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Category: Office applications

Microsoft 365: Free for students, faculty and staff

Posted on by Cathy Rodriguez

Microsoft 365, an office collaboration suite, is available for free for K-State students, faculty, and staff. It includes tools such as email, calendar, office applications, file storage space, and more. You can access the suite from your desktop, web browser, or phone.

What’s Included?

Microsoft 365 gives you access to a range of apps and services designed to simplify your workflow and spark your creativity. The following are a few of the basic apps:

  • Microsoft Word for creating polished documents.
  • Excel for crunching numbers and analyzing data.
  • PowerPoint to design standout presentations.
  • Outlook for managing your email and calendar.
  • Teams for seamless communication and collaboration.
  • OneDrive for secure file storage and easy sharing.
  • OneNote for organizing information and collaborating with others.

Continue reading “Microsoft 365: Free for students, faculty and staff” →

Install Microsoft 365 Apps for free

Posted on by Cathy Rodriguez

K-State faculty, staff, and students can download Microsoft 365 Apps for free. Apps can be installed on up to five PCs or Macs, five tablets, and five phones. There are both desktop and mobile versions.

Installation instructions

  1. On the App Launcher, click the Microsoft 365 button.
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  2. In the upper-right corner, click the Install and more button.
  3. Click Install Microsoft 365 apps.
  4. Under Office Apps and devices, click Install Office.
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  5. Click Allow to allow downloads.
  6. Open the file that is downloaded to your Downloads folder.
  7. On the Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device page, select Yes to begin installation.

See Microsoft’s instructions to install the apps on your mobile device.

If you have any questions, contact the IT Service Desk:

Microsoft’s Create Platform offers customizable templates for various Microsoft 365 apps

Posted on by Cathy Rodriguez

Microsoft Create offers an extensive variety of templates beyond the default options available within Microsoft’s applications. Whether creating a presentation, planning a project, or working on documentation, the Microsoft Create platform offers professionally designed customizable templates to meet your needs. There are Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Loop templates, and more.

Note: The Designer and Clipchamp apps aren’t currently available at K-State. However, you can access them for free using a personal Microsoft account.

Don’t worry if you don’t have design expertise. Microsoft Create is designed to be user-friendly, allowing you to easily create professional-looking content. Simply explore the templates and get started. Using these templates will not only enhance your levels of efficiency, creativity, and collaboration but also make your work look polished and professional.

If you have any questions about Microsoft Create, submit them to the KSU Teams Support channel.

Take the snooze out of your PowerPoint presentations

Posted on by Cathy Rodriguez

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The design of your slide show can be a snooze fest if you don’t incorporate strategies to make your presentation more visually appealing and the delivery of your talk more engaging. It is easy to create a poorly designed presentation. The following are mistakes that presenters often make:

  • Information Overload: Too much information crammed onto slides.
  • Lack of visual appeal: Generic templates, clip art, and low-quality graphics.
  • Poor Design Choices: Inconsistent fonts, colors, and formatting, along with cluttered layouts
  • Reading from Slides: Presenters who read directly from their slides instead of engaging with the audience contribute to the phenomenon of Death by PowerPoint. This approach fails to add value beyond what is already on the slide.
  • Overuse of Bullet Points: Bullet points can be effective for organizing information, but overusing them leads to text-heavy slides that overwhelm audiences.
  • Lack of Interaction: Presentations that lack opportunities for audience interaction or participation feel one-sided and impersonal.

Use the strategies below to enhance your next presentation and to save your audience from “Death by PowerPoint.” Continue reading “Take the snooze out of your PowerPoint presentations” →

Welcome to Fall 2023!

Posted on by Cathy Rodriguez

Welcome to the fall semester!Explore the free resources and services offered by the Division of Information Technology to kickstart your semester!

  • Get a free copy of Microsoft Office for personal use on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets, and 5 phones. See the installation instructions for Mac, Windows, and mobile devices.
  • Use Microsoft 365 – an office collaboration suite that includes tools such as email, calendar, office applications, file storage space, and more. You can access the suite from your desktop, web browser, or phone.
  • Connect your mobile devices to K-State’s wireless network.
  • Get antivirus – K-Staters connecting their computers to the Kansas State University network can use the approved antivirus software of their choice or choose from the list of recommended software.
  • Use the Qualtrics survey system. Faculty/staff and authorized students can use the Qualtrics Survey System. Qualtrics is a comprehensive survey tool with more than 90 question types, simplified reporting tools, online training modules, a library of surveys to peruse, and more.
  • Use Zoom (video and audio conferencing) to meet virtually.
    Use Zoom to set up an online staff meeting, a training session, a class group meeting, beam in a speaker, and more. See the Using Zoom guide to get started.
  • Remote access to software – Remote access to software in the K-State computer labs allows students to use specialized software and avoid having to purchase themselves. Popular software includes SAS, SPSS, Mathematica, and Matlab. Unfortunately, Adobe Creative Cloud is not available for remote access. To see a list of all software available in the computing labs, visit the Software in the Computing Labs page. To learn how to access the software, visit the Remote Access page.
  • Get IT Help

More IT resources for K-Staters are on the Welcome to IT at K-State website.

