Thursday, October 24, 2013

The University of Georgia’s email system, UGAMail, will be upgraded to the latest version of Office 365 Education starting on Nov. 1.

Microsoft recently notified the University that the company will begin upgrading UGAMail accounts starting on Nov. 1. Microsoft is requiring all of its clients using Office 365 Education for email, calendar and task services to upgrade to the latest version.

“The biggest change to UGAMail will be for people using it online with a web browser,” said Michael Lucas, associate CIO for infrastructure and research computing. “The website to access UGAMail will not change, but after you log in online, you’ll notice that UGAMail has a different look.”

People using Mac Mail or Mozilla Thunderbird may have to reset their settings in order to send or receive emails. People using an email client or mobile device with Microsoft Exchange or Microsoft ActiveSync to access UGAMail will not be affected by the upgrade,

The new look of UGAMail online will feature a cleaner design with fewer icons. Mailboxes will also be increased from a maximum of 25 GB to 50 GB.

During the upgrade, people may not be able to access UGAMail for brief periods of time, but email will continue to be sent to inboxes, according to Lucas. It could take Microsoft anywhere from 24 hours to one week to upgrade all 116,000 UGAMail accounts.

“If you notice that you can’t send are not receiving emails on UGAMail after November 1, visit our website at office365.uga.edu for steps you can take to fix the problem,” Lucas said. “If you continue to have problems, contact the EITS Help Desk.”

UGA’s EITS manages UGAMail accounts. EITS has screen shots of the updated Web design and answers to frequently asked questions available at office365.uga.edu. The EITS Help Desk is available at 706-542-3106.