FAQ

Google Transition Questions

Will there be "graceful sunsetting" of the eng.ucsd.edu account?

OEC will ensure that all @eng.ucsd.edu email addresses and aliases assigned to you will redirect to your @ucsd.edu account post-transition.

Additionally, the @eng account will remain intact as username-archive@eng.ucsd.edu through February 2024 to allow for graceful transition time.

Will I be able to keep my @eng.ucsd.edu email address after the transition?

Yes, we will be able to forward all emails sent to your @eng.ucsd.edu address over to your @ucsd.edu address.

So everything will still be Google-based as opposed to Microsoft-based?

Correct - we are transitioning to the ucsd.edu Google domain.

Is there an "opt out" of this transition?

All campus employees and affiliates currently using the eng.ucsd.edu Google domain will need to transition to using the ucsd.edu domain. There are specific reasons to keep part of the eng.ucsd.edu accounts open for these users, and those will be addressed as needed. In most cases, there will be alternatives to keeping the account open.

Student / Alumni accounts will go through their own separate transition process, which will be coordinated with them in the near future.

What will happen with Shared Drives after the transition?

Shared Drives created in the eng.ucsd.edu domain will remain, for now and by default, in the eng.ucsd.edu domain. These can be transitioned to the ucsd.edu domain, moving the data is a manual process.  Instructions are listed here: Shared Drive Watchpoints

How do I Send As my @eng.ucsd.edu email address from my @ucsd.edu Google account?

Configure your @eng.ucsd.edu address as a Send As entry in your @ucsd.edu account.

Instructions are here: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/22370


Note: this is the same for your @cs.ucsd.edu email aliases.

I sent myself a test email to one of my email addresses, from my @ucsd.edu account - but I never received the test email!

Google does not show you emails that you send to yourself in your Inbox. Please see this article for an explanation:

https://support.google.com/a/answer/1703601?hl=en#:~:text=Resolution,as%22%20address%20for%20your%20account.

What about my Zoom integration with my Google account?

How do I move my MyDrive files from my @eng account to my @ucsd account, while keeping sharing and URLs intact?

Please see MyDrive watchpoints, where this is discussed in more detail: MyDrive 

Google Storage Questions

If our account is below the proposed quota, should we anticipate having to clean up data?

If you have cleanup you know you can do, I would go ahead and do so. You can expect to hear from campus at some point about how email may not be the best place to keep your historical records.

How do I check the amount of storage my Google account is using?

How do I find emails with large attachments?

To find emails in your Gmail mailbox with large attachments, you can use this link:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/has%3Aattachment+larger%3A10 

Or you can open your Inbox and use the search term:

From there you can determine if you want to delete the emails, and if you want to download the attachments before deleting.

What is orphaned data, and how do I find my orphaned files in Google Drive?

If someone shares a folder out from their own personal MyDrive, this folder lives in their account. The folder is owned by the account of the person that shared out the folder.

HOWEVER, if you then put files into that folder, the files are still owned by you (unless you take the extra step to transfer ownership to that other person)

Now, if the owner of that folder deletes the folder, OR if the folder owner's account is deleted...

The files you own are still in Google, but they no longer live in a folder - they've been "orphaned".

To find out if you have orphaned files, you can use this link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/search?q=is:unorganized%20owner:me

Or you can open your MyDrive and use the search term:

From there you can determine if you want to delete the files, or move them to an appropriate location.

How do I download a large number of files from my MyDrive?

What happens when I delete files from my MyDrive that are owned by someone else?

If you delete a file from your MyDrive that is owned by someone else, that file will be moved to the owner's MyDrive.

If you delete a folder from your MyDrive that contains files owned by someone else, the files contained within will keep its existing sharing settings for 30 days or until the folder is deleted from the MyDrive Trash. Then, the file will be unshared and moved to the owner's MyDrive.

How do I delete my data from Trash?


Why does OEC recommend a Shared Drive for shared folder infrastructures?

If you create a folder in your MyDrive, and share it out to others, this is considered a MyDrive "shared folder infrastructure".

When you do this, and other users contribute files and/or folders to this folder, you might think that you own the files because they "live" in your MyDrive.

BUT that is not actually the case - if someone else adds a file/folder to your MyDrive, that file/folder is owned by that user.

Why is this problematic?

As employees separate from the university, or students  graduate or leave, their accounts are subject to closure and deletion.

The files in your MyDrive that are owned by that user will be deleted when that user's account is deleted.

However, 

If you create a Shared Drive, and share that out to others, all files/folders added to that Shared Drive are OWNED BY THAT SHARED DRIVE.

This means that no matter who comes and goes, whose accounts are deleted, all files in the Shared Drive will remain in place and accessible by the members of the Shared Drive.

How can I more closely analyze the data in my MyDrive (or Shared Drive) to find large files, etc.?

Method that we have come across to do more analysis on the files in your MyDrive or Shared Drive to find large files, old files, etc:

If you have questions about this method, please feel free to contact us for assistance: oec@ucsd.edu

IMPORTANT: DO NOT use these apps to download your Google Drive data, unless you KNOW that you are not downloading any native Google files (Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc)

Gmail Tips

What are some Gmail searches to help better understand my mailbox?

What is an easy option Google provides to help you manage your Inbox?

Google has an Archive option, which basically is another way of saying "Remove label".

You can think of Google as a big bucket with emails in it. Each email can have a label on it, like Inbox, Sent, Finance 2022, etc. Each email can have multiple labels on it, even!

You can see all the emails in your Google "bucket" by going to "All Mail" (There you will see all of your emails, and the labels attached to each).

When you have emails in your Inbox that you're done with and don't want to see them anymore, or don't have action to take on them, you may want to "Archive" them. This does not delete the email - instead, it removes the "Inbox" label, and the email remains in your mailbox. This way, you can search for the email still, and it will also show in your All Mail list. It can be an easy way to start clearing our your Inbox.

https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6576?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop#:~:text=If%20you%20want%20to%20clean,stay%20out%20of%20your%20inbox.

How do I take action on more than 50 emails at a time?

NOTE: for very large result sets, you may have to do this process several times to fully complete the action that you're trying to complete

How do I "Send As" an alias, from a 3rd party email client?

THUNDERBIRD on MacOS

APPLE MAIL on MacOS

iOS - Change Default Send As Address

last updated 06-06-2023