Friday, September 20, 2013

The University of Georgia’s email system, UGAMail, will undergo a second upgrade starting on November 1. Microsoft is requiring all of its clients using Office 365 Education for email, calendar and task services to upgrade to the latest version.

“Our first upgrade of UGAMail in August went very smoothly for more than 105,000 accounts,” said Michael Lucas, associate CIO for infrastructure and research computing. “For this next upgrade, the major difference will be a new look for people using UGAMail online through the Outlook Web App. After you login to UGAMail online, the web interface will show the new Office 365 design, which is cleaner with a simple blue bar at the top of the page and fewer icons.”

People using an email client or mobile device to access UGAMail will not be affected by the upgrade. However, everyone’s mailboxes will be increased from a maximum of 25 GB to 50 GB.

“We’re encouraging UGA students, faculty and staff to take a quick look at the new web interface of UGAMail so they won’t be surprised at the new Office 365 design after their email accounts are migrated in November,” Lucas said. “We also encourage everyone to ensure their software is compatible with Office 365, as Microsoft will be eliminating technical support of some applications next year.”

During the upgrade, there may be brief periods during the migration that users can’t access UGAMail, but email will continue to be sent to inboxes.

The University’s central IT department — Enterprise Information Technology Services (EITS) — manages UGAMail accounts. EITS will have screen shots of the new web design of UGAMail and updated frequently asked questions available at office365.uga.edu.

For screen shots of the new design, click here.

For more information, visit eits.uga.edu.