Oxford email addresses

A personal email address and mailbox are created when a new University member's single sign-on (SSO) account is created, or their University card is updated to an account type that provides an email account.

The email address is separate from the mailbox. Messages sent to the email address direct to the mailbox, which will usually stay with the University member if they move within the University, even if their address changes.

One active email address is added for each current unit affiliation, up to a maximum of 8 affiliations. Messages sent to any of the email addresses are delivered to the same mailbox.

The address used when sending mail from the personal mailbox is initially set to the:

• Primary College address, if the University card is either college staff, student, undergraduate or postgraduate
• Primary Departmental address, in all other cases (if one exists)

The preferred email address can be updated from the Nexus mailbox settings of the self-registration pages.

The mailbox and all email addresses are removed after a person's University card is cancelled, expires, or is changed to one that does not provide an email account. Details of when this occurs are provided on the Finishing IT use as Oxford page.

A consistent personal email address format of forename.surname@unit.ox.ac.uk was set in 1992, using the following details from the University card record:

• forename (first name) is the first forename listed, or highlighted in the application
• surname (family name) includes all surnames, with any spaces or apostrophes removed
• unit is derived from the person's unit affiliations

For names that do not have a surname, the forename listed in the University card record will be used as the surname.

When the address is not available

If the address already exists, the surname is appended with a 2, incrementing as necessary until a unique address is created.

In cases where the standard address format cannot be used for the Nexus365 mailbox, such as when a unit provides their own mail system, the person's Oxford username is used to create the address in the form username@nexus.ox.ac.uk.

Reuse of email addresses

6 months after an email address is deleted, it can be created for a new person.

Name changes

Name change updates that include the surname, such as those following marriage, require a new University card to be issued so must be made through your local course or HR administrators. Smaller surname amendments may be possible and are discussed below.

As naming conventions across the world differ, the personal email address creation rules may result in an address that does not properly reflect its owner's name. The addresses must always take the form forename.surname@unit.ox.ac.uk, but updates such as the following can be requested using the Email Address Name Change form on the IT self-service site:

• Corrections of forenames with multiple parts, such as some Chinese names
• Forename changes to a preferred name, such as a middle name or 'Bill' instead of 'William'
• Removal of complete components of a multi-part surname, such as parts of a hyphenated surname
• Separation of multi-part surname components with hyphens

The forename and surname should be consistent across all personal unit affiliation email addresses, though there is some flexibility if this is required for a good reason.

Initials or completely unrelated nicknames cannot be used in personal email addresses.

Unit changes

If a person changes their college or departmental affiliations, a new email address is created for each new affiliation and set to deliver to their existing mailbox with the sender address changed accordingly.

Routing changes

The mailbox an email address routes to can be updated by local IT support staff from the IT Support Staff Facilities. Routing updates take place each hour on the hour, using a snapshot of the Registration database data taken 10 minutes earlier.

Unit own mail

Though Nexus accounts are created for all users, a list of domains for departments that manage their own email addresses and mail servers is provided on the Finishing IT use at Oxford page.

As Nexus mail servers will try to deliver mail internally, without going through an SMTP server, this can cause split routing where mail sent from within the Nexus system is delivered to the Nexus account rather than the unit mail account. To minimise this issue, after each routing update, Nexus accounts using the domain of a unit own mail system are set to automatically forward mail received to the routing address known by the Registration database.

The central IT Service Desk can remove the automatic forward if the Nexus account is to be used instead of the unit's own mail account. The unit's mail server will also need to be set to forward mail to the Nexus account.

The alternative email address provides a means of contacting you if you cannot access to you Nexus mailbox, for example if you require assistance in accessing the mailbox.

The alternative email address must be a non-University address that you have access to. This is often obtained automatically for new students and staff, but all University members are encouraged to check to ensure that their alternative email address has been registered.

The alternative email address can be updated from the Non-Oxford-University Email Address settings of the self-registration pages.

Secondary accounts can provide a separate email address and mailbox for situations where multiple people need to share a mailbox or the email is for a specific role. They should not be used for personal email.

The account can be assigned a new owner, so the mailbox remains available if the post holder changes.

Secondary email accounts can be requested or updated by local IT support staff from the IT Support Staff Facilities.

Non-personal addresses are used to provide an alternative email address for secondary accounts. These addresses are attached to the unit, not to the owner of the mailbox and will keep working indefinitely until the mailbox is deleted (or the mail domain is wound down).

If a non-personal address is routed to a personal mailbox, any previously received email will not be accessible after the person leaves.

Non-personal email addresses can be requested or updated by local IT support staff from the IT Support Staff Facilities.

Most University colleges and departments have their own email domain, but some are shared by several units.

Several unofficial units use domains of the form unit.ox.ac.uk for their websites, though this does not imply entitlement to an email domain. Email addresses ending @unit.ox.ac.uk are only available for units officially recognised by Planning and Resource Allocation.

Details of the current official University Structure, and how to request a change or apply for a new domain, are available on the University Organisational Structure page from Governance and Planning. If reorganisation removes a unit from the University, the email domain will be discontinued.

For email domains registered at Oxford but not in the .ox.ac.uk domain, a small number of incoming email addresses may be permitted.

A public University contact directory is not available, but email contacts may be provided on:

• College websites
• Division or departmental websites
• The find an expert service

University staff and students can find email contact details through:

• The global address list (GAL), available in the contact search of Outlook or Teams. 
• The Research@Oxford website (may require a connection to the University VPN).

As the GAL is the intended source for finding another University memeber's email address, any requests to remove someone from the GAL must be authorised by the head of their unit.

If you experience harassment by email, please keep the messages online as evidence and contact the central IT Service Desk. IT Services will act as quickly as possible to protect you.