The university’s email system, UGAMail, will undergo a second upgrade sometime next month. Microsoft is requiring all of its clients using Office 365 Education for email, calendar and task services to upgrade to the latest version in November.
The upgrade will offer a new look for people using UGAMail through the Outlook Web application.
“After you log in 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,” said Michael Lucas, associate chief information officer for infrastructure and research computing.
People using an email client or mobile device to access UGAMail will not be affected by the upgrade. However, everyone’s mailbox storage will be increased from a maximum of 25GB to 50GB.
“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 in which users can’t access UGAMail, but email will continue to be sent to inboxes.
UGAMail underwent its first upgrade in August, which went smoothly for the more than 105,000 accounts.
Microsoft is expected to finalize the date for the upgrade sometime this month. Enterprise Information Technology Services will announce the date when it becomes available.