How to Manage a Google Groups Mailing List | University IT

Google Groups make it easy to manage lists of people to email. Managers of a group can easily update group memberships. Managers can also determine who can send to the group and allow others to co-manage the group membership. You can manage your Google Groups lists online by navigating to groups.google.com. 

Manage your groups

Access customizable settings, set permissions, and add/remove members.

1. Navigate to your groups at 

   groups.google.com

2. Click My Groups
3. Click the group you would like to manage 

View Membership

1. Navigate to your groups at 

   groups.google.com

2. Click 

   My Groups

3. Click the group for which you would like to view membership and do one of the following:

• To see a list of current members, on the left, click People and then Members.
• To see a list of all banned members, click People and then Banned.

• To see a list of all pending members, click People and then Pending.

• To search by role, whether members are banned, and other features, use the search bar on the “Group Members” page. You need the “View members permission” to search by role.

View and manage settings

From the left navigation, you can edit permissions for who may join or submit a request to join the group, edit posting policies, and adjust moderatation settings.

1. Navigate to your groups at 

   groups.google.com

2. Click 

   My Groups

3. Click the group you would like to manage and select Group settings.

Direct add members to a Google Group

This will automatically add members to the group. This option is recommended when membership in the Google Group is required. 

1. Navigate to your groups at 

   groups.google.com.

2. Click 

   My Groups.

3. ​

   Click the group you would like to manage.

4. On the left menu, click Members.
5. Click Add members at the top of the screen.
6. Under Group members, Group managers, or Group owners, enter the email addresses of the people you want to add in a comma-separated list.
   Note: If you choose, you can enter a welcome message in the Welcome message box. This step is optional. 
7. Under Subscription, use the drop-down menu to select how new members will receive messages: 
   • All email
   • Digest
   • Abridged
   • None

8. Click 

   Add members.

​​Invite people to join a Google Group

This will send an invitation to each potential member. Invitees will have to accept to join the group. This option is best used for groups where membership is optional.

1. Navigate to your groups at 

   groups.google.com.

2. Click 

   My Groups.

3. ​

   Click the group you would like to manage.

4. Click 

   Add members

    at the top of the screen.

5. Click the toggle at the bottom of the pop-up window to turn off Directly add members.

6. Under Group members, enter the email addresses of the people you want to add in a comma-separated list.

7. Click Send invites.

Remove 

members from a Google Group

If you are a manager of a group, you can easily remove or change group members.

1. Navigate to your groups at groups.google.com. 
2. Click 

   My groups.

3. Click the name of the group that you want to manage.
4. Click 

   Members

   .

5. Hover over the profile icon of the member you want to remove and check the box to the left of the name or check the top box to the left of Member to select all members. Be sure to un-select yourself or you may lose access to the group.
6.  Deselect the members you do not wish and then click in the select box to see the Actions button
7. From the Actions menu, click Remove member icon (minus sign in a circle) and then select 

   Remove from group

   .

8. If prompted to confirm, select Remove.

Change admin roles

 Navigate to your groups at groups.google.com. Click on the name of the group and follow these steps to change a member status to manager or co-owner.

1. To the right of the name of the person whose status you want to change, click the drop-down arrow next to the 

   Roles

   .

2.  Select 

   Manager 

   or 

   Owner.

You can also remove yourself as owner of a group, but you have to make someone else an owner before you can remove yourself as owner.

1. To the right of your name, 

   click 

   the drop-down arrow under the Role column header.

2. Select 

   Member.

​​​​Add or remove prefix from a Group

Google Groups by default do not contain a prefix such as [groupname] in the subject for messages sent to the group. This can be added by following the steps below.

1. Navigate to your groups at groups.google.com. 
2. Click My groups.
3. Click the name of the group that you want to manage.
4. Click Settings and scroll down to Email options.
5. Enter the prefix into the Subject prefix box and click Save.

​Add or remove a footer from a Group

1. Navigate to your groups at groups.google.com. 
2. Click 

   My groups

   .

3. Click the name of the group that you want to manage.
4. Click 

   Settings 

   and scroll down to Email options.

5. To add or remove a footer, check or uncheck the box that says Include the Standard Groups footer and click

    Save.

​Learn more by visiting Google Help Center