Google Apps at UMass Amherst is a customized version of Google’s popular online productivity and collaboration tools designed especially for educational institutions.

UMass Amherst joins thousands of other schools that have adopted Google Apps through the Google Apps for Education program, a free service Google offers to schools and universities.

Google Apps at UMass Amherst is only available to undergraduate students at this time. Due to privacy and security concerns, faculty, staff, and graduate students are not eligible for Google Apps at UMass Amherst accounts. For more details, see the Message to Faculty, Staff, and Graduate Students.

To sign up for Google Apps at UMass Amherst, log in to SPIRE, then, in the Menu (at left), choose OIT Accounts > Google Apps. more...


You are not required to sign up for Google Apps. If you do sign up, you’re not required to use Google Mail (our version of Gmail) for your @student.umass.edu email. You can choose to have your email delivered to UMail and still use the other apps in the Google Apps suite.

Your Google Apps password is only used to log in to Google Mail using email software or a mobile device. To access the Web version of Google Mail or other Web-based services (e.g., Google Docs, Calendar, Sites, and Talk) you’ll need to go to apps.umass.edu and log in with your OIT Account password.

To change your Google Apps password, log on to SPIRE, then go to OIT Accounts > Google Apps. more...

To log in to Google Apps, go to apps.umass.edu and enter your NetID and password.

Google Apps at UMass Amherst includes Google Mail (our version of Gmail), Calendar, Docs, Sites, and Talk.

Yes. Your Google Apps at UMass Amherst account and your regular Google account are completely separate.

Unlike your regular Google account, Google Apps at UMass Amherst does not show any advertisements. There are also some Google Apps (e.g., Google Groups) that Google chose not to include in the Google Apps for Education suite.

The use of Google Apps at UMass Amherst is covered by the OIT Acceptable Use and Email Communications policies as well as Google’s Privacy Policy. During the sign up process, you will be asked to agree to the University’s Conditions of Use and Google’s Terms of Use.

Contact the OIT Help Desk to de-activate your Google Apps at UMass Amherst account.

UMass Amherst graduates and students who leave the University in good standing have access to all OIT services, including Google Apps, at no cost for 6 months after they leave the University. Students can also use SPIRE to extend their Google Apps account for 6 additional months.

For privacy and security reasons, Google Apps at UMass Amherst is only available to undergraduates at this time. OIT will deactivate your Google Apps at UMass Amherst account if your primary role as designated in SPIRE changes from undergraduate student to faculty, staff, or graduate student. We will notify you before we deactivate your account to give you time to clean up your account.

The use of Google Apps at UMass Amherst is covered by the Google Privacy Policy. The University cannot guarantee that Google provides the same levels of security and privacy provided on University-maintained servers.

OIT will provide Google with your name, NetID, and the Google Apps password that you’ll create for use with your Google Apps at UMass Amherst account.

You are responsible for your own personal information. The University encourages you to use caution when sharing any personal information, including your phone number, location, and class schedule.

Your name and UMass Amherst email address will be visible to all users with whom you share documents or calendars. Please use caution when sharing documents, especially with users outside the University.

Yes. Your name and email address are private by default in Google. However, your name and email address will be visible to all users with whom you share documents or calendars. Please use caution when sharing documents, especially with users outside the University.

When using Google Apps at UMass Amherst on a shared or public computer, click Sign out (top right) when you are finished using your account. Just closing the Web browser (e.g. Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc.) will not end your session. If you don’t sign out, the next user will have full access to your Google Apps account.

We also recommend that you sign out of Google Mail on a regular basis by going to Google Mail > Details > Sign out all other sessions.


OIT will provide Google with your name, NetID, and, if you choose to create one, your Google Apps password.


Google Apps at UMass Amherst services are not publicly available by default. Users can grant access to people outside of the UMass Amherst community. You can protect your information by only granting access to trusted individuals. Please exercise caution when sharing information with others.

Google Mail is UMass Amherst’s version of Gmail, Google’s powerful Web-based email tool.

No. Delivering your official UMass Amherst email to Google Mail is optional. Undergraduate students may have their @student.umass.edu email delivered either to their UMail or Google Mail account. Students may change their email delivery preferences at any time using their SPIRE account.

You can sign up for a Google Apps at UMass Amherst account without having your email delivered to Google Mail.

If you decide later that you’d like to use Google Mail, you can change your email delivery preferences by logging in to SPIRE, and in the Menu at left, click OIT Accounts > Google Apps.

You can access the old messages in your UMail account for six months. After six months, the messages in your UMail account will be removed from our servers.

Yes. You can configure many popular email clients and mobile devices to access your Google Mail account. To log in successfully, you’ll need to use the Google Apps password you created during the sign-up process.

If you haven’t set a Google Apps password, you can do so by logging in to SPIRE and, in the Menu, choosing OIT Accounts > Google Apps.

Note: When configuring your email software, enter your username as netid@student.umass.edu (where netid is your OIT Account NetID), and use your Google Apps password.

For instructions, see Google's Supported IMAP Client List.

OIT will not migrate the messages from your UMail account to Google Mail. To migrate your mail, we recommend that you set up email software (e.g., Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird) to access both UMail and Google Mail via IMAP and then manually move messages and folders from UMail to Google Mail.

Otherwise, you’ll be able to access old messages in your UMail account for up to six months.

Yes, you can. First, export your UMail Address Book as a CSV (comma-separated values) file. Next, import your CSV file into Google Mail.

You can migrate messages from your Google Mail account back to your UMail account using the method described above; however, please keep in mind that your UMail quota is much less than your Google Mail quota. You may not be able to migrate all of your messages.