U-M Google Updates / U-M Information and Technology Services

ACTION NEEDED: Save Your Google+ Communities and Download Affected Content

3/14/2019

As we first communicated on March 4, Google will delete some content in U-M Google+ on April 2, 2019. The ITS Collaboration Services team consulted with Google+ Product Managers to develop a recommended action plan. Please note this information is what we currently understand, according to Google. See the most up to date information directly from Google.

COMMUNITIES

Communities owned by at least one U-M G Suite account will remain.
Communities not owned by a U-M G Suite account will be deleted.
Community posts made by non-G Suite accounts, even in Communities with a U-M G Suite owner, will be deleted.

Actions Needed:

Act now to make sure at least one person with a U-M G Suite account is an Owner on your Community.
- Add a G Suite account as a Moderator to Communities
- Two weeks later, convert that Moderator to an Owner
  (The account must be a Moderator for two weeks before it can be made an Owner. March 18 is the last day to take action.)
Archive your Google+ Community to capture contributions from everyone, before content is deleted.

PAGES
All Google+ Pages, like the U-M Google page, will be deleted.
Action Needed: Download and archive your page content with the Google Takeout tool.

New Intelligent Search in Google Drive

3/7/2019

Google has announced a new intelligent search now available for all Google Drive accounts.

With this new feature, when you click on the search box at the top of your Google Drive, you’ll see a range of options, including:

Suggested search queries: Click on a term to search for it.
Your top collaborators: Click on a person to search for files that you’ve collaborated with them on.
File types, edit history, priority items, and more: Click to show files that match the highlighted criteria.

These filters will help you find and filter content more quickly and efficiently in Google Drive, saving you time and effort.

Interested in our latest updates about Google G Suite at U-M? Check out the Google Service Updates page.

A Friendly Reminder: Check Your Spam Folder Periodically

3/6/2019

When was the last time you checked your spam or junk email folder? Once in a while, a legitimate email can be sent to your spam folder instead of your inbox. We recommend that you check your spam folder periodically for legitimate emails that have been sent there by mistake. If you do find a message that has been accidentally marked as spam, you can fix this by taking one of the following actions:

Select the message which has been marked as spam and click Not Spam at the top of your inbox.
At the top of the message, there will be a grey text box which explains why this message was flagged as spam. To unmark this as spam, click Report not spam at the bottom of this text box.

After following one of these actions, the message will be moved back into your inbox and out of the spam folder. Monitoring your spam folder will help to ensure that future messages from this sender are not flagged as spam. Additionally, adding colleagues to your Google Contacts can help with proper mail delivery.

Interested in our latest updates about Google G Suite at U-M? Check out the Google Service Updates page.

U-M Google February Summary

3/4/2019

The monthly U-M Google Summaries inform campus of Google releases for Core Apps as well as the Non-Core Apps (those that are not part of the G Suite for Education agreement). We communicate important information on Core Apps throughout the month. Core and Non-Core Apps are listed on the G Suite website.

Previously Communicated:

Note: Keep in mind that even when Non-Core Apps are found in a Core App (like Add-ons in Gmail and Google Drive), they are not covered by the G Suite for Education agreement.

Interested in our latest updates about Google G Suite at U-M? Check out the Google Service Updates page.

Important: Some U-M Google+ Content is Going Away

3/4/2019

As we communicated in December 2018, Google stated that Google+ would remain available in U-M Google after Google retires its consumer version of G+. However, we have recently become aware that there are important exceptions that could affect some campus accounts in Google+. (Be sure to read Google’s documentation for details and the most recent updates.)

What is staying and going with U-M Google+?

According to the latest information from Google, the following U-M Google+ content will stay, with some restrictions:

Communities: Communities that have at least one G Suite owner (i.e. U-M user or other individual with a G Suite account) will remain. See how to add owners to Communities. However, posts made by Brand Accounts and consumer Google+ users will be deleted from Communities.
Collections: Existing Collections will remain for now. However, U-M users will not be able to create new collections or add content to a collection that is not domain-restricted.
Circles: Existing Circles will remain for now. However, U-M users will not be able to create new circles, add people without a Google+ account to existing circles, or share a post to a circle. In addition, after the consumer shutdown, non-G Suite users will be removed from circles.

According to the latest information from Google, the following U-M Google+ content will be deleted starting April 2, 2019:

Pages, like the U-M Google page
Gadgets embedded in classic Sites (not the new version of Sites)
Events

What do I need to do?

If you want to keep your content, be sure to download your Google+ data before April 2, 2019. Some alternative services to consider include:

Google Sites: To create a public, web-based presence.
Google Groups: U-M Discussion Groups to send and archive communications.

The ITS Collaboration Services team has been in contact with Google+ service administrators at Google and will continue to provide updates as they become available.