Google Groups

Lehigh offers several ways to manage email lists, including listserv software, email nicknames, Course Site, and most recently, Google Groups. Google Groups are ideal for informal groups such as student clubs, department or team communications, or project communications. Some features of Google Groups include:

• Group managers have many options for setting up a group in terms of the group's privacy, moderation, signon and signoff, and group structure.

• Groups can be email-based, web-based (accessed and read via the web), or both.

• Groups can be largely self-managed -- individuals can sign in and sign off without involving the group manager.

• Groups via Google are easy to administer.

• Groups are integrated with google "sharing" and can be used both in calendar and drive as well as for traditional mailing activities.

If you are considering a group, contact the help desk (8-HELP) or your computing consultant to discuss your needs in more detail.

Introduction to Groups

Google Groups makes it easy for Lehigh students, faculty, and staff to communicate and collaborate over topics of common interest. Groups can be used as web forums, mailing lists, collaborative inboxes, and Q&A forums.

Each Lehigh Google Group receives a Lehigh Google Group email address (ending in “@lehigh.edu”). The Group’s email address can be used to send and receive email, share content, and send Google Calendar invites to Group members.

How to Access Lehigh Google Groups

1. Go to https://www.lehigh.edu/google

2. Click Groups

3. From your Google Groups Home screen, you can

   1. Click on My groups to go to a list of groups you belong to

   2. Click CREATE GROUP to create a group

   3. Click Browse all to browse and search for groups to join

Join and Post to a Group

You can join any group within the directory that’s open to new members. Some groups allow you to join directly while others may require you to send a request--once the request is approved by the group manager or owner, you’ll become a member of the group. Learn more about joining and posting to groups here:
https://support.google.com/groups/topic/2458614?hl=en&ref_topic=2458613

Adjust Your Membership Settings

After joining a group, you can use your group membership settings to customize your name and email address in a group, whether or not you show your photo and a link to your Google profile, and how often you receive email from the group. Learn more here:
https://support.google.com/groups/answer/1047839?hl=en

Unsubscribe from a Group

You can stop receiving emails from a group by either leaving the group, or changing your settings. Learn more about unsubscribing:
https://support.google.com/groups/answer/46608?hl=en&ref_topic=2459492

Create a Google Group

Learn how to create a Google group here:
https://support.google.com/groups/answer/2464926?hl=en
Configure your Google Group settings for increased security
https://gsuiteupdates.googleblog.com/2018/06/configure-your-google-group...

Adjust Your Group Settings

Learn more about customizing and changing groups settings here:
https://support.google.com/groups/topic/2459440?hl=en&ref_topic=2459491

Add Members to Your Group

Learn how to add members to your group:
https://support.google.com/groups/topic/2459490?hl=en&ref_topic=2459491

How to make a Google Group "announcement only"

An announcement only Google Group is used for one-way communication between the list owner/manager and list members. Only managers will be able to send to the list. If a list member tries to send to the list they will receive a bounce-back notification. You might select this method for sending communications to students or staff where communication is intended to be one-way only – sending out a newsletter or monthly announcements, for example.

First create a group, then look on the left side for Group Settings. The settings are divided into sections, starting with General.

General

1. Who can join group: Invited users only

2. Allow external members: OFF (limits members to @lehigh.edu account holders)

3. Who can view conversations: Group members

4. Who can post: Group managers

5. Who can view members: Group managers

Member privacy

1. Who can contact group owners: Group members

2. Who can view member email addresses: Group managers

Posting Policies

1. Allow Email Posting: UNCHECK

2. Allow Web Posting: UNCHECK

3. Conversation history: ON

4. Who can reply privately to authors: Group members

5. Who can attach files: Group managers

6. Who can moderate content: Group managers

7. Who can moderate metadata: Group managers

8. Who can post as group: Group managers

9. Default sender: Group address

10. Message moderation: Moderate all messages (all messages must be reviewed and approved)

Email options

1. Subject prefix: e.g. [$GroupName$ - Digest]

2. Email footer: Include the standard Groups footer

3. Post replies to: Group managers only (any replies to an announcement go to group managers only)

Member moderation

1. Who can manage members: Group managers

2. Who can modify custom roles: Group managers

View the entire list of settings as a single image.

Use Google Calendar with Google Groups

Learn how to share Google Calendars with Google Groups:
https://support.google.com/groups/answer/60652?hl=en

Adjust Group Permissions

Learn how to adjust group permissions:
https://support.google.com/groups/topic/2459439?hl=en&ref_topic=2459491

Group Administrative Tasks

Learn more about administrative functions you can do within your group:
https://support.google.com/groups/topic/2459441?hl=en&ref_topic=2459491

Google Groups Policies & Limits

Learn about group policies and limits here:
https://support.google.com/a/answer/6099642?hl=en