This article gives an overview of the changes planned for the alumni email account service and explains what to do if you want to download your emails from an alumni email account.

Alumni email service – overview of the changes

Students who graduated  after 2013 (this also includes those who were offered a backdated alumni account from 2013 to 2017) would have been given automatic access to an @southamptonalumni email account following the closure of their student account. This alumni email service was intended as an email account only and should not have provided access to any additional University of Southampton systems and services.

Due to low usage and cyber security concerns, the alumni email service was due to be discontinued at the end of September 2025 however after further consultation, we are now please to be able to offer our alumni with existing email account access the opportunity to extend their access until September 2026. They will then be offered the chance to opt – in again to September 2027. This is part of a 2 year pilot scheme. For more information see the article 'Accessing and managing your alumni email account'.

This two-year pilot will help us assess cyber security risks and usage; based on the feedback and data from the pilot, we hope to be able to offer alumni the opportunity to continued access to their email accounts on an opt-in basis beyond 2027 however this is still being investigated and is not currently guaranteed. We will ensure to provide further updates as they become available.

If you do not wish to opt-in to ongoing alumni email access and instead want to continue to offboard your account, please read the section Downloading emails.

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Downloading emails

Alumni email accounts can only use the web version of Outlook (known as Outlook Web Access, OWA). This is due to Microsoft’s license settings.

For anyone who wants to save your previous emails, you can download or forward emails from your alumni account before 01/07/2025. To achieve this, you can follow the instructions below.

Scenario 1 – You need to download just a few emails

If you only need a few emails, the simplest option for you is to:

• Select and forward the emails you need to another email address of your own
• Download your emails individually as follows:
  1. Open Outlook web access
  2. Select the email you want to download
  3. Select the More actions button on the top-right corner of your email
     
  4. From the drop-down menu, select Download
  5. Your individual email will be downloaded in the format of a .eml file to your Downloads folder
  6. You can now open your downloaded email by using a desktop client (such as Outlook desktop application, Apple Mail, and Thunderbird)

Scenario 2 – You need to download many emails

What to do if you are already using the Outlook desktop application with your own account 

If you have access to the classic Outlook desktop application, you can follow these Microsoft Support pages:

• Windows users: Export emails, contacts, and calendar items to Outlook using a .pst file - Microsoft Support
• Apple macOS users: Export items to an archive file in Outlook for Mac - Microsoft Support

What to do if you have never downloaded the Outlook desktop application with your own account

In this case, you can sign up for a free trial of Microsoft 365 for a month.

Please note:

• Do not forget to end your free trial before you get charged
• The university does not take any responsibility for any money incurred

Once you have activated your trial account, you will be able to:

1. Install the desktop version of Outlook on Windows or Apple macOS
2. Add your alumni email account there
3. Download your emails, calendar, and contacts by following these Microsoft Support articles:
   1. • Windows users: Export emails, contacts, and calendar items to Outlook using a .pst file - Microsoft Support
      • Apple macOS users: Export items to an archive file in Outlook for Mac - Microsoft Support

You want to use a different email application

If you cannot use the Outlook desktop application, you can use another email application (email client) to download your emails locally.

Due to the large number of different settings and configurations available on end-user devices, we cannot provide any guidance for all of them.

Even if not supported by iSolutions, you can upload your email account to Thunderbird and download your emails from there. Here we use macOS as an example:

1. Visit Thunderbird's download page
2. Download the right version of the software for your Operating System (macOS, for example):
   
   
   
3. Launch Thunderbird and follow the instructions on the screen to add your full name, email address, and password. Select IMAP as the available configuration:
   
   
   
4. Once your email account has been added, you can see all your emails from Thunderbird:
   
   
   
5. You can now download your emails by following the instructions published in “Export your Thunderbird Profile - Thunderbird Help” (external source)

If you have sub-folders in your alumni email account, here are instructions on how to review them:

1. On the mail panel, select Account Settings on the right-hand side:
   
   
   2. Select Server Settings and select the Advanced button:
   
   
   3. Uncheck the Show only Subscribed folders box and tick the Server supports folders that contain sub-folders and messages box:
   
   
   4. Select OK and close the Thunderbird application. Please allow some time for it to reset and restart Thunderbird, you will see the sub-folders under your inbox.

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Getting help

If you have questions about the decommissioning process, please contact the IDAM project team. Our team is here to help make this transition as smooth as possible. 

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Related content

Export emails, contacts, and calendar items to Outlook using a .pst file - Microsoft Support (external)

Export items to an archive file in Outlook for Mac - Microsoft Support (external)

Export your Thunderbird Profile - Thunderbird Help (external)