End of an era - G Suite legacy free edition going away

[stooges44]

 

Dear Administrator,

We are writing to let you know that your G Suite legacy free edition will no longer be available starting July 1, 2022. To maintain your services and accounts, you need to upgrade to Google Workspace.

We launched our G Suite legacy free edition —the original Google Apps offering for businesses and schools— 16 years ago. In 2012 we discontinued this service, and we will now transition all remaining users to an upgraded Google Workspace paid subscription based on your usage.

What does this mean for my organization?
In 2020, we introduced —Google Workspace— and tailored our offerings to provide more options to fit our customers’ needs. Google Workspace includes all the features you already use, plus several new capabilities including more storage, increased security, 24/7 support, and more.

Upgrading from your G Suite legacy free edition to Google Workspace will only take you a few short steps and is not disruptive to your end-users. To support you in this transition, you will have discount options for 12 months after July 1, 2022.

What do I need to do?
To avoid disruption and maintain your account(s), please upgrade to Google Workspace by May 1, 2022. Begin the upgrade by reviewing the transition help center article, and selecting the option that best suits your organization’s needs. When you've identified your preferred subscription:

Go to your Admin console.
Select your new subscription offering.
Enter your billing information.
Once you’re upgraded, you can use your new Google Workspace subscription and functionality at no-cost until at least July 1, 2022.

If you take no action by May 1, 2022, Google will begin upgrading your organization seamlessly to a new Google Workspace subscription. The new subscription will be based on what you currently use with your G Suite legacy free edition.

If you do not enter your billing details before July 1, 2022, your subscription will be suspended.

If your needs have changed and you do not want to upgrade to a Google Workspace subscription, you can export your organization’s data with the takeout feature.

FAQs
Visit the help center for information on the G Suite legacy free edition to Google Workspace transition.

We’re here to help
If you have questions or need assistance, please Contact Google Workspace support. When you call or submit your support case, reference issue number 205265775. If you have trouble accessing your administrator account, please refer to instructions to reset your administrator password.

Thanks for choosing Google Workspace.

– The Google Workspace Team

[pcgeek]

Are you sure this email is legit (check who signed the email under security)? I didn't get anything on multiple free accounts.

[avromie7]

Are you sure this email is legit (check who signed the email under security)? I didn't get anything on multiple free accounts.

https://support.google.com/a/answer/2855120?hl=en

[pcgeek]

Yikes

[AsherO]

Are you sure this email is legit (check who signed the email under security)? I didn't get anything on multiple free accounts.

They typically do this on a rolling basis so they don’t have everyone transitioning at once.

[Alexsei]

RIP

[Live N Learn]

I've been using improvmx.com free plan for quite some time to send and receive emails to/from custom email addresses, works well.

[Yo ssi]

I've been using improvmx.com free plan for quite some time to send and receive emails to/from custom email addresses, works well.

Just checking this up, it seems https://forwardemail.net/ has an even more impressive free tier which allows sending emails as well.

[gozalim]

any of these work better than gmail's own fwding/send as on a site hosted by google domains?

[michaelbog]

Just a quick FYI. If and when you choose to convert to a paid account - consider if you really need different email accounts for $6/mo - or if you are happy getting the emails in one inbox. If-so you can then use aliases - which you can make up-to 60 for one email account. So you can have mike@mydomain.com, and then make an alias called info@mydomain.com, and support@mydomain.com, and all of them can simply be an alias for mike@mydomain.com. You can receive emails just fine using those domains, and they'll all go to your mike@mydomain.com inbox, and won't cost you anymore than the $6 for that one email.

[yuneeq]

I use Zoho mail as a much cheaper alternative to Google.

[AsherO]

I use Zoho mail as a much cheaper alternative to Google.

But what’s the UI/UX like? Google’s is so robust and feature-rich

[michaelbog]

But what’s the UI/UX like? Google’s is so robust and feature-rich

I know I generally really dislike the Zoho UI/UX. We use CRM, CLIQ, SalesIQ, and SalesInbox - and it's just so ... bad. They've slowly started rolling out ways to change the UI/UX for CRM modules - so I suppose there's still some hope. But I agree with you here, Google's UI/UX is so much cleaner and more intuitive. I've never had to train anyone on how to use Gmail, but I do have to train someone on how to use SalesInbox - everytime.

[AsherO]

I know I generally really dislike the Zoho UI/UX. We use CRM, CLIQ, SalesIQ, and SalesInbox - and it's just so ... bad. They've slowly started rolling out ways to change the UI/UX for CRM modules - so I suppose there's still some hope. But I agree with you here, Google's UI/UX is so much cleaner and more intuitive. I've never had to train anyone on how to use Gmail, but I do have to train someone on how to use SalesInbox - everytime.

Sigh. Now your business processes/data are locked into Zoho and you’re stuck with mediocre, eh?

[etech0]

Just a quick FYI. If and when you choose to convert to a paid account - consider if you really need different email accounts for $6/mo - or if you are happy getting the emails in one inbox. If-so you can then use aliases - which you can make up-to 60 for one email account. So you can have mike@mydomain.com, and then make an alias called info@mydomain.com, and support@mydomain.com, and all of them can simply be an alias for mike@mydomain.com. You can receive emails just fine using those domains, and they'll all go to your mike@mydomain.com inbox, and won't cost you anymore than the $6 for that one email.

And you can send from those addresses too.

[yuneeq]

But what’s the UI/UX like? Google’s is so robust and feature-rich

I don't use it directly as I use the Apple Mail client for multiple accounts, but my employees like it.

[Alexsei]

Just a quick FYI. If and when you choose to convert to a paid account - consider if you really need different email accounts for $6/mo - or if you are happy getting the emails in one inbox. If-so you can then use aliases - which you can make up-to 60 for one email account. So you can have mike@mydomain.com, and then make an alias called info@mydomain.com, and support@mydomain.com, and all of them can simply be an alias for mike@mydomain.com. You can receive emails just fine using those domains, and they'll all go to your mike@mydomain.com inbox, and won't cost you anymore than the $6 for that one email.

You can also set catch all and filtering rules to forward emails based on the sent to address

[michaelbog]

Sigh. Now your business processes/data are locked into Zoho and you’re stuck with mediocre, eh?

Let's not say locked. There's a simple export process.

I am stuck with medicore however, unless I want to double my monthly bill.

[AsherO]

Let's not say locked. There's a simple export process.

I am stuck with medicore however, unless I want to double my monthly bill.

Exports are only half the story if you can’t just take the export file and import it to the replacement platform.

[michaelbog]

Exports are only half the story if you can’t just take the export file and import it to the replacement platform.

I would debate this and say it's not that complicated. But I don't have a replacement platform to import into. It doesn't SOUND like it should be difficult. I assume some field mapping will need to occur, as it's doubtful any two platforms will have the same fields entirely. Otherwise - is it really that bad?