When you sign up for Microsoft Office Live Small Business, you are asked to provide an existing e-mail address that you will use to sign in to Office Live Small Business each time you want to use it. This will be the primary e-mail address for your account — Office Live Small Business will send any communications to that e-mail address.

 Note:   Before you begin the sign-up process, see the Microsoft Office Live Small Business Worldwide page to learn whether Office Live Small Business is available in the country where you live. To learn which Office Live Small Business features are available in a specific country, click the link for that country.

Sign up for Office Live Small Business

1. On the Office Live Small Business sign-up page, click Get Started Free. A sign-up page appears.

2. If you want to change the country or language of the site, at the top of the page, click change, and then select a new country or language. A sign-up page appears for the country or language that you selected.

3. In the Your e-mail address area, type an e-mail address that you already own, and then click Next.

 Note:   You can use an e-mail address that you use for other Microsoft services, such as MSN Hotmail or MSN Messenger, or you can use any existing e-mail address that you own.

4. If you typed an e-mail address that you already use for other Microsoft services, you are prompted to type the password that is associated with that e-mail address in the Type Your Password box. Then click Sign in.

    Note:    If you forget the password that is associated with your e-mail address, under the Type Your Password box, click Forgot your password?, and follow the instructions to reset your password.

5. If you typed an e-mail address that has not been used for other Microsoft services, in the Enter your password information area, follow the instructions to create a password.

     Notes:  

   • The password is case sensitive, so you must always type your password with the same capitalization that you used when you created it.

   • Providing a secret question and answer is a protective measure to prevent other users from accessing your account or changing your password without your permission. Office Live Small Business uses your secret answer to verify your identity if you forget your password.

   • Your alternate e-mail address is used if you forget your password and request to have password reset instructions sent to you.

6. Click Save and continue.

7. In the Enter your information section, follow the instructions to provide information about yourself and your organization.

     Notes:  

   • Choose a first and last name that you want users to see. The names are used as the display name that appears when you send e-mail from this account.

   • The information that you provide in the Organization name field is used to create your free domain. For example, a coffee company named Fourth Coffee might receive this domain: http://www.fourthcoffee.web.officelive.com.

8. Click Save and continue.

9. In the Match the characters in the picture section, in the Characters box, type the characters that appear on the screen. This requirement helps Office Live Small Business confirm that a person and not an automated program is trying to sign up for an account. It prevents automated programs from misusing our service by sending spam.

 Note:   The characters you type do not have to be case sensitive.

10. Click Save and continue.

11. In the Complete signing up section, review the user agreement, and if you agree, click I accept.

Verify your e-mail address

After you complete the sign-up process for Office Live Small Business, you may be asked to confirm that you are the owner of the e-mail address that you used to sign up. You will receive an e-mail message from the Office Live Small Business team at the e-mail address that you used to create your account. Follow these steps to verify your e-mail address:

1. Check your e-mail Inbox for an e-mail message from the Office Live Small Business team.

 Note:   If the e-mail message does not appear in your Inbox, look in your Junk Mail folder. The message may have been mistakenly delivered to the Junk Mail folder instead of the Inbox.

2. Open the e-mail message, and click the link in the first paragraph to confirm your e-mail address.

3. After you click this link, you are asked to sign in to your Office Live Small Business site again.

Learn about domain names

As part of signing up, you are issued a domain name that is based on the information that you provided. In the example of the coffee company named Fourth Coffee, the domain name might be http://www.fourthcoffee.web.officelive.com. This is your Office Live Small Business domain.

If you want to change this domain name, you should do so before you create e-mail accounts or work on your Web site. That will ensure that the new e-mail accounts and Web site are based on your final domain name.

To change the domain name:

1. On your Office Live Small Business Home page, on the left navigation bar, click Domain Manager.

2. In the Domain name list, click Rename next to the domain name that you want to change.

It may take up to 24 hours before your domain is activated and you can receive e-mail messages and view your public Web site. After your account has been activated, you can start sending e-mail messages and working on your Web site immediately. For information about your account status, sign in to your Office Live Small Business Home page. When your domain is active, an alert message no longer appears on your Home page.