Changes Planned by Gmail May Affect Email Account Forwarding  

Beth Varcho | December 5, 2023

If you forward your Ohio State or BuckeyeMail account to Gmail, security changes announced by Google could impact delivery to Gmail beginning in February 2024. 

While Google will make several security changes, the one that we anticipate impacting those forwarding their email account is the new requirement for sender domains to keep the number of messages sent below a specific quantity threshold. We expect Yahoo! and other large email services to implement similar measures. 

Senders that exceed what Google considers to be a “spam threshold,” will be blocked by Gmail. Messages sent to Ohio State accounts being forwarded to an external email service will likely be impacted by these changes:  

  • If you are forwarding your Ohio State email address to an external email service like Gmail, some or all incoming messages may be blocked from arriving in your Gmail inbox. 

  • If you send a message to someone who is forwarding their Ohio State email address to an external email service like Gmail, the recipient may or may not receive your message. 

  • Users forwarding to the Medical Center (osumc.edu) will not be affected. 

How much these changes impact you depends on your role(s) with Ohio State and how you are using outside email services with your Ohio State email accounts. 
 

What Action You Can Take 

While Ohio State’s policies around emails remain unchanged, we recommend taking the following action to avoid impact to your email: 

  • Discontinue forwarding your Ohio State email or BuckeyeMail to outside email services; continuing to forward may result in lost and undelivered messages. Depending on how you have set up forwarding, this may involve changing a rule set in Outlook or your preferences at my.osu.edu. 

  • Do not use outside email services to conduct university business (applies to faculty and staff; this is consistent with our current policies). 

  • To mitigate these changes, safety-related emails like Public Safety Notices and Buckeye Alerts will be sent from publicsafety@emergency.osu.edu. This address is being shared proactively so that users do not inadvertently mark these important email messages as spam. 

IMPORTANT: We strongly discourage faculty, staff, and students from using an Ohio State email address or BuckeyeMail address as a username or contact address for personal accounts such as banks, credit cards, social media, and other online services. This is partly to protect you from losing access to your accounts if you leave Ohio State. If you have registered for these accounts using an Ohio State email address that you forward, there is the potential that critical messages could be blocked by the new security.  
 

Get Help 

If you need reversing your forwarding preferences, the IT Service Desk is available to support you 24/7. Request IT support online or call the Service Desk at 614-688-4357 (HELP).