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Microsoft Office Resources

Getting software for personal and academic use

  • Faculty, staff, and students with a Stanford Microsoft 365 account can install Microsoft 365 ProPlus on up to five computers (Windows and Mac), five tablets, and five smartphones at no charge. These devices can be personal or Stanford-owned. You’ll need to connect to the internet at least once every 30 days to verify  that your Microsoft 365 license is active.  See the Microsoft 365 ProPlus page for more information.
    Note: Microsoft 365 add-ons are not permitted in the Stanford Microsoft 365 environment.
  • Eligible faculty and staff can purchase Project Professional and Visio Professional for home use purchase at $14.99 fromhttps://hup.microsoft.com.
  • Stanford participates in the Microsoft Imagine Academy. Microsoft Imagine provides students and faculty access to numerous Microsoft developer and design tools, operating systems and more.  The Microsoft Imagine tools are for academic/classroom use only, not administrative use. The Microsoft Imagine Standard software is available from the  Software Licensing web store.

Activating Office 2019 and 2016 Professional Plus for Windows

  • In order for Microsoft Office to activate with the campus licensing server, the computer needs to be connected to the Stanford network locally or through the Stanford VPN during installation. To check whether you can connect to the Stanford licensing server, open a web browser and go  su-kms.stanford.edu.  If you see a welcome screen, your Office installation will activate. If Office does not activate on its own, try running the Office Activation Tool.

    In order for your copy of Office to remain activate it must connect to the Stanford network at least once every 180 days. If you find your copy of Office has become deactivated, make sure you are connected to the Stanford network and run the Office Activation Tool.
  • The Essential Stanford Software installer deploys the 32-bit version of Office for computers running 32-bit and 64-bit editions of Windows. Microsoft recommends the 32-bit version of Office for most people because it's more compatible with most other applications, especially third-party add-ins. You may want to install the 64-bit version of Office if you work with very large Excel spreadsheets (larger than 2 GB). Contact your local IT support if you need the 64-bit version of Office.

Known issues for Office Professional Plus for Windows

  • If you downloaded Office from your Microsoft 365 account, you need to uninstall it before installing Office Professional Plus 2016 using the Windows installer from Essential Stanford Software. To do so, go to Control Panel > Programs and Features and select Microsoft Office Professional Plus. Then click Uninstall.
  • You cannot use the 32-bit version of Office Professional Plus 2016 or 2019 if your computer is running any 64-bit Office programs, including  Visio or Project. Contact your local IT support if you need the 64-bit version of Office.

Training and support

  • The University IT Service Desk provides support for Office products on a "best effort" basis. Assistance with topics such as advanced Excel and PowerPoint operations and mail merge is not provided.
  • Visit the Technology Training website to see current training opportunities (classroom training, one-on-one training, and online courses) for Microsoft Office products.
Last modified March 21, 2024