You will learn about the Google Workspace for Education fundamentals account you were issued as a Knox County Schools employee. Go to www.google.com and log in to your Knox County Schools account using your Knox County Schools credentials. If this is your first time logging into Google Drive as a Knox County employee, you will need to reset your Active Directory password before you're able to enter your Google Drive. Once your password has been reset, you can come back to Google Drive and log in with your KCS credentials. Those credentials are your Knox Schools email address; employees are not issued a Gmail address. Enter your Knox County Schools password. These credentials will give you access to a variety of Google tools, virtually unlimited drive storage, and the proper credentials for sharing Google files with other KCS employees and embedding files within your Canvas courses.

If you forget your password or need to reset it for security reasons, you are unable to do that within Google because your password is centrally controlled and used for many KCS services. You must reset the password within Password Manager. This tool is available on the KCS website. Changing your password here will change it across all online systems that use the password. You must be on a Knox Schools network in order to log in to Password Manager. So, if this happens to you at home or at a time when you are not on campus, you'll need to wait until you return to your school to reset your password or submit an Incident IQ ticket.

You may have a personal Gmail account that you use frequently. It is important to keep the documents and logins associated with your work account separate from your personal account. Your work account affords you integrations and access that are not configured for your personal account. For instance, your work account can be integrated into Canvas to permit easy posting of Google-based files within your Canvas courses. The Google files in your work account can also be used in Canvas assignments, where separate copies of each document can be made for each student and graded within Canvas.

Additionally, in many parts of the internet, you will be able to use the "Sign in with Google" option as long as you're using your Knox County Schools account. Having your personal Google account logged in can cause problems with accessing work-related files that have been shared via Google. Many files are shared specifically with people who have a knoxschools.org Google account; this limits the audience for documents that are not designed for public consumption. If you are logged into your personal non-KCS account, you will be unable to access these files readily.

There may be times when you must access your personal Google account. Perhaps you've stored some files in there that you need for your job performance. If that is necessary, open your personal account either in a different browser, like Safari, or in Chrome. You can use an incognito window to prevent your work and personal Google accounts from crossing paths. Take advantage of your Knox Schools Google account to store digital documents, integrate them into your Canvas courses, and create documents using Google's free productivity tools.