Students taking Spring 2021 Classes
Students currently enrolled in Spring 2021 classes
Students who are currently enrolled in Spring 2021 classes who are not Spring 2021 graduates will have new accounts created in the vcu.edu domain and their data will be migrated. Please review the data migration for current students information for specifics on what will migrate.
What to expect
- Accounts have been created in the vcu.edu domain (where faculty and staff currently have accounts). During the month of April, data migration will run in the background from active student accounts to new accounts in vcu.edu. Current students should continue to use existing accounts. They should not log in and begin making any changes in their new account as this could cause issues with the migrating data.
- If you are already using an account in the vcu.edu domain, your data from your mymail account will be merging in the coming month.
- On May 17, the Google student (or mymail) domain will be renamed and login links for current students will change to https://mail.google.com/a/vcu.edu. Students normally logging into the portal will see their email portlet displaying their new student account.
- Login links on all VCU sites will update to direct current students to https://mail.google.com/a/vcu.edu.
- We request that you not access your account on May 17 during this transition period. It may take some time for all changes to be put in place. Then for the next 3 days, beginning May 18, we encourage you to not make changes to Drive documents and only send and receive email while your final migration sweep occurs.
Data migration for current students
Data migration for current students will occur during the month of April. This will happen in the background with no disruption to student accounts. While an account will be present in the vcu.edu domain, students should not access this account. The new account will become the active account on May 17, 2021.
How data will migrate
Individual Emails
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Emails | Yes | |
| Email Read State | Yes | Read or Unread state will be preserved as of date email is first migrated. Read state is not updated with additional migration passes. |
| Email Attachments | Yes | |
| Drive attachments and hyperlinks | Yes | Drive attachments and links to internal files will not work after the migration. Users may need to request access to externally-owned files. |
| Scheduled send status | Yes | The message is migrated as a draft, but you must reschedule it manually. |
Folders / Organization
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Email Labels | Yes | Empty labels will migrate. |
| Label Structure | Yes | Full label structure (nested labels) will be migrated. |
| Label Name Special Characters | Yes | Special characters are generally supported, however, forward slashes will be exploded to sub folders. A folder named "This & That 2018/2019" will be migrated as a label named "This & That 2018" and a sub-label named "2019". |
| Starred | Yes | Stars are migrated, but only the default star color and shape is used. |
| Importance | Yes | The importance of emails will be preserved. Category colors are not migrated. |
| Sent and Drafts | Yes | |
| Trash and Spam | No | Messages in Trash and Spam will not be migrated. |
Settings
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Out of Office Reply | Yes | |
| Forwarding Rules | Partial | Forwarding rules that forward to internal accounts can be migrated. External domain forwarding is not supported. |
| Signature | No | |
| Rules / Filters | No | For steps to export and import, visit https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en#zippy=,export-or-import-filters. |
| Snooze status | No | |
| Send As | No |
Calendars
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Events | Yes | |
| Recurring Events | Yes | |
| Event Attachments | Partial | Google Drive items attached to calendar events are reattached if the Drive items are also migrated. |
| Video and audio conferencing links | No | Video and audio conferencing links (Meet links) are not supported; new links will be generated. |
| Secondary Calendars | Yes | |
| Event Attendees | Yes | Up to 500 attendees per event will be preserved. |
| Attendee Responses | Yes | All responses (Yes/No/Maybe) will be preserved. |
| Calendar Reminders | Yes | |
| Calendar Timezone | Yes | If timezone for calendar/event cannot be determined, the timezone will be set to your timezone. |
| Individual Calendar Sharing Permissions | Yes | When the owner of the calendar is migrated, the destination calendar will be shared with the same users. During a migration, users are sent an email indicating that a calendar has been shared with them. |
Drive
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Internally owned files and folders | Yes | All unshared and shared files owned by migrated accounts will be migrated. The folder structure will be preserved. |
| Supported filetypes | Non-Drive platform-specific files (.docx, pdf, etc.), and these Drive platform-specific files: Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Forms, Google Drawings, Jamboard | Form Responses aren’t migrated if the Sheet doesn’t have a linked response form. If you have a response sheet that is linked to a Form, the association between the Form and Sheet is lost after a migration. The link can be restored manually. |
| Permissions | Yes | All permissions will be preserved for migrated files and folders. This includes shares to external users, but external users will not be automatically notified. |
