ICT Services 4 Education

Generic Email Accounts - FAQ

 

Q1. What is a generic email account?

 

A generic email account is an account which does not identify an individual e.g. 

head@schoolname.norfolk.sch.uk

office@schoolname.norfolk.sch.uk

chairofgov@schoolname.norfolk.sch.uk

 

Email accounts for classes using a class name can also be created as required.

 

 

 

Q2. How many accounts are allocated and how do I purchase them?

 

A School, Academy, Federation or MAT can have up to 20 generic email accounts. To purchase the accounts visit SLA Online - http://s4s.norfolk.gov.uk and select Office 365 Generic Accounts.

Don't forget to check them out of your basket once added.

 

 

Q3. How much mailbox space do we get with Office 365?

 

The Office 365 accounts will have 1TB storage so it is very unlikely that you will run out of space either in your mailbox or OneDrive if you are using the cloud storage included in your O365 account. 

 

 

Q4. What do I do if I forget my password or want to change my password?

 

If you require a password reset please ask your head/principal to email the Service Desk from their head@ account so we can ensure the request has been authorised.  Requests for password resets for head@ accounts will need to come from the chairofgov@ account.

 

 

Q5. How do I deal with unwanted emails (spam or junk) in my Inbox?

The O365 accounts have filtering in place which should stop most of the spam emails from reaching your inbox. There is also a banned word filter in place to block any emails containing words which are considered unacceptable. Some emails will be automatically blocked before they reach your mailbox whereas others will be put into your Junk mail folder. 

Your O365 account should learn which emails you want to read and which you do not, dependent  on how you act when receiving them. If you receive unwanted/spam into your Inbox please follow the process below.

  1. It is best not open the email.
  2. If you are viewing your emails via Outlook on the web https://outlook.office.com/ then right Click on the message and select Report  and Report junk. Alternatively, click on the email and then click the arrow to the right of the Report option on the top menu and select Report Junk. 
  3. If you want to block all emails from a sender then you can also right click on the email and select Block and then Block sender.
  4. If you are viewing your emails via the Outlook application then you can mark emails as junk and block senders by right clicking on an email and selecting the Junk option and selecting the required option.

We would also recommend that you check and empty the Junk Email folder on a daily basis. If there are emails which are being moved to your Junk folder in error then you can right click on them and select Report > Not junk and they should be moved back into your Inbox and future emails from that sender should not be treated as junk/spam. 

 

 

 

Q6. How do I import archived and external email folders?

 

Guidance can be found on the following page:

Office 365 - Importing archived/external email folders

 

 

 

Q7. Can I send/receive encrypted emails via my generic email accounts?

 

Yes. Guidance on sending secure encrypted emails can be found on the following page: 

Sending secure email from generic school accounts

 

 

Q8. How do I set up signatures and rules?

 

Email signatures – full instructions on how to set up email signatures can be found on the following pages:

Outlook client application: Create and add a signature to messages

Outlook on the web: Create and add an email signature in Outlook Web App

 

Rules & Alerts  - You might want to set up rules to manage the emails you receive. For example, you might want emails from a particular sender to be moved into a separate folder. The following links provide details of how to set up rules in the Outlook client application and also import and export rules.

Manage email messages by using rules

Import or export a set of rules

 

 

 

 

Q9. Choosing between ‘Conversation’ and ‘Message’ view on Office 365 web access.

 

If you have a Google Gmail account you might already be familiar with the option to group emails together by 'conversation'. This is also possible in O365. With this option enabled you will see email 'conversations' in your inbox rather than each individual email.  However, with conversation view enabled it can be harder to search for and locate specific emails as they are displayed grouped by conversation. 

If you prefer to have your messages grouped by conversation:

  • Click on the settings cog symbol, top right. 
  • Select View all Outlook settings.
  • Select Email from the settings menu and then Layout.
  • Scroll down to Message Organisation and select Show email grouped by conversation.
  • You will then be given additional options on how you want to arrange the reading pane. 

                                       

 

 

Q10. How do I access Outlook settings?

 

In your Outlook client application all settings can be configured through the File menu.  Click on File and you will see Account Information which includes links to:

Account Settings

Automatic Replies (Out of office)

Mailbox Settings

Rules and Alerts

For further settings click on Options  (bottom left of the screen). Most of the settings will be found in the Outlook Settings panel which appears. 

In Outlook on the web the settings can be found via the cog icon in the top right of the screen.

 

 

Q11. How do I access the other online applications such as Word and Excel?

 

Your Office 365 account includes access to a wide selection of Office online applications including:

  • Calendar
  • People (Contacts)
  • Word
  • Excel
  • PowerPoint
  • OneDrive
  • OneNote

You can see the full list of applications simply by clicking on the dotted icon in the top left of the screen (highlighted below) at any time when you are logged on to your account online:

 

 

 

Q12. How do I share and edit Calendars?

 

It is possible to share calendars on Office 365 so other users can access them. You can configure permissions to enable users to view only or edit the calendar as required. 

Guidance on sharing calendars on the Outlook client can be found here: Share an Outlook calendar with other people

Guidance on sharing calendars on the Outlook on the web can be found here: Share your calendar in Outlook on the web

 

 

 

Q13. How can we access the new accounts on a mobile device?

 

The Microsoft guide can be found at: Set up Office apps and email on a mobile device

To access your Office 365 mailbox on a mobile device, the Microsoft Outlook mobile app is recommended:

https://apps.apple.com/app/id951937596 for Apple IOS devices.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.outlook for Google Android devices.

The following QR codes may assist in downloading the application from the relevant app stores. Alternatively, just search for “Microsoft Outlook” from within your device's application store.

 

  Apple IOS Store (iPhones)

 

 Google Play Store (Android)

 

 

Further Help

To access the Help option within Office 365 click Help in the top menu and then ? Help in the options which appear. This will open the help panel to the right of your screen where you can search for support content for the issue or question you have. 

Further in depth assistance is also available via https://support.office.com/.

If you have an issue or query concerning your Office 365 account which you can't resolve then please contact our Service Desk.  

 

 

 

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