Microsoft 365 - Custom Email Addresses in the @wisc.edu Domain

Divisions, departments, and organizations will occasionally have need of an email address in the wisc.edu domain. For example, an interdisciplinary project spanning multiple departments may wish to request an email address representing the project without a tie to any single member organization participating in the project (e.g. project@wisc.edu vs. project@department.wisc.edu).

Topics


Policy

Custom addresses in the @wisc.edu domain are subject to the following conditions:

  • Custom email addresses may be reserved in the @wisc.edu domain for department, organization or division use.
  • Student organizations cannot request custom addresses within @wisc.edu domain. They can request accounts within @rso.wisc.edu domain and can make request alternate addresses in the studentorg.wisc.edu domain.
  • Unit leader approval - chair, director, or dean - is required.
  • The custom@wisc.edu email address is an alternate/alias attached to an Office 365 service account used for role-based work; the custom@wisc.edu address will not be attached to an individual person (NetID@wisc.edu) or resource accounts.
  • The left-hand identifier for the account (before the @wisc.edu) must be tied to the organization, department, or division requesting the account unless the email address is truly a unique, university-level role or program. The address, dean@wisc.edu, is not an acceptable custom address due to a number of individuals in this role at UW-Madison. The address, calsdean@wisc.edu, is an example of an acceptable custom address.
  • All requests for custom email addresses are subject to review and approval by the Office 365 Team/Leadership.
  • Custom email addresses that are a security concern, for example harassment, please escalate to Cybersecurity for review.

Address Limitations

  • The custom address cannot contain any characters/symbols other than the following: a-z 0-9 . -.
  • Minimum of three characters. Maximum of fifty characters.
  • Cannot include consecutive special characters: bucky..badger@wisc.edu.
  • Cannot include symbols on either end: .bucky.badger.@wisc.edu.
  • Cannot be existing NetID account: bbadger.
  • The custom address is not a credential and cannot be used to log into O365 or other campus services.
  • The custom address is only supported to work as an email address with Office 365.
  • @wisc.edu addresses cannot be used as the from address when sending messages via any 3rd party services (e.g. Constant Contact, MailChimp, etc.). It will be marked as spam due to our DMARC/SPF configuration. If you need to send from a 3rd party service, you should choose an address in an Office 365 subdomain that allows sending from mail marketing systems.

Request a Custom Email Address

Review and processing of new custom@wisc.edu address requests may take up to two weeks.

Note: You'll need to have a valid NetID to submit a custom email address request. The request form requires you to validate your NetID before submitting a request by clicking on the "Check NetID" button. If you do not click on the "Check NetID" button, you will not be able to submit a custom email address request.