Access Gmail@Valpo in China

Valpo students or faculty traveling to China may experience difficulty accessing their Gmail@Valpo email account, due to Gmail being blocked by the Chinese government. These steps are provided as a workaround so that Valpo students and faculty can still receive messages while traveling.

Before You Leave the U.S.

  1. Do you have an account with an alternate email service provider? If not, create one. IT recommends one of these providers:

    1. Choose any username on this service that you prefer. You may want to include a reference to Valpo, such as "name.Valpo@provider.com."
  2. Before you leave the US, set a vacation response on your Gmail@Valpo account to alert those who send you messages that you will be using an alternate address during your travels.

    1. Specific instructions are available via a Google search. You may wish to use wording similar to, "I am traveling in China and may not have access to this account. Your message will be forwarded to my alternate account, name.Valpo@provider.com. You may also email me directly at that account."

  3. After setting your vacation response, set up forwarding on your Gmail@Valpo account to direct the messages to your alternate account.

    1. Specific instructions are available via a Google search.


Still need help?

For additional assistance, contact the IT Help Desk.

After You Return

You may wish to remove the email forwarding and vacation response from your Gmail@Valpo account. Instructions to reverse the above steps are available via a Google search.