EmailMigration

UMIACS will be winding down its mailbox Email services by June 30th 2020 to comply with the UMD Institutional Email standard. This includes both our Exchange and IMAP Email service offerings.

Procedure

The Division of IT is handling the migration for some individuals that currently forward their UMD mail to their UMIACS mailbox. We sent an email to all users that are covered by this on May 1st 2020 with the subject line "UMIACS Email Migration".

If you received this email

Your UMIACS email will begin forwarding to your UMD mailbox at 9am on May 26th 2020.

1. Reply to the email by May 15th 2020 if you would like your UMIACS mailbox to be included on the list to be imported into UMD's Gmail system by the Division of IT and/or if you would like an archive of your UMIACS mailbox.
2. Begin checking new email at your UMD Gmail mailbox after May 26th 2020 at 9am.

If you did not receive this email

Follow the steps here to update your forwarding address to either your @umd.edu email address if you have one, or another address you would like to receive your UMIACS email at if you do not, no later than June 1st 2020.

FAQ

How do I login to the UMD Gmail system?

You can access your email through a browser by visiting https://mail.google.com/a/umd.edu/. You should be able to log into this right now with your username@umd.edu email address to confirm that you have access. No email will show up in this interface until your migration has been performed.

If you already have a personal Gmail/Google account logged in, you may need to add a new Google account for your @umd.edu account. You can find out how to do this by reading Google documentation on this topic. The article also provides information on how to switch accounts.

What is the timeline for these migrations?

We notified everyone about the timeline for these migrations on May 1st 2020. You will need to notify UMIACS Technical Staff by May 15th if you want the Division of IT to migrate your existing email mailboxes to the UMD Gmail system as part of the email migration. The default will be to not migrate your mailbox if you do not reply affirmatively.

Migrations will begin on May 26th 2020.

What happens during my migration if I am being handled by the Division of IT?

• On May 26th 2020 we will modify your email forward in UMIACS to be your @g.umd.edu (UMD Gmail) address at 9am. This will ensure that there is no mail loop (instead of @umd.edu which still may forward to your @umiacs.umd.edu address) and will immediately divert any new email to the UMD Gmail system. We will then notify you at your @umiacs.umd.edu address (which should show up in your @g.umd.edu mailbox) that the forward is in place. You will be receiving and may start sending and replying to new email in the UMD Gmail system as soon as you receive this notification.
• If you have chosen to migrate your mailboxes, we will immediately make a mail archive of your mailboxes (depending on the size of your mailboxes this could take some time).
• We will then notify DivIT that your forward is now in place. DivIT will then update your @umd.edu forward to your @g.umd.edu forward and start the import of your mailboxes if provided. This process of importing your existing email may take some time. DivIT will notify you when it is complete.

During this process you will still be able to log into your existing UMIACS email system and interact with your existing emails. However you will no longer receive any new emails into your UMIACS mailboxes.

Should I migrate my existing email mailboxes to the UMD Gmail?

You will be given a choice as part of the migration to have your existing mailbox migrated to the UMD Gmail platform or not. There are a few things to consider when making this decision.

First, UMD Gmail can not hold export controlled data. Since export control regulations have changed several times since emails have been stored on UMIACS servers, we cannot provide a blanket guarantee that moving all emails into Google will be compliant with federal regulations, and we ask that you make this determination separately before requesting the transfer of your emails.

Second, you may have a very large hierarchical folder arrangement for your messages. Gmail only supports labels. If you have a deep hierarchical arrangement of folders, this may not translate the way you expect into Gmail's web interface and may decrease performance of the page load. You can see Google's documentation of this here.

Can I use my current desktop client to read email with UMD Gmail?

The Division of IT only explicitly supports the web based offering.

What will happen to my email stored at UMIACS after June 30th 2020?

We will be archiving all user mailboxes into our long term archives. You may request a copy of your email as part of the migration process and we will provide it in an archive format that you may import into a local mail client for offline use.

Archives will be provided in the format that they were archived in. The formats will be PST for Exchange users and MBOX for IMAP users.

Can people still send email to my @umiacs.umd.edu address?

Yes. Once the migration is completed, any email to @umiacs.umd.edu will be forwarded to your @umd.edu UMD Gmail address.

Can I still send email as my @umiacs.umd.edu address from UMD Gmail?

Yes. You will need to set up your @umiacs.umd.edu address on your UMD mailbox as a mail alias by following Google's documentation of this here. Our SMTP server is smtp.umiacs.umd.edu.

What if I forward my email to another service? Will I be impacted?

Users with accounts in UMIACS that can be identified as having an appointment at the University of Maryland will be required to have their UMIACS Email forward point to their @umd.edu email address by June 30th 2020. Users without an appointment at the University of Maryland will be required to forward their email to an address of their choosing.

What about any mailing lists or mail aliases in UMIACS?

Mailing lists and mail aliases will continue to operate as they do currently in UMIACS.