Guide: How to create user and setup an Outlook 365, a Skype Business and an OneDrive for Business account

As an expansion to my Office 365 DIY Series, I have come up with a step-by-step guide to create or modify a user in Office 365.

There are few ways to create or import users into Office 365, but I would like to opt-in for simplest and easiest method to demonstrate. After adding your custom domain to Office 365, next step receiving an e-mail on your personal e-mail address (e.g. [email protected]) – and trust me I felt like receiving my first ever email.

While adding a user through Office 365 Admin interface, you can add relevant subscription (license) and enable a user to Office 365 services. i.e. Outlook 365 (for email), Skype for Business (for communications) and OneDrive for Business (for storage) at once.

Step by Step Guide to add a new user to Office 365

Here is the easy step by step guide for adding a new user or modifying existing user in Office 365. You can assign appropriate subscription or enable selective Office 365 services for the newly added user (or revoke subscription).

1. Login to your Office 365 admin console, Office 365 Login  . You must use global administrator user for this purpose.Office 365 Admin Login Page
2. After a successful login, it would land you to admin dashboard page. Locate the Users Box; you would find few options to manage your users. i.e. Add a user, Delete a user, Edit a User and Reset a password. Now, click on Add a user button.Office 365 Admin Dashboard
3. A from New user would load on the page. Fill all mandatory fields, contact information and other personal information.New user form
4. Make sure you select the correct domain for a user (we would discuss in following article about alias mailboxes – a single mailbox for the same user with many domains, i.e. [email protected], [email protected]).Select domain for a new user.
5. Auto-generate password or create a first-time password for a new user (auto-generate is a best practice), make sure that you tick the box that enforces the user to change their first password when they first sign in. It is important for compliance and security reasons.Create a password for a new user.
6. Select an appropriate role for the user; global administrator has complete access to everything including payments. Be careful while applying privileges to users.Ideally, everyone should be User by default, and any elevation (in privileges) should be subject to your organisational needs and team productivity. Maintaining minimal privileges for users is the best security practice.Select a role for a new user.
7. Assign appropriate licenses and subscription.Assign appropriate license to a new user.
8. Review populated fields and when ready click the button Add. This should add a user otherwise fail, errors would be displayed on the screen and you need to act appropriately.
9. Once successfully created, you can verify by reloading an active user list.Active users list.

The same process can be used to modify user information, revoke or add licenses.

There are few other ways to create users. You can create user programmatically or import (for bulk creation). We would discuss bulk user creation down the line in the Office 365 DIY series.