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ECON Exchange to UMD Gmail Migration

This page is meant as a reference for the upcoming migration of our current Exchange mailboxes to the university's Gmail system.

Frequently Asked Questions

Will I get to keep my @econ.umd.edu email address?

Yes and no. After the migration is complete, you will still be able to receive mail sent to your @econ.umd.edu email address. However, UMD's services are heavily integrated with their Central Authentication System (CAS), which ties in with your @umd.edu identity. Because of this, the university is unable to use @econ.umd.edu as a sending domain. Any replies or mail sent from your Gmail account will be coming from your @umd.edu address.

Can I still use distribution lists (such as ECON-ALL)?

Yes, you will still be able to send to any distribution list you want once you're migrated over to Gmail. However, since only your personal contacts get migrated (ones stored in your personal Exchange account and not on ECON's directory address book) you may not see these lists in your contacts. You will need to enter the address manually in that case.

I just sent a message to a distribution list that I'm a part of, and I didn't see the message. Did it deliver?

Yes, it did. Due to a strange difference in the way messaging is handled when sending to yourself through ECON, messages sent to a list don't make it back into your personal inbox (which I assume is Google trying to cut down on message redundancy). However, unless you see bounce-back messages appearing in your inbox you can assume it successfully delivered your message to everyone else on that list.

For more information, see this Google support article.

I don't have any of my ECON contacts in my Gmail contact list. How do I look up ECON email addresses?

This is an expected problem that has come up. When Gmail migrated your accounts, it pulled over all personal contacts. However, all of the internal addresses on the ECON Exchange server are contained within a server-side address book known as the “Global Address List” and are not part of your personal contacts.

You can import all of the ECON email addresses into your Gmail account by importing this CSV into your Google contacts list. This method will add all of the @econ.umd.edu addresses to Gmail, so they will auto-fill when you go to type a recipient. You will need to be logged in to your @umd.edu Google account to access the CSV file.

To import this CSV file into your Google account:

  1. On your computer, go to Google Contacts.
  2. On the left, click More and then Import.
  3. Click Select file and choose the “econ-gal.csv” file you downloaded.
  4. Click Import.
  5. The CSV file will import, and once successful will show up in your contacts list. It will create a label named “Imported on [today's date]” which will contain all the addresses you imported.

What happens to my account after I graduate?

Previously, ECON email accounts existed for a year after graduation. Since we're moving over to UMD's system, we're now bound by their rules. According to DIT, individuals who graduate have access to their mailbox for 30 days after graduation. After that, the account will be disabled.

However, mail will continue to flow to your account for a year after graduation. This means that prior to your 30 day mark, you can set a forwarding address in ARES to point to another mailbox of yours. For the remainder of the year, all mail going to @umd.edu (and by extension @econ.umd.edu) will go to where you specify.

What Will/Won't Be Migrated?

Below is a list of the various parts of your Exchange account that will and won't be migrated to G Suite:

Mail

Mail Data Migrated? Notes
Email Messages Yes All email in top-level folders is migrated. A top-level folder is any folder that resides at the same level as your Inbox folder.
Email State Yes
Folders Yes Folders map to labels in Gmail.
Subfolders Yes (see notes) Subfolders in your Exchange inbox don’t migrate as nested labels in Gmail. Instead, the subfolders appear as Inbox/foldername in an unnested state. NOTE: Some users are repoting that this is not the case, and that labels are in fact nested. This has not been confirmed by IT staff.
Junk Email Yes
Deleted Items Yes
Attachments Yes (see notes) Most attachments are migrated, except when the message and attachment are larger than 25 MB or when there is an executable file in the attachment.
Message Importance level No
Message Flags Yes Flags appear as stars in Gmail.
Rules No Rules (both server and client) aren’t migrated, but you can create equivalent filters in Gmail.
Signatures No Not migrated but can be re-created in Gmail.
Additional POP/IMAP Accounts No Account settings don’t import, but you can recreate the account in your G Suite profile.
Shared Mailboxes No These will need to be recreated manually with DIT's help. Let econsupport@umd.edu know if you have any such mailboxes.
Category Definitions No Categories are not available in Gmail.
Category Assignments No Categories are not available in Gmail.

Calendar

Calendar Data Migrated? Notes
Default Calendar Yes Includes all events, descriptions, attendees, and locations.
Additional Calendars Yes Shared calendars are migrated for the owner, but not for other users who have access. Make a note of any of these you have, and you can share them once they have migrated.
Event Reminders Yes
Free/Busy Status Yes Only other G Suite users can see the free or busy status in Google Calendar.
Tenative / Out of Office Status No Any special status for calendar data is not migrated.
Optional Attendees No
Calendar Attachments No
Rich Content in Event Descriptions No Event descriptions are migrated as plain text.
Category Definitions No Categories are not available in Gmail.
Category Assignments No Categories are not available in Gmail.

