UCSF School of Pharmacy

Change Your Password

A UCSF computer and network security policy requires you to change your e-mail password every 6 months. You also might want to change your e-mail password if you suspect someone may have gained access to your password.

To Change Your E-mail Password

1. Due to a UCSF strong passwords policy, your new password:
   • must have at least 7 characters.
   • must not contain your account name or more than 2 consecutive characters of your full name.
   • must contain characters from 3 of the following 4 categories:
     • English uppercase characters (A to Z)
     • English lowercase characters (a to z)
     • base 10 digits (0 to 9)
     • symbol characters (e.g., !, $, #, %).

   See AD Password Protocols for complete details. Also see how to choose a password for additional strategies in selecting a new password.

2. Visit Outlook Web Access and log in to your account.
3. Select the Options button in the lower left corner.
4. Scroll to the bottom of the Options pane and select the Change Password button. A popup window appears. (If this window does not appear, configure your browser to accept pop-up windows from exchange.ucsf.edu, then log out, close your browser, and start over.)

5. Complete the information requested. Your domain is campus and your account is your SAA user ID.

   Your password for UCSF e-mail is identical to and synchronized with your password for logging in to Windows computers in the IRC computer lab. When you change one, the other is automatically changed, usually within a few hours.

6. After successfully changing your password, log out of Outlook Web Access.
7. If you are changing your password from a Windows computer in the IRC computer lab, log out of the computer.
8. Test that your new password works for (a) logging in to Windows computers in the IRC computer lab, and (b) logging in to your UCSF e-mail account. If your new password doesn't work, try your old password, which might still work for the next several hours until all the e-mail servers have synchronized.
9. Store your new password in a secure location. We strongly recommend using a password manager.
10. If you have not yet done so, visit pwmanage.ucsf.edu to create a profile which can help if you are later locked out of your account due to an expired password. The pwmanage profile must be set up before your password expires in order for it to be helpful. If you become locked out of your account and you have not yet set up your pwmanage profile, it will not help you -- call 415/514-4100 (Option 2) instead. After you regain access to your account, you should still visit pwmanage to set up your profile.

To Resolve Problems

To resolve problems with changing your password, contact Web & Data Services Manager Frank Farm (415/502-5372, farmf@pharmacy.ucsf.edu) or Computer Resource Specialist Rodney Yun (415/502-4872, yunr@pharmacy.ucsf.edu).

More Information

Learn how to manage your passwords easily, securely, and effectively.

Go To: E-mail