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Welcome to the new SFU Mail: now faster, secure, intuitive

Kailash Srinivasan

August 30, 2024

SFU IT is pleased to share that the migration of over 50,000 accounts to Exchange Online (EXO) has been successfully completed. This upgrade of our mail system will provide SFU faculty, staff, and students with advanced collaboration tools to better support the working, learning and teaching environment at SFU.

The transition is a major milestone in our digital transformation journey and will enhance the academic, research, and administrative needs of the university. EXO offers  improved IT security, user experience, and provides seamless access to Microsoft 365 apps such as OneDrive, Teams, and SharePoint. which are already in use across the university.  

The move, in line with What's Next: The SFU Strategy and the SFU IT Plan began in September 2023, and was completed much ahead of schedule in July 2024, following extensive planning and a phased implementation in partnership with Microsoft. 

Key features of the new SFU Mail include:

An Organized and Focused Inbox

  • Stay on top of your inbox with the optional ‘focused’ feature that sorts your emails into two tabs - Focused and Other - so you can tackle important messages first, helping you organize and prioritize important emails.

  • Schedule emails to be sent at different times, ensuring your messages reach recipients at the right moment.

  • Quickly find what you need with improved search functionality.

Enhanced Security

  • With the ability to easily report suspicious emails, you can do your part to improve cybersecurity and keep your information safe. 

Seamless Collaboration

  • Access and share files from OneDrive, SharePoint and Teams directly from your email, for improved workflow.

  • Take advantage of enhanced scheduling capabilities with features like time zone selection and scheduling polls within your calendar.

Outlook and Teams Integration

  • Enjoy the convenience of creating Microsoft Teams meeting links right within Outlook while setting up calendar events or meetings.

  • You also have the option to allow your Teams status to automatically sync with your Outlook calendar events, keeping your availability status up-to-date across platforms.

  • Directly access and manage your SFU Mail calendar from Teams.

Improved Efficiency

  • Write emails faster with text predictions and quick replies feature.

  • Preview attachments and videos without having to download them.

The transition to EXO reflects SFU IT's commitment to modernizing IT systems and infrastructure to improve agility and responsiveness to technological advancements and meet the evolving needs of the community. 

EXO offers many other benefits. To learn more, visit the SFU Mail webpage. You can also let us know of your experience with EXO by giving us your feedback.