USask Email Shutdown on February 15, 2026: What to Do Now?
Published: February 24th, 2026 • 7 Min Read
After the announcement of USask email shutdown, it is clear that the University of Saskatchewan will no longer provide long-term email addresses to its alumni. For many individuals who graduated from the university, the USask email ending will create an email issue since they have kept their @mail.usask.ca email address for a long time.
Many people have asked the university why their long-term email address has now been discontinued. The university has indicated that they made this decision due to the rise in cost associated with managing email data as well as the increased threat of modern cybercrime to their system, and this USask email shutdown is part of a larger movement towards a new, more modernized digital infrastructure.
If you are a former student or retired from the university, you need to act immediately to preserve your digital history. This is not a minor change to the policy but will erase the data you have associated with your email account.
In this article we have discussed in detail the usask email discontinued. We have provided a summary of the timelines for USask email closures as well as a detailed outline of how you can transfer your data before your USask email account is terminated.
Why is the USask Email Discontinued?
The USask email shutdown is happening due to three principal reasons:
Rising data costs: Today’s email services like Microsoft 365 use a “per user” fee structure. Therefore, with over 80,000 alumni accounts, USask is not able to generate the necessary revenue to stay in place. They can no longer afford to continue with USask email services for alumni and decided on a USask email ending.
Security risks: Inactive email accounts are often targeted for phishing and credential harvesting, creating a risk to the account holder as well as the university network. The growing risk of losing email accounts is a primary reason for the USask email shutdown.
Industry shift: There has been a trend among many other major academic institutions to no longer provide permanent email accounts for their alumni. Therefore, by discontinuing the USask email service, they are following the global trend of identity-only services as opposed to full-service email accounts.
Important Dates for USask Email Shutdown
USask email closures are taking place in stages, and alumni should be aware of the following deadlines:
- February 15, 2026: This is the major deadline for most alumni, when all accounts that do not have extensions will be deactivated as the first stage in closing USask email accounts.
- December 31, 2026: This is the final date for all alumni who have received either temporary or permanent email extensions. After this date, all email addresses will be deleted and all email addresses permanently closed.
USask Email Shutdown Options for People With an Extension
Don’t waste the additional time provided before USask email discontinued occurs. You will need to save your data to a secure location before your USask email account stops functioning. Below is a breakdown of your current options.
| Migration Option | Cost | What You Get |
| Do Nothing | Free | The account remains available until Dec 31, 2026; then data is lost due to the USask email shutdown. |
| Manual Export | Free | Works for small inboxes. Risky and slow for large ones during the USask email closing. |
| Bulk Professional Move | Cost-effective | Full transfer, fast, with zero data loss (min. 5 addresses). |
How to Securely Migrate Your Data Before USask Email Shutdown
For most users, the USask inbox contains years of academic research, professional contacts, and personal memories. You have two ways secure your data before USask email discontinued
1. Manual Migration (for Small Inboxes)
You can use a desktop client like Outlook or Thunderbird to drag and drop folders from your USask IMAP account to a personal Gmail or Outlook.com account.
- Incoming Server: outlook.office365.com (Port 993, SSL/TLS)
- Outgoing Server: smtp.office365.com (Port 587, STARTTLS)
- Open Outlook/ Thunderbird.
- Go to Add account.
- Add your USask login credentials and IMAP Server details.
This way, you can manually configure your USask account to Outlook or Thunderbird. This process is technical and challenging, so if the process fails, you can use the professional tool that does not require manual configurations and automates the entire process.
2. Professional Migration (Recommended for Large Data Volumes)
Here is the best solution that alumni of the University of Saskatchewan can use before USask email shutdown.
If you have a lot of email or complicated file and folder structures, it’s often a pain to move these files manually to prevent data before usask email ending because of timeouts and attachments that will not arrive.
Many people are now turning to the BitRecover Email Backup Wizard to avoid this risk. The software was designed to move large amounts of data directly from the USask servers and does not have the same lag time as the manual method. You can save an entire mailbox to multiple formats (e.g., PST, PDF, or MBOX) or transfer your entire mailbox directly to your new Gmail or Office 365 account. Most importantly, it will keep the folder structure and email properties of the original mailbox intact, which is something that the manual method typically does not do.
Essential Pre USask Email Closing Checklist
Before the USask email shutdown on December 31, 2026, get ready with the following checklists:
- Update Recovery Emails: Change your USask email address to your personal email address for banking, social media, and government accounts (CRA).
- Notify Your Network: Send your professional contacts a final email giving them your new email address.
- Download Your Contacts: Export your address book to your computer as .csv or.vCard files.
- Check/Remove Two-Factor Authentication: If your USask email address is currently used to receive security codes, change your primary email account with those services where applicable.
Conclusion
The USask email shutdown marks a change to our history. But you can still build your digital legacy and have that history saved by taking steps now, prior to the December 31, 2026, deadline for amending user accounts.
To accomplish your digital legacy before USask email discontinued, you can either copy your USask email files from your USask email account to an external hard drive or automatically transfer the entire contents of your mailbox through software. But you should always backup your data before it gets deleted indefinitely from the USask email system!. So don’t wait until the last day!
FAQs: USask Email Ending
Q 1: Can I still apply for an extension today?
A: No, you cannot request an extension, as the window to request an extension ended before the deadline of February 15, 2026 after the announcement of USask email discontinued.
Q 2: Will email forwarding continue to work after my account is shut down?
A: No, your mail forwarding will not continue after the USask email shutdown. When your account closes, forwarding will stop working. Thus, any emails sent to the @mail.usask.ca address will not be delivered and will be returned to sender.
Q 3: Will I lose my NSID?
A: No, your NSID (Network Services Identification) will still be valid. You will continue to use your NSID to access online library resources and various alumni services that do not require that your mailbox be active after USask email shutdown.
Q 4: Can the university recover my data after the USask email discontinued?
A: No, the university has stated that once deleted data is purged from the servers, it is permanently deleted from the servers and cannot be recovered.
Q 5: Which tool is best for USask accounts?
A: The software offered by BitRecover is the best for USask accounts to secure its data.