Institutional Login

What is Institutional Login?

Single Sign-On (SSO) brings ease-of-use for institutional users when accessing Overleaf. SSO uses institutional credentials and identity stores to authenticate and authorize institutional users.

How Do I Login Using Institutional SSO?

To login using institutional SSO, follow these steps:

Step 1: Choose to log in from the top right of the homepage.

Step 2: Select to "Log in through your institution".

Step 3: Enter your institutional email and select "Continue".

Step 4: You will then be redirected to your institution’s log in page, where you can enter your institutional credentials.

Disclaimer: For tutorial purposes only - not a real University.

Step 5: Once logged in through your institution you will be able to access your projects on the project dashboard.

Does my University have SSO Login for Overleaf?

You can find out through your Overleaf Institutional Portal page if your institution has SSO enabled for Overleaf. If so, you will see an option to ‘Log in through your institution’ box on the portal page. You can view a list of institutions subscribed to an Overleaf Institutional Account with links to their portal pages here.

How Does it Work for Institutions?

Overleaf SSO is an option available to institutions with an Overleaf Commons Institutional license. Institutions with this type of Overleaf subscription are able to request SSO integration to offer their users the ability to register and log in using their institutional credentials without the need to maintain separate credentials for Overleaf. If you are an institutional administrator for an existing Overleaf Commons subscription and you would like to know more, please get in touch with us via your account manager and we’ll follow up with more details.

Overleaf can be set up using an institution’s current authentication infrastructure, allowing Overleaf users to follow the same processes and guidelines used for other systems on the network. Overleaf supports the SAML 2.0 standard and participates in eduGAIN, which streamlines the setup process for thousands of institutions. Supported identity provider technologies include:

• Shibboleth
• Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS)
• Onelogin
• Okta
• SimpleSAMLphp based Identity Providers

Emails and Institutional Login

Overleaf will occasionally send notifications to users to let them know when changes are made to their account settings (see Keeping your account secure). When you register for an Overleaf account using institutional SSO, or link to your existing account, your institution will send an email address to Overleaf to allow these notifications to happen.

Why can’t I confirm my friendly email alias?

Some institutions allow users to create a friendly email alias. For example, the default email may be a something like js123@uni.edu, but the alias may be the more human-friendly jane.smith@uni.edu.

Depending on how the institution handles email aliases like these, it can happen that only the default email is available to Overleaf during SSO sign in.

In the process of confirming your friendly email through SSO, you may find that the default email is added to your Overleaf account. In this case, the friendly email may still be unconfirmed. To avoid the prompts to confirm your alias, you will have to remove the alias from your Overleaf account and keep only the default email address.

In this case, you can still accept invites to projects that are sent to your alias email address, but only the default email address sent to us by your institution will be visible in your account settings.

I received an email from Overleaf saying that I could log in with a different email address. What does this mean?

It can sometimes happen that the email provided to Overleaf from your institution looks different than your institutional SSO ID. For example, you may log in through your institution with js123@uni.edu, but receive an email from Overleaf saying that you can log in with jane.smith@uni.edu.

Often, the email address provided to Overleaf by your institution will match your SSO ID. In some cases it may be a different address, such as a friendly email alias, or a different address that you have configured as your default email address in your institutional SSO account.

When logging in through institutional SSO, you should continue to use your standard SSO ID. Overleaf also provides the option of configuring an Overleaf-specific password, allowing you to log in with a combination of the primary email of your Overleaf account, and a strong password of your choosing. If you have not set an Overleaf-specific password or forgotten it, you can request that a reset password link be sent to your primary email address here: https://www.overleaf.com/user/password/reset.

Please note that institutional SSO is the recommended login method for users who are affiliated with an institution that provides this option.

Why can’t I add my SSO login as my email address in Overleaf?

There are a few reasons why you might see a warning or error when you are trying to add your SSO login or default institutional email (something like js123@uni.edu).

1. You may have accidentally registered this same address under a different account.

2. Your institution may be returning a different email address to Overleaf when you sign in.

Some institutions allow users to create a friendly email alias. For example, your SSO login id and default email may be a something like js123@uni.edu, but the alias may be the more human-friendly jane.smith@uni.edu.

Depending on how the institution handles email aliases like these, it can happen that the alias is sent to Overleaf during SSO sign in. In this case, although you login to SSO using your user id (such as js123@uni.edu), your email address in Overleaf will be the alias address (such as jane.smith@uni.edu). In this case, you should retain your email alias as your confirmed institutional email. You can verify that your email has been confirmed by checking your Overleaf Account Settings.

If you suspect that you have accidentally created two Overleaf accounts and are having trouble accessing one of them, please contact support@overleaf.com for assistance.