This article explains what the lifecycle for email addresses in the central @rwth-aachen.de domain involves and when it becomes active.

• Email lifecycle
• Email lifecycle process
• Procedure after going through the email lifecycle

Email lifecycle

Personal e-mail addresses, usually in the form firstname.lastname@rwth-aachen.de (or older e-mail addresses in the form firstname.lastname@post.rwth-aachen.de), can be used for a lifetime.
An e-mail lifecycle is used to deactivate e-mail addresses that are no longer used and thus conserve resources.

The lifecycle only affects personal e-mail addresses of users who do not have an active status on RWTH Aachen.
The handling and further use of business e-mail addresses is decided independently by the respective issuing institute.

E-mail-lifecycle process

If you have not logged into the mailbox for 6 months, you will be prompted by e-mail (to this mailbox) to log in to reaffirm usage of the account.
If a redirection or forwarding to an external mailbox has been set up, it is not sufficient to log in there. You must log in to the original @rwth-aachen.de mailbox.
The easiest way to do this is to lög in via the RWTH Mail App. You can find more information about logging in here.
By logging into the mailbox, you confirm that you are still using the mailbox and the process is interrupted until you have not logged into the mailbox again for 6 months.

If you do not respond to this mail, you will be reminded again after one month. If you do not log in for another month, the account will be deactivated. The mailbox will be kept for another 2 months after receiving the first mail.

 

Please note:

If you have problems accessing your e-mail inbox, you can read here how to proceed if you no longer know the login details for the inbox.

Here you can see a schematic representation of the process:

Procedure after going through the email lifecycle

Once the mailbox has been deactivated, you no longer have access to it, but the contents have not yet been permanently deleted. For a short time after deactivation (grace period), you can have the mailbox reactivated by notifying the IT-ServiceDesk.
If the grace period has expired and no response has been received, the mailbox is automatically deleted permanently and all content is irretrievably deleted.

This can be checked independently and is the case if there is no longer a service/account with the name RWTH-E-Mail and the corresponding user name in the format ab123456@rwth-aachen.de in the self-service under Accounts and passwords / Account overview.

If this happens, there are two different procedures:

1. You still have an active status in RWTH Identity Management (RWTH student / RWTH employee) or you are re-enrolling and are currently starting a new degree program.
   • In this case, please check independently in Selfservice under Accounts and Passwords / Create Account whether you have the possibility to create an @rwth-aachen.de e-mail address
   • If this is not the case, please contact the IT-ServiceDesk and the staff there can create the address for you again, provided it has not already been assigned in the meantime
   • If your old e-mail address has already been reassigned in the meantime, you will receive a version of your original e-mail address with a consecutive number (vorname.nachname1@rwth-aachen.de)
      
2. You no longer have active RWTH Identity Management status or are now RWTH external
   • In this case, you are still entitled to have an @rwth-aachen.de e-mail address reissued, as it can be used for life
   • In this case, you must contact the RWTH Alumni Team via alumni@rwth-aachen.de and apply for a new personal e-mail address to be issued there

Additional Information:

• Instructions for logging in to an RWTH e-mail account with missing access data
• Login RWTH Mail App
• RWTH Alumni Team