Tag Archives: Groups

Adding support for service accounts in Google Groups

What’s changing 

We’re adding full support for service accounts in Groups in beta. This builds on our recent announcements of a new Cloud Identity Groups API beta and the ability to use service accounts with Groups APIs without domain-wide delegation. With this launch, you can now: 
  • Add service accounts from primary and secondary domains without turning the “Allow external members in the group” setting on. 
  • See the service account member type on the Groups page and audit logs in the Admin console. 
  • Add, remove, and manage service account membership via the Admin console and Cloud Identity Groups API. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and developers 


Why it’s important 

Groups are a critical tool for customers to manage their G Suite deployment. Many customers use service accounts with Groups to automate user management, manage migrations, and integrate G Suite with other apps, tools, and services. 

Until now, it was difficult to use service accounts in groups due to limitations in the functionality. This launch fixes many challenges and makes it easier to use service accounts with groups while increasing security and transparency. 



Additional details 

The feature does not affect Admin SDK Group APIs. 



Getting started 



Rollout pace 

  • This feature is available now for all users. 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers 

Resources 

Use Collaborative Inboxes and labels in new Google Groups

What’s changing 

We're launching two features in new Google Groups:
  • Collaborative Inboxes, which can be used by teams to collaborate on messages received by a group, such as a customer support team managing support queries from customers. 
  • Shared labels, which can help organize group conversations and enable you to filter and search for messages. This replaces tags and categories in classic Groups. 

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

These features were available in classic Groups, but until now were not available in new Groups. We hope that adding them to the new experience will enable more users to use the new and improved interface in Groups. 


Additional details 


Collaborative Inboxes 
Using Groups as a Collaborative Inbox can be useful if you want to use a group as a mailing list for a team, where different team members can see, manage, and respond to messages sent to the group. For example, you could have a Collaborative Inbox for your support team, so the team could all see inquiries to your support email address. Once inquiries are received, team members can assign each other tasks, categorize topics with labels, and mark topics as resolved. Collaborative Inboxes in new Groups enables:
  • Advanced search, including for conversation status 
  • Filtering, including quick filters for conversation status or to help users find conversations assigned to themselves, others, or that are unassigned 

Existing collaborative inboxes will be accessible in the new Groups experience. New and existing groups can be changed to a Collaborative Inbox via Groups settings. 



Labels 
Labels is a replacement for tags and categories in classic Groups. Any tags currently used in classic Groups will be migrated to new Groups as labels, and the feature will be turned on automatically. Tags that are created under categories will also be migrated over if the Labels feature is enabled in new Groups. Note, categories will not be migrated.

When a message is posted to a group, group owners or managers can label conversations. Labels will appear in the left navigation panel of a group, and any users viewing the group can then search and filter conversations by those labels. This can make it easier to find messages, to see grouped related messages, or to manage workflows within Collaborative Inboxes. 



Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: These features will be OFF by default, but can be turned on for each group by group owners or managers. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Collaborative Inboxes and labels. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Use Collaborative Inboxes and labels in new Google Groups

What’s changing 

We're launching two features in new Google Groups:
  • Collaborative Inboxes, which can be used by teams to collaborate on messages received by a group, such as a customer support team managing support queries from customers. 
  • Shared labels, which can help organize group conversations and enable you to filter and search for messages. This replaces tags and categories in classic Groups. 

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

These features were available in classic Groups, but until now were not available in new Groups. We hope that adding them to the new experience will enable more users to use the new and improved interface in Groups. 


Additional details 


Collaborative Inboxes 
Using Groups as a Collaborative Inbox can be useful if you want to use a group as a mailing list for a team, where different team members can see, manage, and respond to messages sent to the group. For example, you could have a Collaborative Inbox for your support team, so the team could all see inquiries to your support email address. Once inquiries are received, team members can assign each other tasks, categorize topics with labels, and mark topics as resolved. Collaborative Inboxes in new Groups enables:
  • Advanced search, including for conversation status 
  • Filtering, including quick filters for conversation status or to help users find conversations assigned to themselves, others, or that are unassigned 

Existing collaborative inboxes will be accessible in the new Groups experience. New and existing groups can be changed to a Collaborative Inbox via Groups settings. 



