What happens to my Microsoft account when I leave SFU?

OVERVIEW

This article details what happens to content you have stored in Microsoft 365 after you leave the university.

 

What happens when you leave SFU

Your Microsoft 365 account at SFU may change depending on the type of role you had at the university. For a detailed breakdown, see below:

Students

Employees

 

Students

Alumni

As an alum of the university you will retain access to Microsoft 365 products/services for 1-year starting from the end of your last semester in which you registered for classes. After this grace-period your Microsoft 365 account at SFU will be removed and data associated with your account will be destroyed.

 

During your 1-year grace period: After your 1-year grace period:
  • You will retain your @sfu.ca email address and email content.
  • Content stored in your OneDrive space will remain available.
  • Content stored in OneNote will remain available.
  • You will be able to forward emails sent to your former @sfu.ca to another email address outside of SFU, but your mailbox and email content will be removed.
  • Content stored in your OneDrive space will be removed.
  • Content stored in OneNote will be removed.

As an alum, what should you do as you graduate from SFU?

Firstly, congratulations! The things you should consider after leaving SFU are:

  • Download any files/documents/data you'd like to keep to a personal device.
  • Retain any emails you may need on a personal device.
  • Register for the SFU alumni email forwarding service so you don't miss any emails that may still be going to you @sfu.ca address.
  • If you've shared any files from your OneDrive space with colleagues who need on-going access, ensure they have a copy of the file or store it in a space they can access after you leave.

 

 

Former Student (Non-Alumni)

As a former student of the university you will retain access to Microsoft 365 products/services for 1-year starting from the end of your last semester in which you registered for classes. After this grace-period your Microsoft 365 account at SFU will be removed and data associated with your account will be destroyed.

 

During your 1-year grace period: After your 1-year grace period:
  • You will retain your @sfu.ca email address and email content.
  • Content stored in your OneDrive space will remain available.
  • Content stored in OneNote will remain available.
  • Your former @sfu.ca email address and email content will be removed.
  • Content stored in your OneDrive space will be removed.
  • Content stored in OneNote will be removed.

As an former student, what should you do as you transition from SFU?

  • Download any files/documents/data you'd like to keep to a personal device.
  • Retain any emails you may need on a personal device.
  • If you've shared any files from your OneDrive space with colleagues who need on-going access, ensure they have a copy of the file or store it in a space they can access after you leave.

 

Employees

SFU Retiree/Professor Emeritus

As a retiree or professor emeritus you will retain access to most Microsoft 365 services to support any continuing engagement you may have with the university. However, changes to features and limits will affect your account as it transitions to a retiree/emeritus plan.

 

You will retain access to: What will change:
  • Your email address and email content.
  • Content stored in your OneDrive space.
  • Microsoft Teams.
  • You will lose access to Microsoft 365 desktop applications (such as Word, Excel...etc). However, the online versions will remain available to you at https://www.microsoft365.com/.
  • Your @sfu.ca email account will be swapped to a retiree/emeritus plan with a 50GB limit.
  • Your OneDrive space will be capped at 100GB (note: if you are over this limit you will still be able to retrieve your files but you will be unable to edit or add more until you are under this cap).

As a retiree/professor emeritus, what should you do as you transition from SFU?

  • Prepare to transition to the online versions of Microsoft 365 apps (such as Word, Excel...etc) by storing desktop files in your on-going online OneDrive space.
  • If your @sfu.ca email account is over 50GB then prepare to reduce the size of your email inbox by backing up any data you want to keep.
  • If you have over 100 GB of files stored in your OneDrive space prepare to download excess files until you are under the 100 GB limit. 

 

Former Employee

As a former employee of the university you will lose access to Microsoft 365 products at different intervals after you drop from SFU's payroll system.

 

You will retain access to: After 1-year:
  • Your email address and email content.
  • Microsoft 365 apps (such as Word, Excel...etc) and services associated with your SFU account.
  • Content stored in your OneDrive space.
  • Microsoft Teams.
  • Your former @sfu.ca email address and email content will be removed.
  • You will loose access to M365 apps and services associated with your SFU account (Word, OneDrive, Teams).

As a former employee, what should you do as you transition from SFU?

  • If you've shared any files from your OneDrive space with colleagues who need on-going access, ensure they have a copy of the file or store it in a space they can access after you leave.

 

Sponsored Accounts

Sponsored accounts have various uses to support the university and are renewed annually. If an account isn't renewed it will lose access to Microsoft 365 apps and services. For more details, see below.

 

Upon not being renewed the sponsored account will lose access to:
  • The email address and content associated with the sponsored account.
  • Access to Microsoft 365 desktop applications (such as Word, Excel...etc).
  • Content stored in the OneDrive space of the sponsored account
  • Microsoft Teams.

As a sponsored account owner, what should you do before you choose to not renew a sponsored account?

  • If the sponsored account has shared files from OneDrive with colleagues who need on-going access, ensure they have a copy of the file or store them in a space they can access.
  • Retain any files you may need in a location that's appropriate to the purpose of the account. For example, if the account was for departmental use this may be a shared location (such as a network drive).

Details

Article ID: 6978
Created
Thu 10/12/23 3:04 PM
Modified
Tue 3/26/24 3:29 PM