3. Email management
You can arrange diversion of your University email address to a new service for an overlap period. Your full range of options is given below.
3.1. No action
If you take no action, email will continue to be delivered to your mailbox. Senders may receive a message saying that the mailbox is about to be deleted, but you will not be aware of, or be able to reach, these messages.
3.2. No new address
If you have no replacement email service (e.g. if you are going abroad immediately after leaving Oxford), you can set an automatic Out of Office (also known as an OOF or vacation reply) to advise email senders that you cannot receive their messages. This could include details of alternative ways to contact you.
To set up an automatic reply, use Out of Office Assistant in Outlook Web Access or Outlook Web Access Light. You will not be able to update your messages or date range after your card expiry date.
3.3. Kill your email
If your email is routed to a Nexus account and you wish to disable your email addresses promptly, please save any material you want to retain, then email registration@oucs.ox.ac.uk to request immediate blocking of your account. Once this is done, any email to your University addresses will fail and the sender will know that you have not received it.
3.4. Non-OUCS email
If you want to redirect or terminate your email and it is on a different service within the University, please check computing information published by the relevant department or college. OUCS does not have detailed information on these services.
If clear instructions are not available, you may need to make direct contact with the system administrator for the service.
3.5. Forwarding Oxford Nexus email to a new address
If you arrange email redirection to a new address (see below), it is important that people start to use the new address before the end of the overlap period. For the first month or so of using your new email address, we suggest you create a conspicuous signature file drawing attention to the change. This means you do not have to type it out in every message. Watch the "To" address on any incoming messages - if people continue to give the old Oxford address, they are probably using an address book, and need an extra nudge to update their entry for you.
3.5.1. Forwarding
You are strongly advised to arrange a new external email facility at least a month before your University Card expires (to allow time for sorting out any problems).
Email forwarding from Oxford Nexus usually continues for two months after your University Card expires, unless other arrangements have been made.
Forwarding, as described below, will remain operational until your account is actually deleted. This will be two months after the project time expires.
Note that this only re-routes new incoming messages to your new address. Messages you have already received will not be processed (see 4.1. Email saving and/or copying).
For an Oxford Nexus mailbox, follow the instructions in the Change Nexus mailbox settings section of the self-registration page, and enter your alternative email address. Please use the self-registration page for this and not an email client program, to ensure that the forwarding is set on the server.
Note that junk mail will be forwarded, but it will be handled according to your new email program's own setup.
3.5.2. Setting forwarding with an Out of Office automatic reply
It is possible to combine the setting of a forwarding address with an Out of Office automatic reply to notify correspondents automatically that a new address should be used to contact you.
- See Forwarding above for
setting an Out of Office automatic reply. Specify yes to
[Save local copy]option otherwise the automatic reply will not be triggered. Care should be taken to ensure enough free space in the mailbox as your quota could overflow (the quota warning messages would not necessarily be forwarded to you). - See No new address above for setting an Out of Office automatic reply. Your message should make it clear that the message has been forwarded and they need not re-send it to your new address.
3.6. Redirection
If you have an Oxford Nexus account and your University Card has not yet expired, please follow Forwarding above. The redirection option described here is not offered to students because of the large numbers involved every year.
Staff and visitors can email to registration@oucs.ox.ac.uk to advise a new email address. Redirection can be set up independently of any University account. Re-routing will start within five hours of the request being processed and will continue for two months after your completion date. When you email Registration to request re-routing, please do it from your Nexus account or from the address set for forwarding in your Nexus account or from your registered alternative email address. For messages from other addresses, additional validation of identity would be requested before re-routing could be set.
OUCS can NOT change routing for addresses in the domains listed below. For these
domains, please follow any local documentation, or in cases of difficulty contact the
Postmaster (postmaster@unit.ox.ac.uk).
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