Labels 
Labels is a replacement for tags and categories in classic Groups. Any tags currently used in classic Groups will be migrated to new Groups as labels, and the feature will be turned on automatically. Tags that are created under categories will also be migrated over if the Labels feature is enabled in new Groups. Note, categories will not be migrated.

When a message is posted to a group, group owners or managers can label conversations. Labels will appear in the left navigation panel of a group, and any users viewing the group can then search and filter conversations by those labels. This can make it easier to find messages, to see grouped related messages, or to manage workflows within Collaborative Inboxes. 



Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: These features will be OFF by default, but can be turned on for each group by group owners or managers. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Collaborative Inboxes and labels. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Manage groups programmatically with the Cloud Identity Groups API beta

What’s changing 

We’re launching a new Cloud Identity Groups API. This will enable you to create and manage Google Groups and their memberships for your domain via API. Previously, API support for group management was available only via the Admin SDK and therefore was accessible only to domain admins. With this launch, the APIs can be accessed by admins as well as non-admins. Once you create groups via the API, you can view and manage them through the Google Groups web UI (groups.google.com), through the Admin console, or via the API. 

Using the new API you can: 
  • Create and delete groups 
  • See and update group metadata 
  • Add members to and remove members from a group 
  • Modify member roles within a group 
See our developer documentation for more details on how to use the Cloud Identity Groups API. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins, developers, and end users 


Why you’d use it 

Groups are an important tool to manage communication, access, and security for organizations. Adding the ability to create and manage groups via an API can help make group management more scalable and efficient. 


Additional details 

Available to admins, developers, and end users 
Business teams can create and manage groups they own without being granted admin permissions, preventing them from managing additional, unnecessary groups and saving the admin team time. This allows teams to manage their work more efficiently without creating any security risks from assigning admin permissions when they are only needed for this specific task. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

  • This feature is available now for all users in beta. 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers 

Resources 

Improved mobile interface for new Groups

Quick launch summary 

Earlier this year, we made new Groups generally available. The new experience featured an updated interface that made it easier to use on desktop devices. Now we’re also improving how new Groups looks when accessing it on a mobile web browser. The modern and streamlined interface matches the look and feel of new Groups on desktop, and makes it easier to complete common tasks, including: 
  • Finding groups by browsing, searching, or going to favorite groups 
  • Managing your membership settings for a group 
  • Reading conversations within a group 
Note that not all group interactions are available on mobile. For example, you can’t post to a group or reply to a conversation on mobile. For full functionality, please use groups on a desktop device. 


Getting started 

Browse, sort, and search for groups on mobile 


Read conversations within a group on mobile 


Manage group membership and browser for groups in the main menu 


Rollout pace 

Availability

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Automatically see shared calendars associated with a Google Group when you join it

Quick launch summary

When a user joins a Google Group, they’ll now receive an email listing the shared calendars they can access as a result of their group membership—typically within an hour of joining. This will make it much easier for new team members and employees to discover relevant calendars and eliminate the need for existing group members to share those calendars manually.

Example of new shared calendar notification email


Users will also be able to add these shared calendars to their calendar list with just one click.

Note, if a group has more than 100 shared calendars, new members will not receive an email.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

End users: This email will be sent by default whenever you join a new Google Group that has associated shared calendars. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing your calendar.

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 20, 2020
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 3, 2020

Availability

  • Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

New Google Groups now generally available

What’s changing 

We’re making the new Google Groups generally available - featuring an updated interface and more streamlined controls that make it easier to create, manage, and use. The modern interface is similar to other G Suite apps, such as Gmail, and makes Groups more efficient for new and existing users. It was previously available in beta.

