Download and Install Microsoft Office on a Windows Computer

Overview/Introduction

There are three main steps to installing Microsoft Office on your Windows computer: 

1. Sign-in to www.office.com to download the Office installation files.
2. Install the programs on your computer.
3. Activate Office.

If you should have any issues or questions about this process, contact Ursinus College Tech Support at techsupport@ursinus.edu or 610-409-3789.

Details

1. Sign in to Office.com and download Microsoft Office

   • Go to www.office.com and, if you're not already signed in, select Sign in.
   • Sign in with your Ursinus email address (username@ursinus.edu). Choose “work or school account”. This will take you to the Ursinus login for Office. Now enter your Ursinus username (not full email address, just the username) and then enter your password. You can choose ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the prompt to stay logged in.
   • After signing in, follow the steps below.
     • From the home page select Install Apps (If you've set a different start page, go to aka.ms/office-install.)
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     • Select Microsoft 365 apps to begin the download.
       • The 64-bit version is downloaded by default unless Office detects you already have a 32-bit version of Office installed. In this case, the 32-bit version of Office will be installed instead.
       • To change from a 32-bit version to a 64-bit version or vice versa, you need to uninstall your current version of Office first (including any stand-alone Office apps you have such as Project or Visio). Once the uninstall is complete, sign in again to www.office.com and select Other install options, choose the language and version you want (64 or 32- bit), and then select Install.
     • This completes the download of Office to your device. To complete the installation, follow the prompts in the "Install Office" section below.

2. Install the Office applications on your computer​​​

   • Depending on your browser, select Run (in Microsoft Edge), Setup (in Chrome), or Save File (in Firefox) on the Office Setup tile that has downloaded.
     • If you see the User Account Control prompt that says, "Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?" select Yes.
     • The install begins.
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   • Your installation is finished when you see the phrase, "You're all set! Office is installed now" and an animation plays to show you where to find Office applications on your computer. Select Close.
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3. Activate Office

   • To open an Office app, select the Start button (lower-left corner of your screen) and type the name of an Office app, like Word.
   • To open the app, select its icon in the search results.
   • When the Office app opens, accept the license agreement. Office is now activated and ready to use.