Google Groups
Google Groups makes it easy to communicate and collaborate with groups of people, such as project teams and departments. Groups are like mailing lists as they contain the email addresses of its members, but each group has its own unique address.
You can use groups to share Google Calendars, Drive folders, Documents, Sheets and Sites. When someone joins your team or project, you can add them to the group and give them the same access as everyone else.
Key features
- Email, send calendar invites, and share content with all group members using the group email address.
- My Groups: lists all the groups you belong to and allows you to manage your own group memberships
- Groups Directory: lists all the groups at the University. Use the directory to view information about groups and also join new groups (requests to join new groups may need to be approved by an administrator).
- Discussion archives: records all the communications between group members. Post new messages and read and reply to group messages.
- Collaborative inbox: configure a group to behave like a ticketing system, letting members assign messages for themselves or for someone else to pick up.
Access instructions
The Google Groups dashboard shows you which groups you're in. You can use it to read any emails sent to the group.
- If you're a student and based in a country that prohibits access to Google, you can set up email forwarding.
- There are some limitations to using this service in sanctioned countries.
Available to students and staff (restrictions apply)
All members of the University are automatically given a personal Google Workspace account, which includes access to this service. (Only Departmental Computing Officers can request group email addresses without the "-group" suffix.) You can use this service on University-managed and personal devices.
App and web-based
You can access Google Group forums and messages via your email client (eg Gmail) or via your web browser. The mobile app is compatible with Android and iOS.
Funded by the University
There isn’t a cost to you for standard use.
Additional information
Google Groups has lots of settings. You can easily create different kinds of groups such as:
- distribution list: only the owners can create and send the emails
- project group: all members can create messages and reply
- restricted access: members are controlled by the owner or people can ask to join
- moderated or unmoderated.
Adding members to your group
- You can Direct Add around 200 University of York members per day. This quota goes up in time.
- When adding members in bulk, the email addresses have to be valid. If an email address doesn't exist, the attempt will fail and no members will be added.
- You can add external members – they need to accept an invite to gain access. For guidance, see allow external members (support.google.com).
Google Groups is different from Google Contacts.
- A Group has its own email address, which will be shared in the Groups directory allowing others to send messages to it.
- Your Contact groups are for your personal use, to send emails and meeting invitations to a list of contacts. Contact groups don't have their own email address, so no one else can send messages to them.
For more information see Google Contacts.
Access instructions
The Google Groups dashboard shows you which groups you're in. You can use it to read any emails sent to the group.
- If you're a student and based in a country that prohibits access to Google, you can set up email forwarding.
- There are some limitations to using this service in sanctioned countries.
Guides and help
How-to guides and set up
- Inviting groups to calendar events (support.google.com)
- Using groups to share content (support.google.com)
- Using groups to create shared mailboxes (support.google.com)
- Find and join a group (support.google.com)
- Manage members of a group with the University’s Google Group Tool
Search all our guides and help
Training and best practice
Accessibility
- Google has incorporated a variety of features to make its products usable by people with accessibility needs. Learn more about Google accessibility features and products (about.google.com).
- View accessibility reports (about.google.com).
Contact for support
If you're experiencing technical issues and need advice, please contact IT Services.
Service commitments
This service is part of Google Workspace. See Google Workspace: service commitments for related user responsibilities and policies.
What we expect of you:
- Maintain the membership of your Google Groups responsibly, adding people only with their knowledge/agreement.
- Ensure there are sufficient owners/managers for each of your groups, so that others can deal with enquiries or issues in your absence.
- Delete your group when it is no longer needed.
The following policies apply to all IT services provided by the University.
Availability
- This is a live service, available 24/7.
- Check the status of this service and any planned maintenance.
Support
- This service is managed by a third party.
- They are responsible for monitoring, identifying and fixing faults. We provide advice and support for local issues during our opening hours.
- This service is part of Google Workspace. For full details of the support we provide, see Google Workspace: service commitments.
Standards
- Our service performance and standards have been produced in consultation with our customers. We regularly monitor the delivery, performance and availability of facilities and services.
- Google Workspace Service Level Agreement (workspace.google.com)
- Google Workspace services summary (workspace.google.com)
We appreciate feedback as it helps us review and continually improve our service.
Page last reviewed: 9 September 2024