We’ll introduce new Groups according to this timeline:

  • May 26, 2020: Setting to turn new Groups on or off will begin to appear in the Admin console. This setting will be on by default. If turned off, users will not be able to access the new interface. If left on, users will be migrated to the new interface on the dates below. 
  • June 9, 2020: Users in Rapid Release domains will start seeing new Groups, unless their admin has turned it off. Individual users will have the option to revert to classic Groups. 
  • June 23, 2020: Users in Scheduled Release domains will start seeing new Groups, unless their admin has turned it off. Individual users will have the option to revert to classic Groups. 

See more details on these stages and changes below.

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it 

New Groups has a more efficient, streamlined UI, which makes it easier for users to create and manage groups. It includes the most used features from the classic interface, along with:

  • Read group conversations and write messages 
  • Consolidated settings for improved navigation 
  • Quick, simplified group creation 
  • New filtering and search options to help you find content quickly 
  • Improved group member management and more 

Use our Help Center to learn more about the improvements in new Groups.

Additional details 

Features not available in the new Groups UI 
Most commonly used features are available in new Groups, and the new interface will improve the experience of using Groups for most users. However, not all features from classic Groups are currently available, including collaborative inboxes, tags, and categories. Use the Help Center to see which features aren’t available in the new interface. We’re working to add many of these features to new Groups, but organizations and users that rely on these features should continue to use classic Groups for the moment.

We’ll announce when features are added to new Groups on the G Suite Updates blog.

The new Admin console setting to turn new Groups on or off

If you leave new Groups turned ON in the Admin console 

Starting on June 9, we’ll begin redirecting users in Rapid Release domains to the new interface when they visit groups.google.com. On June 23, users in Scheduled release domains will begin seeing the new experience.

Individual users will have the option to revert to the classic UI by going to Settings > Return to classic Google Groups. If they opt-out, they will see the classic interface when they visit Groups next. Users can switch between classic and new Groups as many times as they like.

If you turn new Groups OFF in the Admin console 

If you turn new Groups OFF in the Admin console, your users will not be able to access the new UI and will see the classic interface whenever they go to Google Groups. Note that users who have new Groups turned off by their admin will also not be able to access any new Groups URL, even if they’re sent a direct link by another user that is using the new interface.

If your organization participated in the beta 

Organizations participating in the alpha or beta will start to see the setting to turn new Groups on or off in the Admin console starting on May 26. If an alpha or beta Admin uses the Admin console setting to turn off new Groups, that will take effect within 24 hours. All users currently using new Groups through the beta would be reverted back to classic Groups.

End users at organizations that are part of the alpha or beta program and who are currently using the new interface will continue to see the new user interface throughout, unless their admin turns off new Groups at a domain level.

End users at organizations that are part of the alpha or beta program who have previously reverted to classic Groups will continue to see the old interface, and will have the option to use new Groups if they want.

Getting started 


  • Admins: The new interface will be ON by default and can be disabled at the domain level by going to Admin Console > Apps > G Suite > Groups for Business > New groups. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing new Google Groups for your organization. 
  • End users: The new interface will be ON by default and can be disabled or enabled by the user on each browser. 

Rollout pace 

Admin console setting 


End user rollout: 


Availability 


  • Available to all G Suite customers. 

Resources 


Experience the new Google Groups, launching in beta

What’s changing 

Later this year, we’ll replace the current Google Groups interface with a new experience. Starting today, you can sign up to try the new experience in beta, giving your organization early access to the new UI and a head start on the migration from classic Groups. Use this form to apply for the beta. 

Before applying, please carefully consider the “Additional details” below. Some features that currently exist in Groups will not be available in the beta. If your organization uses those features often, you may want to wait to try new Groups.

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it 

The new Groups experience features a modern, fresh look and controls that are streamlined, intuitive, and consistent with other G Suite tools like Gmail. Participation in the beta will allow you to check out the new interface as soon as possible, provide feedback to Google, and prepare your users for future migration.

It’s important to note that we’re continuing to improve on the new Groups experience and some features that currently exist in classic Groups will not be available in the beta. 

