Google Groups

For email & distribution lists, sharing, configuring settings, and more.

Important links:

Create a group - Google Workspace Admin Help

Source: Google

What is Google Groups?

It is a tool from Google that provides discussion groups for people sharing common interests through sharing a common email address. It can be used to invite members to a Google meet, set up chat rooms and share documents for collaboration.

You can use Google Groups to

1. Send email to all group members with a single address

2. Invite group members to a meeting and participate in discussions

3. Share content with members, including documents, sites, videos, and calendars

How to create a Group

You will need to have a google account if you don't already have one.

1. Sign in to Google Groups: https://groups.google.com/

   • Sign in to your Google Account if necessary. Click the blue Sign in button in the top-right corner of the page, then enter your Google Account email or phone number and password.

   • You can switch between different google accounts by clicking on your profile image at the upper-right corner of your screen and on the menu, select the account you would like to use or click on Add account to sign in to a different account.

2. In the upper-left corner, click Create group.

3. Enter information and choose settings for the group. Settings reference.

4. Click Create group.

5. Wait a few minutes for your new group to become active before sending a message to it. Otherwise, you might get a notification that your message couldn't be delivered.

How to add people to a Group

Note: The invitations expire after 7 days, but requests to join a group never expire. You can resend invitations if they expire.

Limitations on adding people to groups

• Maximum group members—A group can have unlimited members, so there’s no limit to the number of people you can invite, add directly, or approve to join a group.

• Child accounts—You can’t add a user with a child Google Account to a group through any method.

If you're a group owner, or if you have permission to manage members, you can add people to your group in three ways:

How to invite someone via email

1. Sign in to Google Groups then click the name of a group.

2. On the left, click Members.

3. At the top, click Add members.

4. A t the bottom, next to Directly add members, click Turn off .
5. Enter the email addresses of the people to invite. (Optional) To include an invitation message, enter a message.

6. Click Send invites.

7. To manage invitations:

   • On the left, click Pending members.

   • Take one of the following actions:

     • To resend a single invitation, point to the invitationon the right, and click Resend invitation . Invitations automatically expire after 7 days, but you can resend them any time.
     • To cancel a single invitation, point to the invitationon the right, and click Cancel invitation .
     • To resend or cancel multiple invitations, check the boxes next to the invitationsabove the list on the right, click Resend invitation or Cancel invitation .

Add people to a group

How to add people to your group directly

When you add people directly, you can assign them the member, manager, or owner role.

1. Sign in to Google Groups then click the name of a group.

2. On the left, click Members.

3. At the top, click Add members.

4. Enter the email addresses of the people to invite. (Optional) To add a welcome message to the email notification for new members, enter a message.

5. Click Add members.

How to approve people who applied to join your group

You can view requests to join your group and accept or deny them on an individual basis.

1. Sign in to Google Groups and click the name of a group.

2. On the left, click Pending members.

3. Take one of the following actions:

   • To approve a single request, on the right of the request entry, click Approve request .
   • To reject a single request, on the right of the request entry, click Reject request .
   • To accept or reject multiple join requests, check the boxes next to the requestsabove the list on the right, click Approve request or Reject request .

How to view all members of a group

You can view all group members as well as people who have been banned from a group.

1. Sign in to Google Groups then click the name of a group.

2. On the left, click Members.

3. To view people who have been banned from the group, on the left, click Banned users.

How to find and join a group

To join a group that already exists, just use the search box to find the group and ask to join.

How to search for groups

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. In the left panel, click My groups, Recent groups, or All groups.

3. Choose a search option:

   • To find groups you own, groups inside or outside your organization, or groups you recently joined, click in the search fieldselect an option. (Not available for All groups.)
   • To search by some other criteria, in the search field, enter your search criteriapress Return or Enter.
   • To see advanced search options, in the search field, click the Down arrow. Enter your search criteriaclick Search. (Not available for All groups.)
4. To quickly revise your search, click an option above the search results. (Not available for All groups.) For example:

   • Narrow the search by selecting the join time.

   • Choose whether to view groups from within or outside your organization.

How to join a new group

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click All groups and find the group that you want to join.

3. Click Join group.

   Note: If you don't see the "Ask to join group" option, you can email the group and ask to join it.

4. If you want to link or unlink your Google profile, choose an option:

   • If you don't want people to view your Google profile, uncheck the Link to my Google account profile box. You can also enter a different display name for people to see.

   • If you want people to view your Google profile, check the Link to my Google account profile box.

