1. What does this portal offer?
   
2. What is Microsoft 365?
   
3. Where can I get this validation key?
   
4. How long is the validation key valid?
   
5. What happens after the validation key has expired?
   
6. Where can I download Microsoft Office?
   
7. Do I need to be online all the time when I use Microsoft 365 Apps?
   
8. I have already created my Microsoft 365 account but forgot my username or password.
   
9. Can I connect my private Microsoft account to my Microsoft 365 account?
   
10. I would like to install Office on another computer.
    
11. Why is my validation key invalid?
    
12. Does my account include the cloud services of Microsoft 365?
    
13. Is this portal compliant with our national data privacy laws?
    
14. We are a school/school administration and are interested in your services.
    
15. We are a college/university and are interested in your services.
    

What does this portal offer?

This portal enables members of a German or Swiss educational organization to acquire Microsoft software very cheaply or even free of charge. You may download and locally install the latest version of Microsoft Office on up to five PCs and/or Macs. In addition, you may download and activate Microsoft Office on up to five mobile devices such as iPads and Android tablets and smartphones.

Technical prerequisite for the installation of Microsoft 365 Apps is Windows 10 or newer, one of the three most recent versions of macOS, iOS 11, Android 6.0, Windows Phone 10 or newer. Microsoft 365 Apps cannot be installed concurrently with other versions of Microsoft Office.

In order to access our portal www.officefuerbildung.de or www.officefuerbildung.ch, you need a code that we call validation key and that identifies you as a member of an eligible school. You can acquire such a key either via a webshop for educational software that your school has authorized for this purpose or a voucher that your school hands out. Some schools enable you to acquire Office and/or Windows free of charge via our portal https://bildung365.de. Please check with your computer center or IT administrator.

You acquire Office not via a DVD but via a personal Microsoft 365 account that we enable you to create yourself in this portal. This account enables you to download, install and activate the Microsoft 365 Apps. Provided your educational organization has agreed to it, you can obtain additionally the cloud services SharePoint Online (including between 10 and 50 GB data storage and sync tool OneDrive).

What is Microsoft 365?

Microsoft 365 is an enterprise cloud solution for document management and synchronization (SharePoint and OneDrive) by Microsoft. In addition, Microsoft 365 offers its users the option to download and locally install the current version of the complete Office package called Microsoft 365 Apps via a web browser on up to ten devices. For each platform (PCs, Macs, iPad, and Android tablets), the Microsoft 365 Apps correspond to the latest version of the full Microsoft Office suite and updates itself automatically to stay current.

From a data privacy perspective, there is a significant difference between a so-called public cloud where access rights, storage location, and availability are not specified or guaranteed in detail, and Microsoft’s enterprise cloud which abides by the stringent data privacy regulations of the EU commission. Public cloud providers are often required by law to search their customers' data for illegal content. By contrast, any content in the Microsoft 365 tenant of your school belongs only to you and cannot be searched by anyone because it is encrypted. You may find more information on Microsoft 365 via this link.

Where can I get this validation key?

You can acquire your validation key for Microsoft 365 Apps either via a web shop for educational software that your school has authorized for this purpose or by a voucher that your school manages and hands out. Please ask your school's computer center or IT administrator.

In case you acquired Microsoft 365 Apps via the Shibboleth portal bildung365.de, you do not need a validation key.

How long is the validation key valid?

Generally, your validation key remains valid for one full year, unless your educational organization prematurely cancels its volume licensing contract with Microsoft or its service contract with us. As long as your validation key is valid, your Microsoft 365 account remains licensed for Microsoft 365 Apps and your local Office installations remain activated, irrespective of your status.

If you acquired your validation key via an educational web shop and prolong it by purchasing a new validation key, the validity period is extended by another full year, calculated from the expiration date of your current validation key. Please note that you must redeem your validation key in the portal www.officefuerbildung.de or www.officefuerbildung.ch, respectively, and you can do so 3 months before the expiry of the current key.

If you have acquired your validation key via a voucher, the validation key remains valid until the expiration date written on the voucher. You can prolong your Microsoft 365 account by acquiring a new voucher. You redeem the new validation key in the portal www.officefuerbildung.de. Please be sure to check the expiration date of the new voucher before you redeem it.

In case you acquired Microsoft 365 Apps via the Shibboleth portal bildung365.de, you don't need your validation key except in very rare circumstances. It enables you to manage your Microsoft 365 account via www.officefuerbildung.de even if you already left school.

