Quick Links
1. Introduction
Under the Microsoft Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES) agreement signed between the University and Microsoft, each University student can download and install Microsoft Office ProPlus (Office 365 ProPlus) on up to 5 machines being PC or Mac as well as Office Mobile on up to 5 mobile devices without additional cost.
For details on the Office 365 Pro Plus products offered and the supported platforms, please refer to here.
2. Incompatibility between Locally Installed Products and Office 365 ProPlus
Users may see the following error if their PCs/Macs are installed with other locally installed Microsoft products (e.g. via a CD/DVD media) when they try installing O365 ProPlus on the same machines. They will not be able to proceed the installation of O365 ProPlus unless they uninstalled the locally installed Microsoft products.
3. Microsft Office Installation Guide
IMPORANT: Before installation, please make sure you have uninstalled all trial or earlier versions of Microsoft Office on your personal devices. And before you uninstall an earlier version of Office, you may want to find the product key and installation media that came with it in case you would like to reinstall it at a later point.
If there are problems uninstalling the earlier version of Office, use the appropriate Fix it at here to remove Office from the PC: How to uninstall Office 2003, Office 2007 or Office 2010 suites if you cannot uninstall it from Control Panel.
3.1 Login to Microsoft Office 365 website
- Please go to Microsoft login page to access the Microsoft Office 365 login page.
- Enter your username (in format of HKUPortalUID@connect.hku.hk) and you will be redirected to another designated login page, Microsoft Office 365 for Students.
- Enter your HKU Portal PIN in the password field and then click “Sign in”.
NOTE: Your HKU Portal UID/PIN are used to authenticate the use of this Microsoft service. Whenever your HKU Portal UID/PIN is changed, you will be required to use your newly effected HKU Portal UID/PIN to login and use the Microsoft service.
3.2 Windows 8 / Windows 10
- Refer to section 3.1, login to the MS Office 365 website.
- On the front page, click the button “Install Office 2016”.
- Click “Run” in the dialogue box.
- You will see a reminder message about compatibility issue of Outlook 2016/Exchange 2007, you can proceed to install Outlook 2016 if you do not use an Exchange 2007 mailbox.
- The installation will begin.
- Click the “Close” button to complete the installation.
- Each student can have 5 active installations of Microsoft Office on his/her desktop/notebook/mobile devices if the operating systems or mobile versions are supported by Microsoft. Microsoft will keep track of the number of installation under your Microsoft account.
- Each Office 365 ProPlus license allows a user to install Office on up to five computers. The user manages installations in the Office 365 portal via
- If the user decides to install Office 365 ProPlus on a sixth computer, she will need to deactivate one of the first five. Office 365 ProPlus goes into reduced functionality mode on the deactivated computer.






3.4 Android
- You can download and install the Microsoft Office mobile apps from the Google Play Store.
- Search the app through Google play store and click “INSTALL” to start the installation.
- Swipe through the introduction, and tap “Sign In” before you can use the app.


3.5 iOS
- You can download and install the Microsoft Office mobile apps from the Google Play Store.
- Search the app through Google play store and click “INSTALL” to start the installation.
- Swipe through the introduction, and tap “Sign In” before you can use the app.
- On the next “Sign in” screen, enter your Office 365 user ID (HKUPortalUID@connect.hku.hk) and click “Next”.
- On the next “Sign in” screen, enter your HKU Portal PIN and click “Sign in”.
- After successful sign in, you will be brought to your Microsoft 365 account profile.
- After installation, you can choose to start using the installed Office app or download other Office apps.








3.6 Installation and Use of OneDrive
OneDrive for Business is a public cloud storage offered by Microsoft. Students are advised not to store or share any personal or sensitive data on OneDrive. |
3.6.1 Installation and Setup Procedure for Microsoft OneDrive on Android Devices for Students
3.6.2 Installation and Setup Procedure for Microsoft OneDrive on iOS Devices for Students
3.6.3 Setup Procedure and Use of Microsoft OneDrive on Windows 8 / Windows 10 for Students
4. Office 365 Account Settings
4.1 Change the display language
- Click the Settings
button > “Office 365”.
- Select “Settings” from the left pane and click Language.
- Select the preferred display language from the drop down menu and click “Save: button.


5. Registering the computer and activating Office 365 ProPlus
Data | Description | Purpose |
---|---|---|
OrgId user identity | The OrgId ticket generated when the user signs in to Office 365. | Used to authenticate the call with the Office Licensing Service. The user signs in to their subscription account to retrieve a license for Office 365. |
Machine Key | The serial number of the Office 365 ProPlus product key for the computer. | Used to uniquely identify the Office 365 ProPlus product key used by the computer. |
Machine Name | The friendly name of the computer, as set by the user in the operating system. For example, if the full name of a computer is “computer1.contoso.com,” only “computer1” is sent to Office 365. | This value is needed so users can identify which computers they have activated Office 365 ProPlus on when they sign in to the Office 365 portal. On the software page, they see a list of their computers and can manage their Office 365 ProPlus installations. |
Machine ID | The hardware ID of the computer. | Used to uniquely identify that computer. |
6. Checking the status of the Office 365 subscription
Data | Description | Purpose |
---|---|---|
Machine Key | The serial number of the Office 365 ProPlus product key for the computer. | Used to uniquely identify the Office 365 ProPlus product key used by the computer. |
7. Managing product keys for Office 365 ProPlus
Office 365 ProPlus uses a standard Microsoft technology called Activation & Validation Service to activate and validate keys. Since Office 365 product keys need to be renewed every month, communication with the Activation & Validation Service is necessary on a monthly basis.
For up-to-date information on Microsoft’s data processing practices, please review the Microsoft Privacy Statement.
In reduced functionality mode, Office 365 ProPlus remains installed on the computer, but users can only view and print their documents. All features for editing or creating new documents are disabled, and the user sees a message like the following:
The user can then choose one of the available options to reactivate Office 365 ProPlus on that computer.
9. Product Deactivation
After graduation, students’ right to use Office 365 will be changed which means they can continue using Office Online but not the desktop version of Office. They can continue accessing Microsoft OneDrive without interruption.