Shared Accounts in U-M Google

U-M Google Shared Accounts allow teams to use a Google account for shared email and calendar access. The account is owned by the team instead of an individual. Individuals log in to and manage the Shared Account through their own U-M Google accounts and can transfer access to it as needed. Designated people can send and receive emails, post events, and share calendars, all acting as the Shared Account. This document provides an overview of Shared Accounts in U-M Google.

Overview

Important: Only faculty and regular staff can request and own Shared Accounts. Students, sponsored affiliates, temporary staff, alumni, retirees, MCommunity groups, Shared Accounts, Friend accounts, and external (non-UM) users cannot request or own Shared Accounts. If you are a student requesting a Shared Account for a student organization, your faculty or staff advisor must submit the request.

• Shared Accounts have a 15GB storage limit, separate from your individual account limit. You cannot request or purchase additional storage.
• Shared Accounts function as a normal Google account and can be used with all U-M Google apps (Core and Additional Services, including YouTube).
• All email messages can be kept in a single mailbox, and individuals can send emails from their individual U-M Google accounts as the Shared Account using aliases.
• Group events can be scheduled by a Shared Account instead of an individual to prevent issues when someone on your team leaves the university.

Ownership, Maintenance, and Annual Renewal

The individual who creates a Shared Account is automatically assigned as an account owner. However, you must designate at least one additional owner when completing the request form to share responsibility for managing and renewing this account.

You can add up to 50 owners to your account (including yourself), with a minimum of two required. The account requires two owners to ensure redundancy if an eligible owner is removed due to affiliation changes. If you do not have another owner, add a trusted faculty or staff member (such as a supervisor, HR staff, or department head) as the second owner. There are no exceptions to this policy.

The additional owner(s) must be eligible to create and own Shared Accounts (i.e., faculty or regular staff). If an owner is not eligible, you cannot submit the form and must provide a different uniqname for an eligible owner.

Shared Account owners are responsible for maintaining and renewing their account and its associated MCommunity group annually.

• The annual renewal process requires one owner to complete and should take only a few minutes. Refer to Renew a Shared Account for instructions.
• All Shared Account owners will be notified by email 30 days before the account expires and asked to use the ITS Shared Account Manager tool to renew both the account and its associated group.
• If no action is taken to renew the account and its MCommunity group before its expiration, the account will be deactivated and scheduled for deletion.

MCommunity groups associated with Shared Accounts

Each Shared Account is associated with a group in the MCommunity Directory. The MCommunity group allows email to be sent to the Shared Account using an @umich.edu address. It also allows certain individuals (i.e., the group's owners) to change the UMICH password associated with the Shared Account.

Some things you may notice about the MCommunity group profile for your Shared Account:

• In the Group Details section of your group's MCommunity profile page, the Rules Summary will indicate that the group has not been sent to U-M Google. Shared Accounts are linked with an account in U-M Google differently from other MCommunity groups and are not synchronized.
• The group's owners will be the owners of the Shared Account. Shared Account owners must be updated using the ITS Shared Account Manager tool. Changes made to owners directly in MCommunity will be reverted within 24 hours.
• One external member will be listed with an email address that includes your Shared Account name and @go.mail.umich.edu. This external group member must be in your group for your Shared Account to receive email.
• The ITS Shared Account Owner ([email protected]) is added to all MCommunity groups associated with a Shared Account and is necessary for the lifecycle management of the account. You cannot remove it.
• No individuals will be listed as group members. The Shared Account owners can delegate access to the account through other means. (Refer to the "Access the Shared Account’s email as a delegate" section below for more information.)

Please keep the following in mind when managing the MCommunity group for your Shared Account:

1. Do not delete the group from MCommunity. The Shared Account will be deactivated and scheduled for deletion if the group is permanently deleted. It also won't receive email.
2. Do not delete the external group member. The external group member, with the email address ending in @go.mail.umich.edu, delivers email to the Shared Account. It allows your Shared Account to receive email sent to its @umich.edu address. If you delete the external group member from the MCommunity group, the Shared Account will no longer receive email.
3. Do not change the group settings. Do not set the group to private/moderated, or make any other changes to the settings. Such changes can stop emails from being delivered to your Shared Account.
4. Renew the Shared Account (and its group) annually. This ensures that the group does not expire. The Shared Account owners will be notified by email 30 days before expiration to remind them to renew.
5. Ensure there are always at least two eligible owners (i.e., faculty and regular staff). Shared Account owners must be updated using the ITS Shared Account Manager tool. Having more than two eligible owners increases the likelihood that someone will be available to handle tasks as needed, even when an individual owner is away from the office or leaves the university.