Specifically, users in the new Groups beta won’t have access to the following features:
  • Collaborative inboxes
  • Tags and categories
  • Mobile browser experience for new Groups
  • Welcome messages above group conversations
  • Accessing moderated messages
For the complete list of features that will not be available in beta, see our Help Center.


Users will still be able to access features not available in beta features at any time by reverting back to classic Groups. To do so, you can click on the gear at the top right of the page and select “Visit classic Google Groups.” When opted into beta, users can switch between the beta version of Groups and Classic Groups as often as needed. If you feel this will be confusing or disruptive, however, you may not want to apply for the beta.


Reverting back to Classic groups from the New Groups beta

Reverting back to the New Groups beta from Classic Groups

Visit our Help Center for more information on the features available in the new Groups beta.

Additional details

We’ll roll out the new Groups experience in three stages:

  • Beta with the option to revert: If you apply for and are accepted into the beta, your users will be automatically transitioned to the new Groups experience with the option to revert back to the classic Groups UI at any time.
  • General availability (GA) with option to revert: Following the beta, we’ll introduce the new Groups experience to all G Suite customers. We’ll announce the specific date for this GA phase on the G Suite Updates blog at least two weeks in advance, and admins will have the option to control user access to the UI in the Admin console at that time. If an admin doesn’t take action, their users will see the new Groups experience when they visit groups.google.com. Users will have the option to revert back to classic Groups at any time.
  • Mandatory transition to new Groups: Later this year, all users will be migrated to new Groups, and they’ll no longer have the option to revert to classic Groups. Admins will not be able to prevent users from accessing the new Groups UI. We’ll announce the specific date for this transition on the G Suite Updates blog at least one month in advance.

Getting started

Admins:  
  • Complete this form to apply for the beta. You must be a super admin to qualify.
  • If you’re accepted into the beta, you’ll receive an email shortly before your domain is whitelisted. Once your domain is whitelisted, all users in your domain and subdomains will be migrated to the new Groups experience, but they’ll have the option to revert back to classic at any time. Once accepted into the beta, you can use this email template to communicate these changes to your users. 
  • Please note that it may take several weeks for your domain to be whitelisted into the beta.
End users:  
  • If your organization is accepted into the beta, you’ll automatically be transitioned to the new UI. You can revert back to classic Groups at any time.

Availability

  • Available to all G Suite customers

Resources


Consolidated Google Groups audit logs now available in G Suite and GCP

What’s changing 

Consolidated Google Groups audit logs are now available in the G Suite AdminSDK Reports API and GCP Cloud Audit Logs. Specifically you’ll notice:

  • Changes in the G Suite AdminSDK Reports API: We’re introducing a new consolidated log named groups_enterprise, which includes changes to groups and group memberships across all products and APIs. These were previously split across the groups and admin audit logs. 
  • Changes in GCP Cloud Audit Logging: We’re adding Google Groups information to Cloud Audit Logs (CAL) in Stackdriver. See our Cloud Blog post for more details on how this could help GCP customers. Note that this will not change visibility of these logs in the G Suite Admin console - it just adds them to Cloud Audit Logs (CAL) in Stackdriver as well. 


Who’s impacted 

G Suite and GCP Admins only

Why you’d use it 

These changes will help improve the security and usability of Groups as an IAM tool by streamlining administration, transparency, and access monitoring.

How to get started 


  • Admins: 
    • Changes in the G Suite AdminSDK Reports API: Get started with the AdminSDK Reports API. 
    • Changes in GCP Cloud Audit Logging: This is an opt-in feature that can be enabled at G Suite Admin console > Company profile > Legal & Compliance > Sharing options. 
  • End users: No action needed. 


Additional details 

Changes in the G Suite AdminSDK Reports API 
Changes to groups have historically been logged in either the groups or admin audit logs. Changes made in the Google Groups product are logged in the groups log while changes made through admin tools like the Admin console, AdminSDK, and GCDS are logged in the admin log. As part of our efforts to streamline administration and increase transparency, we’re introducing a new consolidated log named groups_enterprise, which includes changes to groups and group memberships across all products and APIs. This new log is now available through the AdminSDK Reports API and will be available in the Admin console in the future.