| Links | No | All links to Drive files/folders, including those within files pointing to other files, will notwork after the migration. The migration creates copies of thesource data, which will have new unique IDs, and it isn't possible to preserve or automatically update any of these links. Users will need to manually update any links within documents, bookmarks, or any other links that may point to Drive files/folders. |
| Version history | No | The version history of files cannotbe migrated. The version history in the migrated files will only contain the most recent version. If a file is updated in the source (mymail) between the first and final migration passes, the destination version will be deleted and re-created to match the latest version of the source file. |
| Comments | No | |
| Shortcuts | No | |
| Trash folder | No | Drive files in trash will not be migrated. |
Contacts
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Personal contacts | Yes | |
| Contact labels | Yes | |
| Starred contacts | No |
Sites
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Classic Sites | Yes, if requested. | Complete form to request site migration, https://forms.gle/i3XvSy7Ym2UfHcyx8. |
| Classic Site URLs | Partial | URLs will change, and links within a site are not updated to the new URL. |
| New Sites | No |
Tasks
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Tasks | Yes | Migrated tasks don't maintain their order or hierarchy. |
| Individual Task Due Dates | Yes | |
| Tasks Subfolders | Yes | Tasks subfolders are migrated toseparate task lists. |
| Recurring Tasks | Partial | Only the first one is migrated, and the 'due date' is set to the next occurence of the task. For example, a task that is set to recur every Friday will be due the Friday after the task was migrated in Google. |
Chat
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Google Chat | No | Chat contacts and history are not supported. |
Photos
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Google Photos | No | Photos should be migrated to a personal account. Follow the steps in this document to complete this move. |
Currents
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Google Currents | No | Currents will need to be exported and imported. Steps to export and import are available at this link. |
News
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Google News | No | Google Takeout can be used to export Google News data but there is no mechanism to import it. |
Maps
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Saved Locations | No | Saved Locations lists can be shared with yourself and resaved under a personal account. Steps to do this can be found at this link. |
| Google My Maps | No | "My Maps" files can be exported using Google Takeout and re-imported into Google Drive. |
Chrome
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| Bookmarks | No | Chrome Bookmarks can be exported and re-imported by following these instructions. |
YouTube
| Feature | Expected Result | Additional Information |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube Channel | No | YouTube channels can have their ownership transferred by carefully following these instructions. Unless the channel is for VCU student business, it is recommended that ownership be transferred to a personal / alternate Gmail account. |
Mobile device configuration
Gmail and other Google Apps (iPhone & Android)
Note: If you are in a department that is required to use Mobile Device Management, please see the Mobile Device Management on iPhone and Android section below.
- Open the Gmail app
- Tap on the profile picture located in the top right corner
- Scroll down to the bottom of the list and tap “Add another account”.
- Tap “Google”. If prompted, tap “Continue”.
- In the “Email or phone” field, enter your email address in this format: (eID)@vcu.edu, then tap “Next”.
- On the Central Authentication Service screen, enter your eID (do not include @vcu.edu here) and your password. Complete the DUO 2-Factor step if prompted.
- Note: If you have other Google apps on your device, your eID@vcu.edu account will be automatically added to them after completing this step.
- Tap “Manage accounts on this device”
- Under your eID@mymail.vcu.edu account, tap “Remove from this device”. When prompted, press “Remove” to confirm removal of the account. This will also remove this account from other Google apps on your device.
Mobile Device Management on iPhone and Android
- Remove the existing Mobile Device Management policy from your device, if necessary:
- On iPhone: Go to Settings → General → Profiles & Device Management, tap on the “Google Apps Device Policy Payload” profile, then tap “Remove Management.”
- On Android: Go to Settings → Accounts → Tap on the “Work” section → Tap on “Remove work profile” → Tap “Confirm” if prompted.
- Follow the instructions on our Google Mobile Device Management Install page to add your (eID)@vcu.edu account to Gmail and other Google apps on your iPhone or Android device.
Mail for iPhone
- Go to iOS Settings
- Tap “Search” and enter “Accounts”. Tap on the first result.
- Tap “Add Account”
- Tap “Google”. If prompted, tap “Continue”.
- In the “Email or phone” field, enter your email address in this format: (eID)@vcu.edu, then tap “Next”.
- On the Central Authentication Service screen, enter your eID (do not include @vcu.edu here) and your password. Complete the DUO 2-Factor step if prompted.
- On the following screen, select or deselect your desired services to sync (Mail, Contacts, Calendars.).
