G Suite legacy users still get the option for a free account

Google is working on a feature for users of the old Google G Suite that will allow them to keep most of their data and paid content without having to sign up for a Workspace subscription. In doing so, they lose certain G Suite features.

Google isn’t giving much details about the new feature and what account users will get, but it looks like Google is moving users over to a regular consumer account. This concerns users who took out a Google G Suite subscription before 2012. That was intended for companies that wanted, for example, custom email addresses where @gmail.com was replaced by @companyname.com.

Although this subscription was intended for businesses, it was also used by consumers. This subscription was free, but last week Google announced that users must switch to a Google Workspace package from July 1. There are two free versions for schools and foundations, but Google checks for eligibility for organizations before taking advantage of these free packages.

In practice, this meant that users with such a legacy G Suite account would have to switch to a paid account or lose certain services such as Gmail. Data from these accounts can be downloaded, but cannot be easily uploaded back to a new Google account afterwards. In addition, users would lose apps and content purchased through the Play Store, for example.

This plan was criticized. In response, Google updated a support page earlier this week with more and new information. For example, Google says it will introduce a feature “in the coming months” that will allow “most content and data” to be transferred to a free account. Paid Google Workspace content will not be transferred with this. These transferred accounts also lose the ability for custom email addresses and multi-account management. It therefore seems that users have to choose a new email address. Google says it will provide more information about this plan in the coming months and introduce the feature before July 1.

Ars Technica also notes that Google has begun distributing a survey about how legacy G Suite users are using their accounts. Users can also leave their email address here and Google will inform them about their legacy account.