How to: Use Your IU Google Account

Personal Google Account (PGA): any Google account that you use that is NOT affiliated with IU

• PGA login IDs typically take the form of an email “whatever@gmail.com”

IU Google Account (IUGA): the Google account created for you by IU.

• Your IUGA login ID will take the form of “yourIUname@iu.edu“

NOT “yourIUname@iu.edu” — not only is IUPUI going away, but anything beyond @iu.edu has always been an alias, so as far as any outside contractor is concerned, @iu.edu is the only domain that exists.

• To login to this account you need to authenticate through CAS SSO.

CAS SSO: the process IU uses to authenticate secure transactions. You probably just know it as “that thing I do to sign into Canvas, or Employee Center…” or “that thing that pings my Duo login.” It is how IU knows you are you.

Google Suite (= GSuite): a series of cloud-based services, apps, etc. offered by Google that can be accessed using the same Google login ID. Their selling point tends to be file-sharing (i.e. multiple people have real time access to and can edit the same files, synchronously if need be with live updates). The services you need to be familiar with here are:

• Gmail: email (but see FERPA note below)
• Drive (= GDrive): file storage (but see FERPA note below)
• Sites (= GSites): website editing and publishing
• Docs (= GDocs): word documents

To sign into your IU Google Account (IUGA), you have several options, including:

• Sign into Google directly (but see below)
• Sign in through Google at IU (google.iu.edu) and select “Google at IU Apps”

Whatever means you use, you must use the CAS SSO to sign into your IUGA. If you do not encounter the CAS SSO login, you may be set up for problems.

Google makes its money by tracking all of your data, the ethics of which we will set aside for the moment. For our purposes, the practical application is that it can be very difficult to truly sign out of your Personal Google Account (PGA). This is the case even if you (a) are also signed into your IU Google Account (IUGA) and (b) actively try to sign out of your PGA.

There is, unfortunately, no easy way to deal with this, at least that I have discovered. The critical thing is to be aware that this is a potential problem, so you can troubleshoot when it arises. If you are denied access to anything Google that you think you should be able to access, your computer is probably trying to use your PGA, when you only have access through your IUGA.

If you think this is what is happening, you can try several options to login to your IUGA only (presented in escalating complexity):

• use a new tab where you are not already signed in through your PGA. This is simple, intuitive, and rarely works.
• sign out of your PGA and close your browser window
  • What’s a browser window?
• use an incognito (private) browser
  • What’s an incognito browser and how do I use one (PC + Mac)?
• use an entirely different browser than the one that you use to sign into your PGA