BuckeyeMail Changes: Information for Alumni

Email has evolved significantly since Ohio State first introduced these services over 25 years ago. To ensure smooth operations and to keep pace with technological advancements, we have periodically updated our services. . In June, we began informing email users that email forwarding to third party email services would be ending on December 31, 2024.  After much consideration of alumni feedback and industry best practices, the university will also discontinue Ohio State’s “BuckeyeMail for Life” service on April 1, 2025.

What this means for you: 

  • If you have auto-forwarding set up for your email account, this change means that emails sent to a lastname.#@osu.edu email will no longer automatically forward to your buckeyemail.osu.edu email or to a personal email after Dec. 31, 2024.
  • Your BuckeyeMail account will expire on April 1, 2025.  It will no longer receive, or forward emails and you will not be able to log in to access it.  Data will be deleted and unrecoverable at that time.

Why Automatic Email Account Forwarding is Ending

In the past The Ohio State University has provided lifetime email forwarding for alumni. As third-party service providers - including but not limited to Gmail, Spectrum, Yahoo!, Apple, and others - have tightened email security controls, more and more of these forwarded email messages are not being received by alumni.  It’s also affecting Ohio State’s ability to send emails directly to alumni as more of the forwarded emails are looked at as spam by third party providers.  Because of these external issues causing major deliverability issues, lifetime email forwarding service will be discontinued on Dec. 31, 2024.

Ohio State stopped all automatic forwarding of lastname.#@osu.edu to outside third-party accounts on Dec. 31, 2024.
 

Why BuckeyeMail for Life is Ending  

Due to broad changes in licensing and security requirements for email services, we’ve had to reassess the level of service we can provide. After thorough surveys and careful analysis, it became clear that the current BuckeyeMail offerings no longer fully meet the needs of our stakeholders. As a result, moving forward, BuckeyeMail will be available exclusively to enrolled students, who will retain access for up to two years after graduation. Unfortunately, this means BuckeyeMail will no longer be available to alumni or former students.

What You Should Do

To ensure you continue to receive your emails, please take the following actions: 

  1. Update your contacts: Notify your personal and professional contacts to begin using your personal email address before the end of the year. Also update social and shopping accounts, including updating your address with the Ohio State Athletic Ticket Office, if they are currently use your OSU email address. 
  2. Check your Ohio State communications: If you receive important updates or alumni communications via lastname.#@osu.edu or lastname.#@buckeyemail.osu.edu, you can update your contact information through My Account or by contacting the Engagement Center at 614-292-2281 or engagementcenter@osu.edu. 
  3. Remove the configuration of any email clients that are set up to check for email (mobile and desktop). Also update other configuration that may use your BuckeyeMail email. For example, here are instructions for changing your Xbox Live account

Note: We strongly suggest beginning these steps well before April 1, as email accounts will begin deletion on that day. To avoid disruption in any of your communications, please act early. 
 

Questions and Additonal Help

You can update your contact information through My Account or by contacting the Engagement Center at 614-292-2281 or engagementcenter@osu.edu. If you need assistance with this transition, Ohio State's IT Service Desk is available 24/7: 


If you are a current  or emeriti Ohio State faculty or staff member, please see the Storage and Email Transformation project page for information about how changes will affect you as an employee.   

Frequently Asked Questions 

As we communicate with alumni and receive questions, we will update this section so you can access the information as you need it.

My Ohio State account is my only email account, what should I do? 

Many providers offer free email services. Below are links that can instruct you on setting up an account with any of the top 10 providers. This list is for information purposes only; The Ohio State University does not recommend or endorse any specific email service. 

What should I do to ensure I don't miss any important emails? 

We recommend taking these steps: 

  • Backup: Save important emails – forward to your new address or save elsewhere 
  • Update Contacts: Inform contacts of your new email 
  • Download Contacts: Microsoft offers instructions on downloading your contacts list 
  • Transfer Subscriptions: Update email addresses for subscriptions 
  • Notify Services: Update accounts tied to your Ohio State email 
  • Update Profiles: If you use your Ohio State address for social media and online profiles, update them 
  • Check Payments: Update email for subscriptions that use your Ohio State address. 

How do I know what senders to contact?

Wondering who to contact? Simply check the address information in the emails received at your forwarded account. If you see an @osu.edu address in the To:/Recipient line, those are the emails that were forwarded. Find the original sender of the email and that's the sender you should contact

Will I still have a BuckeyeMail address after Dec. 31, 2024? 

Yes, you will retain your BuckeyeMail @buckeyemail.osu.edu address and mailbox.  Your name.#@osu.edu email address will become inactive. All automatic forwarding of Ohio State email addresses to outside email providers was discontinued on Dec. 24, 2024. 

Can I forward my OSU address to Buckeyemail since I will have access to that?

No, forwarding of your lastname.#@osu.edu email to your buckeyemail.osu.edu email or to a personal email ended on Dec. 31, 2024.

Can I put an Out-of-Office message on email account address directing senders to my new address? 

Yes, Microsoft provides instructions for setting an out-of-office message. Out of office messages can only be set for name.#@buckeyemail.osu.edu email addresses, not for name.#@osu.edu addresses. Out of office messages will no longer be functional on BuckeyeMail accounts after Dec. 31, 2024.  

Can I turn off forwarding from my BuckeyeMail and instead receive all my emails in my email @osu.edu mailbox? 

No, alumni name.#@osu.edu mailbox are “pass-through accounts” with no mailbox or storage. The only inbox you have with Ohio State is in your BuckeyeMail inbox. To receive messages after Dec. 31, 2024, all messages must be addressed to your name.#@buckeyemail.osu.edu email address.

I have all of my accounts and services tied to my @buckeyemail.osu.edu address!  Can I keep it? 

No, our contract and licensing will not enable alumni to keep name.#@osu.edu accounts. Please use the next several months - November to April-  to update your contact address with all contacts and services. 

I am an emeritus faculty member. How am I affected?

Like most faculty and staff, former faculty with emeritus status will have storage limits of 100GB for Outlook, 100GB for email archives, and 500GB for OneDrive beginning in June 2025. If an emeritus faculty member is forwarding an email account to an outside service, that forwarding will end on Dec. 31, 2024. 

Not all retired faculty have emeritus status -- to be considered emeritus, you must have requested and been approved for emeritus status before leaving the university. This special status is available to full-time tenure-track, teaching, or associated faculty who retired or resigned at the age of sixty or older with ten or more years of service or at any age with twenty-five or more years of service.