Digital Storage Changes for Students and Recent 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. If you are currently taking classes at Kent State or graduated after October 14, 2023, you will avoid any immediate implications from these changes.
However, as you progress toward graduation and through the two years immediately after, keep in mind that access to FlashLine, kent.edu email, Google Drive and Microsoft accounts will come to a close at that two year mark after graduation. Your efforts now to create third party accounts (Amazon, iTunes, etc.) with personal email addresses, for example, will help you avoid complications at that time.
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 steps below will prepare you for this change.
Remove All Photos in your Kent State Google Account
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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
- Since you can sign into multiple Google accounts in one browsing session, it's important to know how to swap between the two. This will avoid accidentally requesting access for something with a personal account or storing a file in the wrong Google Drive.
- Your Kent State University Google account will have the Kent State University logo next to your profile icon. (fig.1)
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 swap between accounts, select the other account.
Permission Errors and Warnings
If you see the following message when trying to access a file shared with you, be sure that you are signed into the correct Google account. You will see the account you are signed in as at the bottom of the message.
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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.
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.
This process can take up to several days if exporting large amounts of photos.
- 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.
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.