Google Workspace FAQ

What is happening and when? 

We are in the process of transitioning our enterprise Google account to their new Google Workspace model. In order to make this change without service interruption, we are removing Google Drive and Google Photos from active alumni Google accounts, beginning with alumni using @u.northwestern.edu accounts. These account holders will no longer be able to upload files to Google Drive or Google Photos effective October 14, 2024. Alumni account holders had access to their files until March 13, 2025, in order to migrate their storage to another location. Alumni in the LA area (due to fires in the LA area) and anyone who created an alumni account in October or beyond have until June 18, 2025. The majority of active alumni Google accounts do not use Drive and Photos and will not experience any change. Dormant accounts, or those where the alum has not logged in over the past two years, will be deleted, and account holders will be contacted in advance.

Why is this happening? 

In the past, Google has offered free, unlimited storage through Google Workspace for Education. However, going forward, Google has adopted a new pricing model and unfortunately will no longer provide unlimited storage for Google Workspace for Education. Institutions may continue to offer free email addresses to alumni for now but must reduce file storage space across all accounts. In order to maintain email accounts for alumni while still meeting the threshold for storage that Google has cited, Northwestern will need to remove files saved to Google Drive and Google Photos but will retain users’ access to Gmail. 

What actions do I need to take? 

As of March 13, 2025, alumni no longer have access to their Google Drive or Photos files. 

If you are a current student, faculty, or staff member and your account has been misidentified as an alumni account and you need to retain access to your data, please contact naainfo@northwestern.edu immediately.

If you are the owner of Google Drive or Google Photos storage that is accessed by a student organization at Northwestern and need help preserving these files for the organization, please contact naainfo@northwestern.edu.

I have mail-forwarding set up on my account. Do I need to do anything? 

No, if you use mail-forwarding, you do not need to log into your account.

Does this include NAA club email accounts? 

No, all Northwestern Alumni Association (NAA) clubs and other organizations will continue to have access to a limited Google Workspace account.

My files were deleted but I need to recover them. How do I do that? 

If you are in the LA area or created an account after October 2024, you will have until June 18, 2025 to move your files. Alumni needed to move all files from their Google Drive and Photos accounts before March 13, 2025. We are not able to recover data after March 20, 2025. 

If you are a current student, faculty, or staff member and your account has been misidentified as an alumni account and you need to retain access to your data, please contact naainfo@northwestern.edu immediately.

If you are the owner of Google Drive or Google Photos storage that is accessed by a student organization at Northwestern and need help preserving these files for the organization, please contact naainfo@northwestern.edu.

My account was deleted before I could log in to recover it. What do I do? 

Unfortunately, after March 20, 2025, accounts cannot be recovered. Reminders to transfer or delete data from Drive and Photos were sent to all alumni, preferred, and recovery emails between summer 2024 and March 2025. In addition, two texting campaigns and a post card in Northwestern magazine were leveraged as reminders.

If questions still persist, please email naainfo@northwestern.edu.

I have more questions not answered here 

Please contact naainfo@northwestern.edu for more information.

Why don’t we have more time? 

The changes to Google’s pricing model took effect on November 1, 2024, but effective October 8, 2024, the University extended the deadline for its alumni to March 13, 2025*, to give alumni more time to transfer their Google Drive and Google Photos files. Unfortunately, we could not allocate further resources or time to this after the March deadline*.

*If you are in the LA-area or created a Google account in or after October 2024, you have until June 18, 2025. 

What actions do I need to take? 

As of March 20, 2025, no account data is transferable any longer.

If you are a current student, faculty, or staff member and your account has been misidentified as an alumni account and you need to retain access to your data, please contact consultant@northwestern.edu immediately.

Who can I talk to about the change or to voice my concern? 

Alumni with technical questions, including questions about how to best transfer their files, given internet or other limitations, or concerns can email naainfo@northwestern.edu. Alumni wishing to provide feedback about the change in offering can email the same address. That feedback will be logged in our system and shared with the administration. 

What happens after June 18^th once the files are gone? Can I get them back? If so, who do I need to talk to? 

If you are based in the LA area or have created a Google account since October 2024, files for the @u.northwestern.edu alumni accounts will be deleted after June 18, 2025. All files will be permanently deleted after June 25, 2025.

If you are not part of the pool of LA-based alumni or alumni who have created an account during or after October 2024, you are beholden to the original March 13, 2025 file transfer deadline and all files were permanently deleted on March 20, 2025. 

What happens after March 20^th once the files are deleted? 

Files for the @u.northwestern.edu alumni accounts of alumni not in the LA-area or whose accounts were created prior to October 2024 were deleted permanently from Google on March 20, 2025. For those in the LA-area or whose accounts were created in or after October 2024, you have until June 18 to move your files before they are permanently deleted on June 25. 

Are alum.northwestern.edu email accounts also affected by these changes? 

All Northwestern Google domains, including u.northwestern.edu, @alum.northwestern.edu, @kelloggalumni.northwestern.edu, @fsm.northwestern.edu, and @nlaw.northwestern.edu, are affected by this change. 

Can I pay the University for more storage? 

No, the University is unable to facilitate increased storage for individuals. Alumni may store their files using a personal Google Drive account or another cloud-based storage service, on a local hard drive or external drive, or on a USB/flash drive. Alumni may use Google Takeout to easily move data to another Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, or OneDrive. 

What should larger data users do if they want to move their data using Google Takeout?

Larger data users may need to purchase a Google One subscription if they choose to transfer their data using Google Takeout. Please note, that it will take longer to export data based on the amount of data you have (ranging from hours to days). 

How do I export/move my files?

