OVERVIEW
Target audience: Students, Alumni, Faculty, Staff members (including Affiliates)
If you have an external email service, such as Gmail or Yahoo mail, you may want to access them all from one view. This article provides two options for managing multiple email services:
- Accessing multiple email accounts from a single device (recommended)
- Forwarding your McGill email to another email service. Note that systematic email forwarding is not allowed for faculty and staff members. Also note that there are reliability risks associated with forwarding, even for students and alumni.
IMPORTANT note for faculty and staff (including affiliate accounts)
You are not allowed to systematically forward or sync your McGill email to an external (non-McGill) email server. The only way to manage your McGill and other email accounts is to set up all your accounts on Outlook or another app on your device (see option 1).
IMPORTANT note for all
Syncing your McGill email to an external (non-McGill) email server is no longer supported for anyone at McGill because this option does not support two-factor authentication (2FA).
In this article:
Overview of options and who can use each
| Option | Faculty (@mcgill.ca or @affiliate.mcgill.ca) | Staff & Affiliates (@mcgill.ca or @affiliate.mcgill.ca) | Students & Alumni (@mail.mcgill.ca) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Option 1: Set up Outlook, or another app on your computer/device to view all your email (from McGill and external email accounts) Recommended for all users |  | | |
| Option 2: Systematically/automatically forward/redirect (push) all McGill email to your preferred external mail service (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo). You would set up a forwarding rule in Outlook on the web.
Caution: security and reliability risks - third party access to email data, and delivery not guaranteed | |
Details about each option
Option 1: View all your emails in Outlook or another app on your computers and devices
Modern email applications, such as Outlook, allow you to add multiple email profiles/accounts so that you may view them all from the same app. You can see separate Inbox folders for each account.
Instructions:
Go to Index of setup instructions for McGill email on various devices and apps.
RECOMMENDED:
This is the recommended method because it is:
- Reliable - unlike forwarded mail
- Secure - your McGill credentials and data are kept on your local device -- not stored on any cloud services.
- Allowed for faculty and staff as well as students, alumni and retirees.
WARNING:
If your McGill email contains Regulated Enterprise Data, or Protected Enterprise Data, you may only access it from devices that are protected by password, or other IT credentials (e.g. biometrics, certificate). See Security risks note 1 below.
Option 2: Forward all McGill email to external service (only for students, alumni and retirees)
You can set up a forwarding rule on McGill's Office 365 service to systematically/automatically forward/redirect all your McGill email to your preferred external mail service (e.g., Gmail, Yahoo).
This method is not recommended because it is unreliable:
- Restrictive email security protocols (such as SPF, DMARC, and DKIM), used by mail service providers to combat spam and malware, tend to block and discard messages forwarded from other services.
- You may miss important messages from McGill.
If you choose to forward your McGill email, we recommend choosing the option to “Keep a copy of forwarded messages” on the McGill server, and to check your McGill mailbox periodically, in case forwarded messages are discarded by the external mail service.
However, it should be safe to forward mail from a McGill mailbox (first.last@mcill.ca, first.last@mail.mcgill.ca or first.last@affiliate.mcgill.ca ) to a McGill departmental mail server.
Instructions:
See Forward McGill email from Microsoft Office 365 to another email address
WARNING: Systematic/automatic forwarding is not allowed for faculty and staff members
Faculty and staff members are not allowed to systematically forward all their McGill email to an external (non-McGill) email server. Doing so would be a violation of section 6.1 of the Policy on the Responsible Use of McGill IT Resources
and McGill's Cloud Directive.
See Security risks notes 2 & 3, below.
Selective forwarding of specific messages is allowed provided that the content is public data or there is a valid business need.
Footnotes on security risks
Note 1:
As per Section 4.1 of McGill’s Cloud Directive, devices (e.g. mobiles, laptops and desktops) must be protected by password or other IT credentials:
“4.1. When Regulated Enterprise Data or Protected Enterprise Data is stored in a Cloud Service, it can synchronize only to Institutionally Owned/Managed Devices (e.g., mobiles, laptops and desktops) if the communication channel is encrypted and the Institutionally Owned/Managed Device is protected by password or other IT Credential. If the synchronization application does not store a local copy onto your device but only provides access to data while connected, then this restriction (Institutionally Owned/Managed Device) does not apply as long as the communication channel is encrypted and the device is protected by password or other IT Credential."
Note 2:
As per Section 6.1 of the Policy on the Responsible Use of McGill IT Resources, faculty and staff are not allowed to forward their McGill email to an external (non-McGill) email server:
"6.1 Email messages must comply with standards and laws concerning privacy, and retention and destruction of documents, consequently faculty and staff Authorized Users shall obtain authorization from the CIO or delegate, to:
- systematically/automatically forward/redirect their email to external mail servers
or - configure to download/pull all their email to external mail servers.
"Manual forwarding/redirecting of select email messages is permitted, subject to other provisions of McGill policies and regulations."
Note 3:
As per Section 3.6 of the Cloud Directive, Regulated Enterprise / Research Data and Protected Enterprise / Research Data are never allowed to be stored on unapproved cloud services, such as Gmail or Yahoo:
"3.6. Confidential Data must always undergo the Cloud Service acquisition process."
ADDITIONAL REFERENCES:
- For students: Note that your McGill email address is an official means of communication between the University and student. You must therefore ensure you are able to receive email sent to that address in a timely manner.
See the Policy on E-Mail Communication with Students - For alumni: If you no longer use your McGill email address to send or receive email, you can simply set up an Automated reply on the Office 365 mailbox, with a message letting senders know your preferred email address. You may also wish to give your preferred email address to University Advancement, so that they can send you periodic news and updates for McGill alumni.
- McGill Cloud Services
- Data Classification: See the Standard on Enterprise Data Classification