Large group of graduates in darkened room with screen reading "Congratulations Graduates"

Digital Storage Changes for Alumni

Kent State University is committed to being a responsible steward of our digital tools. Due to recent changes in how our providers determine how much total storage is granted to universities, changes to our email and digital storage offerings are needed. The university will now maintain FlashLine access, email, Google Drive and Microsoft accounts for graduating students for two years after graduation.
 

What this means

  • For current students and alumni who graduated after October 14, 2023: 

    Student Account Lifecycle Graphic: Admitted and granted an email address, Registered for classes and full student experience loaded, Graduated begins 2 yr countdown to all storage and email being erased

    • You may continue using your university-provided email account during your enrollment and for two years after you graduate.  After that period, your email and cloud storage will be deactivated and any remaining data will be permanently deleted. The instructions below can help you prepare and ensure you do not lose anything you wish to keep.

    • Although your access remains intact while you are a student and in the two years after graduation, there is a related effort that will impact you sooner. Google Photos will be disabled for kent.edu users on January 31, 2026. Taking the Google Photos steps below will prepare you for this change.

  • For Alumni who graduated before October 14, 2023: 
    Your ability to access FlashLine, email, Google Drive and Microsoft services will be deactivated on October 14, 2025.  After this date, you will no longer have access to your email or cloud storage (such as Google Drive or OneDrive). Please review the instructions below to ensure you do not lose anything you wish to retain. 

Recommended Steps for Alumni Who Graduated Before October 14, 2023

Note: We strongly suggest beginning these steps well before October 14, 2025, as email accounts will begin deletion on that day. To avoid disruption in any of your communications, please act early.

contact icon

 

EMAIL: Review contacts, important communications, and connected accounts

Update your contacts

Notify your personal and professional contacts to begin using your personal email address. Update any financial, social, gaming or shopping accounts that are linked to an kent.edu address.

Check communications coming from Kent State

If you receive important updates or alumni communications in your kent.edu account, you can contact those senders and share the personal address they should use in the future.
 

Update email clients and/or digital services

If third party providers (Amazon, iTunes, etc.) have your primary account address as kent.edu, you will need to replace that with a personal email with each provider.

Upload or Transfer Icon

 

GOOGLE DRIVE: Transfer any needed data out of Google

Using Google Takeout to Download Data

Note: Google Takeout will only download files you own. For shared files, follow the instructions regarding "Managing Shared Data". 

Visit Google Account Data and Privacy.

  • Scroll down until you find the Download or delete your data section.
  • Click Download your data.
Click Download your Data

Scroll through the first section labeled Select data to include and choose which products you want to download.

  • You may have issues if the total content is over 100 GB. If you experience difficulties, try downloading the data directly.
  • To help ensure the best transfer, it is also recommended that you delete any unwanted files first to limit the amount of data you are trying to export.
  • Also, ensure that you are not downloading business data to a personal account as it may contain sensitive information.
  • Once you have made your selections, click Next step.
  • Select your preferred Delivery Method, Frequency, and File Type & Size. We recommend choosing the file size of 10 GB.
  • Click Create Export.
Choose file type, frequency and destination

This process can take up to several days if exporting large amounts of photos or other large files.              

  • A box will appear labeled Export Progress, allowing you to cancel the export or create another one.
  • You will receive an email when the process is complete.
Export Progress dialog box
 
google photos in blue

 

GOOGLE PHOTOS: Remove all photos in your Google account

Ensure You Are Using Your Kent State University Google Account When Viewing Google Photos

Confirm You are Logged in to Your Kent State University Google Account

Because you can be logged into multiple Google accounts simultaneously, it's important to know how to switch between the two.  Your Kent State University Google account will have the Kent State University logo next to your profile icon. (fig.1)

choosing the right google account


How To Change Accounts

  • Locate the circle in the upper right hand corner of your Google, Gmail, or Drive page and select it.
  • You will then see a drop-down menu that will show all the Google accounts you are signed into. The Google account listed at the top is the account you are currently viewing. To switch between accounts, select the other account.
choosing the right google account
After logging in to Google Photos using Your Kent State Account
  • If the Google Photos page is empty when you are logged in with your Kent State credentials, there is no further action required.  
     
  • If there are photos you want to retain personal use of, Google Takeout is the recommended method of exporting or downloading Google photos. *Instructions on using Google Takeout are in the next section. 
Using Google Takeout to Download Photos or Other Data

Visit Google Account Data and Privacy.

  • Scroll down until you find the Download or delete your data section.
  • Click Download your data.
Click Download your Data

Scroll through the first section labeled Select data to include and choose which products you want to download.

  • You may have issues if the total photo content is over 100 GB. If you experience difficulties, try downloading the data directly.
  • To help ensure the best transfer, it is also recommended that you delete any unwanted files first to limit the amount of data you are trying to export.
  • Also, ensure that you are not downloading business data to a personal account as it may contain sensitive information.
  • Once you have made your selections, click Next step.
  • Select your preferred Delivery Method, Frequency, and File Type & Size. We recommend choosing the file size of 10 GB.
  • Click Create Export.
Choose file type, frequency and destination

This process can take up to several days if exporting large amounts of photos or other large files.              

  • A box will appear labeled Export Progress, allowing you to cancel the export or create another one.
  • You will receive an email when the process is complete. 
Export Progress dialog box

 

After all needed photos have been removed from your Kent State Google account, you must delete all remaining photos so that Google Photos is empty.

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