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Age settings and sharing limits for student accounts

Updated For Google Workspace

Baca dalam Bahasa Melayu

To protect student accounts, set the student organisational unit (OU) as under 18 and limit external Drive and Gmail sharing for that OU, leaving staff OUs untouched.

1. Mark students as under 18

Section titled “1. Mark students as under 18”

Google says age-based access settings are only available in Google Workspace for Education editions. If you are not sure which edition your school has, contact us to confirm, or see Google Workspace for Education eligibility.

  1. In the Admin console, go to Account settings > Age-based access settings.
  2. Select the student organisational unit.
  3. Choose Some or all users are under 18 years of age and click Override.

Students under 18 lose access to some Google services, such as uploading to YouTube. Google says data they created in services they can no longer use starts being deleted 30 days after the change, and you can revert a mistaken change within those 30 days.

2. Limit external sharing

Section titled “2. Limit external sharing”
  1. Add trusted partner domains at Account > Domains > Allowlisted domains.
  2. Go to Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Sharing settings > Sharing options, select the student OU, and set sharing outside your organisation to OFF or ALLOWLISTED DOMAINS.
  3. Go to Apps > Google Workspace > Gmail > Compliance, select the student OU, and set Restrict delivery to an address list of domains students may email. Students can then send to and receive from only those domains, so also tick Bypass this setting for internal messages.

Set up the student OU first if it does not exist: Create student accounts in bulk. Staff admins should also turn on 2-Step Verification.

Still stuck

Section titled “Still stuck”

WhatsApp our support team at +60 16-916 3324.

Common issues

Does marking a student under 18 affect staff accounts too?

No, as long as you apply it only to the student organisational unit. Age-based access settings apply per organisational unit or configuration group.

Can students still email a partner school after external mail is restricted?

Yes. Add the partner school's domain to the address list used by Gmail Restrict delivery for the student organisational unit. Students can then send to and receive from only the domains on that list, so also tick Bypass this setting for internal messages.

I marked the wrong group as under 18. Will their data be lost?

Google says you can revert the change within 30 days and their data will not be deleted. After 30 days, data in services they no longer have access to starts being deleted.

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