DRAFT

Google groups is a very useful feature you can find in your Google Apps by clicking on the App launcher.

A Google group has three main purposes. You can use it as a distribution list to send an email to all members at once. You can use it as a shared inbox. And finally, you can use a group for giving permissions in Google Drive or the Shared drives.

The view My groups, shows you all the groups you belong to whereas All groups lists the many groups you can decide to join.

Depending on group settings you may not see a group listed. In this case you need a direct invitation to join.

To use it as a distribution list, you can simply copy the email address and paste it as your destination address. All members will receive your email. Notice that generally only the members of the group are allowed to use it for this purpose (although this can be changed in the settings). Groups can be used as well to invite the entire group to an event using Google Calendar.

If you click on a group in the list of groups you belong to, you switch to the shared inbox mode. This view looks like an online forum. In this view, you can see a list of all emails sent to this group as well as all discussions. It is a useful way to interact knowing others will see the discussion history. 

Finally, you can use it for giving permissions, whether in Drive or when you share a Google Calendar, or even when you want to invite all the group to a Google Meet.

By the way, notice that this is a smart way of giving permissions. Because when a user joins a group, they will automatically get permission to view all items that the group has access to. If they leave the group, those permissions will be revoked automatically. This can save you a lot of time.

Please note that neither in SIL nor in WGA can you create a group by yourself. Within SIL, you need to ask the Google admin to create one for you. This said, depending on your role in the group you can change all settings. These are the various roles

Members have basic permissions. They can view and post to conversations and view members. 

Managers can do everything that owners can do except, deleting the group, making another member. Owners have all permissions for a group, including the three listed above and exporting group messages using Google Takeout. Only group owners and managers can change a group’s settings.

Only if you are a Manager or a Member can see the gear and add members icons for the group, otherwise you can only leave the group or add it as a Favorite.

If you have at least a Manager role you can change a lot of settings including the welcome message, auto replies, who can see and join the group, who can view or manage members and post messages and many other settings. One of them allows you to enable Moderation mode to Choose whether someone should moderate messages before delivery.

If you are only a member, you can still change your subscription to the group by clicking My membership settings and deciding how to be notified of incoming posts.