Google’s elimination of unlimited free storage for the academic community is forcing CU Boulder to make changes to its services. These changes will eventually include moving campus email accounts from Gmail to Microsoft Exchange. This is one of a number of changes CU Boulder is making to create a secure hybrid-smart IT environment for our campus.
A first step in this email transition is ending the ability to switch a CU Boulder email account to Gmail. Faculty and staff who currently have their account on Microsoft Exchange Online can no longer select CU Boulder’s Gmail service as their email delivery location.
Faculty, staff and students who currently have their email account on CU Boulder’s Gmail service will be permitted to keep their account on Gmail for the time being. However, given Google’s storage limitations, these Gmail mailboxes will eventually be moved over to Microsoft Exchange Online. When a timeline has been established for these migrations, OIT will email those who are affected with information about the email migrations. Beginning with the fall 2023 incoming class, email delivery for newly created student accounts will be set to Microsoft Exchange Online. You can get acquainted with the Microsoft Exchange Online application on the OIT website.
Faculty and staff who are currently on CU Boulder’s Gmail service that want to move to Exchange Online before OIT automatically migrates them should contact the IT Service Center for help at oithelp@colorado.edu or 303-735-4357. Note: If you choose to move to Exchange from Gmail before OIT's Automatic process to move you, you will need to migrate existing emails/contacts/ and calendar events on your own.
Google Workspace apps such as Docs, Sheets, and Slides will continue to be available as a collaborative toolset to be used by the campus community with a 5-gigabyte storage limit. OIT will email all faculty, staff and currently enrolled students with information about migrating non-Google files to Microsoft OneDrive. In the meantime, you are encouraged to remove files that are no longer needed by you or others with whom they were shared. Here is how you can check your current Google storage and identify large files that can be deleted.
If you have questions about these changes or your email account in general, please contact the IT Service Center at oithelp@colorado.edu or 303-735-4357. Please also note that the OIT website has more details about email direction and the Google storage limitations.
