Frequently Asked or Anticipated Questions

If you have additional questions, please email me here

Is there a universal shared email contact list for our Google Domain?

When using Google webmail to create a new message the recipient is automatically searched for from the complete fnwsu.org account list as you begin to type.
However if you wish to make your own contact groups you will need all of the addresses in your own contact list
As soon as our email change-over occurs you will receive an email with the complete account list, which you can then import into your contacts

Can I use Microsoft Outlook for my mail and calendar?

It is strongly recommended that you try the web-based Google interface to mail and calendars
as described in the video, web and Google Help tutorials

Google has a tool for migrating your information from outlook to Google mail
It is called Google Sync

If you have an extensive contact list or all of your calendar information in Outlook, this tool can help you
Please put in a tech ticket and your FNWSU tech staff will help you set it up

Can I just export my contact information from Outlook into Google?

Google Email will accept an export from Outlook in a csv (comma separated value) file
You can do this yourself or put in a tech ticket for help

You can also use a program to export your mail and contacts called Google Email Updater
Click on the link and download and install this rogram
You can try this yourself or get tech support help
We haven't fully tested this program yet, but I don't think it will break anything

Can I use Apple Mail and Address Book with my Google mail?

At this time there is no migration tool for email messages from Apple Mail. You can export your contact list as a csv file or as vCards which
Google can import.  You can do this yourself or put in a tech ticket   

How much storage space is available on our new accounts?

Google has a zillion servers at our beck and call.  Each user gets 7 gigabytes of email storage and that amount grows by the day. Basically you will never have a full inbox again even if you never delete a message. You can also use Google mail as your online file storage site - just email any documents or pictures you want to be able to access from anywhere to yourself as attachments and they are backed, safe and secure.

Also you get a lot of storage space in Google Applications: 5000 documents and presentations, 1000 spreadsheets, etc See the Google Help Article for more info

Is my information and are my documents safe and secure on the Google servers?

Google servers provide as much or more safety and security as the district school servers or your own school classroom computer or laptop.  Our local computers can (and will) fail.  Most of our server information is backed up successfully on a regular basis, but those systems fail occasionally, and your own computer is not part of the system backup so it is up to you to retain additional copies of your files. Google will provide a safe, secure and private place for those additional copies. Please see the articles on this Google Help link for more information.    

Will there be professional development to learn about all this new stuff?

The FNWSU tech staff will be adding Google items to the Teacher Technology Literacy Program.  Google has a terrific library of help tutorials and videos to help us all learn more.  We will also be adding to the FNWSU video tutorials like the ones i created to build our own library of resources.  Google has some help documents specifically for teachers - link here.  And YES we can do some workshops and incorporate the new Google functionality in staff meetings and other group time.