M365 Office for Students FAQ

UBC is building a foundation to introduce a suite of Microsoft 365 (M365) apps into our technology environment.


To learn more, visit the M365 @ UBC portal site.

An active student is any student who meets either of the following two criteria:

  • Registered in senate-approved academic courses
  • A graduate student currently on recognized leave, or with a continuing status

Extended Learning students and students at affiliate colleges are not eligible for the software.

If Office has been unable to retrieve a valid license from Microsoft's servers for 30 days, Office 365 will enter reduced functionality (read-only) mode. In this mode, you can open Office documents, but you will be unable to make or save changes. In the event this happens to you, simply re-connect your device to the internet and launch an Office application. Office will then check-in with Microsoft's servers and update the license on your device. Please note that if you are no longer an active student, your office license may have expired.

It is valid as long as you are an active student. You do not need to renew on an annual basis.

Once you opt-in for M365 services, your access will be granted to Office applications and online access to MS Teams and OneDrive.

Office Application Windows 10 Windows 7/8 OSX 10.6+ iPad/iPhone Android Windows Phone
Word Yes Yes Yes Yes* Yes* Yes*
Excel Yes Yes Yes Yes* Yes* Yes*
PowerPoint Yes Yes Yes Yes* Yes* Yes*
Outlook Yes Yes Yes No No No
OneNote Yes Yes Yes* Yes* Yes* Yes*
Publisher Yes Yes No No No No
Access Yes Yes No No No No

You can download and install the free mobile Office apps from the App Store (iOS), Google Play (Android), or Windows Phone Store (Windows Phone). You will then be prompted to sign in with your cwl@student.ubc.ca email the first time you launch the app.

This is not possible with portal.office.com – it only presents the version of Office that is designed for the computer you are current using. If you want to download the Windows version, you must login from a Windows computer. Similarly, if you login from a computer running Mac OS, you will be presented with the Mac OS download options.