Working with Virginia Tech Google Groups


Introduction

This article describes how to make, start, get, and manage a Virginia Tech (VT) Google Group.

Contents

Getting Started

As an Owner

As a Member / Subscriber

Instructions

Finding Help / Tutorial

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. Under your account picture or your email address, click the Settings button, which is represented by a gear.

    Click the Settings button, which is represented by a gear.

  3. In the drop-down list, select Help to be directed to the Google Groups support page.



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Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups (for Owners and Members)

To access the VT Google Groups that you are an owner or member of:

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, enter your VT Username and Passphrase into the login box at https://groups.google.com.
  2. Click the My groups button to access your groups.

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Receiving Bounce-Back Messages when Sending or Replying to a Google Group

Depending on permissions set by the owner, you may not have permissions to send to the group. Please check with the group owner(s) if you need to send to a group but get a bounce-back message.

For other bounce-back messages, the message may indicate the root of the error. Please review that for assistance in resolving the problem. If you feel you need to submit a 4Help ticket to help resolve the issue, attaching the message to the ticket is highly recommended.

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As an Owner

Creating a VT Google Group

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. To ensure that the group you want to create doesn't already exist, use the search box to search for the name of the group.

    Use the search box to search for the name of your group.

  3. If the group does not yet exist, click the Create group button.

    Click the CREATE GROUP button.

  4. Complete the required information (Group Name, Group Email, Group Description, Permissions, Add members). For more information on the type of information requested, see Google's Set who can view, post & moderate page.

  5. At the bottom of the Add members window, click the Create group button.

  6. If the group has been successfully created, click the Go to group button in the window that appears.

  7. It is highly recommended that you designate at least one other person as a co-owner of your group by following the instructions at Adding an Owner to Your VT Google Groups.
  8. Optionally, invite other people to join the group by following the instructions at Inviting or Adding Members or Managers.

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Manage Members

Enable Ability to Add non-VT People to a VT Google Group

By default, group owners can only add or invite members or subscribers with a @vt.edu email address. To be able to invite or add members with non-VT email addresses:

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions a Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left menu pane, click the Group settings link.

    Under the link to your group, click the Manage link.

  3. Under the General section, scroll until you see the Allow external members radio buttons. Select ON.

  4. Click the Save changes button.

  5. You may now invite or add non-VT members by following the instructions at Inviting or Adding Members or Subscribers.

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Inviting or Adding Members or Subscribers (for Owners)

Inviting a member will send them an invitation to join the group and they will have the option to accept or reject the request. Directly adding a member will automatically add the member without asking their permission. You can invite an unlimited amount of people at one time, but you can only add up to 10 members at one time.

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. If you will be inviting or adding members with a non-@vt.edu email address, first follow the instructions in this article under the section, "Enable Ability to Add non-VT People to a VT Google Group".
  3. In the left menu pane, click the Members link.

    Image of the Manage link

  4. Invite or add the members.
    • To invite members to your group:
      1. Under the search box, click Add members.
      2. In the Group members text box, type the email addresses of the person to invite.
        (To invite or add members without an @vt.edu email address, first follow the instructions at Changing Settings to Allow Adding or Inviting Non-VT Members.)

      3. Optionally, in the Write an invitation message text box, type a message to include with the invitation.
      4. At the bottom of the window, click the Send invites button.
      5. Use the same steps to add managers and owners, adding them to the appropriate text box.
    • To add members to your group:
      1. Enable the Directly add members option.

      2. In the Enter email addresses to add as members text box, type the email address of the person to add. To invite or add members without an @vt.edu email address, first follow the steps at Changing Settings to Allow Adding or Inviting Non-VT Members.
      3. In the Write a welcome message text box, type a welcome message.
      4. Under Email subscription options, select how much email you want the selected members to receive from the group.





      5. At the bottom of the window, click the Add members button.

        Under the search box, click the Add button.

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Adding an Owner to Your VT Google Group from an existing Member(for Owners)

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left menu column, click the Members link.

  3. To the right of each member that you want to be an owner, in the role column, select Owner.

  4. Once you choose the role, the setting will be changed.

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Finding or Viewing Members' Names

The ability of owners to view or see the real or full name of members or subscribers is not available in VT Google Groups. In other words, owners are only able to view the email address and any display name that the subscriber or member chose to use. Subscribers and members are not forced to enter any display name and may choose to not display any additional information other than their email address.

To view the email addresses and display name that members have chosen to show:

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left menu column, click the Members link.

  3. You will be brought to your list of members, their roles, when they joined, and other relevant information.

Google does not require members to enter their real name, meaning they can choose to display their real name or a moniker, and they can change what they use as their display name at any time.

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Removing or Banning Members in VT Google Groups (for Owners)

If you are the owner of a VT Google Group, you can remove members, ban members, or restrict members from posting while leaving them in the group. Removed members can re-join the group but banned members cannot.

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left pane, click the Members link.

  3. Hover over the names/emails corresponding to the member(s) whom you want to remove, ban, or restrict posting privileges to see a checkbox.

  4. Click on the checkbox beside the member(s).
  5. Choose the action.
    • To remove a member:
      1. At the top right, under your profile picture, click the Remove member button represented by a circle with a horizontal dash.

    • To ban a member:
      1. At the top right, under your profile picture, click the Ban member button represented by a circle with a diagonal dash.

  6. To restrict a member from posting:
    1. Locate the member(s) who's permissions you wish to restrict.
    2. On the farthest right column labeled Posting, select whether the user is "Not Allowed", "Allowed", or "Moderated".

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Change or Manage Settings or Administer Your VT Google Group

Allow Non-Members or Anyone to Post to a Google Group

VT Google Groups can be configured so that anyone, only subscribers, only certain editors, or only the administrator can send messages. To set basic permissions:

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left menu pane, click the Group settings link.

