#InsideIT

In the office, working remotely, or enjoying some vacation time? Make it easy for colleagues to know your availability by setting your Microsoft Teams status, turning on Outlook automatic replies, or using Gmail’s vacation responder. A few quick updates keep the KAUST community connected and help avoid those “Are you around?” messages.

Copilot Chat is now live in the Microsoft 365 portal for the KAUST Community. Explore how this AI-powered assistant can help streamline your work, while remembering to use caution when sharing sensitive or confidential information and carefully review any AI-generated outputs.

It is tempting to add shortcuts from SharePoint libraries into OneDrive to keep everything in one place. It looks convenient, but it often creates problems with the OneDrive desktop app.

Third-party apps can improve productivity, but they also introduce risk if they capture meeting audio, messages, calendar data, or files.

Microsoft announced earlier this year that Project for the Web and the Project and Roadmap apps in Teams will be retired in August 2025. While the news has been out for a while, we want to make sure the KAUST community is fully aware of what is changing and how to prepare.

Stop rebuilding your slides every time. Save your design as a reusable template and start new presentations with a polished foundation.

Protecting personal data is everyone’s responsibility at KAUST. The IT Department and the Data Privacy Office are partnering to help you create secure, compliant forms and processes, using tools like Microsoft Forms, Formstack, and Google Forms. Learn how small steps, from clear consent captures to secure deletion, make a big difference in safeguarding trust across our community.

Did you know your Outlook meeting invites can do much more than set a date and time? From hiding attendee lists to blocking forwarding, adding polls, and even using live Loop components, Outlook gives you powerful tools to make meetings more private, secure, and collaborative. Explore these features and learn how to get more out of every invite.

OneDrive at KAUST is more than cloud storage. Learn how to use it as your personal workspace, collaborate securely, and take advantage of new features like automatic saving, PDF tools, and cross-device editing.

That “free” note-taking app or shiny scheduling assistant may look helpful, but the hidden cost could be your KAUST data. Before you click “Sign Up,” see why checking with IT first keeps your work secure and discover the safer tools you already have.

Trying to connect a third-party app to Microsoft 365? Only KAUST IT can approve new integrations. This protects your data, ensures compliance, and avoids duplicate tools. Most needs are already covered by KAUST services. If you think you need something new, submit a request through VITA or call the IT Service Desk.

At KAUST, we have several digital tools that make scheduling, collaboration, and community engagement easier. Two that often come up are Microsoft Bookings and Webex Events. While both help people connect, they serve different purposes.

Kick off the new academic year with our Getting Started Guides for students, faculty, and staff. Stay updated with IT News, check IT Alerts for maintenance updates, and remember you can always get help from VITA, your Virtual IT Assistant!

Microsoft Lists is already included in your Microsoft 365 subscription, and it’s transforming how the KAUST community organizes research, tracks academic projects, and streamlines administrative work. With structured fields, multiple view options, and deep integration into Teams, Power Automate, and Power BI, it’s a smarter way to manage information.

Microsoft has redesigned the Microsoft 365 landing page, now featuring Copilot front and center. Learn the differences between Standard Copilot, Copilot Pro, Copilot Chat, and the upcoming Copilot 365 at KAUST, and understand when it is safe to use each one.

Discover how the Cisco AI Assistant, built directly into Webex and included in your KAUST license, can help you stay focused, save time, and get more from your meetings and collaborations.

Need a website for your department, conference, or research project? Sitefinity makes it easy to build and manage your own KAUST-branded site, no tech skills required. Learn what’s possible and how to get started.

Planning to upgrade your Mac device? Remember, Apple’s M-chip no longer supports Windows. Discover how to smoothly transition, stay secure, and keep your device up to date.

Is syncing your files feeling more complicated than it should? This quick, friendly guide clarifies everything you need to know about OneDrive and SharePoint at KAUST, making collaboration seamless.

Juggling tasks across email, meetings, and memory? Discover how KAUST teams are using Planner, To Do, and Approvals in Microsoft Teams to simplify project coordination, stay organized, and get more done, all in one place.

Tired of email attachments and file confusion? Learn how Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint are making file sharing at KAUST faster, safer, and more collaborative. This article walks through real examples of how teams across campus are simplifying their work with one shared space.

Discover how Microsoft Teams Channels and Chats are helping the KAUST community stay organized, collaborate more effectively, and reduce email overload. Whether you’re teaching, researching, or running operations, this article shows how Teams keeps everyone connected in one place.

Simplify your day at KAUST with three essential apps: streamline HR tasks with Success Factors, effortlessly manage travel expenses with Concur, and easily access departmental services through Business Apps. Your productivity boost is just a tap away!

The KAUST Softphone transforms your laptop, desktop, or mobile device into your desk phone, letting you seamlessly make and receive calls from anywhere without roaming fees. Integrated with Cisco Webex, it keeps your official KAUST number consistent, enhancing convenience, professionalism, and productivity for remote or traveling staff.

Make your meetings more interactive and your audience more engaged. With Slido or Microsoft Forms, you can ask questions, run polls, or gather feedback in real time, whether your session is in person, hybrid, or online. Choose the tool that fits your setting and bring your next lecture, meeting, or event to life.

Stop sending outdated attachments and start sharing smarter. With OneDrive, SharePoint, or Google Drive, you can control who sees your files, keep everyone on the same version, and update content anytime. Use “Specific people” to keep your data secure, and always check your sharing settings before you hit send.

Microsoft Lists is a simple yet powerful tool available to everyone at KAUST. Whether you are a student organizing a project, a staff member managing requests, or a faculty member tracking research data, Lists helps you stay organized and work better with your team. It is easy to use, works across Microsoft 365, and is much more flexible than a spreadsheet.

