Google Groups is a service that helps provide structure and management to discussion groups primarily through the Gmail service. MCAD uses Groups to facilitate messaging related to specific departments, class enrollment, employment type, or special interests as needed. One of the most common use-cases for Google Groups is a department that wants all of their external communication to pass through a centralized email address that everyone in the Department gets copied on.
This article covers and links out to some of the basics for working within this service. It is primarily aimed at Group Managers and Owners, but standard Group Members may find some insight into how these Groups function.
Quick Links
- Creation of a new Google Group
- Managing Group Membership
- Settings for Google Groups
- Sending as a Google Group in Gmail
- Filtering messages in Gmail's Inbox
Creation of a new Google Group
Google Groups within the MCAD environment are created and managed by IT administrators at MCAD. If you have a need for a specific Google Group to be created, please send a request to helpdesk@mcad.edu with the following information:
- Requested name for the Group
- Requested email address for the Group
- A list of the users that should be owners of the group and who should be managers (if any)
- A short description of the purpose of the group including information on the intended audience for communication through the Group
Note: All requests for new Groups are evaluated individually, and additional authorization for Group creation might be required. Further, we may discourage new Group creation if there are already workable communication systems in place that would better serve the needs of your request. That said, we're always happy to discuss your options and find the best solution to your needs.
Managing Group Membership
For most Google Groups at MCAD, membership can and should be managed by Group Owners and Managers. Information on how you can manage your Group's membership can be found here: https://support.google.com/groups/answer/2465464
Note: Certain Google Groups at MCAD, such as the various [ALL] email lists as well as lists related to class codes/majors have membership managed automatically based employment type or enrollment status. Anyone that needs access to a Groups they would not ordinarily be a part of (i.e., a chair or faculty member needing to send messages to everyone in a specific major or a support staff member needing to see messages sent to All Faculty) must request access to be manually added to that group. Please contact helpdesk@mcad.edu for assistance with questions about this process.
Settings for Google Groups
Google provides a myriad of ways to adjust and fine tune the aspects of how a Google Group functions or appears. Everything from Group Descriptions to Auto-Replies and posting policies can be adjusted. It's worth taking the time to review what all of these settings do and tweak them to the needs of your Group. An overview of these settings can be found below, but we'll also point out a few specific options that you should take the time to consider. Please note that in general, only Group Managers and Owners can make adjustments to these settings.
- General Group Settings description: https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/10376887?hl=en
Additional specific features:
- Configure the auto-replies in the Group: https://support.google.com/groups/answer/9792589?hl=en
- Consider enabling the Collaborative Inbox feature in Google Groups for this group, as it may provide more advanced features to help you sort, organize, and track items as they come in: https://support.google.com/a/users/answer/167430?hl=en
- Consider enabling Moderation if you want to control the messages that go out to your members or if you want to better control spam on a Group where folks outside of the organization can post: https://support.google.com/groups/answer/2466386?hl=en
Sending as a Google Group in Gmail
If you need to be able to send-as this Google Group in Gmail, the instructions for that process are here: https://support.google.com/groups/answer/10309372?hl=en
Note: all members of the Group that can receive messages sent to the Group can configure an Alias to send-as for the group. Keep this in mind if your membership includes users that shouldn't be allowed the ability to represent your Group, and consider enabling moderation to prevent abuse.
Filtering messages in Gmail's Inbox
Adding a filter to automatically apply Labels to messages coming from this group is a great way to make sure your communication to/from this group stays organized, as tracking correspondence will be a little simpler if the messages sort themselves into an obvious location in your Inbox.
Instruction on how to configure Gmail Filters can be found here: https://support.google.com/mail/answer/6579?hl=en
Additional assistance
Should the answer to your Google Groups question not be here, or if you need help with any of this, please reach out to the MCAD Help Desk, and we'll do our best to assist.