FAQ for departing staff members

This article answers frequently-asked questions and may provide guidance for departing employees. Some information is dependent on the nature of departure, whether by conclusion of one's appointment, resignation, or retirement.

Office support staff and county directors are encouraged to fill out this Staff Exit Form before the departing staff member's last day with Extension. This allows IT to reach out for potential assistance and also to remove certain account accesses.

   

File management

What do I do with work files that might be useful to my colleagues?

  • Files that are already in the unit S: Shared Drive will remain there; no further action is needed.
  • Files that are in Box:
  • Be sure to also check your Desktop, Documents, Downloads, Pictures, and Videos folders and also other locations like OneDrive or Google Drive for files that may need relocating. 

How do I relocate my personal files?

  • Drag and drop your personal files onto a USB flash drive or external hard drive.
  • You may be interested in creating a personal Box account, as outlined below.

What happens to my U of I Box account?

  • The account will be held in a deactivated status for 30 days. During this time, the data will be inaccessible to the account holder and any collaborators. The accounts can be temporarily reactivated during this time.
  • After 30 days, the account will be deleted and the data will be temporarily stored for 6 months. During this time, the data can be recovered by the Box support team.
  • After 6 months, the data will be permanently purged from the system. 

How do I create a personal Box account?

  1. Create a personal Box account at https://box.com using a personal email address (such as a Gmail, Yahoo, or Hotmail account).
  2. Log in to your U of I Box account (https://box.illinois.edu), and change the Owner for files and folders to your newly created personal account. Instructions on how to do that can be found here: Managing Collaborators: Transferring Folder Ownership
  3. Log in to your personal Box account and remove the U of I Box account from the collaborators list.

Note: Be aware that personal Box account do not maintain version history or custom shared links and have additional limits on file upload size.

What happens to my data in Office OneDrive?

  • Once your Office 365 license has been removed from your account you will no longer have access to your data. You must copy your data to another location before leaving.

How do I relocate my files from OneDrive?

  • Drag and drop files into other-Owned Box folders as outlined above, or onto a USB flash drive. 
  • You can download your data from OneDrive using OneDrive for Business Sync. Setup instructions are available here. To download items, you will use Sync to copy or move items to your local machine or flash drive using Windows Explorer. A much slower option is to open and download each item in your OneDrive folders.
  • There is no migration path from the UofI OneDrive to a personal Microsoft OneDrive account without saving the data to a computer first.

Account management

Retirement

Services you continue to receive after retirement:

After you retire (assuming you are entered correctly in Banner as being retired), you will still have access to the following University services and see no interruptions in service:

Services you will lose after retiring:

After you retire, you won't have access to:

Non-retirement

Services you will lose after departing:

  • University services and university email access 
    • Your account will be deactivated. This means you will not be able to log in to any of your university services, including your email.
    • 30 days after your account is deactivated, the contents of your inbox will be permanently deleted. 
    • If you return to campus in some capacity, mailboxes can be reconnected up to 30 days after your deactivation by submitting a request to Technology Services (consult@illinois.edu).
  • University phone number and voicemail
  • WebStore software offers (Access to the Cisco VPN offer will remain available)
  • U of I Box (see: U of I Box, Eligibility for U of I Box Accounts)
  • Google Workspace (see: Google Apps @ Illinois, Exporting Data Using Google Takeout)
  • Other campus services that depend on active University employment (e.g. Teams)

Setting up email forwarding:

You may use the Electronic Directory Editor (EDE) service to redirect any new email you receive at your campus email address to a different email address. After one year, the EDE will stop forwarding email that was sent to your campus email address. Before this time is up, make sure that you have informed your email contacts of your new email address.

  • Please follow this article How to set up email forwarding or request help from Technology Services (consult@illinois.edu).
  • Mailing list subscriptions: If you've subscribed to any mailing lists using your campus email address, you will need to resubscribe with your personal email address during the one year period.

    Returning equipment

    An office workstation (including monitors and docking station) at an Extension office may be left at your desk, but be prepared to return any remote office equipment, your laptop, and peripherals to your office support staff or county director. 

    Laptop

    Do I need to delete my data from the laptop? 

    • No. Beyond backing up your files, your data will remain secure behind your password and you do not have to delete or do anything further.
    • After your departure, an IT team member can remote into the laptop and delete your user profile (and all its data) entirely.

    iPad

    Do I need to delete my data from the iPad?

    • Yes. This allows the iPad to be used once more, or it will remain locked to your Apple ID. Please follow these instructions for Factory Resetting iPad
    • Removing your Apple ID will not affect your Apple account, iCloud storage, or other Apple devices.

    Peripherals

    • Laptop power adapter
    • Docking station
    • Headset
    • Webcam
    • USB dongles for wireless devices (keyboards, mice, headsets, etc.)

    Can I buy my equipment?

    • No. At this time, the University Property Accounting and Reporting say it is not possible.


    Keywords:
    employee staff exit resignation departure service account termination retiree 
    Doc ID:
    154328
    Owned by:
    Jane K. in University of Illinois Extension KB
    Created:
    2025-08-21
    Updated:
    2025-08-21
    Sites:
    University of Illinois Extension KB