USC has updated its employee email policy to standardize the requirements for the retention, forwarding, and use of USC email by employees. This policy has two main components, a 16-month email retention limit and the disabling of automatic forwarding of USC email to non-USC email addresses.
When Does the Policy Go into Effect?
- 16-month email retention for staff: Wednesday, January 18, 2017
- 16-month email retention for faculty, emeriti, and affiliates: Wednesday, March 15, 2017
How Does the Email Retention Limit Affect My Email?
Emails stored in default folders (including Inbox, Clutter, Drafts, Sent Items, Deleted Items, or Junk Email) will be deleted 16 months from the date when they were received, sent, or drafted.
You can easily save important messages that you wish to keep by moving them to a top-level personal folder. Instructions for saving messages in Office 365 or the Outlook client can be found on the Managing Your Email page.
Default folders are created by the email system as top-level folders. Personal folders are folders created by users; they may be located at the top-level of the account or as subfolders of other folders (i.e., folders inside of other folders).
Subfolders follow the retention rules of their parent folders. Please be aware that personal folders located inside your Inbox or other default folders are subject to the retention policy. See the following ITS documentation to make sure that you are saving messages in the correct location.
- The difference between default and personal email folders
- Creating top-level personal folders in the Outlook Web App (OWA)
How Will the Automated Email Forwarding Restriction Affect My Email?
The email forwarding restriction will take effect on Wednesday, April 18, 2018. When the forwarding restriction goes into effect, you will no longer be able to automatically forward your USC email to a non-USC email address. However, you will still be able to automatically forward your email to your USC school or department email account.
Adding your USC account to your mobile device is an easy way to keep up with your USC email. Instructions for adding your USC email account to your iPhone, Android, Windows phone, and other mobile devices are available in our Microsoft Office 365 documentation.
Note on the USC Online Directory
As this policy requires that employees use USC email when conducting university business by email, please ensure that you have listed your USC email address as your primary work email address in Workday. You can find and update your primary work email address on the Email Addresses tab of the Personal Information page in your Workday account.
How Do I Get Additional Help with Managing My Email?
For more information on the USC employee email policy, see our email policy FAQ page.
If you need assistance with creating and managing email folders in Microsoft Office 365, please contact your unit’s IT support staff. You may also contact the ITS Customer Support Center for additional assistance.