Officials’ plans to transition the GW community from Google Mail to Microsoft Outlook have been put on hold as the COVID-19 pandemic continues.

Jared Johnson, the interim chief technology officer, said GW Information Technology paused the project last spring when classes moved online, and the migration between systems has not resumed. The move would also require users to switch to Microsoft 365 calendar, instead of using Google Calendar, on their GW accounts.

“The project to migrate the GW community from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 for email and calendar has been on hold since spring 2020 when the University transitioned to virtual learning and remote work,” Johnson said in an email.

When officials announced the planned move last February, they touted Microsoft’s “improved” security through an “enhanced” toolset, which includes features to help users mitigate spam, phishing and other attacks. Students would still retain access to Google Drive and other G-Suite programs with the transition.