Email Requirements
Email Accounts
TSS-supported employees are assigned an UF Exchange email account** for all official University correspondence.
Policies & Guidelines
All relevant University policies, standards, and guidelines apply to TSS-supported users, including but not limited to:
- University of Florida Policy on E-mail and Internet use, Administrative Memo
- Email Policies, UFIT
- UF Policy on E-mail as Public Records, UF Policy
- Auto-Forwarding of Electronic Mail Prohibited, UF Policy
- UF Email Guidelines for Users of Restricted Data
Usage
- The employee's GatorLink user name and password is used to access their UF Exchange email account, as well as network files and UF web-based applications.
- The Exchange account is accessible through
- MS Outlook on UF-networked computers (via AnyConnect VPN when off-campus),
- remotely through the web (http://mail.ufl.edu/exchange), or
- via mobile devices that meet UF's Mobile Computing and Storage Devices Policy.
- Features include:
- a calendaring feature to help schedule meetings with other UF employees using UF's Active Directory,
- an address book tied to UF's phone directory, and
- a task list.
More information on UF Exchange, help, specifications of services, and policies for UF's Exchange email accounts are available on the UF Exchange website.
**GatorLink Webmail email service is scheduled to be turned off for faculty and staff in 2017.
Student Employees
Students' GatorLink email should be kept separate from their communication as UF employees, both to protect student conversations from Florida's Email as Public Records requirements and so that the unit does not have unnecessary access to FERPA protected data. Therefore students should NOT use their GatorCloud/O365 account for employment purposes. Instead a service account should be assigned to the student or they should use an administrative account that is associated with their position.
Administrative/Service Accounts
Units may request email accounts for administrative purposes (ex: UFAdvising@aa.ufl.edu) that are not tied to a specific GatorLink account. These accounts may be:
- Distribution lists – emails sent to the account are forwarded to a defined group of individuals. The advantages of this account are that emails show up in all of the individual email accounts and who responds to questions is clearly identified.
- Administrative accounts – where specified individuals may log into the account to manage email messages. This is the preferred route when student employees are managing email requests, when all correspondence needs to be stored in a single location, or when individual employee email accounts should not be publicly exposed.
Public Records and Retaining Emails
Business related emails sent to or from any UF account (Exchange or GatorLink) are considered "Public Records" and generally must be retained for 3 years; longer or shorter retention times may be required depending on the information contained within the email. Please see UF's Records Retention website for more specific information on what must be retained and for how long.
Due to the State of Florida's Sunshine Laws, anyone can request copies of these emails. For more detailed information, please see the UF Policy on E-mail as Public Records.