Create a Free Microsoft 365 E5 Trial Account (Optional)

Quick reference

• 00:04 It is entirely possible that we might have multiple
• 00:07 accounts when we're working in Microsoft 365.
• 00:10 For example, I have a business account that I use for work and
• 00:14 a personal account that I use for everything else.
• 00:17 And as we've already seen in previous lessons, we can click on our profile photo
• 00:22 in the top right hand corner to not only see which account we are signed in as, but
• 00:27 also to switch between our different accounts.
• 00:30 It's a simple case of selecting the alternative account from the drop down,
• 00:35 typing in a password and clicking on OK to switch to that account.
• 00:39 Now, it's worth noting that the applications and the services that you
• 00:43 have access to when you switch to another account might be different.
• 00:46 As we already know, we don't get as many features when we're using a personal
• 00:51 account compared to when we're using a business account.
• 00:54 So just be aware that there will be some differences if you have different
• 00:57 account types.
• 00:58 Now in this course, we're going to be switching between different applications.
• 01:03 We're going to be creating files, we're going to be communicating via
• 01:07 Microsoft Teams, and creating sites in SharePoint.
• 01:11 Now if you're going to work through this course using the account that you use for
• 01:16 work, that might cause some problems.
• 01:18 You might not necessarily want to be creating all of these training files and
• 01:22 test files in the same account that you use for work or
• 01:26 even your personal account.
• 01:28 Now, we've already seen one option, and
• 01:30 that is to create a free outlook.com email account.
• 01:33 This will give you access to some of the basic applications and services.
• 01:38 But it won't give you access to things like a fully featured Microsoft Teams,
• 01:42 SharePoint, or Exchange Server.
• 01:44 And we are going to be utilizing some of these applications as we go through this
• 01:49 course.
• 01:50 Now if you're happy to stick with your free Outlook account and
• 01:52 follow along as best you can, that is absolutely fine.
• 01:55 However, if you would like a more realistic experience and
• 01:59 be able to practice some of the more advanced features,
• 02:02 then you might want to consider setting up a trial sandbox account.
• 02:07 And what a sandbox is, is basically a simulation of the real world.
• 02:11 A sandbox account comes loaded with sample data.
• 02:14 So we have 16 fictitious users with fictitious email addresses.
• 02:20 We have Outlook emails already populated into the account so we can work with them.
• 02:25 We also have teams already set up in Microsoft Teams.
• 02:29 So this is a great way of getting a realistic environment without having to
• 02:33 effectively mess up your live working environment.
• 02:36 And I just want to reiterate, this lesson is entirely optional,
• 02:40 but if that is something that you do want to do,
• 02:43 then let's take a look at how you'd go about doing this.
• 02:46 Now you can set up a trial tenant and
• 02:49 sandbox sample data in the Developer Program area of Microsoft 365.
• 02:54 So if you type into Google Developer Program sandbox,
• 02:57 it will take you to the correct page where you can set up your sandbox trial account.
• 03:02 And we have two choices.
• 03:03 We can set up an instant sandbox, that's the one that comes with all of the users
• 03:08 and sample data, or we can configure our own sandbox.
• 03:12 Now, just for ease of use, we're going to use the Instant sandbox, and it is
• 03:16 literally a case of selecting it, clicking on Next, and walking through the process.
• 03:21 I can't show you the entire process because I already have my sandbox account
• 03:25 created and I can't do it again.
• 03:27 But it is very straightforward just to follow through the wizard.
• 03:30 Now, note, you will be asked to enter in your credit card details because this is
• 03:34 a subscription service.
• 03:36 So just bear that in mind as you're going through.
• 03:39 And you can then make the decision as to if you want to create this sandbox
• 03:42 account or not.
• 03:44 If you do choose to proceed, once you've set it up,
• 03:46 if you go into your admin settings,
• 03:48 you're going to be able to see all of those fake users attached to your tenant.
• 03:53 You'll be able to send emails to these users.
• 03:56 You'll be able to app mention them in applications like Teams and SharePoint.
• 04:00 You can co-author with them in Word documents.
• 04:03 And if you open up Microsoft Teams,
• 04:05 you'll see that we already have teams populated and ready to go.
• 04:10 So creating a sandbox account is a really quick way of getting
• 04:15 a realistic environment in which you can practice your Microsoft 365 skills.

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