Teachers and staff members can now take advantage of an improved Microsoft Office 365 experience. To access your account, use your school system-issued email address and password at www.outlook.com/douglas.k12.ga.us .

Your email account will continue to be available, but you now have additional apps that can be accessed by clicking on the app icon at the top left of your screen.

The most commonly used apps may be the calendar and people (contacts) apps. However, you can also access your OneDrive business account from your app menu. OneDrive is unlimited cloud storage for all of your files.

Sharing and collaboration is easy with your online apps. Any files created by clicking on the Word Online, Excel Online, PowerPoint Online, or OneNote Online icons will be stored automatically in your OneDrive, and any changes made to those files will be automatically saved. Another option which gives you more control over how your OneDrive is organized is to open your OneDrive and click on the “New” button. You’ll be able to create a new folder or a new file.

If you need to share a file to collaborate on with others, simply click the “Share” button after creating the file.

Enter the name of the person(s) you’d like to collaborate with, add a personal message, and decide if you’d like for them to be able to edit or just be able to view the document.

When editing a shared file, the owner and each recipient should choose to edit the file using the online version. All changes made in the online apps will be automatically saved.

New apps are continually being created and improved by Microsoft, so your experience as a user will continue to improve and change.

In addition to the online apps, all Douglas County School System employees can download the full version of Microsoft Office on up to five personal devices. The license for this software is valid for as long as you are employed by the school system.

To download the full version of Office onto a personal device, log into your Office 365 account on that device and click on the Office 365 button at the top left of the screen, next to the app icon.

Click the “Install now” button. The entire software package will be installed. If you have any problems with the download, you can click on the “Troubleshoot installation” link.