Log in to the Shared Account

Using a Google Chrome Incognito window (or a different browser's private window), log in with the Shared Account's email address and UMICH password.

It is only necessary to log in as the Shared Account to:

• Delegate a Google mailbox.
• Send email from the Shared Account (i.e., not through email delegation/“Send-as”).
• Read emails sent to the Shared Account (unless Gmail filters are set up to forward mail).
• Assign, modify, and manage Google Calendar permissions. (Once someone has these permissions, they can assign them to others from their individual account.)
• Create additional Google Calendars associated with the account and share them.
• Configure the Shared Account’s settings.

Tip: Learn how to change the Google display name for your Shared Account.

Note: To reset a Shared Account password, you must be an account owner and have an eligible university role (i.e., faculty or regular staff). If you are an eligible account owner, refer to Google: Reset a Shared Account Password for instructions. (If you change the UMICH password for your Shared Account, it is your responsibility to save and share the new password with the other owners securely.)

Gmail

Emails sent to the Shared Account are also delivered to the members of the associated MCommunity group.

Note: Google vacation responder and auto-reply settings in Gmail do not work with Shared Accounts. However, you can use the MCommunity Away Message.

Send email as the Shared Account

To send email as the Shared Account, you can either log in directly to the account and send mail from it OR add the account as an alias to your individual Google account.

To add the Shared Account as an alias to your U-M Google account:

1. Log in to your individual U-M Google account and go to Gmail.
2. Click the gear icon and click See all settings.
3. Click the Accounts tab at the top.
4. Click Add another email address beside Send mail as.
5. Enter the Shared Account's display name and email address in the corresponding fields.
6. Check the Treat as an alias box and click Next step.
7. Click Send Verification.
   Note: A verification code is sent to all members of the MCommunity group.
8. Click the link provided in the email (from your individual account) and click Confirm on the new open page. You can now send as the Shared Account.
9. Compose a message and use the drop-down list in the From: field to select the Shared Account.

Important: When using the "send as" function, the message is not stored in the Shared Account’s Sent mail folder. (If this is desired, use email delegation as described below or log into the account to send mail.)

Access the Shared Account’s email as a delegate

Delegates can read, send, and delete messages on behalf of the Shared Account and access the account’s contacts. All activity within the Shared Account window is attributed to the Shared Account. Sent mail is stored in the Shared Account’s Sent mail folder when logged into the account.

Before you can access the Shared Account's email as a delegate, an account owner must add you as one to the account. Ask an account owner to log in to the Shared Account and refer to Google: Add or Remove Email Delegation for instructions.

After an owner sets up account delegation, ensure you are logged in to your individual U-M Google account. The Shared Account should now appear as an alternate account under your profile picture in the top right corner of Gmail. Click the Shared Account from the list to access it.

Google Calendar

Important: Out-of-office features do not work with Shared Accounts.

While logged in to the Shared Account, create a calendar to be assigned to it. You can then share that calendar with individuals or MCommunity groups so they can manage it from within their individual accounts.

Available permission settings are:

• See only free/busy (hide details)
• See all event details
• Make changes to events
• Make changes and manage sharing

With the Make changes and manage sharing permission:

• The calendar appears under My Calendars in the left sidebar.
• The calendar is available from the Calendar drop-down list when creating events.
• You can copy an event from another calendar by clicking Options (three-dot icon).

Add the calendar via the link in the "[email protected] has shared a calendar with you" notification email.

Note: New members of the associated MCommunity group do not receive a notification email.

Important:

• When selected, events on shared calendars appear with those on individual calendars. When updating or deleting events, ensure you are on the correct calendar.
• Because Shared Account MCommunity groups do not sync to U-M Google, inviting a Shared Account to a calendar event does not invite the members of its associated group.