ALERT! Microsoft Office License Changes Require “Sign-In” at First Use in W&L Classrooms

Classroom computers in W&L spaces now have Office 365 installed to provide the most up-to-date feature set and to enable advanced Box functionality such as co-authoring)

Users who launch any Office product (i.e. Microsoft Word,  Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, etc.) on a classroom computer will be prompted to authenticate for their initial use. 

When launching an Office application the first time, users will encounter this challenge, and should SELECT “SIGN-IN” and proceed. Your Washington & Lee University email and password are the correct credentials to use. A Microsoft Office sign-in screen titled "Sign in to set up Office". The screen displays three icons representing benefits: using your regular email address, getting free cloud storage, and using your account to install Office on other devices. Below, there's text stating "Sign in with your work, school, or personal Microsoft account" followed by two buttons: "Sign in" (highlighted in blue) and "Create account". A red arrow points to the "Sign in" button. At the bottom are links for "I have a product key" and "What is a Microsoft account?".

After authentication in a classroom, subsequent use of Office apps should not require authentication beyond your standard login to the PC.

If you should encounter difficulties after the initial use and authentication, please contact the ITS Helpdesk at help@wlu.edu, call 540.458.4357 (HELP), or stop by the Main Level of Leyburn Library.

The “Read Aloud” feature in Word: a game changer for proofreading!

Did you know that Microsoft Word can read aloud the text of documents to you? Aye! This can be super helpful if you’re tired of reading the screen or are proofreading from another document.

Using a desktop version of Word, position your cursor where you want the reading aloud to begin and click on Review > Read Aloud button. Watch below!

Click the Read Aloud button a second time and it stops. Click the button again to continue from that point on.

Pretty sweet, right?