IT News, Maintenance, and Updates
July 2026 Newsletter
Make Time Work for You
The University of Maine System Information Technology (UMS IT) team is here to help you get more from the tools you already use every day.
Scheduling should make it easier to work together, not create more work. This month, we are looking at Google Calendar and Gmail features that can reduce back-and-forth, help others book time with you, and protect space for work that needs your attention.
Latest Updates
The Maine Center is offering two live online AI learning opportunities: 90-minute AI Essentials workshops on practical tools and workplace applications, Tuesdays and Thursdays, July 21–August 27; and The AI-Powered Workplace, a six-week certificate course for deeper AI skill-building, Wednesdays, August 5–September 16. A UMS employee discount is available.. Register now →
June Poll Results
Last month, we asked you which part of your calendar feels hardest to manage. Here is what you told us.
You also shared some great tips:
“Use ‘focus time’ in calendar to schedule tasks that need attention. Time blocking also helps keeps time protected and prioritized to focus on completing tasks.”
“I use a ‘shadow’ calendar (visible only to me) for reminders and deadlines) It shows me at a glance what things I need to work on and when but doesn’t give the impression that I’m unavailable for meetings.
“I use the booking feature to block some times that I am available to meet with anyone and share that link rather than trying to find mutually available times for meetings. It automatically updates my availability if I add something to my calendar”
👀 This Month’s Poll
Next month, we’re focusing on ways to save time during the back-to-school rush. Tell us which everyday task could use a simpler approach.
What Would Save You the Most Time?
This Month’s Focus
Make Time Work for You
⁉️ Scheduling can create extra work. Finding an open time, checking availability, and protecting space for focused work can take longer than expected. Without a clear plan, scheduling creates more messages, more decisions, and more interruptions throughout the day.
✅ Choose the Approach First. Before reaching for a tool, decide what the situation needs. Are you coordinating with one person, inviting several people to book, or reserving time for your own work? A clear choice reduces back-and-forth.
🚀 Let the Tools Support You. Use Gmail to offer times to one person, appointment schedules to let several people book with you, and Google Calendar to protect focus time and create space between meetings. Each tool supports a different scheduling need.
Let Others Book Time that Works
When students, colleagues, or others regularly need to meet with you, a Google Calendar appointment schedule can reduce scheduling back-and-forth.
Choose when you are available and share a booking page. Your available times update automatically as your calendar changes.
Reader tip: Turn your booking link into a QR code for your office door, syllabus, or other shared materials.
Watch the tutorial video →
Quick Wins for More Smarter Scheduling
Protect Focus Time
Focus Time reserves space for work that needs your attention. It can also automatically decline meetings that overlap.
Steps:
In Google Calendar, select Create.
Choose Focus time.
Select the date and time.
Choose whether to decline overlapping meetings.
Save the event.
Schedule Focus Time – 2 Min Video
Skip the Back & Forth
Gmail lets you add several available meeting times directly to an email so the recipient can choose one.
Steps:
Open or compose a message in Gmail.
Select Set up a time to meet.
Choose Offer times you’re free.
Select several open times.
Add them to the message and send it.
Offer Meeting Times – 1 Min Video
Add Time Between Meetings
Speedy Meetings automatically shortens events, giving you time to finish notes, prepare, or reset.
Open Google Calendar.
Select the gear icon, then Settings.
Under Event settings, turn on Speedy meetings.
Meetings shorten from 30 to 25 minutes or from 60 to 50 minutes.
Setup Speedy Meetings – 1 Min video
Have you noticed technology running more smoothly lately?
Whether it’s a seamless login, fast support, or things just working the way they should – it’s no accident. Behind the scenes, IT teams across the system are keeping everything moving.
It only takes a minute to make someone’s day!
Submit an IT Shout Out!
Need Tech Support?
UMS IT is here to help! Reach out via email, phone or chat. Walk-in help is also available.
IT Support: UMS IT Support Portal
Email: help@maine.edu
Phone: 1-800-696-4357
LiveChat: IT Support LiveChat
You may also connect with your local campus IT Office
June 2026 Newsletter
Small Setting, More Breathing Room
The University of Maine System Information Technology (UMS IT) team is here to help you get more from the tools you already use every day.
Technology works best when it fits into the workday without getting in the way. A lot of daily work depends on institutional knowledge and judgment: knowing what needs attention, what can wait, who needs to be included, and what details cannot be missed. This month’s tips focus on small settings in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Chat, and Google Workspace Studio that can reduce extra clicks, limit unnecessary interruptions, and create a little more breathing room around the work that needs your expertise.
