U of A Alumni Email Service

The U of A Alumni Email Service helps grads stay connected with the University of Alberta even after they cross the stage. Graduates of degree-granting programs at the U of A are eligible for an alumni email address with access to 100 MB of inbox storage.

If you graduated in the past 6 months:

If you graduated with a degree from U of A, your existing U of A account will automatically transition from a Student to an Alumni account approximately 6 months after you graduate. You will get an automated notice from IST 30 days before this change occurs. 

Once your account is changed to an alumni account, you will have access to Bear Tracks and Gmail (with 100MB of email storage) but will no longer have access to other Google apps (such as Google Drive, Calendar, Photos, Doc, Google Play, Youtube, etc.). Please note that the removal of access to Google Play and YouTube includes paid purchases and subscriptions to apps, movies, music and more.

Please download items stored in Google Drive, Google Photos or other Google apps as soon as possible so that your files are safe before your student account is changed. 

To export and download a copy of all your data stored in Google Drive (including emails from Gmail and files from Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites and more), use Google Takeout. View How to download your Google data — Google Support for more information.

IMPORTANT - you must log in once every six months to keep your alumni account active or it will be deactivated

If you graduated over 6 months ago:

If you have completed a degree program from the University of Alberta, you qualify for a U of A alumni email address. If you do not already have a ualberta.ca mail account, you can request a U of A alumni email address with 100 MB of inbox storage by calling the IT Service Desk at 780-492-8000 with your 7-digit student ID number if possible. 
IMPORTANT - you must log in once every six months to keep your alumni account active or it will be deactivated.

What to do if your ualberta.ca account has been deactivated

Once a ualberta.ca account has been deactivated, any associated data will be deleted. If you would like to request a new U of A alumni email address, contact the IT Service Desk at 780-492-8000 with your 7-digit student ID number if possible. Note that all new U of A alumni email addresses are generated randomly, so you will not be able to choose a specific name.

How to reset your password

If you have a ualberta.ca email address, contact Information Services and Technology (IST) at 780-492-8000 and then dial 1, during their regular office hours. Please note that you must be prepared to provide your full name, date of birth, 7-digit student ID number, and other identifying information in order to verify your identity.

If you have a ualberta.net email address please complete this form.  We may need to reach out to you via phone to verify your identity so please be sure to provide this information.

Answers to Common Questions

How to qualify for an alumni account

If you have completed a degree program from the University of Alberta, you qualify for a U of A alumni email address. If you graduated in the past 6-8 months, your student account will automatically become an alumni account. It will remain active as long as you log in at least once every six months. If your account is no longer active due to inactivity, contact the IT Service Desk at 780-492-8000 to request a new email address. Please have your 7-digit student ID numberr ready to share if possible.

What you get with an alumni account

Your U of A alumni email account will have 100 MB of inbox storage and access to Bear Tracks. You won’t have access to any other Google apps (e.g., Drive, Docs, Photos) like you did when you were a student, so be sure to download any important files when you graduate.

 

 Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How will I know when my account will expire or change?
A: . Automated email notifications will be sent to an account’s ualberta.ca email address approximately 30 days prior to any changes being applied. Once you receive the system notice, it’s important that your data is exported from your account before the 30 days is up as the data will be permanently deleted after that time. 

Q: Which Google services are reduced or removed after my relationship with the U of A changes?
A: All Google services, including but not limited to those listed on the Core App and Consumer Apps site, will be removed. Please note that the removal of access to Google Play and YouTube includes paid purchases and subscriptions to apps, movies, music, and more. 

If you have graduated with a degree from the U of A, your U of A Alumni account is reduced to Gmail only (with 100MB of email storage) and no other Google services.

Q: Can I get an exemption or extension to keep my student email account?
A: Extensions are not possible. You will receive an automated email 30 days prior to changes taking place on your account.  It is important that you download all your required data prior to prevent the loss of your data. 

Q: Can I pay to get more storage or more access to Google Workspace apps?
A: We do not have the option for paid account services for ualberta.ca addresses. If you are looking to pay for a Google account, we recommend getting a personal Gmail account and upgrading your Google Storage plan. 

If you decide to use a personal Google account with adequate storage, you may be able to use Google Takeout Transfer to migrate all your UAlberta Google account data directly to your other Google account. Please note however that Takeout Transfer DOES NOT TRANSFER PHOTOS and Takeout is not a core Google service that we can support. If you have any issues or questions regarding it, you can refer to the Google Help article for help with using Google Takeout, or ask the Google Help community forums if you can’t find what you need on the help article. 

You can then set up your UAlberta account to forward emails to your personal Gmail address. Step-by-step instructions on how to do this are provided in this Google help article Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account. 

Note that if you don’t want to continually manage your storage in your UAlberta account, you can choose to “delete University of Alberta Mail’s copy” when you set up email forwarding. If you choose to keep a copy of the email in your University of Alberta inbox, each email that is forwarded will still count toward your 100 MB of storage.

Q: How can I best use a Gmail account with 100 MB of storage?
A: Given the limited storage, it is ideal to use them as email forwarding accounts. You can easily set up your UAlberta email to forward all emails to another email address. You can find step-by-step instructions in this Google help article Automatically forward Gmail messages to another account. 

Note that if you don’t want to continually manage your storage in your UAlberta account, you can choose to “delete University of Alberta Mail’s copy” when you set up email forwarding. If you choose to keep a copy of the email in your University of Alberta inbox, each email that is forwarded will still count toward your 100 MB of storage. 

Q: Can you help me backup my data or do it for me?
A: Google Takeout is only accessible to the logged-in account holder. We cannot export your data for you. 

Q: I'm getting errors when I use Google Takeout and Takeout Transfer
A: You can refer to the Google Help article for help with using Google Takeout, or ask the Google Help community forums if you can’t find what you need in the help article. If you are encountering errors on the page when attempting to use Google Takeout, please provide a screenshot of the errors and we will do what we can to help resolve the error.

If you are trying to use Google Takeout Transfer and getting an error stating you need administrator access, please try the following:

  1. Open a Private or Incognito browsing session in your browser.
  2. Visit the Takeout Transfer site. You will be prompted to log in, ensure you are logging in with your @ualberta.ca email account credentials.
  3. Follow the steps to start the transfer.

Please note that Google Takeout Transfer DOES NOT TRANSFER ALL ACCOUNT DATA and Takeout is not a core Google service that we can support. If you have any issues or questions regarding it, you can refer to the Google Help article for help with using Google Takeout, or ask the Google Help community forums if you can’t find what you need on the help article.

Using Google Takeout
  1. Login to Google Takeout with your ualberta.net or ualberta.ca email address.
  2. Select the data you would like to download and click Next Step.
  3. Choose the file type, frequency and destination.
    1. Choose the destination for your downloaded files (send download link via email is recommended).
    2. Choose the frequency of exports (1 export is recommended).
    3. Choose the file type (.zip is recommended).
    4. Choose the export size (2 GB file size is recommended).
  4. Click Create Export.
  5. You will receive a download link once the export is complete. Save the exported file(s) to your computer, an external hard drive or other cloud-based storage.

Note: Files can take hours to days to download depending on how much data is stored in your account.

If you do not want a U of A alumni email address but would like to stay in touch, please share an updated email address here. In this way we will be able to share information about future alumni events, benefits and volunteer opportunities.

Questions?

For queries about these changes, contact us through this form. We will do our best to respond to your question within five business days.