UNO has officially declared the retirement of Google Workspace for students, a widely used suite of productivity tools, effective Dec. 18. This decision was communicated to the university community via an email announcement made on Nov. 1, citing changes in Google’s licensing terms as the primary reason for the retirement.
Google Workspace, which includes popular applications such as Google Drive, Google Docs, and Google Slides, has long served as an essential tool for students and faculty. However, UNO’s IT department has found it necessary to phase out these services due to modifications in Google’s licensing agreements that came into effect on July 1, 2022.
In the official announcement, UNO ITS stated, “As of July 1, 2022, Google changed the terms of their licensing for all customers. Beginning December 18, after commencement and during winter break, Google Workspace, including Google Drive, will be retired for students.”
This completes the transition that started multiple years back when student email account clients switched from Gmail to Outlook. Faculty, staff and students will continue to be able to use Mircosoft 365 apps including Word, Excel, OneDrive and many more.
UNO ITS has implemented a process for exporting content from Google Workspaces to the Office 365 workspace. Students and faculty who want to keep their documents and data beyond the retirement date have received an email with instructions on how to perform the export. After November 22, students and faculty will be required to use Google Takeout before December 18 to retain content.
The university has been granted a window of time to manage this transition. They will have until December 18 to export their content from Google Workspaces to Office 365.
Notably, there will be no impact on any Google Suite apps tied to personal, non-university, Gmail accounts.