Microsoft Lists is a simple yet powerful tool in Microsoft 365 that helps students, staff, and faculty at KAUST organize, track, and manage information more efficiently than Excel. With flexible views, smart fields, and built-in collaboration through SharePoint and Teams, it’s ideal for both personal use and team-based projects.

Video is a powerful way to teach, explain, and stay connected across the academic, business, and research communities at KAUST. Whether you’re sharing a quick update, delivering a recorded lecture, or walking someone through a process, video helps you communicate more clearly and save time. Tools are available to all KAUST users with your login.

This article introduces Microsoft Loop, a real-time collaboration tool available in Microsoft 365 at KAUST. It explains how to use Loop components in Teams, Outlook, Word, and Whiteboard, highlights practical use cases, and shares access links for desktop and mobile.

Have you ever wondered what makes your calls to our community call centers work? What technology makes the 959 or 910 numbers always available? We recently had the opportunity to gain some insight into the technology and challenges around the platform enabling our call centers, as we aimed to update the infrastructure to its latest version, packed with new capabilities to enhance your user experience.

Article written by: Luis Goiriz | September 11, 2022

The IT Department hosted its first in-person townhall since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, almost a whole year has passed since the last one hosted over Zoom. The event was a great opportunity for IT teams to showcase their great work, items in progress, and highlight new and exciting upcoming activities!

Article written by: Daniel Nader | November 16, 2021

Hybrid learning combines traditional face-to-face teaching with additional offline and online techniques, like experiential learning and digital course delivery for the ambitious students of today's generation. We met with Professor David Ketcheson, Associate Professor in Mathematics and Computational Science, to hear about his experience using these cutting-edge technologies in his classrooms for teaching.

IT Colleagues, In an effort to create a uniform look and feel for our internal and external communications, we have put together a guide for email signatures and a reminder to update our information on the KAUST Portal. This aims to encourage colleagues to create a homogenous experience for our customers when interacting with IT, in line with the CIO's Strategic Goal for IT Re-Branding & Outreach.

We wanted to take the chance to personally welcome each one of you back to the offices, catch-up with old friends, enjoy warm cups of coffee and treats, and to rekindle our team spirit and sense of belonging, which we have missed the most during the pandemic.

As part of the Digital Transformation Strategy, there was a major platform shift happening in our current Enterprise Data Warehouse Landscape during the period of March to June 2020. And right in between the project, we were hit by the Pandemic Lockdown. However, the entire project team mustered for the challenge and achieved the successful completion of the Project. The project was executed remotely with teams located in different countries, sharing great team spirit with a high sense of commitment to achieve our goals.

WhatsApp users were recently notified of the app’s data-sharing practices with Facebook, and many have begun to seek alternatives. This article gives you a summary of WhatsApp’s recent policy update and a reminder for you to be a Human Firewall.

We met recently with Prof. Magdalena (Magda) Julkowska, an Assistant Professor at Boyce Thompson Institute, former Research Scientist in Prof. Mark Tester’s Salt Lab in the BESE division here at KAUST. Prof. Magda reached out to IT Research Computing for guidance on creating a website that KAUST publishes but gets its contents from a GitHub repository.

Article written by: Antonio Arena | October 27, 2020

This article covers some of the most frequently asked questions about Microsoft Office 365’s sharing capabilities that are built into its OneDrive and SharePoint applications.

Everyone at KAUST has an Office365 account; this article focuses on highlighting the use-cases of our storage and document collaboration applications and their differences to help you select the right tool for your work needs. Article written by: Daniel Nader | October 20, 2020

BinderHub allows you to build and register a Docker image from a Git repository, then connect with JupyterHub, allowing you to create a public IP address that allows users to interact with the code and environment within a live JupyterHub instance. You can select a specific branch name, commit, or tag to serve.

Article written by: Antonio Arena | October 1, 2020

JupyterHub brings the power of notebooks to groups of users. It gives users access to computational environments and resources without burdening them with installation and maintenance tasks. Students, researchers, data scientists, and professors teaching classes can get their work done in their own workspaces on shared resources which IT Research Computing manages efficiently by running on its Kubernetes production cluster.

Article written by: Antonio Arena | September 17, 2020

Prof. Ibrahim's Hoteit's team generates petabytes of data running simulations on Shaheen. They need fast access to visualize the data for pre- and post-processing. That is where IT Research Computing's Remote Workstations come into the picture. We do not move the data, we just stream pixels. Article written by: Antonio Arena | September 6, 2020

KAUST IT is excited to offer free access to Gartner Core IT Research to the KAUST Community! Article written by: Daniel Nader | August 23, 2020

Arnaudd Hungler migrates more than 100 unmaintained virtual machines to Docker containers running on IT Research Computing's Kubernetes cluster. Efficiency at its best!

Article written by: Antonio Arena | July 26, 2020

IT Research Computing is proud to announce that their production Kubernetes cluster is readily available for use by the KAUST research community.

Article written by: Antonio Arena | July 20, 2020

The IT Department hosted its first ever virtual townhall over Zoom on July 6, 2020 with over 150 attendees!

Article written by: Daniel Nader | July 15, 2020

Dr. Amhed Vargas published his R based Shiny web site that models C. Elegans germline leveraging IT Research Computing GitOps knowledge and expertise.

Article written by: Antonio Arena | July 5, 2020

Docker Containers (Containers from now on) have taken the technology community by storm.

Article written by: Antonio Arena | July 1, 2020