    Under the link to your group, click the Manage link.

  3. Scroll down until you find the Posting Policies section.
  4. Select the posting permission levels of who you want to be able to post to this group.
  5. Click the Save changes button.

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Renaming a VT Google Group

To rename or change the title or name of a VT Google Group:

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left menu pane, click the Group settings link.

  3. In the Group name text box, type the name of the group as you want it to appear.

  4. At the bottom of the window, click the Save changes button.

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Changing Spam Filtering Settings (for Owners)

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left pane, click the Group settings link.

  3. Click on Posting policies. Under this section, under Spam message handling, select the moderation level you need.

  4. At the bottom of the window, click the Save changes button.

     

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Deleting or Disabling a VT Google Group (for Owners)

Deleting a group will permanently remove it and prevent it from being found using the search box or the groups directory. Deleted groups cannot be restored.

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left pane, click the Group settings link.

  3. Scroll to the bottom of the page to the Delete group section, and click the Delete group button.

  4. In the Delete group confirmation box, click the OK button.

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Using a Subject Prefix in VT Google Groups (for Owners)

To add a subject prefix to all messages posted in your VT Google Group or edit an existing one:

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left pane, click the Group settings link.

  3. Scroll to the Email options section.
  4. In the Subject prefix text box, type the text that you want to appear in the subject line of all emails posted to the group.

  5. At the bottom of the page, click the Save change button.

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Advanced Features

Storing Files and Viewing File Archives

You can store files and pages on Google Shared Drive and Google Sites. You can share access to either of these with your group, and, if you want, assign different permission levels for each member of the group. For instructions on how to share files, see Google's Share files from Google Drive page.

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Restrict Access to Subscriber Information

Owners can limit access to information about the list subscribers to prevent address “harvesting”.

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left pane, click the Group settings link.

  3. Scroll down to the Member privacy section.
  4. In the Who can view Member Email Addresses option, select the group level of who you want to give viewing permission.

  5. At the bottom of the window, click the Save changes button.

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No Mail (Quiet Owner)

You can suspend, stop, or enable the email messages you receive from individual VT Google Groups at any time. To suspend email updates that you receive (or to act as a quiet owner):

  1. Log onto your VT Google Workspace for Education account by following the instructions at How to Access Your VT Gmail.
  2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click the Apps icon, which is represented by a grid of dots.

    Click the Apps icon.

  3. Click the Groups icon.

    Click the Groups icon.

  4. Click the My groups button.

  5. To the right of the name of the group, under the Subscription column, select the desired level. For more information on what each level means, go to the Manage your subscriptions & global settings Google support page.

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Moderated Lists

VT Google Groups can be moderated with a range of moderation settings. To turn on message moderation:

  1. To log on to and view your VT Google Groups, follow the instructions at Logging on to and Viewing your VT Google Groups.
  2. In the left pane, click the Group settings link.

  3. Scroll down to Posting policies.
  4. In the Message moderation drop down box, select the desired moderation setting.

  5. At the bottom of the page, click the Save changes button.

To assign moderation permissions:

  1. In the left pane, click the Group settings link.

  2. In the left pane, under Posting policies, adjust the settings to the desired levels.

  3. At the bottom of the window, click the Save changes button.



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Security Options

Google Groups provides multiple options for securing your groups with a range of security levels. For more information, see Google's Google Groups security page.

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Size Limits of Post

To learn more about the size limits of messages, go to this Google support page under the Limits section.

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Super Lists and Sub Lists

In VT Google Groups, you can subscribe one group to another group. For example, you could create a large group for an entire department, and then a smaller group for a concentration within the department, and subscribe the concentration group to the department group.

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As a Member / Subscriber

Subscribing to or Joining an Existing VT Google Group

To subscribe to, join, or request access to a VT Google Group, follow the instructions at Google's Find and join a group page.

When you apply for membership to a restricted or private group, the speed of the approval process depends on the owner of the VT Google Group. Contact the owner of the VT Google Group for information about the speed of their approval process.

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Changing Frequency of Emails from VT Google Groups (for Members)

  1. Log onto your VT Google Workspace for Education account by following the instructions at Accessing Virginia Tech's Gmail in a Browser.
  2. In the upper-right corner of the page, click the Apps icon, which is represented by a grid of dots.

    Click the Apps icon.

  3. Click the Groups icon.

    Click the Groups icon.

  4. Click the My groups button.

  5. To the right of the name of the group, under the Subscription column, select the desired level. (For more information on what each level means, go to the Manage your subscriptions & global settings Google support page).

     

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Unsubscribe from a VT Google Group

To stop receiving emails and completely remove yourself from a VT Google Group:

  1. Start composing a new email message from the email account that receives the emails from the Group. You must send the email from the account that is receiving the Group messages instead of a different account.
  2. In the To: field, type: ABC-g+unsubscribe@vt.edu (Replace ABC with the name of the VT Google Group).
  3. Verify that the subject and body of the message are empty.
  4. Send the email message.
  5. When you receive an email message with the subject line Unsubscribe request for ABC where ABC is the name of the VT Google Group, open that email message.
  6. Follow the instructions in the email to complete the process of unsubscribing.

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Contacting or Becoming an Owner of a VT Google Group

To request to be made an owner of an existing VT Google Group:

  1. Contact one of the current owners of the VT Google Group.
  2. Identify yourself, and ask that they make you an owner by following the instructions at Adding an Owner to Your VT Google Groups.

If you do not know who the owner of a VT Google Group is, send an email to: ABC-g+owner@vt.edu but replace ABC with the name of the group.

Any email sent to that email address will be received by all of the owners of that VT Google Group. The response time will vary depending on the schedule of the recipient(s), so please be patient.

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