Google Transition

Port Townsend School District

Information on our transition to Gmail and Google Calendar

We have been using Google Apps in our district for a few years, and we'll soon be making the switch from Outlook mail to Gmail and from the Outlook Calendar to Google Calendar! Use this site as a guide during your first days and throughout the transition.

First step:

Begin using your Chrome browser whenever you go to the internet. This is where you'll access your Gmail and Google Calendar.

While other browsers (Internet Explorer and Firefox) can be used to access your Gmail and Calendar, Chrome supports Gmail and Google Calendar as an integrated suite of applications. Get in the habit of using Chrome for the smoothest transition.

Important Dates:

June 30, 2017

Email

On June 30th, your Outlook email address will be associated with your Gmail account. Outlook will no longer our email server. You will still be able to see your old email and contacts, but Outlook will no longer receive email.

What does this mean?

    • We will transfer your Outlook email to your Gmail beginning on June 30th. This migration process may take up to a week to complete district wide. All your Outlook email (from the last 2 years) will show up in your Gmail once the transfer is completed.
    • We will shut off your Outlook account so that no new emails will go to this account. All your emails will now go directly to your Gmail.
    • Remember, your Outlook and Gmail addresses are nearly the same. The only difference is the "g." in your current Gmail address.
    • After the migration is complete, (by approximately July 7th), the "g." goes away Your email address will be the same one as your current Outlook address. But now it goes to Gmail. Your Google password will not change. It is your Gmail password that you'll use to access your Gmail, and other Google apps.

Contacts

    • Your district created contacts will transfer to your Google contacts.
    • You will need to transfer your self-created contacts lists. We will provide instructions for you to transfer your local (personally created) outlook contacts to your Gmail account. For how to do this, click here. You can do this now.
    • IMPORTANT Additional Gmail information - what will be transferred? How to access Gmail help, a comparison between Gmail and Outlook features are covered here.
    • Your Group contact lists will need to be recreated. For example, if you have a group list of 4th grade teachers, this will need to be recreated. How to create Group lists in Gmail here.

Google Calendar is now our Calendar application

What does this mean?

    • We will transfer the information on your Outlook Calendars you own to your Google Calendars.
    • All events from the past 2 years will be transferred as well.
    • What about shared calendars? If you share a calendar with someone, the owner of that calendar will need to reshare it with you once it has been transferred. Of course if you already have shared calendars in Google, they will remain untouched.