permanent change to your device. For more information on unsupported devices, see Device Compatibility.

Windows RT tablets run a modified version of the Windows operating system. Windows RT tablets come with a limited version of Microsoft 365 pre-installed on them. However, they are not compatible with Microsoft 365 Apps for Education. Therefore we recommend utilizing the Microsoft Online Programs in the GCU Portal, or switching to a compatible device.

If you are receiving the error "Your account doesn't allow editing on a Mac" the issue may be that you recently updated your computer’s operating system and the Microsoft license does not recognize that. To solve this issue, click the Use Another Account button that appears on the error message you received. Then sign in using your GCU credentials again. If this option does not work, try activating your copy or try signing out of your account and signing back in. Alternatively, you can try Switching Microsoft 365 Accounts. This error may also occur if you have recently graduated or do not have active student status.

The files you put in OneDrive are not lost when you leave GCU. You will still be able to view, share, and download files that were previously in the system. After graduating GCU, you will only have 25 GB of storage instead of the normal 100 GB.

If you are terminated from GCU, you will not have any storage in OneDrive and your files will be permanently deleted after two years of their last modified date.

To access these files, you will need to access your GCU Student Portal, then access the OneDrive app.

We recommend checking out our article OneDrive for GCU Students for more information about access and downloading your files from OneDrive.

Unfortunately, Chromebooks do not support Windows or Mac desktops versions of Microsoft 365. Because of this, the “Install Apps” button may not appear on m365.cloud.microsoft. In the past, the Google Play Store on Chromebook devices had Android versions of certain Microsoft 365 apps available. Microsoft no longer supports those apps and therefore they are no longer available. 

You can use Microsoft 365 in your web browser through the online Microsoft 365 apps. Navigate to m365.cloud.microsoft and sign in with your GCU email (username@my.gcu.edu) and password (the same as the Student Portal). Once signed in, click Apps on the left-hand navigation bar, and you will see the Microsoft 365 apps available to you, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneDrive.

If you are on a Mac computer, you can install individual Microsoft 365 applications (Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, and OneDrive) from the Apple store. Once the application is installed, you will need to license the software with your GCU email address and password.

If you are on a Windows computer, unfortunately it is not possible to install individual Microsoft 365 applications from the Microsoft app store.

If you don’t have enough room to install the full Microsoft 365 package on your computer, we recommend utilizing the online versions of the Microsoft 365 applications instead. See the article Microsoft Online Programs in the GCU Portal for more information.

GCU Faculty can install Microsoft 365 at portal.office.com. Be sure to check out the articles included below if you have any questions about installing Microsoft 365!

• Microsoft 365 Installation Guide for Windows
• Microsoft 365 Installation Guide for Mac
• Microsoft 365 Installation Guide for iPad/iPhone
• Microsoft 365 Installation Guide for Android

All faculty also have access to the online version of Microsoft 365. This online version includes:

• Word
• Excel
• PowerPoint
• OneNote

The online versions of these apps do not include the full functionality of the downloadable versions. If you would like to have full functionality of the Microsoft 365 programs, please download the Desktop version of Microsoft 365. For more information on the online version of Microsoft 365, please see our article Microsoft Online Programs in the GCU Portal.

If you do not see the option for “Microsoft 365 Apps” and only see “Install Software” after clicking the Install Apps button, this means that you do not have an active license for Microsoft 365. If you are an active student with GCU and you do not see the Microsoft 365 option, please contact Technical Support for further assistance.