Google Groups

Search for groups

Requires the Who can see group permission.

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. In the left panel, click My Groups, Recent groups, or All groups.

3. Choose a search option:

   • To find groups you own, groups inside or outside your organization, or groups you recently joined, click in the search field and select an option. (Not available for All groups.)

   • To search by some other criteria, in the search field, enter your search criteria press Return or Enter.

   • To see advanced search options, in the search field, click the Down arrow. Enter your search criteria click Search. (Not available for All groups.)

4. To quickly revise your search, click an option above the search results. (Not available for All groups.) For example:

   • Narrow the search by selecting the join time. 

   • Choose whether to view groups from within or outside your organization.

Join a new group

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click All groups and find the group that you want to join.

3. Click Join group.
   Note: If you don't see the "Ask to join group" option, you can email the group and ask to join it.

4. If you want to link or unlink your Google profile, choose an option:

   • If you don't want people to view your Google profile, uncheck the Link to my Google account profile box. You can also enter a different display name for people to see.

   • If you want people to view your Google profile, check the Link to my Google account profile box.

5. In the Subscription section, choose how often you want email updates from the group:

   • Every new message

   • Send daily summaries

   • Combined updates

   • Don't send email updates

6. Click Join group.

Join a Google group without a Gmail address

If you don't have a Google Account, you can:

• Read posts in public groups

• Search for posts in public groups

You need a Google Account to:

• Create and manage a group

• Join a group

• Post to a group

• Delete a post

• Read a restricted group's posts

To use these features with Google Groups, you can create a Google Account without changing your email address.

You can also link a non-Gmail email address to an existing Google Account. The linked email address can be made an owner or manager. Learn how to sign in to your Google Account with another email address.

Use a group as a Collaborative Inbox

Before you begin

A group owner or manager must first:

• Create a Collaborative Inbox group or enable Collaborative Inbox features for an existing group. For details, see Make a group a Collaborative Inbox.

• Set the correct permissions for users to take advantage of Collaborative Inbox features. For details, see Set permissions for managing a group.

Assign a conversation to yourself or others

Requires the Who can moderate metadata permission.

You can assign responsibility for a conversation to yourself or another group member. You can also search conversations based on their assignment status.

Take, assign, or unassign conversations

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click the name of a group.

3. Choose an option. To act on:

   • A single conversation—Click the conversation.

   • Multiple conversations—Point to each conversation, check the box next to the poster's name.

4. Choose an option:

   • Assign to:

     • • 1. Yourself—Click Take.

         2. A group member—Click Assign  and:

       • Enter the assignee's email address.

       • (Optional) Enter a note.

       • Click Done.

   • Unassign (and, optionally, reassign).

     • Click Drop.

     • (Optional) Assign a conversation to a group member, following the steps above.

View conversation assignments

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click the name of a group.

3. At the top, in the search bar, click the Down arrow .

4. Click Assigned to.

5. Choose an option:

   • Assigned to me

   • Assigned to anyone

   • Not assigned

6. Click Search.

Resolve a conversation

To resolve a conversation, you can mark it as complete, needing no further action, or a duplicate of another conversation. In the conversation list, a resolved conversation displays the appropriate status (complete, no action needed, or duplicate) to the right of the subject.

Marking a conversation as:

• Complete—Requires the Who can moderate metadata permission.

• Needing no further action or a duplicate—Requires the Who can moderate content permission.

Mark a conversation

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click the name of a group.

3. Choose an option. To resolve:

   • A single conversation—Click the conversation.

   • Multiple conversations—Point to each conversation check the box next to the poster's name.

4. At the top, choose an option. If you or someone on your team:

   • Finishes the action items related to a conversation, click Mark as complete.

   • Decides there’s nothing to do about issues raised in a conversation, click No action needed.
     Note: Conversations already assigned to someone remain assigned to them.

   • Starts a conversation without realizing that a similar one already exists:

     • Click Mark as duplicate.

     • (Optional) To see the duplicated conversation, click it at the top right, click View Conversation.

5. (Optional) To remove a resolved status, repeat the steps for marking a conversation, except click to unmark it, instead.

About duplicates

Marking a conversation as duplicate locks the conversation so that you can’t perform any actions on it. You can mark a conversation as a duplicate of another if:

• They’re in the same group.

• The one you want to mark:

  • It isn’t already a duplicate of a different conversation.

  • Doesn’t have a conversation marked as its duplicate.

Remove resolved conversations from the list

You can delete conversations you resolved. If you do, they disappear permanently and you can’t restore them. Instead of deleting them, you can filter the conversation list to show only conversations in an unresolved (active) state.

1. Sign in to Google Groups.

2. Click the name of a group.

3. At the top, in the search bar, click the Down arrow.

4. Click the Resolved status is unresolved.

5. Click Search.