UMass Amherst Google Mail is part of Google Workspace, Google's suite of collaboration tools for educational institutions, customized especially for our campus.
Starting in summer 2013, UMass Amherst Google Mail became the official email system for all undergraduate students, and graduate students and select faculty and staff in 2019. Undergraduates' Google Mail accounts have their UMass Amherst email address and are their official email account for the time they are at the University. New students only use Google Mail for their UMass Amherst email.
All members of the University community have access to the Google Workspace suite.
Unlike your regular Google account, Google Workspace at UMass Amherst does not show any advertisements and your email is not used for analysis or marketing campaigns. Google Workspace at UMass Amherst also includes many critical security features specifically designed to keep your data safe, secure, and in your control. It allows you to control your data, including who you share it with and how you share it. For security and other reasons, some apps are not included in the Google Workspace suite. View Google's statement on Security and Privacy.
With your IT Account NetID@umass.edu and password, access Google Mail:
Important Notes:
Gmail is available for UMass Amherst Google mail users offline as well as online when using the Google Chrome browser. This feature should only enabled by users on an as needed basis and must be turned off when no longer necessary. For information on how to enable and use this feature on your UMass Amherst Google Mail account please visit: support.google.com/mail/answer/1306849?hl=en
Note: Users using Gmail offline with an account that contains University data must only configure offline Gmail on devices with the appropriate security controls for the data. Please see the “Technology Standards” section of the UMass Amherst Information Security Policy for more information.
Accounts must also enable the “Remove offline data from my computer” option for their account. To do so, log in to Gmail and go to Settings>Offline>Security and under “After logging out of my Google account” select “Remove offline data from my computer.” Users must also clear cookies on their browser after using this feature.
Google Mail uses its own internal spam filtering, which is outside the control of the University. Because UMass IT does not control this spam filtering, it is possible for even legitimate messages to sometimes make it to your spam folder.
We encourage frequent checking of the spam folder to ensure that no messages have been filed there erroneously. If this happens, you can use the "Report Not Spam" button in the Google Mail web interface to improve your personal spam filtering.
Optionally, you can also use these instructions to prevent any UMass mail from being filed into the Spam folder:
We strongly advise against, and do not support, mail forwarding. It can cause a number of problems from increasing the likelihood emails from you will go to spam, to opening your inbox to Freedom of Information Act requests for Faculty and Staff. Additionally, for Faculty & Staff members, personal email accounts may not be rated properly for safe handling of University data that could be in your email. UMass Amherst IT will not be able to help with email delivery questions if you forward your mail to another account.
UMass Amherst graduates and students who leave the University in good standing have access to Google Workspace at UMass Amherst at no cost for one year after the end of their last enrollment period. An enrollment period is defined as an academic period where you were enrolled in a class. A student who finished their last class in December but graduated in February could expect to lose access to Google Mail in December following their graduation, not the next February.
To prevent clutter, Gmail doesn't route messages that you send to your own alias (or to a group you belong to) to your inbox. More information can be found here.
Be sure to check your Spam folder in cases like this. Occasionally, authentic messages sent by the university may end up in this folder.
To find the Spam folder, click the "More" button on the left side of the mailbox. Doing so will open a drop-down menu containing the Spam folder.
It is important to check this folder periodically to see if important messages have landed there. To ensure messages from university senders no longer go to this folder, add the sender's email address to your contact list.