Google announced the retirement of the Currents service, highlighting the beginning of 2023 as the ramp-down for Currents. Now that the Migration Opt-in setting is available in the Google Admin console, administrators have until December 31st, 2022, to Opt-in for migrating Currents data to Spaces. Choosing to Opt-in will migrate some, but not all, Currents data.
This change is one of many impacting Google Workspace for Education into the new year. Focusing on larger matters makes it easy to have missed this announcement entirely.
Higher Education experts from CDW Amplified Education have covered you with a complimentary resource to help you make the best decisions for your institution.
Timeline
Will this impact my institution?
What can I do?
Recommendations
Google Resources
Timeline
- Opt-in through 12/31/2022
- Migration date communicated Jan 2023
- Migrations start Q1 2023 complete by June 2023
Will this impact my institution?
A Google Workspace Administrator can use the following methods to determine if your institution has data in Google Currents.
- Identify if the Currents service status is set to ON for Organizational Units, Sub-Organizational Units, or Groups.
- Use the Google Admin Communities Report to check if your domain has Currents Communities Data.
- Use the Audit and Investigation tool on Currents log events to determine if there has been activity in the past 6 months.
Note: There isn’t a method to determine if there has been Currents activity before the 6 month time period.
Meaning individual Currents account data created or interacted with prior to the available reporting period may exist.
If all of the methods above indicate that the Currents service isn’t in use, has never been used, and you are confident that no Google Currents data exists for your domain, then this may not impact your school. We advise Caution when making this determination.
What can I do?
Carefully review the Currents to Spaces feature migration support article. In it, Google specifies the Currents data will migrate and what data will be excluded.
Watch the Future of Google Currents and Migration to Spaces webinar for a comprehensive walkthrough of the update.
Key points
Data that falls under the following categories will not be migrated:
- Posts and data created prior to July 2020
- Former Google+ posts
- Posts and data outside of established Google Chat data retention policy
Recommendations
- Decide if migration applies to your Google Workspace Environment
- Determine if there is data in your environment
- Choose to Opt-in as appropriate for your institution
- Plan for change
- Determine what/if any end user actions (takeout) will be available
- Publish support resources for end users
- Communicate with Help/Support desk
- Take additional steps as necessary
Google Resources
Webinar
Future of Google Currents and Migration to Spaces hosted by Google with a full timeline breakdown.
Support Articles
- Currents migration for administrators
- Currents to Spaces feature migration
- Prepare Currents for Spaces migration
Google Workspace Updates
The future of Currents and the next generation of collaboration in Spaces
Currents is listed as a core service under the Services Summary covered by the Google Workspace for Education. Institutions had the choice to leverage Currents as a tool for administrative and/or teaching and learning purposes.