Alumni Email FAQs

Questions: email@alumni.caltech.edu

Account Management


Your email address is:
username@alumni.caltech.edu

To log in to Office 365:

  1. Go to https://outlook.office365.com
  2. Enter your username – username@alumni.caltech.onmicrosoft.com (please note that this address with this domain name is used only for the log in)

Q. My log in is not being recognized. What should I do? ‍

A. Please make sure you are using the username@alumni.caltech.onmicrosoft.com format of your address as the username. Also, especially for the initial log in to set up the account, use a private browser window. Recommended are Safari, Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge.

Q. I am setting up my new account. What are the password requirements?

A. Passwords cannot contain your userID, the word “alumni” or the word “Caltech,” must be 8-16 characters long, and include at least 3 of the following:

Uppercase
Lowercase
Numbers
Symbols


Q. How do I reset the password?

  1. To generate a new password, go to: http://outlook.office365.com.
  2. Enter username@alumni.caltech.onmicrosoft.com for the username (this domain name is used only for the log in; your alumni email address is username@alumni.caltech.edu).
  3. After clicking on "Next," click "Forgot my password" on the next page.
  4. The following page will be titled "Get back into your account."
  5. Your user ID will be pre-populated with username@alumni.caltech.onmicrosoft.com.
  6. After entering the security characters, and clicking "Next," the next page will provide several options for ways to be contacted to start the verification process for getting a new password.

Q. How do I change my authentication settings?

A. Instructions are at the following link: Change authentication settings

Q. How do I set up an email forward?

  1. After logging in, click the gear icon in the upper right corner
  2. Click “View all Outlook settings” located at the bottom of the pop up window
  3. Make sure “Mail” is highlighted in the left hand column of menu items
  4. In the column to the right of the “Settings” column, click on “Rules”
  5. Click “Add new rule”
  6. Click “Name your rule”
  7. Under “Add a condition,” click “Apply to all messages” at bottom of drop down menu
  8. Under “Add an action,” click on “forward to” and add the email address to which emails are to be forwarded
  9. Click Save

Q. How do I change the settings for which emails go to my Junk folder?

A.

  1. Go to the gear icon on the top right corner of your Microsoft Office 365 inbox.
  2. In the search field, type “block.”
  3. “Block senders and domains” will pop up. After clicking on it, a window with Junk email filter options will appear.

Q. How do I change or correct my display name?

A. Call the Alumni Association at 626.395.6592 or send an email to email @ alumni.caltech.edu with the update.

Q. What are the maximum size limits for Office 365?

A. Individual mailboxes include 50GB of storage and individual emails with attachments can be up to 25MB in size.

Q. Will I have access to the entire Office 365 suite?‍

A. Caltech is only able to offer the Office 365 email, calendar and contacts.

Q. Why did Caltech choose Office 365?‍

A. Caltech conducted an extensive evaluation process based upon our specific needs. Office 365 was the closest match for Caltech's requirements and offered the best security and privacy features (FERPA, HIPAA, no data mining, no advertising, U.S. hosted data only, etc.)

Office 365 Features Include:

  • Easily manage your email with 50GB mailboxes and send messages up to 25MB in size.
  • Work from almost anywhere with automatically updated email, calendar, and  contacts across the devices you use most, including PCs, Macs,  iPhones/iPads, Androids, and Windows Phones.
  • Configure other email clients to access your Office 365 Exchange email, such as  Apple Mail, Outlook 2016 for Mac, Thunderbird and others.
  • Access your email, calendar, and contacts from nearly any web browser with the Outlook Web App.

New Grads

Q. When will the content transfer from my student account to my alumni account?

A.  Starting the summer after graduation, IMSS will send periodic emails with updates about the student account termination process, including the timing of the content migration which has typically taken place in the Fall. Content will be migrated as long as the alumni account has been logged into by October 1 the year of graduation. The process is outlined on the following page: http://www.imss.caltech.edu/services/accounts-passwords-access/account-termination/graduating-students

Request Alumni Account

To enhance communications and strengthen our alumni network of now 24,000 strong, we are pleased to be able to offer all alumni a lifetime email address!

Please note that accounts are available upon request to applicants who were in a degree program or postdocs at Caltech.

To get an account, please fill in and submit the below form. You can also access the form here. A new account will take one to two weeks to set up.

Acceptable Use Policy

View the policy here.