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Email

Atualizado/Updated: 2026-01-19

PT

Iscte’s email service is supported by the Office 365 platform and is available to the entire academic community.

    • Email access: You can access your institutional email via Outlook Web. Use your Iscte credentials (e.g. xxnes@iscte-iul.pt) to log in.
    • Initial Configuration: The first time you log in, you will need to set the time zone (UTC) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London and the language (Portuguese from Portugal).
    • Email clients: The service is compatible with various email clients, including Outlook for Windows, MacOS and mobile devices.

Warning: SIIC never asks its users to send personal data, such as passwords.

Outlook Web (Outlook on the Web)

Outlook Web is the online version of Microsoft’s email and productivity service, accessible directly through a web browser.

    1. Access outlook online from the https://mail.iscte-iul.pt/.
    2. Enter the Iscte username (e.g. xxnes@iscte-iul.pt) and click “Next“.
    3. Enter your password and click “Sign in“.
    4. On first use, set the time zone by selecting “(UTC) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London“.
    5. On first use, set the language by selecting, for example, “Portuguese (Portugal)“.

Outlook for Windows

Outlook for Windows is the email and productivity application installed locally on the Windows operating system, belonging to the Microsoft 365 suite of tools.

    1. Open the Outlook client for PC.
    2. Enter the Iscte username (e.g. xxnes@iscte-iul.pt) and click “Connect”.
    3. Enter Iscte account password and press “Sign in“.
    4. Click “Done“.
    5. Click “Done“.

Outlook for MacOS

Outlook for macOS is the email and productivity application developed by Microsoft specifically for the macOS operating system.

    1. Open the Outlook client for MacOS X. In case it is a first configuration of a mail account, click “Get Started“.
    2. Go to the “Preferences” menu.
    3. Access “Accounts“.
    4. Click “Add Email Account“.
    5. Enter the user name of the Iscte account (eg., xxnes@iscte-iul.pt) and click “Continue“.
    6. Wait for the end of the mail account setup.
    7. Click “Done” to finish.

MacOS Native Client

The native email client for MacOS, known as Apple Mail, is the email application integrated into the MacOSX operating system.

    1. Go to the “Apple” menu.
    2. Select “System preferences“.
    3. Select “Internet accounts“.
    4. Choose the “Exchange” account type.
    5. Fill in the “Name” and “Email Address” fields and click “Sign in“.
    6. Click “Sign in“.
    7. Enter your Iscte account password and click “Sign in“.
    8. If prompted, enter the code sent by Microsoft via SMS and click “Check“.
    9. Select the apps you want to use with this account and click “OK“.
    10. If you want to change the “Description” and “Name” of the person associated with the Exchange account, click “Details.”
    11. Change the description by writing, e.g. “ISCTE-IUL” and, to finish setting up the account, click “OK“.

Outlook for Smartphones, Tablets e iPods

Outlook for Smartphones is Microsoft’s official mobile email, calendar, and productivity app, available for iOS and Android operating systems.

    • Go to the Playstore, find and install the Outlook client.
    • After installation, sign in using Iscte account credentials: username (eg., xxnes@iscte-iul.pt) and password.
    • Access the AppStore, find and install the Outlook client.
    • After installation, sign in using Iscte account credentials: username (eg., xxnes@iscte-iul.pt) and password.

Email Shared Accounts

Email shared accounts (or shared inboxes/mailboxes) let teams manage communication from a single address (like info@ or support@) using individual logins, improving collaboration, centralizing messages, and making replies appear from the shared address, not a person.

Key benefits include better task management, unified communication, and accountability, with options like Microsoft 365 or Gmail offering built-in features, avoiding risky password sharing.

    1. Sign in to Iscte’s personal mail account.
    2. In the tree folder structure, right-click on “Folders” and choose “Add shared folder.”
    3. Enter the shared account address (e.g., shared_mail@iscte-iul.pt) and click “Add“.The shared account will be available in the folder structure on the left side of the screen, allowing access to the entire message history of that mailbox.
    1. Create a new message.
    2. In the top menu, click on the “…” option and choose “Show From“.
    3. Right-click on the personal address and choose the “Remove” option.
    4. Type the address of the shared account (e.g., shared_mail@iscte-iul.pt)

Email Distribution Lists

A distribution list (or group/contact list) is a single email address that represents multiple recipients, allowing you to send one email to everyone on the list at once, saving time and preventing missed people.

    • Iscte mail distribution lists are created and managed automatically by Fénix.
    • Sending messages to the most comprehensive addresses (alunos@iscte-iul.pt, docentes@iscte-iul.pt, funcionarios@iscte-iul.pt, investigadores@iscte-iul.pt and trabalhadores@iscte-iul.pt) requires authorization from the Rectory.
    • UATAS are authorized to submit to their lists of pupils, teachers and researchers.
    • All messages are subject to moderation.
    • As a rule, send permissions are assigned only to shared accounts of organic services/units.

Outlook Security & Compliance

Outlook integrates a robust set of security and corporate compliance mechanisms designed to protect sensitive data, ensure user privacy, and comply with legal and regulatory requirements in business environments.

These mechanisms operate at multiple layers—identity, device, application, network, and data—ensuring a secure experience in mobile, desktop, and web contexts.

Conditional Access (Microsoft Entra ID) allows organizations to define rules that determine when, where, and how users can access Outlook. These policies ensure that only authorized users and compliant devices can connect to corporate resources.

