Information



Accessing Google Apps

How do I log in to Google Apps?

  1. Go to gmail.scu.edu.
  2. Log in with your existing user name and password.

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Which tools are included in Google Apps and what do they do?

  • Google Email is your new email.
  • Google Calendar is an agenda management tool, it lets you schedule and share online calendars, and synchs to your mobile device. 
  • Google Docs is for collaborative creation and editing of documents, spreadsheets, drawings and presentations.
  • Google Drive is a space providing secure online storage and sharing of a wide variety of file types in up to 5GB of space.
  • Google Groups is an ad hoc communication and sharing tool for colleagues at Santa Clara University and outside of the university community.
  • Google Sites is a tool that creates webpages for intranets and team-managed sites. These webpages are secure and coding-free. 

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Will my email address change?

No, you'll continue to use your existing email address.

Can Google read my email?

No, Google will store your mail next to it’s own private information.

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Will my email have advertisements?

Nope.

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Will email be unavailable during the migration?

No, there will be no disruption to your email service.

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Can I access my Gmail account from another email program?

We encourage to use the Web interface but if you have a reason to continue using Apple Mail you can contact the IT team. However, you will likely find the web-browser experience much nicer, and opt not to.

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What if I already have a personal Google/Gmail account?

Google Apps accounts are totally separate from personal Google/Gmail account. As a best practice we recommend opening different accounts in different browsers and regularly clearing your cache. You can also use the Google Chrome browser to have different gmail accounts in the same browser.

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Which web browsers can I use with Google Apps?

Google Apps supports the following other browsers:
  • Google Chrome
  • Internet Explorer 7+
  • Mozilla Firefox 2.0+
  • Apple Safari 3.0+

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Can I open my email or calendar in new tab (not a new window)?

Yes, if you set up your browser to open links in a new window or tab.

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Can I access Google Apps offline?

Yes, you can set up Gmail for offline access to your most recent email messages. To enable this feature, click Settings in the upper-right corner of your Mail window, click the Offline tab, and then click Enable Offline Mail for this computer.

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Are there any other system requirements?

No. Because Google Apps runs in a web browser, you just need to use a supported browser.

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Will you migrate my contacts and calendar?

Yes, your contacts and calendar data will be migrated prior to the go live date. Unfortunately frequent contacts will not migrate over. You should create a new group and copy any important contacts over to that group.

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How often does the list of messages in my inbox automatically refresh?

If you're working in Gmail, the refresh rate is approximately every 30 to 60 seconds.

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Can I change the colors of my Mail window?

Yes, you can choose from a number of different color schemes, or even create your own! Select "Themes" from you Gmail settings.

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Will my Rules copy over to Gmail?

No, you'll need to recreate your rules using the Filters feature in Gmail. Filters let you manage the flow of incoming messages using keywords, sender, recipients, and more. Using filters, you can automatically label, archive, delete, star, or forward your mail, and even keep it out of your Spam folder.

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Will you transfer my personal contacts from Address Book to Google Apps?

Yes, your personal contacts will be transferred over. You will receive instructions on how to import your Address Book into Google Apps.

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Can I access my Gmail and Calendar on my mobile device?

Yes. Gmail and Calendar are supported on a number of mobile devices. Visit our Mobile FAQ page for more detailed information.

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How much storage will I have in Google Apps for Education?

Your new Gmail account will have the following storage space allocations:
  • 25 GBytes of mail storage
  • 5 GBytes of storage for Non-Google documents (eg. Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.)
  • No limit on native Google documents


Can I import documents, such as Microsoft Office documents, into Google Docs?

Yes, you can import the following types of documents into Google Docs:

  • Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx)
  • Microsoft Excel (.xls, .xlsx)
  • Microsoft PowerPoint (.ppt, .pps)
  • Rich Text (.rft)
  • Plain text (.txt)
  • HTML (.html)
  • PDF (.pdf)
  • Comma-separated values (.csv)
  • Tab-separated values (.tsv)
  • OpenDocument Text (.odt)
  • OpenDocument Spreadsheet (.ods)
Note: Any the aforementioned files will count against your 5 GB of space. Whenever possible convert your files to Google Docs. Any Google Docs do not count towards your allocated 5 GB of space.

Can I share documents I create in Google Docs with others outside of our domain?

Yes, we allow employees to share documents outside of the domain. However, users outside of the domain will need Google Apps accounts or personal Gmail accounts to access the shared documents.

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How do I make Gmail my default mail application?

You can designate Gmail as your default mailto handler. This means that when you click on any hyperlinked email address, a Gmail compose window will open so you can send a message to that address from Gmail. With Google Notifier (MAC) or GMail Notifier (PC) this will set your default mailto with in your browser to open Gmail. Note: you must first be logged into your scu.edu account to launch the mailto window properly.

Download the GMail/Google Notifier