May Poll Results
Last month, we asked about the tasks you would most like your tools to help with: Here’s what you told us (38 responses):
You also shared some tips. A few favorites:
“Created an Excel sheet that pulls data from many different source sheets into one table each week. Huge timesaver and reduces the risk of missing key information.”
“BCC myself on emails that require follow-up so they stay in my inbox as a reminder.”
👀 This Month’s Poll
Next month, we’re focusing on Google Calendar and ways to reclaim time in your day. We’ll look beyond meeting length at settings and habits that can help you protect focus time, make scheduling easier, and keep meetings organized before, during, and after they happen.
What part of your calendar feels hardest to manage?
This Month’s Focus
Small Settings. More breathing room.
⁉️ Everyday tools can crowd the day.
Email, calendar, and Chat are part of nearly everyone’s workday, but small defaults can add extra clicks, unnecessary interruptions, and back-to-back schedules with little room to reset.
✅ Small settings can create breathing room.
A few one-time changes can help your tools fit better around the work you already do. These settings do not replace the institutional knowledge and judgment your work requires. They help reduce the tool friction around it
🚀 This month covers Gmail filters, Google Chat notification controls, scheduled sending, and Google Workspace Studio Flows. Each gives you a way to adjust how your tools behave, so they support your work without getting in the way.
Let Studio Handle the First Pass
When similar questions, requests, or follow-ups come in again and again, Google Workspace Studio can help with the first pass. A flow can assess a message, identify key details, apply a label, prepare a draft, send a reminder, send an email, or summarize what needs attention.
You choose what Studio handles automatically and where review is needed.
Watch the tutorial video →
Quick Wins for More Breathing Room
Create a Clearer Inbox
Gmail filters help organize incoming messages by sender, subject, or keywords, so recurring messages are easier to find and manage.
Steps:
In Gmail, click the search options icon in the search bar.
Enter criteria, like sender, subject, or words included.
Click Create filter.Choose Apply the label and select or create a label.
Create Email Filters – 2 Min Video
Choose What Gets Your Attention
The Google Chat Home tab shows every space by default. Toggle Unread in the top right and it collapses to only what’s actually waiting for you.
Steps:
Click Home in the left GChat sidebar
In the top right, click the Unread toggle
Your view now shows only unread messages.
Bonus: For spaces that are active but not urgent, click the three dots next to the space name and select Mute.
Toggle for Unread Chats – 1 Min Video
Send It at the Right Time
Sometimes the right message is easier to write now, but better to send later. Gmail and Google Chat both let you schedule messages to arrive at a better time.
Write your message in Gmail or Chat.
Click the drop-down arrow next to Send.
Choose Schedule send.
Select the date and time.
Review or cancel scheduled messages before they send, if needed.
Schedule Email Send – 1 Min video
Have you noticed technology running more smoothly lately?
Whether it’s a seamless login, fast support, or things just working the way they should – it’s no accident. Behind the scenes, IT teams across the system are keeping everything moving.
It only takes a minute to make someone’s day!
Submit an IT Shout Out!
Need Tech Support?
UMS IT is here to help! Reach out via email, phone or chat. Walk-in help is also available.
IT Support: UMS IT Support Portal
Email: help@maine.edu
Phone: 1-800-696-4357
LiveChat: IT Support LiveChat
You may also connect with your local campus IT Office
Upcoming Sign In Changes
Important Notice!
This is a reminder about the upcoming change to how you sign in to University of Maine System (UMS) services.
Starting on the evening of May 15, you will see a new sign-in page when accessing UMS services such as myCampus Portal, Gmail, BrightSpace, and MaineStreet.
One important change: you must enter your full email address to sign in.
For example, if you previously entered jane.doe, you will now enter jane.doe@maine.edu.
For a walkthrough of the new sign-in process, please watch the following video:
Things to know
There are no changes to multi-factor authentication (MFA) at this time. If you currently use Duo to verify your identity, you will continue to do so.
If you use the advisee and course list application in the myCampus Portal, this application will open in a new browser tab instead of within the portal starting May 15.
For more information on the new sign-in page, please visit New University of Maine System (UMS) Single Sign-On (SSO) Experience.
You can find more information on the SSO/MFA Modernization Project in the following articles:
SSO/MFA Modernization Project FAQs
What is Single Sign-On (SSO)?
What is Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)?
If you have questions, please contact the UMS IT Service Desk.
