Student Email Migration: Initial Password Update

As of December 17, 2025,  Rio Hondo College's student email service has migrated from Gmail to Microsoft Outlook as the new official platform for emails. During this process, any existing students prior December 17, 2025 had their emails transferred to Microsoft Outlook. Any files saved on their Google Drive, Google's cloud storage service, have been transferred to Microsoft OneDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage service. All the Google files can be found in the OneDrive in a folder labeled Gdrive25. For Security purposes all student email passwords have been reset. To gain access to your account, an email with a temporary password was sent to your student email prior to the email migration. This password will need to be updated when logging into Outlook for the first time.  Follow the steps below to gain access to your email in Outlook:
1. Go to https://outlook.office.com Enter in your current Rio Hondo email.
2. Use the temporary default password provided to you in the email message. Otherwise follow the default password format based on your birthdate and name.  Password Format: Default Password Format: RHC + 2-digit month + 2-digit day + 2-digit year + first initial + last initial (lowercase) Example: If John Doe was born on August 23, 1986, the default password would be: RHC082386jd If the default password does not work, submit an IT Service Request using the link at the end of this guide.
3. Update your password. Enter the current password and create a new password. Follow the criteria below. Password Criteria: 15 characters min, number, capital, special character (!@#$%^&*), expires every 180 days
4. You now have access to your email in the Microsoft Outlook web app. You should also see all your emails previously on Gmail in your inbox.
For access to all other Microsoft Apps, click on the waffle button at the top left corner.  Your previous Google Drive files have been transferred to OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage, in a folder labeled Gdrive25.
If you are experiencing technical issues such as email access or password resets, submit an IT service request at www.riohondo.edu/administration/its/accessrio/ .