Publish date: 30 June 2021
Your mailbox upgrade – what you need to do to prepare
This weekend, all staff within Local, Secure and Specialist Learning Disabilities and Corporate divisions will have their work email upgraded to an online ‘cloud’ environment called Exchange Online.
Staff in Community Division and those joining the organisation after 1 May 2021 as part of an acquisition have already been upgraded
The upgrade of your mailbox will enable you to access your emails, calendars and tasks from anywhere, at any time. You will also be able to share calendars with colleagues in different divisions across the Trust.
The upgrade will take place outside core working hours between 8pm on Friday 2 July and 11pm on Sunday 4 July.
Your emails will be temporarily unavailable (including via Outlook Web Access) for a short period during the weekend (not the whole period) while your individual mailbox is upgraded. If you find you can’t access your emails, please keep trying and they will soon be available. Following the upgrade, you will need to use the Outlook app (see guidance below) to access emails on your work mobile device.
To help ensure the upgrade of your mailbox goes as smoothly as possible, there are two things you need to do, before 8.00pm on Friday 2 July. Please follow the steps below.
If you are on leave or unable to completed these actions before the upgrade, please do so as soon as possible.
Install Microsoft Office 365
Having the latest version of Microsoft Office 365 installed on your computer before your mailbox is upgraded will significantly improve your user experience and will enable you to benefit fully from the new features available within Outlook 365.
To check what version of Office is installed on your computer, please visit the Microsoft website. If Microsoft Office 365 is not installed, you can self-install at a convenient time for you, such as at the end of the working day.
Please note that a restart of your computer may be required after installation in order for Microsoft Office shortcuts to be added to your computer desktop.
- Follow step-by-step instructions on how to self-install Microsoft Office 365
- Read guidance on how to sign-in to Microsoft Office 365 for the first time
Install the Outlook app
To access e-mails on your work mobile device you may need to install a new Microsoft Outlook app.
If you are unable to install the above before 8pm on Friday 2 July, you will still be able to access your Microsoft Office applications (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc) as normal. However, you will need to install the Outlook app in order to access your emails on a work mobile device.
To ensure you are benefiting from the latest version of Microsoft Office, please complete the Office 365 self-installation as soon as possible.
If you experience any problems accessing your emails following the upgrade, please follow our step-by-step guide.
Once you have installed the latest version of Microsoft Office 365, you may notice some changes to the layout and settings within your Microsoft Office applications such as Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
Further guidance will be circulated on Monday to help you get started using Microsoft Office 365 and the new features available.
Digital learning resources for Microsoft Office 365 are also available from the ‘Get started’ link in Microsoft Teams or from the NHS Informatics Merseyside website.