Penn State Email

Many of you probably don't go to your physical mailbox to receive important messages anymore. Most of you do your important communication in digital form, through texts, email, messaging apps, and social media.

Your official Penn State email account is a vital part of your Penn State World Campus communication strategy. This is where you will receive communications from your adviser and instructors and where notifications from University offices will be sent. Be sure you set up your email and check it often so that you don't miss important deadlines like enrolling for next semester's courses.

Note: your official Penn State email is different from the inbox found in Canvas. While the Canvas inbox can be used to communicate with your instructor or your classmates in a given course, communications from the rest of the University (for example financial aid notifications or the World Campus Newsletter) will only be found in your official email in Outlook.

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Figure 2.15. Screenshot of PSU email

All official University communication will be directed here. Because of this, it's important that you check your email often. At the very least, you should check your account daily to make sure that you stay current on all of your communications.

Office 365

Your official Penn state email can be accessed in the Outlook application in the Office 365 (O365) suite. You can access this suite of Office tools on the Penn State O365 site Links to an external site.. Depending on your preference, you can either use O365 applications from your browser or install them on your computer. Instructions on how to install these applications, should you choose, as well as training on how to use them, can be found at the O365 Training page.

Try It Out

So how do you set up and use this important tool? The good news is that since you're here in Orientation, you've already finished the steps to create your Penn State Access Account Links to an external site.. You will need access to your Penn State email to complete an activity in this module. Now it's time to try accessing your email:

  1. Access Penn State's O365 login page Links to an external site..
  2. Bookmark the page. (Not sure how to bookmark the page? Review the How do I create an Internet bookmark? page.)
  3. Log in and check your mail. If you're using Outlook.com, the first time you access your email, you'll need to add your email account to the Outlook application. View instructions for adding your email account to Outlook Links to an external site..

That's it. You're done! While that may have seemed simple, it's one of the most important steps to making sure that you're always informed about what's going on in your classes and with World Campus at large.

Help and Additional Information

As we mentioned before, you can always visit the Penn State Office 365 website Links to an external site. for additional information about O365, training guides, and help and support resources.

You can also contact the Penn State IT Service Desk Links to an external site. for individual assistance.