Division of IT welcomes you to the spring semester

Posted on by Cathy Rodriguez

The Division of Information Technology provides various resources and services for free. Get your semester off to a good start by checking out a few of them.

  • Get a free copy of Microsoft Office for personal use on up to 5 PCs or Macs, 5 tablets, and 5 phones. See the installation instructions for Mac, Windows, and mobile devices.
  • Use Microsoft 365 on the web – a collaboration suite that includes tools such as email, calendar, office applications, file storage space, Teams, and more. You can access the suite from your desktop, web browser, or phone.
  • Connect your mobile devices to K-State’s wireless network.
  • Get antivirus – K-Staters connecting their computers to the Kansas State University network can use the approved antivirus software of their choice or choose from the list of recommended software.
  • Use K-State’s Qualtrics survey system. Faculty/staff and authorized students can use the Qualtrics Survey System. Qualtrics is a comprehensive survey tool with more than 90 question types, simplified reporting tools, online training modules, a library of surveys to peruse, and more.
  • Use Zoom (video and audio conferencing) to meet virtually.
    Use Zoom to set up an online staff meeting, a training session, a class group meeting, beam in a speaker, and more. See the Using Zoom guide to get started.
  • Remote access to software – Remote access to software in the K-State computer labs allows students to use specialized software and avoid having to purchase themselves. Popular software includes SAS, SPSS, Mathematica, and Matlab. Unfortunately, Adobe Creative Cloud is not available for remote access. To see a list of all software available in the computing labs, visit the Software in the Computing Labs page. To learn how to access the software, visit the Remote Access page.
  • Get IT Help

More IT resources for K-Staters are on the Welcome to IT at K-State website.

Microsoft Office versions set to retire on Oct. 13

Posted on by Cathy Rodriguez

Support for Office 2016 for Mac and Office 2010 for Windows will end on Oct. 13, 2020. Microsoft will no longer provide technical support, bug fixes, or security updates. You can still use these versions, but you may encounter performance or reliability issues over time.

Starting on Oct. 13, 2020, only these versions of Office will be supported for connecting to Office 365 (and Microsoft 365) services:

  • Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise (previously named Office 365 ProPlus)
  • Microsoft 365 Apps for business (previously named Office 365 Business)
  • Office 2019, such as Office Professional Plus 2019
  • Office 2016, such as Office Standard 2016

For more information on related Office client support timelines, see the Microsoft 365 and Office system requirements matrix.

Additional information:

K-State’s Windows Software Update Service

Posted on by Christine Doucette

by Information Technology Services

Make it easy to keep your computer safe with K-State’s Windows Software Update Service (WSUS). You can use WSUS to deploy and manage the distribution of the latest Microsoft product updates to K-State computers running Microsoft Windows. This service is only for K-State owned computers, and will only apply critical/security patches.

A patch is a small piece of software designed to mitigate risks or upgrade/update software. Security patches are designed to patch security holes that cause vulnerabilities within software. It is crucial for K-State’s computers to always be up-to-date on all critical/security patches so we are not vulnerable to malware attacks like the WannaCry ransomware attack that occurred in May.

The focus now is on reducing/eliminating unpatched University-owned systems and unpatched systems using the VPN to tunnel into campus. This will minimize the negative impact if a system is brought onto campus, becomes infected, and spreads the malware. ITS will continue to scan the network and block machines.

To setup WSUS, follow these step-by-step instructions. Setup will only take a couple of minutes.

If you need assistance contact your technical support staff or the IT Help Desk 785-532-7722.

Adobe enterprise license renewed for K-State computers

Posted on by Christine Doucette

by Information Technology Services352abf7e0fcc920003f6348ce1050eb5.iix

Add a little color to your courses or a pop to your presentations with Adobe Creative Cloud! Information Technology Services is continuing the Adobe Enterprise license agreement Aug. 1, 2016 through July 31, 2017. Continue reading “Adobe enterprise license renewed for K-State computers” →

Grad students: More ETDR walk-in clinics this week; less ETDR support on April 22 deadline

Posted on by Betsy Edwards

Limited ETDR support is available on Friday, April 22. Graduate students are encouraged to participate in one of the walk-in clinics scheduled earlier in the week. Here’s the full schedule of ETDR walk-in help clinics the week of April 18-22:

  • Tue, April 19 — 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., 301A Hale Library
  • Wed, April 20 — 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., 301A Hale Library
  • Wed, April 20 — 1-5 p.m., 407 Hale Library
  • Thu, April 21 — 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m., 301A Hale Library
  • Fri, April 22 — 1-5 p.m., 407 Hale Library

Walk-in clinics are the fastest way to get ETDR help and answers.  Although requests for individual, one-on-one meetings can be made via the ETDR Request Form (and may be necessary for distance students), the usual 24- to 48-hour response time may hinder students who need faster answers during the deadline week of April 18-22.

Top resources during ETDR submission deadlines

1. Graduation and ETDR submission checklist (plus deadlines)

2. Convert your ETDR to PDF

3. Select keywords and subject categories (tip: write them down).  See the Guidelines for selecting keywords, and also the List of ProQuest subject categories.

4. Submit your ETDR to K-REx for Graduate School review.  Watch the new 7-minute video of the K-REx submission process.

5. Doctoral students only: Submit your dissertation to ProQuest