OWL's Email Archive tool will retire May 1st

OWL's Email Archive tool will be retired on May 1, 2022.

As a result of changes to Western's email environment, including the recent decommissioning of Spamtrap, we looked at the use of Email Archive and found that it is not widely used and that there are other tools available with overlapping functionality, which is why we have made the decision to retire Email Archive. After May 1st, new email will not be received by the Email Archive tool and those new messages will not be distributed to members of your site or appear in the archive list.

If you are not using the Email Archive tool, this change will not affect your OWL site.

We recommend using the Announcements tool and the Messages tool in OWL to communicate with members of your OWL site. You can learn more about these tools on the OWL Help site:

https://owlhelp.uwo.ca/instructors/tools/announcements/index.html
https://owlhelp.uwo.ca/instructors/tools/messages/index.html

If you have any questions about this change, please contact the WTS Helpdesk: https://wts.uwo.ca/helpdesk/

FAQs

What is Email Archive?

"The Email Archive tool allows site managers to specify an alias email address which essentially serves as a listserv, a method of communicating with a group of people via email. By default, email you send to the site email address is copied to the email addresses of all site participants and owners. All email messages sent to your site's email address are stored in this tool. You can use any email program to send mail to the email address listed at the top of your Email Archive page."

https://owlhelp.uwo.ca/instructors/tools/emailarchive/index.html

Why is Email Archive being retired now?

Western's email environment has changed over the past several years, including the recent decommissioning of Spamtrap. We looked at the use of Email Archive and found that it is not widely used and that there are other tools available with overlapping functionality, which is why we have made the decision to retire Email Archive.

What will happen to the Email Archive tool in my OWL site?

If the Email Archive tool was added to an OWL site prior to May 1, 2022, it will remain in the site after May 1, 2022. There are currently no plans to remove the Email Archive tool from existing sites.

The Email Archive tool will not be available to be added to OWL sites after April 30, 2022.

What will happen to existing messages sent to the site email address prior to May 1st?

Messages sent to the Email Archive site email address prior to May 1, 2022 will still appear in the Email Archive's list of messages for historical reference after May 1, 2022.

Does this affect email notifications from OWL?

Other email notifications coming from OWL will not be affected, such as assessment submission notifications, announcement notifications, and sign-up reminders. These types of notifications will continue to be sent as usual. This change only affects messages being sent to and from the site email address in the Email Archive tool.