-->

Find the solutions, scenarios, and resources you need to get started with Microsoft 365 for your business or organization.

How-To Guide

Create forms in minutes. Send forms to anyone. See results in real time. Find the right Microsoft 365 Family or Personal plan for all your devices. Includes AI-powered Office apps, 1 TB of cloud storage, and premium mobile features.

Empower remote workers

Get Started

Remote learning with Microsoft Teams

Learn

Build your skills with Microsoft Learn

Quickstart

Get your small business started with Microsoft 365

Microsoft 365 solutions and scenarios

All apps and services

Documentation for all apps and products included in Microsoft 365.

Microsoft 365

Related guidance and resources

Developers

End users

Education IT

Educators

Tech community

ITS highly recommends using the Outlook email client or Outlook Web App (OWA) to access your USC Office 365 email. This page provides links to documentation on how to configure your email client to access Office 365. You can set your email client to access your Office 365 account using either Exchange or Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP) settings.

Exchange Versus IMAP

There are several advantages to setting up your email client to use Exchange rather than IMAP settings. Exchange only requires that you provide your email address and password for set up; IMAP, however, requires additional server information. Exchange also provides direct access to the USC calendar that is a part of your Office 365 account.

If you are using Microsoft Outlook as your email client, you should use the default Exchange connection type. At this time, ITS also supports connecting with other compatible mail clients using the Exchange and IMAP4 with OAuth2 connection methods, although Exchange is highly preferred.

Setting Up an Office 365 Account Using Exchange

For documentation on setting up your Office 365 account on an email client using Exchange, please see the links in the side navigation to the right of this page.

NOTE: The versions of Outlook that are listed below are the only versions that are supported by Microsoft for use with Office 365.

365 Office For Students

Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise
Outlook 2019
Outlook 2016

Setting Up an Office 365 Account Using IMAP and SMTP with OAuth2 Authentication

365 Office Login Portal

Below you will find information on configuring ITS-supported email clients to access your Office 365 account using IMAP and SMTP with OAuth2 authentication. You will need to know your Office 365 email address (based on your USC NetID username), password, and the Office 365 server settings in order to successfully set up your email client. ITS is no longer permitting new accounts to connect with IMAP and SMTP without OAuth2. Existing accounts configured to connect using IMAP and SMTP will need to update their client and client configuration to an OAuth2 compatible client soon as ITS will no longer support basic authentication beginning in early 2021.

IMAP and SMTP with OAuth2 Server Settings

The following are the incoming and outgoing IMAP server settings for Office 365.

The following screenshots provide summary information on how to connect your email client to Office 365 using the Exchange and IMAP/SMTP (non-Outlook email clients) protocol.

Configuring for Exchange

Find the Mail item in the Windows control panel to add or edit your Outlook account profile.
NOTE: Outlook for Mac configuration is similar

Configuring for IMAP/SMTP with OAuth2

Use the following screenshot as guidance for configuring your IMAP/SMTP client with OAuth2. The example is for Thunderbird V78.4.

Getting Help

365 Office Price

For assistance configuring your email client for Office 365, please contact the ITS Customer Support Center.