– The UMS IT SSO/MFA Modernization Project Team
May 2026 Newsletter
Find Anything Fast
The University of Maine System Information Technology team is here to help you work smarter, not harder. If you’ve ever spent ten minutes hunting for a file you know exists somewhere, you’re not alone. In our February poll, 48% of you said forms, policies, and resources on the UMS website take the longest to track down, and “something I saved in Drive” and “an old email” weren’t far behind.
This month, we’re sharing moves that change how you find things, not just how you search for them.
Latest Updates
AI Training | Beginner & Intermediate Sessions This Spring: The Maine Center’s AI Essentials Series continues with new beginner and intermediate sessions on tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, NotebookLM, and Claude. Tuesdays, through May 26, 11:30 AM–1 PM on Zoom.$25/session. Register for AI Essentials Spring Sessions →
April Poll Results
Last month, we asked: What takes you longest to track down at work?
Here’s what you told us (45 responses):
You also shared some tips. A few favorites:
“Use Google’s built-in search options, like to:, from:, subject:, in:, etc.”
“Using quotations in my Gmail searches when I remember a particular phrase but don’t remember the subject or when it was sent.”
“Labeling emails and sorting them out of my inbox is extremely helpful!”
This month’s tips are shaped by exactly what you told us.
👀 This Month’s Poll
Which routine task eats up your time that you wish would just run itself? There’s a spot to submit your best automation tips and questions too!
Tell us what you would automate!
This Month’s Focus
Stop hunting. Start finding.
⁉️ Finding things at UMS means searching across several different environments: Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, campus websites, and TDX. Each one works a little differently, and each one has features that make finding things faster once you know where to look.
✅ Research shows that time spent searching for information is one of the biggest drains on workplace productivity, and longer search times are directly linked to lower quality work. The fix isn’t learning everything at once. It’s knowing a few moves that work across the tools you already have.
🚀 Your UMS tools include Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, TDX, and more. This month covers smarter search in Drive, finding anything on a UMS website, Gmail shortcuts your colleagues are already using, and how to get more out of TDX before you ever submit a ticket.
Stop Typing. Start Filtering:
Find any file in Drive without remembering what it’s called.
Google Drive’s filter chips let you find files without remembering what they’re called. Click the search bar, skip the typing, and use the People, Modified, or Location chips instead. Your brain remembers who you worked with and roughly when far better than it remembers file names.
Read the full search guide →
Quick Wins for Finding Things Fast
Find Anything on a UMS Website
Searching a website can be frustrating. This workaround helps for anything public.
Steps:
In your favorite search engine, type site:maine.edu and what you need. Example: site:maine.edu RFP
For a specific campus: site:usm.maine.edu advising
Works for the knowledge base too: site:tdx.maine.edu how to print
Google Domain Search – 30 Sec Video
Use Gmail Search Operators
Gmail’s search bar accepts operators that filter results precisely, and you can combine them for even faster results.
Filters to Try:
from:name@maine.edu to find emails from a specific person
subject:budget to search subject lines only
has:attachment to find emails with files attached
“exact phrase” in quotes to find that specific wording
Read the Full Search Guide
Your One-Click Shortlist
Stars aren’t just for “important” things. Use them as a temporary shortlist for what you’re working on right now.
On Monday, star the 2-3 emails, files and chats you need most this week.
Access them anytime by clicking Starred in the left sidebar of Gmail, Drive, or Chat.
On Friday, unstar them when the work is done!
Take it a step further with custom star options.
Add Gmail Star Options – 30 sec video
UMS IT in Action
🎉 Rave Mobile Safety is Live
When something urgent happens on campus, you deserve to know about it fast. Rave Mobile Safety is now live system-wide, delivering emergency notifications wherever you are and on whatever device you’re using, by text, email, and voice call simultaneously.
Behind the scenes, the UMS Information Technology team worked across all seven campuses to configure Rave, verify contact data, and test delivery across multiple channels. Coordinating notification preferences for thousands of users across different systems required careful data work and close collaboration with campus safety offices.
If you receive emergency notifications from your home university, you’re already covered. Log in to Rave to review your settings and make sure the right notifications are reaching you the right way.
Have you noticed technology running more smoothly lately?
Whether it’s a seamless login, fast support, or things just working the way they should – it’s no accident. Behind the scenes, IT teams across the system are keeping everything moving.
It only takes a minute to make someone’s day!
Submit an IT Shout Out!
Need Tech Support?
UMS IT is here to help! Reach out via email, phone or chat. Walk-in help is also available.
IT Support: UMS IT Support Portal
Email: help@maine.edu
Phone: 1-800-696-4357
LiveChat: IT Support LiveChat
You may also connect with your local campus IT Office