Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs):
Why is Illinois Tech moving away from Google?
Google historically offered educational institutions free and unlimited storage. This changed in 2022 when Google changed their terms where they no longer offer unlimited storage. After careful consideration the university has decided to move to Microsoft 365. This transition is a part of our larger digital transformation that aims to enhance productivity, optimize costs, expand our global reach, ensure scalability, and foster academic excellence and student success at Illinois Tech.
When will we be moving to Microsoft 365?
The Implementation timeline may change. Should that happen we will update the community and make updates here.
- 7/15/2024 - Alumni email forwarding service enabled
- 8/2/2024 - Alumni email accounts suspension
- 12/27/2024 - Email, chat, and video conferencing functionality will be conducted from Microsoft 365 from this date forward.
- 5/2025 - Illinois Tech will formally change the email domain for students to @hawk.illinoistech.edu and for employees @illinoistech.edu.
What is Microsoft 365?
Microsoft 365 or “365” is the name for Microsoft’s cloud-based software suite. Microsoft 365 includes, but is not limited to, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Teams, OneDrive, SharePoint, Outlook, Power Automate, PowerBI, etc. Microsoft offers both web and desktop versions of their productivity suite.
Will my email address change?
In conjunction with rebranding to Illinois Tech a universal email domain across all colleges will be enabled.
- All students will use the @hawk.illinoistech.edu domain
- All faculty and staff will use the @illinoistech.edu domain
- Your usernames (the part before the @ symbol) will remain the same
- You will continue to receive email on your username@iit.edu or username@subdomain.iit.edu. Sending will be restricted to illinoistech.edu domain only
Will my data be migrated from Google to Microsoft?
Please see "Overview of Changes and Impact to the Community" for detailed information about the migration of your data.
Am I responsible for migrating my data?
You are not required to move data from your Google Drive or Calendar, however there are some exceptions to what will be migrated within those areas. OTS will be migrating both email and drive data using tools available to us via Microsoft.
- Google Calendar: Everything from your Google Calendar will be moved into Microsoft Outlook except spam and deleted emails.
- Concerning the contents of what will migrate from your Google Drive, please see File Migration for what will and will not migrate.
Will storage quotas be enforced and how much?
Given storage limitations a quota will be enforced. Here are the quotas that will be set on each account:
- Students: 15GB per account
- Faculty/Adjunct/Staff: 30GB per account
- Teams and SharePoint: 50GB each
What happens to departmental/organizational inboxes I was part of in Google?
Many departments and orgs had a shared email address in Google that several members could access via password. Shared inboxes in M365 will be different than in Gmail. Shared inboxes in M365 appear in your Outlook. Many shared inboxes have been recreated in Outlook, however there may be others that need to be completed. To check to see if you have access to a shared inbox or if you have been added to one, follow these instructions to add it to your Outlook account:
- Adding a shared mailbox to Outlook on the web
- Sign in to Outlook on the web
- Right-click Folders in the left navigation pane, and then choose Add shared folder or mailbox.
- In the Add shared folder dialog box, type the name of the shared mailbox you are a member of, such as oursharedinbox@iit.edu
- Adding a shared inbox to the new Outlook desktop app
- Select Mail from the navigation pane in new Outlook
- In the Add shared folder or mailbox window, type the name of the mailbox you want to access, for example, oursharedinbox@iit.edu
- Select Mail from the navigation pane in new Outlook
