I cannot create or open a collaboration – what should I do?

To create, view or interact with Office 365 content, you and your students will first need to login to Office 365 through the link in the Canvas course navigation menu.

If an ‘unexpected error’ message is displayed when creating a collaboration:

1. Please check that there are no spaces at the beginning of the collaboration’s document name/title and that none of the following special characters have been used:  \ / : * ? ”
2. If the error continues to occur please:
   a) Go to the main module home page, click office 365 in the course navigation menu on the left, your office 365 files should then appear.
   b) Click log out on the right-hand side. Once logged out, sign back in, by clicking  log in (you may have to enter your sign in credentials again).
   c) Once you have logged back into office 365, navigate back to the collaborations section and create the collaboration. How to log out and back in to Office 365 within Canvas
3. If the error persists try deleting your browser cache/history and cookies (see guides for all supported browsers here: Mac or PC) then repeat step 2.

If the message ‘you are not allowed to view this content’ is displayed when opening a collaboration:

1. Please check that the user attempting to open the collaboration has been added as a collaborator.
2. If the user has been added to the collaboration and the error persists, please log out and back in to Office 365 within Canvas, by completing step 2 above.

Note:  Please ensure that you are not signed in to different Office 365 accounts (staff/student/personal etc) even if using separate browsers, as this can cause issues with linking to the correct Office 365 account. 

Canvas Guide: How do I create a Microsoft Office 365 collaboration as an instructor?