Email Naming Conventions

Staff email addresses now follow a new email address naming convention of [email protected]

All staff email accounts will have a primary email alias of [email protected] so when new email messages and email replies are sent, the From: address will be the new primary address.

FAQs

• Q. Why do we need this change?
  A. To make it simpler for people to contact University staff, to convey a professional image and to align with the practice in most large organisations.

• Q. Will my username be changing too?
  A. No. Your username will remain the same and continue to be your login username for University systems. Only your primary email address will be changing.

• Q. I have my current email address known by many contacts and/or published in various places. Will it still work?
  A. Yes, email messages sent to your current email address will continue to be delivered to your inbox. However, when you reply to the email messages the reply will show that it has come from your new primary email address.

• Q. Am I likely to lose emails because of this change?
  A. No. As the new address is technically an alias, you will not lose emails sent to your old address - it will continue to work. In fact, the new address will make it easier for people to find you, as they will be able to anticipate your email address provided they know your name.

• Q. What will happen if someone else has the same name as me?
  A. The current number of duplicates has been assessed and the issue is minimal. The email address naming convention allows for duplicate names by using the first and second initials for the subsequent users.

• Q. What if my first name is Michael, but I prefer Mike? Or, my first name is John, but I’m known by my second name, Robert?
  A. If you have a preferred first name set in the HR System then your preferred first name will be used. If you want to have a preferred name set up or changed in the HR System, please email [email protected].

• Q. What if I have really long name(s)? Will I end up with a really long email address?
  A. Yes, unfortunately. However, if you have a shortened version of your first name that is acceptable then this could be set as your preferred name (see answer above).

• Q. What about hyphenated names or first/last names made up of two names?
  A. Hyphenated names will remain hyphenated in the primary email address, however the space will be removed in first names and last names made up of two names.

• Q. I have multiple email aliases for various reasons, will they continue to work?
  A. Yes. Email messages sent to your various email aliases will continue to be delivered to your inbox. However, when you reply to the email messages the reply will be from your new primary email address by default.

• Q. I have business cards and other stationery with my current email address on them. Will I have to change them, and if so who will pay?
  A. No. As email messages to your current email address will continue to be delivered to your inbox there is no urgent need to change your business cards and stationery until your existing supply is exhausted. Similarly, you can advise your contacts to update your email address details over time too.

• Q. What about the online staff phonebook? Will this be updated, and by whom?
  A. ITS will be updating the phone book and the Global Address List automatically, so admin staff won’t have to worry about this. Changes to the online phone book thereafter will remain with the phone book administrators

• Q. What if I’ve used my staff email address to log in to various websites. Will I still be able to log in, and will I need to update these?
  A. Yes. These will still work as they did - you will just need to remember which email address you used to log in. Over time, it may be simpler to update these to your new address so that they are all the same.

• Q. Where has my Email Signature gone?
  A.  In Gmail, each reply-to address can have it's own signature. As we are adding the new email aliases as a repl-to address, it comes with no signature. However your previous signature isn't gone. You can recover the signature using these instructions: Email Signature for Alias/Reply-To Address


• Q. Given our primary email addresses are changing to a University naming convention, should we be using standard email signatures too?
  A. Ideally, yes. The instructions for setting up the recommended email signature that the University encourages you to use are:
  University of Waikato Email Signature template and instructions for Gmail
  University of Waikato Email Signature template and instructions for Outlook