Email - Setup and Access on Desktops and Laptops

email setup laptop desktop

Summary

Please note: Incoming staff and students (new employees or students) will not have access to the Microsoft Office suite until their official start date (employee), or the start of their first semester (student). Until then, you can access your KU email via the Outlook Web App, which is linked in the panel below.

Supported Clients:

Windows: Office 365, or newer
- Please note, Windows Mail & Office 2019 is no longer supported.
Mac: Office 365, or newer, Mac Mail
- Please note Office 2019 is no longer support.

Mac Mail

This article is for the configuration of the macOS Mail app, and assumes that you have not yet set up an email account in the application.

The following instructions step through the process of configuring your Office 365 Exchange Online Account with Apple Mail for MacOS 10.14 or higher. KU email accounts require Modern Authentication support, which is not available on older versions of macOS.

Open the Mail app.
Select Microsoft Exchange and click Continue.
Enter the following information and click Sign In.
- Name: Your name
- Email Address: primaryEmail@ku.edu
Click Sign In.
Login to the KU SSO with your KU Online ID and password.
Select the aspects of your account that you would like synced with the Mail app and click Done.
If you experience any issues during this setup process, please continue below to the Manual Configuration steps.

Manual Configuration

Click the Apple menu in the upper left corner of the menu bar.
Select System Settings.
Select Internet Accounts.
Click Add Account.
Click Microsoft Exchange.
Enter your name as you want it to appear on sent messages.
Enter your email address as primaryEmail@ku.edu.
Select Sign In when presented with a prompt that asks if you'd like to sign in to your account using Microsoft.
Enter your KU online ID and password at the KU SSO screen and click Login.
- If you are active faculty or staff, you will be prompted to authenticate via Duo. This is the only time your email will require Duo authentication.
Select the items that you want to sync with via your Mac, be sure to select Mail to access your email through the Mail app, then click Done.

It may take a few minutes for the application to fully download and sync your email to your computer.

Outlook - Mac

Instructions on how to download Microsoft Office from KU can be found in the related articles section. These instructions were written for Outlook on macOS 14.4.1 (Sonoma).

Once opened the Outlook app will prompt you add an account.
- If you have other accounts set up in Outlook:
  - Click the plus (+) icon in the upper-left corner, then select Add Email Account and continue from Step 2.
Enter your email address primaryEmail@ ku.edu and click Continue. Outlook will take a moment before proceeding to the next step, at which point a KU single sign-on (SSO) box will open over Outlook.
Enter your KU Online ID and password at the KU SSO screen, and click Login.
- If you are active faculty or staff, you will be prompted to authenticate via Duo. This is the only time your email will require Duo authentication.

You can now access the email account in Outlook, though it may take a few minutes for the account to sync and fully download your messages.

Outlook - Web App

You can access your KU email in any browser — either desktop or mobile — by logging in to your KU account via the Outlook Web App (OWA).

Go to https://outlook.office365.com in your browser; this will take you to the Outlook Web App. The URL https://outlook.office.com will go to the same page.
- You can also access this page by going to the KU website, click on the Menu option along the left of the screen, then click the Email link at the top of the screen.
Enter your KU email address when prompted by a Microsoft screen. The email address must contain the @ku.edu portion of the address. Microsoft will display an alert that you're being taken to your organization's sign-in page.
Enter your KU Online ID and password. Here you will use your Online ID, not your email address.
Choose if you want the browser to keep you signed in. If you don't want to be prompted with this question each time you sign in, select Don't show this again before selecting Yes or No.

You will be taken to your KU inbox after selecting if you want to stay signed in. OWA allows you to view and manage your KU email, calendar, and contacts.

Outlook - Windows

This article is for the configuration of as included in Office 365 when setting up an email address for the first time. While the screenshots reference Windows 10, the process is the same for other versions of Windows, though the specific visuals may vary.

Open Outlook on your computer.
When prompted to enter an email address, enter your email address as primaryEmail@ku.edu.
- If you have already set up an email address in Outlook and want to set up your KU email as a secondary email address, you can access this by going to File > Account Settings > Account Settings and clicking the New button on the Email tab.

Click Connect.
One of two things will occur at this stage:
1. You will be presented with a KU single sign-on (SSO) screen. If this is the case, enter your KU online ID and password at the SSO screen and click Login. If you are active faculty or staff, you will need to authenticate with Duo. This will be the only time email requires Duo authentication.
2. If you are logged in to Microsoft Office or the computer with your KU credentials, Outlook may pull your data automatically and not require further action on your part to access your email.

Your KU account will now be accessible via Outlook. It may take a few minutes for all of your information to sync from the Exchange server to Outlook.

Article Changelog

1/24/2026

Article updated to basic visual standard.

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