What happens after my validation key has expired - why is my validation key invalid?

After the expiration date, Microsoft 365 Apps loose their activation status. Afterwards, you can still read and print your Office documents but no longer edit them. 3 months after the expiration date, we purge your Microsoft 365 account if you have not prolonged it in the meantime. At this point in time, your validation key becomes invalid.

Within this period of 3 months, you can renew your Microsoft 365 subscription by acquiring a new validation key using the same acquisition method as previously. To redeem this new key, you simply sign in to our portal www.officefuerbildung.de or, respectively, www.officefuerbildung.ch with your old validation key and press "Change Account" and then "Prolong Account". As a prerequisite, you still need to be an enrolled member of your educational institution.

In case your Microsoft 365 account has already been purged, you can create a new Microsoft 365 account once you acquired a new validation key. Normally, you can choose the same Microsoft 365 account name as before. If you have activated the Cloud Services, however, we block your account name for another 4 weeks for enhanced security, i.e. 3 months after the expiration of your validation key.

You can find out your Microsoft 365 account name by signing in to www.officefuerbildung.de or, respectively, www.officefuerbildung.ch with your validation key.

Where can I download Microsoft Office?

You are dealing with several web portals:

• You acquire your validation key via your school (e.g. via a voucher) or via the software web shop authorized by your school for this purpose. In case you acquire Office via the Shibboleth portal bildung365.de, your validation key gets created automatically.
• In the web portal www.officefuerbildung.de or www.officefuerbildung.ch you can create your personal Microsoft 365 account. In addition, you can check your Microsoft 365 account data, change your account data, prolong your account for another year. Importantly, you can set your account password anytime in this portal. You only need your validation key for this purpose but not your old password.
• Once you have created your Microsoft 365 account, you can download Microsoft 365 Apps via the Microsoft online portal https://portal.microsoftonline.com any number of times and keep Office activated simultaneously on up to ten devices. The activation process occurs in the background. Your locally installed Office attempts to connect to your Microsoft 365 account from time to time using your stored account credentials. Therefore, no 25-character product key is required.

Do I need to be online all the time when I use Microsoft 365 Apps?

No, you don't. You download Microsoft 365 Apps from the Microsoft Online portal and install it locally. However, the activation of Office does not occur by a static product key but via your active Microsoft 365 account that Office tries to connect to from time to time in the background. To this end, your device (PC, Mac, iPad, and Android tablet) must have an internet connection at least once a month. If Office is unable to connect to your Microsoft 365 account, a warning pops up telling you that only that many days (maximum 30) are left before it loses activation. After that time, you can read and print your Office documents but no longer edit them.

I have already created my Microsoft 365 account but forgot my username or password.

Please log in to the present web site www.officefuerbildung.de or www.officefuerbildung.ch. If you have already created an Microsoft 365 account, you'll see your current Microsoft 365 account data and you may set your Microsoft 365 password by selecting "Change data" and then "Set New Password". You just need your validation key for this purpose.

If you are a student and created your Microsoft 365 account via the Shibboleth Portal bildung365.de, please open this portal and select "Change data" and then "Set New Password".

Subsequently, you can sign in to the Microsoft online portal https://portal.microsoftonline.com with these account data of yours and download Office.

Please note that Microsoft is not responsible for your school's Microsoft 365 tenant and has no access to it. Therefore, they cannot provide any help.

Can I connect my private Microsoft account to my Microsoft 365 account?

A connection in the technical sense is not possible. However, you may use your locally installed Microsoft 365 Apps and store your data locally or in any of your private Cloud accounts. In other words, you may use your private Microsoft account to save your data in the cloud and your Microsoft 365 account to activate your locally installed Microsoft 365 Apps. Here is a brief explanation of the two types of accounts that Microsoft offers.

Microsoft account (previously named Windows Live ID): Microsoft offers a cloud account free of charge to private individuals. It includes OneDrive which allows you to sync up to 5 GB local data with the cloud. You sign up or sign in to this so-called Microsoft account via the link https://login.live.com. When you sign up, you have to specify an account name that is associated with a mailbox. Either you already have such an email account or Microsoft creates one for you. If you are a Windows 8 or Windows 10 user, you probably know that Microsoft suggests you to connect your local computer account with a Microsoft account when you set up your computer. This is very convenient, but by no means necessary and you do not have to create such an account.

