Google Workspace

Docs

• Easily format your documents.
• Invite others by email to edit or view your documents by sharing a link.
• Collaborate online in real time and chat with other collaborators.
• View your documents' revision history and restore a previous version.
• Publish documents online as web pages, or post documents to your blog.
• Export documents as Word, OpenOffice, RTF, PDF, HTML or zip files.
• Upload and convert Word docs, OpenOffice, RTF, HTML, text (.txt), Open Office (.odt) and StarOffice Writer (.sxw) files.
• Use with Paperpile for referencing.
• Lacks complex layout options and other advanced Word features, but includes features designed to aid collaboration.

We don't recommend Google Docs for producing a final thesis, as a thesis will often include features that are either not supported in Google Docs or are better supported in Word. 

For more information:

• Creating Documents: a Practical Guide.

Sheets

• Import and convert .xls, .csv, .txt and .ods formatted data.
• Export sheets as .xls, .csv, .txt and .ods formatted data and PDF and HTML files.
• Use formatting and formula editing so you can calculate results and make your data look the way you want it.
• Chat in real time with others who are editing your spreadsheet.
• Create charts and gadgets.
• Embed a spreadsheet, or individual sheets of your spreadsheet, in your blog or website.
• Comparable functionality to Excel, with features designed to aid collaboration.

For more information: 

• Essential Spreadsheets: a Practical Guide.

Slides

• Share and edit presentations with course groups and colleagues.
• Import and convert existing presentations in .ppt and .pps file types.
• Export your presentations as a PDF, a PPT, or a TXT file.
• Insert images and videos, and format your slides to fit your preferences.
• Allow real-time viewing of presentations, online, from separate remote locations.
• Publish and embed your presentations in a website, allowing access to a wide audience.

For more information:

• Getting Started Guide for Google Slides (support.google.com)
• Practical guide for Presentations

Forms

• Create professional-looking forms/surveys.
• Share your survey via email.
• View responses in a spreadsheet format.
• Automatically generate sophisticated charts and graphs.

For more information:

• Google's support pages for Forms (support.google.com)
• Forms and Surveys skills guide
• How to share a Google Form via email

To keep our University information secure, users are not allowed to integrate new third-party services that require high-risk permissions into their University Google accounts. This includes services that request access to read, write, or delete content in Google Drive, Mail, or Calendar.

High-risk permissions into Google are controlled by the Cybersecurity team and will only be granted to enterprise-grade software that has been introduced in alignment with the University's Cloud Computing policy.

To request that a third-party application be integrated into Google, please complete the Google integration request form.  As well as aligning with the Cloud Computing policy integrations will need to evidence a meaningful operational benefit to a large number of university users.

Assistive technologies which require high-risk permissions will be assessed on a case by case basis to meet the needs of staff and students. 

• File management:
  • When you set up a personal (not work-owned) Android device, connect it to your personal Google account before your University Google account. If you connect to the University account first, your Google Play account and other facilities will be linked to the University account, so you'll lose access to apps and content if you leave the University.
  • Manage your files and delete any that are no longer needed. You should delete files once they have fulfilled their purpose, including emails. See Records Management's guidance.
  • Google Workspace isn’t suitable for storing large amounts of data, as storage is limited, and additional storage is expensive. Instead, choose an alternative storage location, such as Filestore.
  • Avoid making your own copies of student or staff data and never keep personal information on portable computers or storage media.
• Sharing files:
  • Manage the ownership and sharing settings of your documents to keep them secure and only available to authorised people.
• Data privacy and security:
  
  • Google integrations: Only use Google integrations and third-party add-ons that are trusted by the University.
  • Locations: Your data in Google Workspace may reside in global data centres. The University has a GDPR-compliant contract with Google. The University is the Data Controller, and Google is the Data Processor. When data is transferred internationally, EU Model Clauses are employed. Before storing data, consider privacy needs. 
  • Intellectual Property: All intellectual property in University data belongs to the University. 
  • Security and law: Data may be shared where required by law. Your University Google account should be used for University-related activities (eg job or course-related correspondence). For personal use, maintain a separate account. This will ensure that authorised staff accessing your account under the IT investigations and data access policy will not see personal information (eg private emails).
  • Advertising: There is no advertising to staff or students within Google Workspace for Education.
  • For further information, refer to:
    • Google's privacy policy (google.com)
    • Data access by your administrator (support.google.com)
  • We're happy to discuss queries about the University's contract with Google – please contact IT Services.
• Leaving the University:
  • When leaving the University, to retain access to your data and ensure your team can continue to access shared documents, follow the leavers guidance.
    • Staff leavers
    • Student leavers

The following policies apply to all IT services provided by the University.

• Information policy
• Using University information
• Safe use of information on devices

Availability

• This is a live service, available 24/7.
• Check the status of this service and any planned maintenance (google.com).

Support

• This service is managed by a third party.
• They are responsible for monitoring, identifying and fixing faults. We provide advice and support for local issues during our opening hours.

Report issues with Google Workspace to IT Services in the first instance.

Supported apps

IT Services offers user support for the following Google apps:

• Calendar
• Contacts
• Drive
• Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms
• Gmail
• Groups
• Sites

Available support

The following outlines the levels and scope of support provided by IT Services.

• The IT Support team will attempt to resolve the issue. If this is not possible, the team will escalate the issue to second level support staff.
• Second level support staff will deal with more complex issues. Resolution may be delayed if staff with the appropriate skills are unavailable (for example, due to absence).
• Issues with components provided by IT Services (principally the authentication service) will be investigated locally. Failures with Google provided components will be reported to Google Support where relevant.
• IT Services provide technical support. If a query involves academic assistance with coursework, our IT Services staff will close the query and refer the student to their course tutor.
• IT Services are only able to provide support for University-related work.

Other apps

For all other Google apps, IT Services' support is limited.

• IT Services link to relevant support within the tools, software and services web pages. 
• IT Services will help users find documentation provided by Google and relevant information in the Google Help Center (support.google.com). 

Standards

• Our service performance and standards have been produced in consultation with our customers, and we monitor the delivery, performance and availability of facilities and services.
• Google Workspace Service Level Agreement (workspace.google.com)
• Google Workspace services summary (workspace.google.com)

We appreciate feedback as it helps us review and continually improve our service.

• How to give feedback
• Complaints procedure