5. In the Subscription section, choose how often you want email updates from the group:

   • Every new message

   • Send daily summaries

   • Combined updates

   • Don't send email updates

6. Click Join group.

How to join a Google group without a Gmail address

If you don't have a Google Account, you can:

• Read posts in public groups

• Search for posts in public groups

You need a Google Account to

• Create and manage a group

• Join a group

• Post to a group

• Delete a post

• Read a restricted group's posts

To use these features with Google Groups, you can create a Google Account without changing your email address.

You can also link a non-Gmail email address to an existing Google Account. The linked email address can be made an owner or manager. Learn how to sign in to your Google Account with another email address.

How to create and respond to conversations

You can start or join conversations in Google Groups by posting a new message or responding to posted messages in your groups.

How to start a new conversation

Start a group discussion about a topic you’re interested in.

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click the name of a group.

3. At the top left, click New conversation.

4. Enter your message.

5. Click Post message.

How to read and respond to messages

You can read and respond to messages using Google Groups or email, depending on how the group is set up.

Respond via Google Groups

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click the name of a group.

3. Click the message you want to read.

4. Choose whether to reply to the group or individually:

   • To reply to the group, below the message text, click Reply all. Compose your replyclick Post Message.
   • To reply only to the person who posted, below the message text, click Reply to author. Compose your replyclick Send.
   • To forward a message, below the message text, click Forward. Enter some message textclick Send.

Respond via email

1. Click the message in your email inbox. You can select any email in the conversation thread to reply to.

2. To respond only to the person who posted, select Reply. To respond to the whole group, select Reply all.

How to choose who will receive your messages

Requires the Owner or Manager role.

You can decide whether members can reply via email to the entire group or only to certain members of the group. You can also choose to have every message sent to a specified email address.

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click the name of a group.

3. On the left, go to Group settingsEmail options.
4. Under Post replies to, click the displayed optionchoose the option you want.
5. Click Save changes.

How to delete a message

Deleting messages from other members requires the Who can moderate content permission.

You can delete messages you posted, and possibly messages from other group members.

1. Open the message you want to delete.

2. In the message entry, click MoreDelete.
3. In the confirmation box, click OK.

Note: If a post is inappropriate, you can delete it and report it as abuse.

How to view unread messages

To see the number of unread messages for a group, set up a filter in your email client.

If Groups for Business is turned on, to see the number of unread messages for a group, your subscription option must be set to Each email. Visit View and edit membership settings.

Here are example instructions for Gmail.

1. In Gmail, create a filter. In the search field, on the To line, enter the group's email address.

2. After clicking Create filter:

   1. Check the Apply the label box.

   2. Next to Choose label, click the Down arrow New label.
   3. In the first field, enter the group's name. You can leave the other options blank.

   4. Click Create.

Your group now appears as a folder in the left panel. As messages arrive to the group, the number of unread messages appears next to the folder.

How to change your display name or email address

You can change your display name, photo, email address, and how frequently you get an email from the group.

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click the name of a group.

3. On the left, click My membership settings.

4. Choose your settings.

   Note the following:

   • The field for your display name and the check box for linking your Google Account are enabled or disabled based on your group's Member privacy settings.

   • If the Subscription field is set to Each email, the email updates box is checked automatically.

5. Click Save changes.

How to leave a group or unsubscribe from email

If you no longer want to participate in a group or receive the group’s email, you can:

• Unsubscribe from email from the group—You’re still a member of the group, but you no longer receive email when there’s activity.

• Leave the group—After you take this action, you can no longer access the group if it's not public.

• Change your settings—If the Add me to their groups setting is on, a group manager can add you to a group without your permission and then send you messages from that group. Stop people from directly adding you to a group by following the instructions in I'm in groups I didn't join.

Unsubscribe or leave a group using Google Groups

You can stop getting email from a group by changing your settings or leaving the group.

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Locate the group choose an option:

   • To stay in the group but stop getting email, for Subscription, click the displayed optionselect No email.
   • To leave the group and stop getting email, click Leave group Yes, leave group.

Unsubscribe and leave a group using email

To leave a group and stop getting email from it, you can send an email to group name+unsubscribe@group domain. For example, to leave the group [e-mail], you would send a message to [e-mail]. You can send the request with no subject or body text.

Troubleshoot leaving a group

If you’re signed in to a work or school account, you can't leave a group that your administrator set to include all members of your work or school.

If you tried to unsubscribe and are still getting email, make sure:

• You unsubscribed using the same email address that gets the group email.

• The email is not being forwarded from an address that still belongs to the group. If they are, email the address and ask them to remove your address.

• You’re not signed up for the group with more than one email address. If you are, unsubscribe that email address as well.

• The group you left isn’t nested in another group. You will keep getting email from the second group, unless you leave it also.

• You’re on the desktop version of Google Groups. You can only leave a group from the desktop site.