Email

Your email platform is part of Office 365, where you can also view your meetings, chat conversations, notes and files across your devices. This service also integrates student timetables and shifts for frontline workers. 

The guidance below shows you how to access your University email on a web browser, computer or mobile device and includes a variety of useful FAQs.

Get Connected to Office 365

We do not have a data sharing agreement in place with third party email services such as Gmail etc. Users should therefore not connect their University email account through third party services as this is a breach of the Computing Regulations.​​​​​

From late July 2022, the display name used in email, Teams, SharePoint and other services is going to be updated from the current 'SURNAME Firstname' format to 'Firstname Surname'.

The new format will reflect the way names are displayed in other systems, and will be based on the details held in the staff or student record which you can update online using self-service:

• Students can update their details in EUCLID
• Staff can update their details in People and Money

Office 365 will use the preferred name you set in your own record as the Firstname for the display.

We will also be updating the accounts for meeting rooms (known as Functional accounts) so that they will be unaffected by this change.

Phishing is a serious security threat to the University of Edinburgh.  Phishing attacks target personally identifiable information. If this falls into the wrong hands it can cause both financial and reputational damage to the University and its employees. These attacks are often launched by including malicious links or attachments in an email and start when recipients open these attachments or click links.

Universities are often targeted by phishing attacks that look like official communications about password changes, email quotas, pay/benefits changes, etc. Some are quite convincing and it can be difficult for staff and students to spot these malicious emails.

To help protect against phishing scams, we have added an advisory warning banner on all incoming email messages from external senders.

The banner appears as a horizontal strip of text. It is clearly visible and a constant reminder of the risks associated with clicking links in emails.

The following sample illustrates how the banner appears in email messages:  

Image

Are all messages with the warning banner dangerous?

The warning banner does not automatically mean the email is malicious, only that recipients should exercise caution. Do not click on links or open attachments in messages with which you are unfamiliar. All emails originating from outside the University will be tagged with this message.  

If I reply to the email, will the banner be visible to the recipient?

The banner will be visible unless you choose to manually delete it before you send the reply. An increasing number of Universities and other organisations are using similar banners, so the banner will not necessarily cause offence.

Can I opt out of the warning banner?

No, users may not opt out of the warning banner.

Where can I find advice about dealing with email phishing?

Some phishing emails have an appearance of a trusted sender, so you should always be vigilant. If you're ever unsure, you can do some basic checks yourself.

For example:

• Clicking to expand sender details in the 'From' field  
• Hovering over a web link or copying it into a text file to inspect where the link goes

Our colleagues in InfoSec offer helpful tips and further advice about ways in which you can detect malicious emails:

About Phishing

Automatic forwarding of emails to external email addresses is disabled to protect information security and only internal forwarding is allowed. Note that this does not relate to the ex-staff email forwarding policy.

If you require forwarding of your emails to an external email address, you will need to apply for an exemption via the form at the following link: https://edin.ac/email-forward-request

Your request will then be reviewed by an approver within your College/Support group.

We would, however, normally expect you to be able to add your University email account to your email client(s). This is because all modern clients, including mobile phones, will allow multiple accounts to be consolidated into a single inbox view, giving you the same experience but protecting information security.

When applying for an exemption, you will need to provide a reason as to why this is not possible for you.

Note: If your exemption request is for a functional/shared mailbox account, please specify this in the exemption application.