UO Dropbox service:
October update

UO Is Extending Dropbox into 2026

• Dropbox service will end in March 2026. That’s a one-year extension beyond the current contract.
  
• Joint funding continues. Information Services and the Office of the Vice President for Research and Innovation (OVPRI) continue to fund Dropbox to provide continuity during our transition off the service.

Project Team Will Support Transition

• A project will launch this fall. Information Services and OVPRI will convene a team to support the 17-month data storage transition process.
• Details coming soon. No immediate action is required. In the coming months, we plan to provide more information, including specific guidance about storage alternatives for different uses.
• Phased transition. Faculty and researchers won’t have to move their data until a new research-specific storage service is ready for use (see below). We may ask students and staff who use Dropbox for non-research purposes to move their files sooner to existing alternatives, such as Microsoft OneDrive, SharePoint, or Teams.
  
• Office hours planned. We know this transition may present challenges and questions for some people, especially those using Dropbox in complex ways. We plan to host office hours this fall to learn about your current Dropbox use and data storage needs, discuss options, and engage with you in joint problem-solving.

UO Dropbox Nears Capacity

• We’re approaching our storage limit. The UO is already using 76% of our 1 petabyte of Dropbox storage. That doesn’t leave room for growth.
  
• Grace period will continue, with caveat. The Dropbox quota grace period we announced in March will continue for now, and the UO Dropbox service remains a secure, approved option for storing UO data. However, overall usage can’t grow much without compromising the service for everyone. Given the eventual retirement of the service, new user onboarding into Dropbox will be limited.

Storage Alternatives Underway

• Microsoft OneDrive, SharePoint, and Teams. Already available. These robust tools enable the UO community to collaborate with people here and elsewhere—even if collaborators don’t have their own Microsoft accounts. UO users can create SharePoint and Teams sites with up to 5 TB of storage per site. OneDrive offers 1 TB of storage per person (or 100 GB for those with Microsoft A1 licenses).
  
• UO research data storage. Expected early 2025. Information Services will provide a new type of encrypted research data storage. OVPRI plans to partially subsidize this new storage service dedicated to research and scholarship. (Fee-based service, with limited amount of free access.)
  
• General-purpose UO storage. Expanding fall 2024. Information Services will expand an existing storage service, suitable for audiovisual media and many other data types. (Fee-based service.)
  
• Archival storage (such as cloud-based Glacier from Amazon Web Services). Availability TBD. Options for cloud-based archival storage are in the works. (Fee-based service.)

Why Not Dropbox?

• Costs increase and predictability decreases. During the UO’s recent contract renewal, Dropbox unexpectedly increased the cost of its unlimited storage offering by 70%, with no guarantee of future cost containment. This exemplifies an unfortunate trend with technology contracts, as described by Greg Shabram, UO’s chief procurement officer.

Can We Use Dropbox Beyond March 2026?

• Collaboration with other universities can continue. Just as you can provide external collaborators with access to folders in SharePoint or OneDrive, external collaborators who use Dropbox can still give you access to their folders. Make sure the host institution has approved the use of Dropbox for the data classes you handle.
  
• Most Dropbox plans aren’t as secure as the UO’s. Very few Dropbox plans provide sufficient security or compliance for high-risk or moderate-risk data. People should therefore consider switching to other compliant UO storage services after the forthcoming project team shares more details.
  
• Check with UO’s security experts. Anyone considering procuring Dropbox services after the UO contract expires should first consult with the Information Security Office.

Getting Help

• For help with specific data storage services: Please submit a ticket through the corresponding page of the UO Service Portal:
  
  • Dropbox support
  • OneDrive support
    
  • Teams support
    
  • SharePoint support via Microsoft Office 365 support
    
• For general help with data storage: Please contact the IT staff who support your unit or the Technology Service Desk.
  
• To discuss research data storage: Please email Research Advanced Computing Services at racs@uoregon.edu.

Data Security and Records Management