Navigation Links
Overview
MSU secured an agreement with Google to offer MSU GoogleApps for Education (http://googleapps.msu.edu) to our faculty, academic faculty retirees, registered students (account is created upon enrollment and registration for class), and staff.
The agreement provides access to core apps, with terms of service different from consumer apps and designed to protect intellectual property rights and privacy. The core MSU Google apps are:
- Google Drive (with Docs)
- Google Calendar
- Google Gemini
- Google Gemini Notebook / NotebookLM
- Google Sites
- Google Classroom
- Google Hangouts
- Google Contacts
Additional Services, such as Gmail, YouTube, Vault, etc., are not covered by the GoogleApps agreement and therefore have not been enabled. MSU persons who wish to use those services are free to do so by using a consumer (personal) Google account.
Appropriate Use: Users must be careful about appropriate use when using MSU GoogleApps for Education services. Users are advised to fully review the Appropriate Use of MSU Google Apps for Education Services guidelines and policies.
Return to Top
Support for MSU GoogleApps for Education
Support for issues regarding the portal or log-in problems is provided by IT Services.
Support for the specific use of the programs and services are provided by Google:
Also, refer to Known Issues with MSU GoogleApps (KB 855) or to the Google App Status Dashboard if an outage is suspected.
The terms of service do not provide for deployment of any accounts beyond the faculty/staff/student NetIDs.
Return to Top
Helpful Information
Benefits of the GoogleApps agreement:
- Our GoogleApps terms of service provide better protections for user and institutional interests (than do the individual-user, aka consumer ToS) and therefore are suitable for many of the types of uses MSU users will wish to engage. Of particular note are protections related to intellectual property and privacy of data.
- When necessary, IT Services can contact Google directly for help and assistance.
Space/quota limitations:
- Review SecureIT File Sharing and Copyright information.
- Google Drive: each user has 15 GB for storage (see this tech.msu article for more), however there is a 50MB file size limit on presentations and documents uploaded to Drive and converted to Docs and Slides, and a 100MB limit on spreadsheets converted to Sheets. Other services may have limitations; see below.
- Google Sites: MSU as an institution is limited to a total of 100GB for all sites/users. There is not an easy method to check quota user per individual account. Google advises that Google Docs embedded by Sites do not count against the Sites quota. Uploaded attachment files (ie: PDF, JPEG) will count against quota. A large number of pages on a Site will cause slowness.
Considerations regarding Additional Services and devices:
- Google does not provide a way for MSU to allow access to consumer apps (non-core apps) subject to the GoogleApps terms of service. If MSU were to add any non-core app, our users would be required to agree to both the GoogleApps and the consumer apps terms of service. The MSU OGC (Office of General Counsel) has approved to provide additional services for MSU students, faculty, and staff. These additional services include:
- Google Ads (formerly AdWords)
- Google Analytics
- Google Groups
- Google Maps
- Google Programmable Search Engine
- Google Scholar
- Google Takeout
- Use of any Additional Service from Google for MSU purposes is allowable, as long as the use is appropriate per both the MSU cloud computing and with the institutional data policies.
- Please use a personal Google account for use of a Google Chrome-based device such as a Chromebook. Use of the institutional account will be interrupted when your eligibility for this service expires; use of an @msu.edu account for these devices is inadvisable.
Access to additional Google services can be requested using the form: Request GoogleApps Services
Chrome Extensions:
- If you are signed in to your MSU GoogleApps account, you cannot install extensions. You can use a separate browser for your personal account as a workaround.
Return to Top
Browser Compatibility
GoogleApps will support the current and prior major release of Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari on a rolling basis. Each time a new version is released, Google will begin supporting the latest update and stop supporting the third-oldest version.
Users accessing GoogleApps with an unsupported browser may be forwarded to a basic view and/or read-only access to services.
GoogleApps provides the fullest feature set when accessed via Chrome.
For more information, visit the Supported browsers for Google Workspace.
Return to Top