About changes to storage in Google at IU

On this page:

Critical updates for Google services in 2022
Google Drive and other core services are not going away
About migrating data from Google
Options for use of Google Shared Drives

Critical updates for Google services in 2022

New storage limits

For more than a decade, Google offered the full suite of services at no cost to higher education universities; however, Google has announced placement of caps on storage use, at 30% of the current total data stored in the IU Google instance. As a result, the university must limit the total storage footprint used by all IU services in Google systems to avoid drastically increased costs.

Apps, services, and features that contribute to our overall usage include:

Google Drive and Google Photos for individuals
Google Photos (see Move photos out of your Google at IU account)
Gmail at IU (for students; no action needed since student mail migrated to Exchange Online in May)

As of January 24, 2023, every active Google at IU My Drive account must be under 5 GB. For accounts below 4 GB of total storage, a limit of 5 GB was implemented on Friday, August 26, 2022. The limit was put in place to ensure that these accounts stay under 5 GB and do not increase IU's total storage allotment in Google. 85-90% of students, faculty, and staff are affected by this limit.

Also, group accounts can no longer store any data in Google at IU.

Note:

IU YouTube channels are not affected by these changes.

For more, see Collection of Knowledge Base documentation about changes to storage in Google at IU.

If you go over the limit

If your Google at IU account goes over the 5 GB quota for files that you own, you will not be able to create new content or edit existing content in your Google My Drive. These restrictions will be lifted once you reduce your storage so that it's under the 5 GB limit.

See how much space you're using

To view your total Google at IU usage, go to https://drive.google.com/settings/storage. Be sure you are logged into your Google at IU account, and not a personal Google account. To be sure, you could use a private browser.

If your Google My Drive shows you are over quota and you don't think you should be, you may have files in your Google My Drive owned by other users; refer to Manage files and folders in Google at IU My Drive.

Timeline

August 26	5 GB limit set for all Google at IU My Drives that are under 4 GB
September 2	Last day to request a Gmail re-enable
September 16	All Gmail re-enables lose access to gmail
September 21	Migration forms must be submitted for Google My Drives and Google Shared Drives; those over quota and not submitted automatically added to the list for administrative moves which began September 29.
September 22	Migration forms closed. 5 GB limit set for all Google at IU My Drives that are under 5 GB
September 29	Administrative moves began for those over the 5 GB quota who had not submitted the migration form
October 1	Gmail data deleted for those currently at IU
October 3	5 GB quota set for Google at IU accounts with 4 to 4.99 GB of data
November 1	Delete all users and data from the separated user organization for those separated more than 30 days
November 21	Google My Drives over quota and signed up for manual moves that are not completed by this date had quota added, and were automatically added to the list for administrative moves
November 29	Administrative moves began for Google My Drives over quota and signed up for manual moves that were not completed.
December 1	Quota set to zero on IU group accounts; all group accounts with data began migration to OneDrive after this date; after 30 days data deleted completely
December 8	Ability to collaborate no longer available for files in Google Shared Drives whose owner has not completed the migration form
December 12	Administrative migrations to OneDrive began for group accounts with data
December 14	Empty Google Shared Drives deleted
December 15	Quota set to zero bytes for files in Google Shared Drives whose owners had not completed the migration form
January 11, 2023	Quotas for Google Shared Drives set to zero for those who have not paid to maintain access; after 30 days data deleted completely from those Google Shared Drives
January 24, 2023	5 GB quota set for Google My Drives
February 15, 2023	Google Shared Drives with no data deleted
February 28, 2023	All purchase orders must be created for paid Shared Drives

Google Drive and other core services are not going away

Google at IU will remain available to you as long as your account remains under the limit. You will still have access to Google My Drive, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Slides, Google Meet, Google Chat, Jamboard, Chromebook management, and the majority of services Google offers.

About migrating data from Google

For details, see Migration options for Google at IU My Drive data.

Migration tool for personal data

Learn how you might migrate your personal Google at IU My Drive files to Microsoft OneDrive at IU.

The tool will convert Google file formats to their counterparts in the Microsoft Office suite:

Google Docs to Microsoft Word
Google Sheets to Microsoft Excel workbooks
Google Slides to Microsoft PowerPoint slide decks

Data classification for storage in Google My Drive

Google My Drive is not an appropriate location for institutional data. For more on data privacy, security, and storage, see IU Data Management.

Large files

Files larger than 250 GB cannot be stored in Microsoft Teams/SharePoint Online. UITS encourages you to work with your IT Pro to investigate migration options for such files.

Microsoft options for institutional data

Within enterprise IU IT services, Microsoft Teams at IU/SharePoint Online is the option for institutional files.

Get help determining whether your data is personal or institutional.

Important:

Personal Google Drive accounts, as well as personal accounts in other platforms and services, are not appropriate for storing IU data. Files stored in your Google at IU space that are not personal in nature must remain in a storage platform appropriate for IU data.

Microsoft pricing

All major vendors offer cloud storage as a significant component of their service offerings, and the industry as a whole has shifted toward monetizing storage rather than offering it as a free component associated with other services.

Microsoft is not an exception to this trend. However, while Microsoft is charging significantly for storage, IU has much more space than is being used. The university's existing investment in other Microsoft products also makes this sustainable.

Option for use of Google Shared Drives

Google Shared Drives are now available only as a paid option for departments.