Eligibility for a WebSpace Account
WebSpace provides a file store for all active UT Austin students, faculty, and staff. In most instances, your WebSpace account remains active for as long as you are affiliated with the university and until the 12th class day of the long semester following your departure from the university.
When you are no longer an active student, faculty or staff member, you are no longer eligible for a WebSpace account. This means that after departing the university, your WebSpace account will be deactivated and you will no longer be able to access files from this account.
Prior to the deactivation of your WebSpace account, ITS will notify you of pending deactivation, allowing you time to back up your files. Notifications will be sent to your official e-mail address on file with the university, which may be updated at any time through the online update form in UT Direct.
What To Do if You Believe You are Still Eligible for a WebSpace Account
If you received an e-mail notification that your WebSpace account will be deactivated, and you feel this is an error, please check to see if you fall into one of these categories:
- You are either an active student, faculty, or staff member.
- You will enroll as a student or be appointed as an employee before the deactivation date.
- You are on forced temporary leave from the university, but will be returning.
If you DO NOT fall into one of these categories then you may not be eligible to keep you WebSpace account. Please refer to You May NOT Keep Your WebSpace Account If... for more information.
You are still an active student, faculty or staff member.
If you are affiliated with the university and believe you received a deactivation notice in error, contact the ITS Help Desk. You will be able to keep your WebSpace account if you are:
- A student (distance education and extension students do not qualify);
- A future student, enrolled for the upcoming semester;
- An employee (faculty or staff);
- A future employee, with an appointment scheduled to begin at the start of the upcoming semester.
You will enroll as a student or be appointed as an employee before the deactivation date.
If you enroll as a student or are appointed as an employee before the deactivation date for your WebSpace account, your account will continue to operate without interruption, and you do not need to take any action.
You are on forced temporary leave from the university, but will be returning.
Certain circumstances may force you to leave the university for a period of time, temporarily changing your affiliation status even though you plan to return. Medical leave and military leave are two good examples of this qualifying exception.
If you believe you qualify for WebSpace based on these criteria, please contact the ITS Help Desk.
You May NOT Keep Your WebSpace Account if...
In most situations, your WebSpace account will be deactivated when you are no longer a current member of the university. We often have requests from account holders who want to keep their WebSpace accounts once they leave the university, but WebSpace is only for current students, faculty and staff.
If you are in a situation similar to the examples below, please be aware that you are no longer eligible to keep your WebSpace account:
"I've been using the account for a long time and it's how everybody knows me. I have very important files here."
Your WebSpace account remains active until the 12th class day of the long semester following your departure from the university. This grace period allows you to:
- Establish a new file store at your new job, school or Internet service provider.
- Notify everyone you share files with of the location of your new file store.
- Download copies of your files.
"Our employee used his WebSpace account for departmental purposes rather than personal use. Now that he is gone, we need this account for our department.
WebSpace is strictly for personal use. WebSpace does not provide for departmentally owned accounts. Austin Disk Services is recommended for departmental file stores and ITS offers many options for Web Publishing.
Be sure that your staff members understand that using WebSpace for departmental purposes can have significant consquences since that account will be deactivated when they leave.
"I'm an extension student or a Distance Education Center student."
If you are an extension student or a student of the Distance Education Center, you are not eligible for WebSpace because you do not qualify as an enrolled student who pays the university tuition and student fees.
If you still have questions reqarding the deactivation of your WebSpace account, please contact the ITS Help Desk.