Personal Contacts

Contact Data Migrated? Notes
All Personal Contacts Yes Includes all fields (File As, images, notes, etc).
Multiple Contact Folders Yes (see Notes) Separate contact folders don’t migrate to G Suite. Instead, all contacts from all folders are migrated and then appear together in G Suite under My Contacts.
Personal Distribution Lists No
Rich Formatting in Personal Contact Notes No Notes in contacts are migrated as plain text.
Notes Larger than 16KB No Larger notes are truncated in G Suite.
Follow-up Flags, Dates, and Reminders No
Category Definitions No Categories are not available in Google Contacts.
Category Assignments No Categories are not available in Google Contacts.

Global Contacts

Contact Data Migrated? Notes
Domain Contacts No You need to migrate domain contacts separately. See the section labelled “I don't have any of my ECON contacts in my Gmail contact list. How do I look up ECON email addresses?” in the Frequently Asked Questions part of this wiki for directions.

Notes, Tasks, Journal entries, RSS feeds

Other Exchange Data Migrated ? Notes
Notes No
Tasks No
Journal Entries No
RSS Feeds No

What Can I Do to Prepare for Migration?

The Week Prior to Migration

  • If you're unfamiliar with how Gmail looks and functions, take some time to log in and check your new inbox.
  • Accept all tentative calendar entries on your calendar. Tentative events won't migrate, but accepted ones will.
  • Clean out your drafts folder.
  • Clean out your mailbox of older mail. This one is subjective and I know many of you will want to hold on to as much mail for posterity, but now is a good a time as any to do some spring cleaning. Any work you can do to minimize your mailbox size can potentially shave days off of your migration.

The Day of Migration

  • Continue using your Exchange mailbox to send and receive mail, but don't file any messages into your folders as this may not be reflected in the migration.
  • Do not create, rename, or delete any folders as this can cause errors in the migration process.
  • Finish accepting any tentative calendar invites you may still have.

Once Migration Has Begun

  • Begin using Gmail to send and receive mail. During this time, do not file any messages under a specific label.
  • Do not create, rename, or delete any labels as this can cause errors in the migration process.
  • When you first begin using your Gmail account, you will only see new messages arriving in your inbox. Over time, the migration tool will begin to fill in your account with all of your older mail. This process could potentially take a week or more depending on the size of your mailbox, but it will get there!
  • Once migration has completed, we will send out a message stating that your migration is complete. Once you receive this message, your can begin fully using your account.

Accessing your Gmail Account

IMPORTANT NOTE

The ONLY method of accessing your Gmail account that DIT explicitly supports is through the web browser. Our IT staff will try to do our best to fit your specific use case, but total compatibility with other methods isn't guaranteed.

From Your Web Browser

This is the recommended method for connecting to Gmail, as it gives you full access to your mailbox as well as the entire suite of tools available through G Suite.

To log in to Gmail:

  1. Navigate to the Gmail login page.
  2. At the sign in page, use your umd.edu email address to log in (as directoryid@umd.edu). This will take you to UMD's CAS login page.
  3. Enter your directory ID and password, click Log in, and use your two-factor device to complete log in.
  4. You are now logged in, and will see your UMD Gmail inbox.

Adding an additional account to Gmail:

Some of you may already have personal Gmail accounts. In this case, you will need to add your umd.edu account to your list of accounts:

  1. Navigate to the Gmail login page.
  2. At your Gmail page, click on your account button at the top-right of the window.
  3. Click the Add Account button at the bottom of the pop-in window.
  4. At the sign in page, use your umd.edu email address to log in (as directoryid@umd.edu). This will take you to UMD's CAS login page.
  5. Enter your directory ID and password, click Log in, and use your two-factor device to complete log in.
  6. You are now logged in, and will see your UMD Gmail inbox. Your other accounts will be added to your account list, and can be viewed by clicking your account button at the top-right of the browser window and selecting it from the pop-in.

From Microsoft Outlook

In order to use Microsoft Outlook with your Gmail account, you will need to use the G Suite Sync for Microsoft Outlook tool.

Note: this will sync the most recent Gmail items up to a certain mailbox file size (which you can set yourself). If you need to search older mail and other items, you will need to use your web browser to conduct a full search of your mailbox.

Directions on installing the GSSMO tool can be found on this support page from Google. You can skip the page labelled “(Optional) Import data”, as this will be handled by our migration tool.

From Your Mobile Device

For standardization purposes, this tutorial will focus on using the official Gmail application which we recommend using.

  1. Open the Gmail application on your device.
  2. If you already have a Gmail account on your device, click your account icon at the top-right of the window and select “Add another account” from the list of options.
  3. At the “Set up email” screen, select “Google”.
  4. Enter your UMD Gmail address (directoryID@umd.edu) and click “Next”.
  5. You will receive a prompt stating that your Google account is managed by umd.edu and that you will be taken to CAS to complete signing in. Click “Accept”.
  6. You will be taken to UMD's CAS login page. Enter your directory ID and password and click “Log in”
  7. Finish your login using Duo.
  8. Your account will now be added to the Gmail application.
gmail_migration.txt · Last modified: 2019/06/13 16:22 by mcloughlin