UW-Madison Google Workspace - Getting Started with Google Groups

Introducing Google Groups

Google Groups is a free communication and collaboration service that gives you the ability to create the following:

• Email list
• Web forum (discussion board)
• Q&A forum
• Shared inbox
• Manage group access to shared Google files (ex: Docs, Sheets, Shared Drive)

When you create a Google Group, the group’s email address will have the following name format: groupname@g-groups.wisc.edu .

Note: Google Groups is not a HIPAA approved mail-list service. Please contact the UW Health Security Team  or UW-Madison HIPAA Security Coordinators if you have any questions. Learn more.

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Eligibility

• Faculty/staff
• Students
• Alumni

View terms of service.

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Types of Google Groups

UW-Madison Google Groups offers four types of groups:

*Custom Groups - The data-driven population cannot be manually changed, but guests can be added using the Google Group Administration site for Custom Groups. 

**Class Groups - The data-driven population (students) cannot be manually changed, but guests (additional TAs) can be added using the Google Groups Administration site for Class Groups.

***Advisor Groups - The data-driven population cannot be manually changed, but guests can be added using the Google Group Administration site for Advisor Groups. 

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Benefits

• Not owned by a single UW-Madison Google Workspace account.
• Not affected by account deactivation.
• Can be used to create permissions to manage group access to Google App files (ex: Docs, Shared Drive, etc).
• Allows group moderation.
• Allows membership to include both UW-Madison (internal) and non-UW-Madison (external) email addresses.

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Limitations

• The maximum number of members you can add to a Google Group is 50,000.
• The maximum number of external members you can add to a Google Group is 20,000. These limits are in place to prevent mail delivery issues caused by reaching per-group and per-organization sending limits.
• Those wishing to distribute email to groups larger than allowed in Google Groups should use an email marketing tool, such as Eloqua.
• Service accounts will not work in the Google Groups Service Page.
• View additional information about Google Group's policies and limits here.

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Quick start

1. Log in to Google Groups or create a Google Group.

   • View Google Group name guidelines.

2. Add members.

   • Bulk add members.

3. Manage your Google Group.

   • View additional resources on how to manage a group.

Reminder: Make sure you are logged into your UW-Madison Google Workspace account, not your personal Gmail account, when accessing or managing your UW-Madison Google Group.

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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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Learn more

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
• Email a Google Group
• Manage email subscription
• Subscribe to or unsubscribe from a Google Group
• Delete a Google Group (Standard Group 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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