- Tap on your eID@mymail.vcu.edu account, then tap “Delete Account”
Students eligible to enroll (not enrolled in Spring 2021 classes)
Students eligible to enroll (not enrolled in Spring 2021 classes)
Students who are not currently enrolled in Spring 2021 classes and who are not Spring 2021 graduates will have new accounts created in the vcu.edu domain. Their data will not be migrated. Please review the data migration for students eligible to enroll for information on transferring your data if you plan to continue coursework in the future. Email notification will be sent to these students from Doctor Gee (drgee@vcu.edu).
What to expect
- An email identifying you as a student who will not have data automatically transferred will be sent from Doctor Gee (drgee@vcu.edu) the week of April 5.
- An account has been created for you in the vcu.edu domain (where faculty and staff currently have accounts). Visit https://go.vcu.edu/email and login using the faculty/staff link.
- You may take steps to transfer your data as outlined in the Data migration for students eligible to enroll page. This should be completed before May 17.
- You should take steps to reconfigure your mobile devices as outlined on the mobile device configuration page.
- On April 26, all new email will begin arriving in your new account. Email addressed to your @vcu.edu and @mymail.vcu.edu address will arrive in the new account. You may use the faculty/staff links at https://go.vcu.edu/email to login. If you access email via myVCU Portal, your email will display in the email portlet. If you've not migrated any data, only new email arriving after April 26 will appear. Click the Student email link to access your student account which will remain available until May 17.
Mobile device configuration
Gmail and other Google Apps (iPhone & Android)
Note: If you are in a department that is required to use Mobile Device Management, please see the Mobile Device Management on iPhone and Android section below.
- Open the Gmail app
- Tap on the profile picture located in the top right corner
- Scroll down to the bottom of the list and tap “Add another account”.
- Tap “Google”. If prompted, tap “Continue”.
- In the “Email or phone” field, enter your email address in this format: (eID)@vcu.edu, then tap “Next”.
- On the Central Authentication Service screen, enter your eID (do not include @vcu.edu here) and your password. Complete the DUO 2-Factor step if prompted.
- Note: If you have other Google apps on your device, your eID@vcu.edu account will be automatically added to them after completing this step.
- Tap “Manage accounts on this device”
- Under your eID@mymail.vcu.edu account, tap “Remove from this device”. When prompted, press “Remove” to confirm removal of the account. This will also remove this account from other Google apps on your device.
Mobile Device Management on iPhone and Android
- Remove the existing Mobile Device Management policy from your device, if necessary:
- On iPhone: Go to Settings → General → Profiles & Device Management, tap on the “Google Apps Device Policy Payload” profile, then tap “Remove Management.”
- On Android: Go to Settings → Accounts → Tap on the “Work” section → Tap on “Remove work profile” → Tap “Confirm” if prompted.
- Follow the instructions on our Google Mobile Device Management Install page to add your (eID)@vcu.edu account to Gmail and other Google apps on your iPhone or Android device.
Mail for iPhone
- Go to iOS Settings
- Tap “Search” and enter “Accounts”. Tap on the first result.
- Tap “Add Account”
- Tap “Google”. If prompted, tap “Continue”.
- In the “Email or phone” field, enter your email address in this format: (eID)@vcu.edu, then tap “Next”.
- On the Central Authentication Service screen, enter your eID (do not include @vcu.edu here) and your password. Complete the DUO 2-Factor step if prompted.
- On the following screen, select or deselect your desired services to sync (Mail, Contacts, Calendars.).
- Tap on your eID@mymail.vcu.edu account, then tap “Delete Account”
Transfer your own data
We've created a document that outlines options for transferring your Google Data to your vcu.edu or personal Gmail account. Specific links for each type of data are included below. This migration should be initiated as soon as possible but at least by May 10.
Gmail and Google Drive
Data migration of email and Google Drive may be accomplished by using Google Takeout. Please note you must first sign into your VCU mymail account in your browser before initiating the takeout. Note The School of Dentistry has an established policy that prevents students from migrating data from their vcu.edu email. This policy is necessary to prevent potential widespread HIPAA violations.
Google Calendar
Google calendar entries may be exported from your mymail account and imported into your alumni account following these steps.
Google Chrome Bookmarks
Chrome bookmarks may be exported and imported following these steps.
Google Contacts
Google contacts may be exported from your mymail account and imported into your alumni account following these steps.
Google Maps
Please review our document for the options available to migrate your Google Maps data.
Google News
We've included some tips to configure your Google News.
Google Photos
Google Photos will not be available in the vcu.edu domain. Please take steps to migrate photos to a personal account. Photos uploaded as high quality before June 1, 2021 will not count towards your total Google storage. We have outlined several options for migrating your photos.
YouTube
Follow Google's support steps to change ownership of your YouTube channel.