Email and calendaring

• UW Exchange Online
• UW Gmail
• Which email system should you use?
• HIPAA and FERPA compatibility
• Email resources and guidelines
• UW Event Calendar

Please note: Some departments and business units require their personnel to use either UW Exchange Online or UW Gmail. Consult with your department/business unit’s local IT support before you select a UW email service.

Which email service should you use?

For a more detailed breakdown and feature comparison of UW Exchange Online and UW Gmail, please see Which email service should you use?.

HIPAA and FERPA compatibility

• UW Exchange Online is both HIPAA and FERPA compatible.
• UW Gmail is only FERPA compatible; it is not HIPAA compatible.

As such, UW Medicine workforce members and clinical students are prohibited from forwarding their UW email to UW Gmail.

Email resources and guidelines

Useful email tools

• You can Change Your UW Email Forwarding anytime.
• Create email distribution lists, including class email lists with the Mailman service.
• Get Sophos anti-virus software to protect your Windows and Apple computer.
• The Securing Your Computer page explains how to protect yourself from viruses, spyware, phishing, and other malware attacks.
• The Bulk Email at the UW page explains UW policy on sending out large batches of email.

Email guidelines and rules

Privacy

The UW email systems are provided to support UW activities and are subject to state laws and UW policy.

• Do not send sensitive information by email. This includes personnel data, patient records, student information, and financial information.
• Email messages can be kept and forwarded. Never assume email is private, even when using encryption technologies. The message you send to one person can easily spread to many more.
• Potential or confirmed exposure or breach of personal data in email should be promptly reported to uwprivacy@uw.edu. For more information, click here.

Employee use of UW Email

UW Email is made available to UW faculty and staff solely for the purpose of facilitating effective business operations.

Email as public record

Email messages are public records when they are created or received in the transaction of public business. As such, they must be retained as evidence in accordance with UW records retention practices:

• UW Records Management – Information records management, retention, storage, and destruction
• RCW 40.14 – Washington State law relating to preservation and destruction of public records

Email management and retention

Employees are responsible for handling and maintaining records, including email and electronic records, in accordance to University policy and requirements. UW Records Management has published Email Best Practices information.

Protect yourself

Some simple steps can help protect you from email problems

UW Event Calendar

The UW Event Calendar is a service providing a calendar for all UW campus public events. In addition, it can be used to set up departmental calendars, including academic, schools, colleges, and other groups. It provides a better mobile experience, an improved user interface, event registration, and the ability to embed calendars into websites. Also, an event created in one calendar can appear in multiple calendars. Anyone with a UW NetID can request a calendar, which can then be used to share events with the campus calendar. Learn how to use the calendar system: UW Event Calendar Help.