Moving Off UW Email
IT Connect > Email > Moving Off UW Email
UW Email Service Decommissioned
- UW Email service no longer available for students
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UW Information Technology (UW-IT) concluded a one-year effort to have students move from UW-hosted email to email services hosted elsewhere. Students have the option of using UW Windows Live (with UW Outlook Live email) or UW Google Apps (with UW Google Email), or forwarding their email to a third-party provider of their choice.
Accounts held by Student Activities Office (SAO) organizations, including Registered Student Organization (RSO) accounts were also moved off of UW Email.
- Service ended June 30, 2011
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Students and SAO accounts with the UW Email service turned on had until June 30, 2011 to move their email to another service option. Any data stored on the UW Email service after June 30 is no longer available to student account holders.
- Exceptions
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There are two broad exceptions:
- Exception 1: Clinical students, as well as graduate students in the School of Medicine in both basic sciences and clinical departments, should continue to use UW Email; their UW Email service was NOT affected.
- Exception 2: UW students with multiple affiliations (simultaneously a student and staff or faculty) were NOT affected.
Some departments may deem it necessary for certain students to use the UW Email service. UW-IT will continue to work with those departments to grant exceptions on a case-by-case basis.
- Why these changes occurred
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Several factors were involved in this change:
- UW-IT successfully implemented UW Windows Live and UW Google Apps as email options for students in September 2009.
- Faculty and staff are now eligible to use UW Windows Live and UW Google Apps, thereby making collaboration with students easier as this is expanded in the future.
- UW-IT is no longer able to fund the staffing resources to run and maintain the student UW Email servers using our new funding model.
- The Student Technology Fee Committee is no longer funding the servers (hardware) for the student UW Email service.
Email Choices
Current UW students who do not meet one of the exception criteria above can choose between two service offerings for email: UW Outlook Live and UW Google Email. Some students choose to forward their email elsewhere, using a non-UW email service.
UW Outlook Live
- Included in UW Windows Live
-
UW Outlook Live is
a free email service available for current UW
students, alumni, and former students as part
of UW
Windows Live. It provides ad-free email and
calendaring with 10 GB of storage and continued use of
your @u.washington.edu or @uw.edu email address. To
activate a UW Outlook Live account, you must first sign up
for a UW Windows Live ID.
UW Google Email
- Included in UW Google Apps
-
UW Google Email
is a free email service available for current
UW students, alumni, and former students as
part of UW Google
Apps. It provides ad-free email and calendaring
with over 7 GB of storage and continued use of your
@u.washington.edu or @uw.edu email address. To
activate a UW Google Email account, you must first sign up
for UW Google Apps services.
Other Email Services
- Forward your UW messages
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Important messages from the University will be sent to your UW email address (UWNetID@u.washington.edu). If you plan to not use UW Windows Live or UW Google Apps, make sure messages sent to your @u.washington.edu or @uw.edu address continue to reach you by setting your email forwarding.
To forward email sent to UWNetID@u.washington.edu (or @uw.edu) address, set your UW Email forwarding to your address at the email service you will be using.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Who was affected by this change in service?
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UW students who are not also current UW staff (including student staff), faculty, or UW Medicine Workforce members and who have the UW Email Inbox service turned on were affected. (Departments may work with UW-IT to grant additional exceptions; see the related FAQ below.) Student Activities Office (SAO) organizations, including Registered Student Organization (RSO) accounts, with the UW Email Inbox service turned on were also affected.
- Will I continue to be able to use Alpine or Web Alpine?
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No. Alpine and Web Alpine depend on your email being on the UW Email server. When your email is on another service such as UW Outlook Live or UW Google Email, you can no longer use Alpine or Web Alpine. UW Outlook Live and UW Google Email both have their own Web interfaces for checking email.
- Will I continue to have access to email filtering and vacation messaging through the Email Delivery Manager (EDM)?
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No. The Email Delivery Manager is dependent on your email being on the UW Email server. You will need to set up email filtering rules and vacation messaging through your new email service. Both UW Outlook Live and UW Google Email offer those functionalities.
- Will moving to UW Outlook Live or UW Google Email change my email address?
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Your default email address on UW Outlook Live and UW Google Email will be UWNetID@uw.edu. The uw.edu domain is equivalent to u.washington.edu and messages sent to UWNetID@u.washington.edu will continue to reach you. If you prefer to use your u.washington.edu address, you can configure UW Outlook Live or configure UW Google Email to use the u.washington.edu domain.
- What services am I eligible for if I am a student?
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Current UW students are eligible for a number of services provided by UW-IT, including UW Windows Live, UW Google Apps, unix shell access, and Web publishing to name a few. For an expanded list of services provided by UW-IT to students, see the UW Information Technology Service Catalog.
- What if I am a UW medical student, or a graduate student in the School of Medicine in a basic science or clinical department? Do I need to move my email off of the UW Email service?
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All current clinical students (which includes all UW medical students), as well as graduate students in the School of Medicine in both basic sciences and clinical departments, are considered UW Medicine Workforce members and are therefore required to use an email service in an approved UW Medicine email domain. The UW Outlook Live and UW Google Email services are not approved by UW Medicine. UW Medicine Workforce members are eligible to retain the UW Email service and should keep their email on that service or forward their email to an approved domain.
- What if I am not in the School of Medicine but my department has told me not to move off UW Email?
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Departments can request exceptions for individual students to continue to use the UW Email service. Permission needs to come from a department's Dean, Director, or Chair for a student to remain on UW Email. For more information about this process, please send email to help@uw.edu
- Where can I learn more about UW Outlook Live and UW Google Email?
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UW Outlook Live is part of the UW Windows Live suite of services. You can find more information about UW Outlook Live on the UW Windows Live page.
UW Google Email is part of the UW Google Apps suite of services. You can find more information about UW Google Email on the UW Google Apps page.
- I am part of a student group or organization and we had a shared email account using UW Email. Were we affected by this change as well?
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Yes, accounts held by Student Activities Office (SAO) organizations, including Registered Student Organization (RSO) accounts, were required to move off of UW Email. If you have questions about how to activate UW Windows Live or UW Google Apps for your shared account, please contact help@uw.edu for assistance.
- Will I lose access to UW Windows Live or UW Google Apps when I leave the University?
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Unlike the UW Email service, alumni and former students are eligible to keep their UW Windows Live and UW Google Apps services after they graduate or are no longer UW students. That means you will not have to worry about saving your email, contacts, and other items.
