Office 365: Online applications

February 06, 2020

Although many students aren't aware, Office 365 provides KU students with a free, web-based version of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote. These web-based versions don't provide all the functionality of the full version of Office, but they do allow you to create documents with advanced formatting.

To access these web-based versions, follow these steps:

  1. From any web browser, log into your Office 365 student email account. 
  2. Click the Office 365 button in the upper-left and select the desired online application (e.g. Word).
The home page of Office 365, which shows a screen of all the apps that the account has access to.

3. Choose from one of the available templates, and the application opens inside your web browser.

A screenshot of a blank Word document through Word Online.

Documents you create are automatically saved to the cloud (i.e. your OneDrive). Alternatively, when you click File >> Save As, you have the option of downloading a copy of the document to your computer, or downloading a PDF version of the document.

In addition to using the Office Online applications, KU students can download a free copy of Microsoft Office to install on their own devices -- on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets and 5 smartphones.

Click here for more information on installing Microsoft Office.