UW-Madison Google Workspace - Getting Started with Google Groups

Eligibility

• Current faculty/staff/students
• Alumni

Types of Google Groups

UW-Madison Google Groups offers four types of groups: Standard, Custom, Class, and Advisor .

1. Standard Groups: Non-data-drive group that can be created by an eligible NetID at https://email.wisc.edu/lists/create .

• Membership can be managed at https://groups.google.com .
• Service accounts:
  • Can be added as an owner, manager, or member. 
  • Cannot create a group. 
• Shared mailboxes:
  • Can be added as a member at https://groups.google.com only, not at https://email.wisc.edu/lists/. 
  • Will receive group emails and can reply to those messages.
  • Can email a group to subscribe/unsubscribe. 
  • Cannot log in to the Google Groups app to manage a group, manage their membership settings, or send as the group.
  • Cannot create a group.

Learn more about using a standard Google Group. 

2. Custom Groups: Data-driven groups created based on HR/SIS/Manifest data. 

• Membership is updated overnight based on set parameters.
• The data-driven population cannot be manually changed.
• Guests can be added using the Google Group Administration site.
• Service accounts can be added as a guest and manage the group.
• Shared mailboxes cannot be added. 

Learn more about requesting a Custom Group and how to get started. 

3. Class Groups: Data-driven groups that are auto-generated from course enrollment data from the Office of the Registrar’s Student Information System (SIS). 

• Instructors and teaching assistants are automatically assigned a Class Group once enrollment is set.
• The data-driven population cannot be manually changed.
• Guests (additional TAs) can be added using the Google Groups Administration site.
• Service accounts can be added as a guest and manage the group.
• Shared mailboxes cannot be added. 

Learn more about using Class Groups.  

4. Advisor Groups: Data-driven groups that are auto-generated from Registrar data. 

• Membership is automatically updated to match advisor's advisees overnight. 
• The data-driven population cannot be manually changed
• Guests can be added using the Google Group Administration site. 
• Service accounts can be added as a guest and manage the group.
• Shared mailboxes cannot be added. 

Learn more about using an Advisor Group.

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Benefits

• Not owned by an individual UW-Madison Google Workspace account.
• Not affected by account deactivation.
• Can be used to manage access to Google files and shared drives.
• Allows group moderation.
• Allows both internal and external membership. 
• Service accounts can be a member of and manage Google Groups. 
• Shared mailboxes can only be a member of a standard Google Group.
• Receives technical support. 
• Protected by Google Workspace for Education terms of service.

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Limitations

• The following membership limits are in place to prevent mail delivery issues caused by reaching per-group and per-organization sending limits:
  • Maximum total members: 50,000
  • Maximum external members: 20,000
• No email tracking features.
• Can only be created at https://email.wisc.edu/lists/create, not https://groups.google.com/.
• Service accounts and shared mailboxes cannot create Google Groups.
• Large email distribution should use an email marketing tool, such as Eloqua, not Google Groups.
• View additional group policies and limits.

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Quick start

The following is a quick start for Standard Google Groups. 

1. Create or log in to a Google Group.
2. Add members
3. Manage your Google Group.
4. Create and respond to messages. 

Learn more about using a Google Group, view a Google Groups cheat sheet , and view Google Groups training.

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Administrative Tools

Google Groups can be managed using the following tools: 

1. Google Groups Administration tool

   1. Access: Log in to https://email.wisc.edu/lists/ using your NetID
   2. Use:
      1. Create standard Google Groups 
      2. Manage memberships
      3. Manage data-driven groups 
   3. Limit:
      1. Cannot add a shared mailbox to a group
      2. Services accounts and shared mailboxes cannot create Google Groups 
      3. Service accounts and shared mailboxes cannot access this tool 

2. Google Groups App 

   1. Access: Login to https://groups.google.com/ using your NetID or service account
   2. Use:
      1. Manage group settings and Standard group membership
      2. Add a shared mailbox as a member to a Standard Google Group 
      3. View conversations 
   3. Limit: 
      1. Cannot create new Google Groups
      2. Cannot manage data-driven group membership

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Email delivery

You can email your Google Group at groupname@g-groups.wisc.edu to start collaborating with your colleagues. When you email your Google Group, that message will be delivered to the following inboxes:

Message delivery

1. Google Group Archive inbox

   • Note: The archive feature may not be enabled by default. Learn how to view your Google Group’s archive feature status.
   • Archiving must be enabled to receive a copy of all messages sent to the Google Group.
   • Enabling archiving is beneficial when troubleshooting message delivery issues.
   • Note: The number of views and unread/read status for archived messages only reflects activity done on the Google Groups archive page. It does not reflect activity done by a recipient's email client. Google Groups does not offer email tracking.

2. Mailbox associated with the email address used to add member to the Google Group

   • Message delivery will depend on the member’s Google Group email subscription setting (ex: daily notifications, email digest)
   • Message delivery can be affected by the member's email settings such as rules, filters, spam/junk, etc.

Suppressing "out of office" messages

• Internal email address - out of office messages sent from an @wisc.edu address (ex: bucky@wisc.edu) will be suppressed.
• External email address - out of office messages sent from a non @wisc.edu email addresses (ex: daniel@tech.com) will not be suppressed and will be sent to the Google Group.

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Resources

UW-Madison Google Workspace account - Basics

• Distinguish between personal Google account and UW-Madison Google Workspace account
• Switch between UW-Madison account and personal Google account

Google Groups - Basics

• Log in to your UW-Madison Google Workspace account
• Log in to Google Groups
• Create a Google Group
• Add members
• Add multiple members
• View members and their email address
• Remove members (Standard groups only)
• Email a Google Group
• Manage email subscription
• Subscribe to or unsubscribe from a Google Group
• Delete a Google Group (Standard groups only)

Google Groups - Additional settings

• Manage member permissions
• Approve or block new posts (moderation)
• Manage email subscription

Distribution lists

• Compare distribution lists
• Distribution list feature mapping

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