Here are the steps to export your Google Drive and Google Photos from one Google account to another using Google Takeout:

Google Takeout Directions:

1. Go to Google Takeout: Visit Google Takeout.
2. Select Data to Include: Click “Deselect all” and then scroll down to check “Drive”.
3. Choose Export Settings: Click “Next step”.
4. Select Delivery Method: Choose how you want to receive your data (e.g., via email link, add to Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, or Box).
5. Create Export: Click “Create export”. This may take some time depending on the amount of data.
6. Download Data: Once the export is ready, download the file from the link provided.
7. Upload to New Account: Log in to your new Google account and upload the downloaded files to Google Drive.

For Google Photos using Partner Sharing:

To move your photos/videos to a different, your personal Google account, share your photo library with that account using Partner Sharing.

Note: Unfortunately, your photo album structures will not be transferred. You will have to manually recreate and sort each album in your personal Photos account afterward.

1. Go to Google Photos.
2. Click the gear icon in the top right.
3. Click Partner Sharing.
4. Select All photos under "Choose photos to include," and click Next.
5. Enter your personal Google account’s email address in the field provided and click Next. (You can only transfer to another Google account.)
6. Confirm everything looks correct and click Send invitation.
7. Open an incognito window and log into your Northwestern Gmail account using a private incognito browser
8. Go to Google Photos with your personal account. It may take a few minutes to register the invitation.
9. Click the gear icon in the top right.
10. Click the drop-down arrow beside Partner Sharing.
11. Click Pending invitation under "Photos from [NU account]."
12. Click Accept. (You may be asked to "Share back with [NU account]" - if so, click Not now.)
13. You will be taken to an album with all of your photos/videos from your U-M Google account. Click Turn on auto save in the top left corner.
14. Select Save all photos under "Choose what to auto-save," and click Done. (The top left corner should now say "Saving automatically.")

15. Depending on how many photos and videos you currently have in your NU Google Photos library, it may take a while for Google to auto-save your photos/videos to your personal account (especially videos). To be safe, we recommend waiting at least 24 hours, maybe more, before disconnecting Partner Sharing and deleting your photos/videos from NU Google.

    To disconnect Partner Sharing after Google has automatically saved all of your NU Google account photos/videos:

16. Go to Google Photos with your personal account.
17. Click the gear icon in the top right.
18. Click the drop-down arrow beside Partner Sharing.
19. Click Remove partner and then click Remove.
20. Repeat these steps to disconnect Partner Sharing from your NU account, too.

21. If all of the photos/videos that you saved to your personal account from your NU account are still there after removing Partner Sharing, you should be safe to delete them from your NU account. 

    Important: There is a known bug with transferring Google Photos using Partner Sharing. After completing the steps, you'll notice that your photos do not take up storage space within your personal Google account. This is the bug, and Google is aware of it. There is currently no ETA on when it will be addressed and fixed by Google. Please be aware that Google could fix this bug at any time, which could cause you to exceed your storage limit in your personal Google account.

These steps should help you transfer your data smoothly. If you have any questions or run into issues, feel free to ask.

You can also download all the files in your drive to an external media drive. Go to your browser settings to change your file download location to an external media drive, select all your files in your drive, and select “download.”

Why am I getting a Takeout tool error?

This error is expected if you logged into your personal Gmail account instead of your @u.northwestern.edu account. To remedy this, it is suggested that you open an incognito/private browser and log in using your @u.northwestern.edu  account and credentials, then attempt to use the Takeout tool again.

How do I access my account?

To access your Google Workspace email account, you can log in with your username and your Google Workspace account password at http://www.gmail.com. Your username is your full email address (e.g. WillieWildcat2020@u.northwestern.edu), not an account nickname.

If you have a @u.northwestern.edu account and forgot your password, please call the NU Service Desk at 847-491-4357 (1-HELP). 

For any other accounts (e.g. @alum.northwestern.edu), you can use your security questions to reset your password by going to https://umail.northwestern.edu/alum/. 

Will bookmarks, browsing history, and various aspects of Chrome be affected by this change?

No, bookmarks, browsing history, and various aspects of Chrome should not be affected by this change.

Will Gmail emails and attachments be affected?

Gmail emails and attachments that are not Drive links should not be affected.

Which applications will be affected by this change?

Applications that store data in Google Drive, such as Google Keep, Forms, Jamboard, and Sites, will be affected.

Will calendar appointments be affected?

Calendar appointments and the calendar service will remain intact. However, attachments within appointments will be deleted since they are stored in Drive. Additionally, you won’t be able to access attachments in appointments that others have stored in Drive, which may lead to a less optimal experience.

What other services will still be available?

Services like Calendar will still be available, though some functionality may be reduced if they rely on Drive for storing attachments or other data. It’s important to note that while the core services will function, any features dependent on Drive storage may be impacted.

How to move file shared with me?

To move "Shared with Me" files in Google Drive, you can't directly move them from the "Shared with Me" area to "My Drive" or any folder within "My Drive" directly. However, you can make a copy of the files and then move the copies to your desired location. Here's the steps to do so:

1. Navigate to the "Shared with Me" section in Google Drive.
2. Right-click on the file you want to move and select "Make a copy." This will create a copy of the file in your "My Drive."
3. You can then organize the copy by moving it to any folder within your "My Drive."

For files you own that are in shared folders and you want to ensure they are moved properly, especially in the context of using Google Takeout for data migration, it's noted that Google Takeout does not export/transfer files in shared folders, even if you own the files in the folder. You must manually go folder to folder and find your files.

This method ensures that you retain a copy of the shared files in your own drive space, which can then be included in Google Takeout exports or moved to another service if needed.

I cannot upload documents to my Drive.

This is expected behavior. The ability to upload documents or other content in Google Drive has been disconnected for all alumni, including LA-area and new alumni account holders. You may still remove or transfer any existing files but cannot upload any new documents, as they need to be moved or deleted by June 18, 2025.