[angus-prune]

I dug into this with support and the docs.

When you cancel workspace, the accounts remain active but lose access to just the workspace features (gmail, drive, docs, calendar etc). The accounts will remain the same for things like google play, youtube etc and you won't lose access to any purchases.

The biggest impact I can see, other than the headache of migration, is that former GFYD email address can NEVER be used for docs, drive etc, even on the same terms as a free personal account.

[samueldr]

I will wait for an official answer from a Google rep. There is too much at stake to guesstimate on vague phrasing.

And still, losing google docs document sharing, and calendar, on the e-mail address identifier which will stay my valid and primary one is a hostile move, plain and simple.

[angus-prune]

I agree with you on losing access to sharing to your primary email address.

The situation has been officially confirmed on their support pages [https://support.google.com/a/answer/1257646]:

" Impact to services after you cancel Google Workspace You lose access to core Google Workspace services, such as Gmail, Calendar, Meet, and more. You still have access to Additional Google services, such as YouTube, Google Photos, and Google Ads. "

[deadgiveaway]

That's info related to cancelling from "Google Workspace". I'm on "G Suite legacy" so i'm not sure that applies to me. Maybe I have to upgrade, but not pay, then cancel. It's a bit of a gamble. What if I do that - or do nothing except wait - and find my account is eventually suspended? I have a bunch of accounts I use for photo backups, plus maybe 5 humans using accounts for Android login, and email. Suppose I own mydomain.com. Can everyone continue to log into android using [e-mail], [e-mail]? Gmail stops working - what does that mean? Assuming the users can continue to use their accounts for Android (youtube, photos, apps etc) can't they configure gmail to send/receive email via some other service?

[angus-prune]

Yes, you would upgrade and then immediately cancel. I've had this confirmed by google workspace support.

[deadgiveaway]

Thanks. This is Google, where nothing's ever finished, so when I logged in and tried to find out the answer to questions like this I saw:

"Support availability is rolling out to our G Suite legacy free edition customers over the coming days. If you do not currently have access to Support, please check back in a few days. We apologize for any inconvenience, but look forward to connecting with you shortly."

I look forward to some support for the service I've used for 15 years and what to tell the 5 family members who use "G Suite" (aka Google Apps) to handle email from my domain.

Do you know if there's a list of which services will/won't be avaiable after this process? Seems a bit random. Google ads but not gmail..but you can use gmail to point at another email service presumably? Can I still use the google apps I paid for? Does my [e-mail] sort of work like it would if I'd use a hotmain account as my android account? But...if I did that, wouldn't I have access to gmail still? I sort of assumed you would but perhaps not.

One thing about G Suite accounts is Google never got around to making them act just like normal accounts; I cannot review android apps with my account, nor can I share paid-for apps with family members. Will this functionality magically appear after I cancel?

[deadgiveaway]

They're telling some people the exact opposite - that they'll lose all their photos. Google need to forget all this "core", "additional" crap and just list what people will and won't lose access to once they cancel Workspace.

[karlshea]

But then what happens when that new account wants to use Google Docs? From what I've been reading it sounds like they would be blocked from doing that forever.

[angus-prune]

Yes, I had this confirmed by support. This is the most frustrating (and ridiculous) aspect. People will no longer be able to share things with your main email address.

You can sign up for a google account with any email address, so if you'd never used GFYD you'd be able to do this no problem.

[jrochkind1]

That same page also says:

> (Optional) Step 3: Delete your organization’s Google Account

> If you no longer want a Google Account for your organization, delete the entire account. Deleting your organization’s account frees your domain within 24 hours for use with a new Google Account.

Not totally sure the implications of that, it kind of sounds like you can create a clean slate where you can re-use that email address as normal? But not sure, it's confusing and I wouldn't count on it.

Which I'm not surprised about not being sure what will happen -- honestly for the last ten years, the implications and consequences of this legacy free "g suite"/"g aps"/whatever it is account have been continually super confusing and un-documented, and often seemed accidental on google's end.

[jrochkind1]

> The biggest impact I can see, other than the headache of migration, is that former GFYD email address can NEVER be used for docs, drive etc, even on the same terms as a free personal account.

Uh oh. So, let's say I take my custom domain email address and set it up on a non-Google provider. (The whole reason I have a custom domain is to avoid locking me to a vendor).

I can't then set up an ordinary personal google account using this email, it'll be reserved forever?

That stinks.

[toast0]

> The biggest impact I can see, other than the headache of migration, is that former GFYD email address can NEVER be used for docs, drive etc, even on the same terms as a free personal account.

If the legacy product is the same as the paid product, you may want to rename your accounts/switch domains before you close the workspace. Then there wouldn't be a naming conflict.

[Macha]

Switching domains is one of those features that was not available on the free account.