Organizational account or Microsoft 365 account: A Microsoft 365 instance (called tenant) is a group of user accounts that are created and managed together by an organization and share a common domain name and common rules. The default domain name is tenant.onmicrosoft.com where tenant is a unique name that can be freely chosen by the organization. Alternatively, an organization may use their own domain name. As a member of this organization, you can create your own personal account within this tenant. You sign in to your account via portal.office.com. This login page contains a big sign "Microsoft 365" in order to discriminate it from a Microsoft account.

You are free to simultaneously use an organizational account and a private Microsoft account. You use the former to download, install and active Microsoft 365 Apps, and you may use the latter to store your Office data or other data. The activation of Microsoft 365 Apps always requires an organization account with valid Office licenses. However, you are free to store your Office data on your local disk and/or in one or several cloud accounts such as Microsoft accounts. Note that an organization can decide to offer its users Microsoft 365 Apps but not the other services in Microsoft 365 such as Email and OneDrive for Business.

I would like to install Office on another computer.

You can download and install Microsoft 365 Apps on up to 10 devices (5 PCs and Macs and 5 mobile devices) simultaneously. Simply sign in to the Microsoft 365 portal https://portal.office.com on each device and follow our step-by-step instructions here.

Please note that Microsoft 365 Apps get activated solely by your Microsoft 365 account name and password and not by a product key. You need the same account data for signing in to the Microsoft 365 portal https://portal.office.com. Your Microsoft 365 account name has the form of name@bwedu.de or name@xyz.onmicrosoft.com and has nothing to do with your private or school email addresses or validation codes. Be careful to access the Microsoft 365 portal by https://portal.office.com and not by https://office.com or https://www.office.com which are entirely different portals.

In case you forgot your Microsoft 365 password, please use your validation key (WWWW-XXXX-YYYY-ZZZZ) to sign in to the Microsoft 365 self-administration portal www.officefuerbildung.de oder www.officefuerbildung.ch and select "Change Account" and then "Set New Password".

What happens after my validation key has expired - why is my validation key invalid?

After the expiration date, Microsoft 365 Apps loose their activation status. Afterwards, you can still read and print your Office documents but no longer edit them. 3 months after the expiration date, we purge your Microsoft 365 account if you have not prolonged it in the meantime. At this point in time, your validation key becomes invalid.

Within this period of 3 months, you can renew your Microsoft 365 subscription by acquiring a new validation key using the same acquisition method as previously. To redeem this new key, you simply sign in to our portal www.officefuerbildung.de or, respectively, www.officefuerbildung.ch with your old validation key and press "Change Account" and then "Prolong Account". As a prerequisite, you still need to be an enrolled member of your educational institution.

In case your Microsoft 365 account has already been purged, you can create a new Microsoft 365 account once you acquired a new validation key. Normally, you can choose the same Microsoft 365 account name as before. If you have activated the Cloud Services, however, we block your account name for another 4 weeks for enhanced security, i.e. 3 months after the expiration of your validation key.

You can find out your Microsoft 365 account name by signing in to www.officefuerbildung.de or, respectively, www.officefuerbildung.ch with your validation key.

Does my account include the cloud services of Microsoft 365?

This depends on your educational organization. If they permit activation of the Cloud Services in their Microsoft 365 tenant, you can activate them by selecting "activate Cloud Services" in this portal. Otherwise, they are not available.

Please be aware that, despite of its form, your Microsoft 365 account name does not represent an email address with a mailbox.

Is this portal compliant with our national data privacy laws?

The very purpose of this portal is to provide members of educational institutions access to Microsoft 365 in a way that strictly complies with German and Swiss data privacy laws. The general layout and data privacy related text on our web portal has been coordinated with the international law firm PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal that specializes particularly in German data privacy laws. The central requirements of these laws for any cloud service are (i) strictly voluntary usage, (ii) detailed privacy-related information, and (iii) users should be in complete control over their data. The present portal obeys all three of these conditions.

In Germany, the situation is complicated by the fact that each of the 16 states has its own data privacy law that applies to all public institutions. This situation will change in May 2018 when the GDPR becomes the overwriting law. Microsoft already fulfills the requirements of GDPR due to obeying the EU model clauses and due to the certifications of their EU data centers.

We are a school/school administration and are interested in your services.

Please contact us at info (at) drvis.de for in-depth information.

We are a college/university and are interested in your services.

Please contact us at info (at) drvis.de for in-depth information.