OVERVIEW
Target audience: entire McGill community.
Outlook on the web provides a feature-rich web interface and allows you to access your McGill email from any computer or device with an Internet connection, with requiring any installation or configuration.
Access your McGill email over the web in Microsoft 365, in one of the following ways:
- Sign into the Office 365 portal at https://office.com. Enter your McGill Username and you will be redirected to McGill's authentication page to enter your McGill password. Then click the Email icon to view your mail. You can also access the other Office 365 apps that you are entitled to use.
- Sign into the Outlook email application directly at: https://outlook.com/mcgill.ca
Important: McGill Outlook email storage capacity reduction starting May 31st 2024
On May 31st, 2024, McGill’s Outlook email storage for all students will be reduced to 20GB to comply with Microsoft’s new Storage quota for its educational sector clients. The Outlook email storage provided to staff or faculty members will not be affected.
If you are a McGill student, please verify your current storage using the instructions in this article: Check your mailbox storage usage.
If your current storage exceeds 20GB, start by emptying your mailbox’s deleted items. As a secondary step, go through your inbox and all its online storage folders and download any "big" attachments such as videos, PowerPoint presentations or images by saving them to another location using the Save as... option in the attachment drop-down menu and then by Removing them.
Please note: these options are only available on Outlook for PC, not on the online or Mac versions. If you only use these platforms, download the attachments then save/delete the email. (Don't forget to empty the Deleted items folder after.)
If you plan on storing those files on OneDrive, be aware that OneDrive's storage will also be adjusted to 20GB starting May 31st. For more information: consult the IT Services announcement on the subject.
Features of Outlook on the web for Microsoft 365:
This list is far from exhaustive, but gives you an idea of some features and some you may not have noticed.
Note that many of these features are accessed via the Options (gear icon) button in the top right corner of the Outlook web interface; message-specific features are often applied by right-clicking the message or folder.
- Integration with Microsoft 365 apps - Once you sign in, you can switch easily between email and other Microsoft 365 online applications, as well as OneDrive cloud file storage; just click the waffle icon in the top left corner.
- Folders - Organize your mail into folders; find all your folders by clicking More > in the left side pane.
- Conversations - Messages with the same subject are kept together by default; you can choose to turn this feature off if you prefer not to use it
- Themes - Choosing a different visual theme can make reading your email easier on the eyes, with more vivid fonts and colors.
- Rules - Create inbox rules to perform specific actions when messages arrive, such as move messages with specified words in the subject to a folder. One-page interface for rules simplifies the process.
- Focused Inbox - This feature learns your reading habits and places less important messages in the Other tab in your inbox.
- Set up an Out of Office reply in Outlook - When you're going to be away for an extended period, set up an automated email to let your friends and colleagues know.
- Retention policies - you can decide how long to keep messages by assigning retention policies (1 month, 1 week, 1 year, 5 years, etc.) to specific folders or messages. By default they are all kept indefinitely.
- Redirect or forward email to another email address - Note that systematic forwarding to a non-McGill email address is not allowed for McGill faculty or staff members.
- Add other accounts to Outlook.com - You can bring in messages from an external email service so that you can access all your emails in one place.