Changes in GCP Cloud Audit Logging 
Google Groups are the recommended way to grant access to GCP resources when using IAM policies. GCP customers have told us that having group audit logs available in Google Cloud Audit Logs would help streamline security and access monitoring. With that in mind, we’re adding Google Groups information to Cloud Audit Logs (CAL) in Stackdriver. See our Cloud Blog post for more details on how this can help GCP customers.

Helpful links 

Cloud Blog: Integrated Google Groups Audit Transparency from G Suite to GCP Cloud Audit Logs 
Get started with the G Suite AdminSDK Reports API 

Availability 

Rollout details 


G Suite editions 
  • Google Groups are available to all G Suite editions. 

On/off by default? 
  • G Suite AdminSDK Reporting API for consolidate group events will be ON by default. 
  • GCP Cloud Audit Logging for groups will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain level.


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An updated plan & resources for upcoming changes to Groups settings

What’s changing 

Based on your feedback following our previous announcement, Changes to Google Groups settings starting May 6, 2019, we’re making the following changes:


  • Additional improvements to the Groups Settings API to help you plan for and manage the changes (see more details below). 
  • “Post as the group” will remain a separate setting - it will not be merged as we previously stated. 
  • “New member posts are moderated” will remain an option for moderation - it will not be deprecated as we previously stated. 
  • “Take topics” will be merged into the content metadata settings. 


To help you plan for these changes, we’re also sharing a Google Sheet which can help identify what the new settings will be for a group. In addition, we’re changing the rollout schedule so the new settings will start to take effect in Scheduled Release domains on June 3, four weeks after Rapid Release domains.

Use our Help Center to see details of these changes and see how you can prepare for the update.

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it 

We hope these resources will help you better understand and prepare for the changes to Groups settings.

How to get started 




Additional details 

Groups API improvements 
On March 25th, 2019, we’ll be updating the Groups Settings API. These updates align the API with the product changes we’re making (outlined in our previous announcement and this post) and mean it’s easier to use the API to prepare. API updates include:


  • All settings that are to-be merged will be exposed via the API. This means you can audit your current groups via API, and make changes to ensure new settings are inferred as you want them to be. 
  • New merged settings will be exposed via the API. This means you can query the new merged settings and ensure they are going to be inferred as expected. Note that It will be read-only (i.e. inferred value) until launch, at which point it will also support write. 
  • New bit for custom roles exposed. If you use custom roles, API queries may return incorrect values. The new bit will highlight if a group uses custom roles for one of the merged settings and so will help you identify groups that require manual review. 
  • New bit for collaborative inbox exposed. We will expose a new bit that represents whether collaborative inbox will be enabled for a group. If you expect your group to have collaborative inbox functionality (e.g. topic assignment), ensure that this bit is true. You may do this by enabling any of the collaborative inbox features. Note that it will be read-only (i.e. inferred value) until launch, at which point it will also support write. 
  • New bit for who can discover group exposed. We will expose a new bit that represents who the group will be visible to. This setting will replace show in group directory. Note that it will be read-only (i.e. inferred value) until launch, at which point it will also support write. 


See our Cloud blog post for more details on these API changes and how to use them.

“Post as the group” will not be merged into the content moderator setting 
Previously we stated that this setting would be merged. However, you told us that it was valuable and we should keep it separate, so we’re updating the plans and will not merge it.

“New member posts are moderated” will continue to be supported. 
The “New member posts are moderated” setting, exposed in the API as MODERATE_NEW_MEMBERS, will continue to be supported as a value for moderation.

“Take topics” will be merged with content metadata 
We previously suggested that “Take topics” would remain a standalone setting. However, this will now be merged as part of the content metadata settings.

New worksheet to help visualize changes
We’ve created this Google Sheet which will show you what the new settings will be for any group if you input the current settings. This can help you check the settings will be inferred as you want them.

Helpful links 




Availability 

Rollout details 


G Suite editions 
Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default? 
This feature will be ON by default.
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