Google Groups: Creating and Managing Email Lists


Introduction

Google Groups is Wesleyan's solution to manage email lists, allowing you to send emails to groups using a single email address.

Google Groups may be accessed with your Wesleyan SSO credentials or by accessing your Google Drive while signed into WesPortal > selecting the Google Apps "waffle" menu at the top right > and scrolling down to locate Google Groups. A recorded instructional session can be viewed via this link: Google Groups Instructional Session 5/7/2024

Please view this article to learn how to get started with the following topics:

Instructions

Table of Contents

Create a group

  1. Sign in to Google Groups.
  2. At the top, click Create group.
  3. Enter information and choose settings for the group.
    Settings reference. *Note: You have two options available when creating your Group email address (see image below.) ALWAYS select the option to create the group email as an  @wesleyan.edu address. You will still be able to add external non-@wesleyan.edu addressees and collaborators to the group. You cannot allow external people/addressees to search for the group or join themselves, but you can always add external non-@wesleyan.edu people/addressees to your group. **@googlegroups.com email list addresses are NOT associated with Wesleyan in anyway.

Note: The default email address suffix is ...-glist@wesleyan.edu, however employees may place a request to ITS have the "-glist" suffix removed.

4. Click Create group.
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.

5. (Optional) Next steps: Choose advanced settings for your group.

Quick Reference Links:

Make your group a Collaborative Inbox (for moderation and discussion management)

Requires the Owner or Manager role.

If you’re signed in from a work or school account, this feature requires Google Groups for Business.

To enable Collaborative Inbox features, you must turn on conversation history. For details, see Turn conversation history on or off.

  1. Sign in to Google Groups.
  2. Click the name of a group.
  3. On the left, click Group settings.
  4. For Enable additional Google Groups features, select Collaborative Inbox.

Quick Reference Links:

Shared Labels

When shared labels are on, group members can organize conversations by labeling them with keywords and update a conversation's labels at any time. Users can then search and filter conversations by those labels.

Quick Reference Links:

Change your group’s name, description, and email settings

Requires the Owner or Manager role.

  1. Sign in to Google Groups.
  2. Click the name of a group.
  3. On the left, click Group settings.
  4. In the General section, make your changes.
  5. Click Save changes.

Set email options for your group

Requires the Owner or Manager role.

  1. Sign in to Google Groups.
  2. Click the name of a group.

  3. On the left, go to Group settingsand thenEmail options.

  4. Set your email options:
    • Subject prefix—Identifies email as messages from the group
    • Email footer—Helps users access subscription settings and find the message in Google Groups
    • Conversation mode—Shows messages in threads by subject instead of displaying each message separately as it's posted
    • Post replies to—Sets where replies to group messages are sent by default when replying by email.
      The option you select here automatically populates the To field when you reply to a message. You can manually change the recipients in the message itself.
  5. Click Save changes.

Set how members display their identity

Requires the Owner or Manager role.

You can allow members to post with a display name or require that each member be linked to their Google profile.

  1. Sign in to Google Groups.
  2. Click the name of a group.
  3. On the left, click Group settingsand thenMember privacy.
  4. Choose one of the required forms of identification.
  5. Click Save changes.

Set who can post, view conversations, and join the group

Requires the Owner or Manager role.

  1. Sign in to Google Groups.
  2. Click the name of a group.
  3. On the left, click Group settingsand thenPosting policies.
  4. Choose the permissions that you want for your group.
  5. Click Save changes.

Quick Reference Links:

Set who can view, post, & moderate

Set who can manage members and roles

Requires the Owner or Manager role.

  1. Sign in to Google Groups.
  2. Click the name of a group.
  3. On the left, click Group settingsand thenMember moderation.
  4. Choose the permissions that you want for your group.
  5. Click Save changes.

Change your own subscription settings

  1. Sign in to Google Groups.
  2. Click the name of a group.
  3. On the left, click My membership settings.
  4. For Subscription, choose an option:
    • Each email—Messages are sent individually as they’re posted to the group.
    • Digest—Up to 25 complete messages are combined into single emails and sent daily.
    • Abridged—Summaries of up to 150 messages are combined into single emails and sent daily.
    • No email—Messages from the group are not sent.

    To receive abridged summaries or digests of a group’s messages, you must turn on conversation history for the group.

  5. Click Save changes.

Quick Reference Links:

Other useful resources

Google Help: Create a group and choose group settings

Google Help: Manage your subscriptions and groups

Google Help: Fix common issues with group settings

We hope you have found this information helpful!

 

Please visit the Wesleyan ITS Knowledgebase  to locate additional self-help instruction.

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