Software available to the Columbia University community, for free or at Columbia's negotiated rate
Columbia University maintains a license agreement with Microsoft to distribute several Microsoft products and product upgrades to specific campus groups and organizations.
There are two download paths:
*Given the complexity of the University population, ineligible groups are specified below.
Important notes for MS downloads to personal devices
The following student groups are not eligible for the Microsoft Campus Agreement software:
- Barnard College students
- Teachers College students
- Union Theological Seminary (UTS) students
All Columbia Business School (CBS) students should not use Columbia's Microsoft Software Portal, and should instead visit the Business School student page.
CUIT recommends that you back up all of your important work prior to any new software downloads. Although unlikely, there is always the possibility of data loss while performing a new installation. When updating to a new operating system, back up all your work and installation files. Remember that you will be overwriting your hard drive with a new operating system.
You have 31 days from the day you check out of the download page to download your software. If you do not wish to install the software at the time you download it, you may archive the download for future installation (for instance, onto a flash drive).
You may want to consider purchasing an Extended Access Guarantee from the download vendor, Kivuto Solutions. The Extend Access Guarantee ensures that your download(s) and/or key(s) are protected for 24 months. If you choose not to purchase the Extended Access Guarantee, after 31 days from the day you ordered the product you will no longer have access to your download(s) and/or key(s). If you need to download again, you will be required to pay a retrieval fee to access it again for another 60 days.
For more information, please go to the Help section of the WebStore.
For support, contact Kivuto Services from 6am to 6pm EST (Eastern Time) by phone 1-888-396-1447 or online at http://kivuto.com/contact-us.
Office 365 is not a service provided by CUIT. If you signed up for Office365 directly with Microsoft and you need help with your password, please review Microsoft's page for information. If Office 365 was provided by your school or department, please contact your school or department's IT support.
Eligibility for MS downloads to CU-owned devices
The following CU affiliates are not covered under the Microsoft Campus License Agreement:
- Alumni (including recent graduates)
- Retirees (either Faculty or Staff retirees)
- Visiting Scholars
- Some types of employees, including consultants, contractors, temporary staff, and casual employees, are also not covered
Employees of the following school and departments can download Project and Visio on their Columbia-owned devices:
- Columbia Business School
- Columbia Law School
- Earth Institute
- Facilities
- Arden House
- Campus Operations - Custodial Services
- Campus Operations - Nevis
- Campus Operations - Trade Services
- Capital Project Management
- CUMC Res Properties
- Executive VP Facilities & Operations
- Finance & Administration
- Maintenance & Oper Ldg
- Manhattanville
- Morningside Utilities
- Plant Engineering & Utilities
- Powerhouse
- Public Safety - Morningside
- Real Estate
- Residential Operations
- Space Planning & Management
- Finance
- Executive VP for Finance and IT
- Office of the Controller
- Office of Internal Audit
- Office of the Treasurer
- Office of University Budget
- Office of University Investments
- Procurement Services
- Office of Alumni and Development
- Office of Public Affairs
- EVP Government Community Affairs
- Office of Public Affairs
- Publications and Marketing
- Office of the Senior Executive VP
- Client Services
- Environmental Stewardship
- Senior Executive VP
- President's Office
- Ombuds Office
- Office of the Secretary
- Office of the President
- University Senate
- School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA)
- Science and Technology Ventures
- Columbia Innovation Enterprise
- Science and Technology Ventures
- Student and Administrative Services
- CU Faculty House
- CUIT
- Dining Services
- Health Services - Morningside
- Human Resources
- Printing Services
- Student Services
- University Residence Halls
- Teachers College (eligible for Project only)
CUIT Applications
CU Libraries Applications
Site License Distribution Policies
There are certain policies in place for all licenses procured through CUIT and others that are specific to particular products. The general policies are categorized as follows:
- The licensee is responsible for his or her own installation and setup. You must not install more copies of the software than you pay for.
- Any infringement of the license policies becomes the responsibility of the licensee and not Columbia University.
Site licenses offered by CUIT are available at a discounted price if purchased in bulk.
Software will not be prorated, either by price or by duration.
CUIT provides these licenses as a service to the Columbia community. The licensees are responsible for installation, maintaining hardware and making sure the appropriate operating system is installed.
Only the most current versions will be distributed. CUIT does not maintain older, archived versions of software.