Key capabilities include:

    • Identity-based controls: restrict access based on user, role, group, or geographic location.
    • Real-time risk assessment: automatically blocks access when suspicious behavior is detected.
    • Device compliance enforcement: only devices enrolled in Intune or meeting security policies may access email.
    • Blocking compromised devices: devices that are outdated, rooted/jailbroken, or flagged with vulnerabilities can be automatically denied access.

Outlook employs several layers of encryption to ensure data confidentiality both in transit and at rest:

    • Encryption in transit (TLS): secures communication between the client (smartphone, PC, or browser) and Microsoft servers.
    • Encryption at rest: emails, attachments, and account data stored in Microsoft datacenters are protected with AES‑256 encryption.
    • Office Message Encryption (OME): allows end-to-end encrypted messages so that only authorized recipients can read them.
    • Support for S/MIME: available for organizations using digital certificates to sign and encrypt messages.

Data Loss Prevention (DLP) is essential for organizations managing sensitive information. Outlook uses DLP policies to identify, monitor, and protect confidential data, preventing accidental or unauthorized disclosure.

Primary features include:

    • Automatic detection of sensitive information: such as identification numbers, financial data, personal information, and confidential documents.
    • User alerts and blocking actions: prevents sending sensitive data to unauthorized recipients.
    • Justification prompts and override options: users may be required to justify exceptions before sending.
    • Full auditing: detailed logging of actions involving data risks or policy violations.

Multifactor Authentication significantly strengthens account security by requiring users to verify their identity through two or more methods:

    • Password + Microsoft Authenticator notification
    • Password + SMS code
    • Password + biometric authentication via smartphone
    • FIDO2 physical security keys (in enterprise scenarios)

Main benefits:

    • Drastically reduces unauthorized access, even if passwords are compromised.
    • Protects against phishing, replay attacks, and logins from unknown devices.
    • Native integration with Outlook Mobile, ensuring strong security without sacrificing usability.

In addition to the mechanisms above, Outlook also includes:

    • Advanced Threat Protection (Microsoft Defender for Office 365):
      • Malicious link scanning (Safe Links)
      • Attachment scanning (Safe Attachments)
      • AI-driven phishing detection
    • Retention and archiving policies: ensure compliance with legal and regulatory requirements.
    • Session control via Microsoft Cloud App Security: real-time session monitoring and anomaly detection.
    • Automatic blocking of non-compliant mobile apps accessing corporate resources.

Archiving and Backing Up Outlook

Managing mailbox size, retaining historical emails, and ensuring data protection are essential tasks for Outlook users. Although both archiving and backing up involve storing email data, they serve different purposes and work in different ways depending on the version of Outlook.

 

Archiving

Archiving is used to store older emails separately from the active mailbox. It helps reduce mailbox size while still keeping old messages accessible.

    • Outlook for Windows allows users to manually move or automatically archive emails into a PST file stored locally.
    • Useful for personal or standalone setups.
    • Emails in PST are not stored on the server (e.g., Exchange or Microsoft 365).

Pros:

✔ Reduces mailbox size
✔ Provides a separate mailbox structure for older emails
✔ Can be moved between computers

Cons:

✘ PST files can become corrupted
✘ Not suitable for corporate environments
✘ Not supported on Outlook for Mac or Outlook Web

For organizational accounts, Microsoft 365 provides a server-based archive mailbox, also called:

    • In-Place Archive
    • Online Archive

Characteristics:

    • Hosted in the cloud
    • Automatically expands as needed (Auto-Expandable Archive)
    • Accessible from Outlook Windows, Outlook Web, and new Outlook for Mac
    • Does not create local files (safer, backed up by Microsoft)

Pros:

✔ Centralized corporate control
✔ Very large capacity (unlimited with auto-expansion)
✔ Accessible on any device where Outlook is logged in
✔ Complies with retention and legal policies

Cons:

✘ Requires a Microsoft 365 license that includes archiving
✘ Not available for consumer Outlook.com accounts

Older Outlook versions offered Auto-Archive, which moves old emails to PST files automatically.
    • Still available but gradually deprecated in enterprise environments.
    • Not recommended in organizations using Microsoft 365.

Notice: Iscte cannot be held responsible for lost emails if they are not archived correctly.

 

Backup

Backing up refers to creating a copy of your mailbox so data can be restored if lost.

You can export all mailbox data into a PST file:

    • Emails
    • Calendar
    • Contacts
    • Tasks

This provides a full backup of your local Outlook data.

File → Open & Export → Import/Export → Export to a File → .PST

Outlook for Mac does not use PST files by default. Instead, it offers:

    • OLM export files (Outlook for Mac Archive File)
    • Contains emails, calendars, contacts
    • Good for migration or local backup

Note: OLM files are not cross‑compatible with Outlook for Windows unless converted.

Outlook Web cannot create a backup directly, because it is only an interface to the server.

Backups depend on:

    • Microsoft 365 cloud retention
    • Admin-controlled policies
    • Export features through eDiscovery (enterprise only)

Outlook mobile stores no local mailbox data, so backups happen on the server side only. All data is retrieved from:

    • Microsoft 365
    • Exchange
    • Outlook.com
    • Gmail, etc.

Server‑Side Backup (Microsoft 365 / Exchange)

For enterprise accounts, the actual backup of email is managed by Microsoft, not by the user:

Microsoft provides:

    • Geo-redundant backups
    • Multiple data center replication
    • Retention policies
    • Litigation hold
    • Mailbox restore capability

Organizations can also configure:

    • Backup with third-party tools (Veeam, Commvault, AvePoint, etc.)
    • Long-term retention
    • Legal/eDiscovery preservation

Learn More...

Content from external sources provided by Microsoft.