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Google Groups Help Centre

Google Groups is a service that allows you to create and participate in online forums and email-based groups at TMU. It offers various features to help classmates or departments communicate and collaborate.

  • Send an email to everyone in the group with one address.
  • Invite a group to an event. 
  • Share documents with a group.

  Learn how to use Google Groups with Google Groups Guide

Popular Questions

To request a new Google Groups list please use the online form. Faculty and staff can fill the Mailing List (Google Group) Request Form available at my.torontomu.ca:

  1. Select Courses and Organizations, in the Self Service box. 
  2. Select the Request and Manage Group - Google Groups, RUAD (Active Directory) option. 
  3. Select Request a Group

Once you have completed the form, you must request that your Chair, Dean, Director or Manager send authorization for the list creation to help@torontomu.ca. Once we receive your form request and authorization from the head of your department we will create your new Groups list.

  1. Open your Google Calendar. 
  2. Go to Settings > Settings for my calendars and click the calendar you want to share.
  3. Click Share this calendar.
  4. Under Share with specific people click Add people + and enter the email address of the group with which you want to share the calendar into the person field.
  5. In the Permissions drop-down list, select the level of access you want to give the group.
  6. Click Send.


Notes:

  • Each member of the group receives a sharing invitation email message. A member must click the "add this calendar" link in the invitation to view your calendar. Because this link works only for members of the group, you can safely post it on web pages or send it in other email messages.
  • If your group contains members who don't use Google Calendar, you can share an file version of your calendar with them: Go back to Settings > Settings for my calendars and click the calendar you are sharing. On the Integrate Calendar tab, under Secret Address in ical.format, copy the URL that appears and send it in a message to your group. Note: Anyone that gets access to this URL will have access to the Calendar
  • New members to a Google Group will get a welcome email that lists all the calendars that the Group has access to.
  1. Create a new document in Google Drive, or open an existing document (Learn more at our Google Drive FAQs).
  2. In the document, click Share.
  3. In the Add people and Groups field, enter your group's address.
  4. Select the level of access you want to provide the group: Editor, Commentor or Viewer.
  5. Click Send.

Note: If you add new members to the group at a later date, they'll be able to access the document only via the document's URL. To make the document appear in the Shared with me section of a new member's Google Drive, you must re-share the document with the group or share the document with the new member individually.

  1. When group membership is hidden:
    • In this case, when adding the group to the invite, it will NOT expand to all the individual names and just display the name of the group. You will receive an error message stating that you cannot see members of the group: Group members are hidden.

  2. When group membership is visible:
    • When adding the group to the invite, it will expand to all the individual names.
    • You will receive RSVPs and the event will automatically be added to the recipients' calendars (indicating that they have not yet responded to the RSVP).
  • The event’s guest list WILL keep up with changes to the group’s members: the event will appear for new members of the group and will be removed from the calendar of people that leave the group (unless they are invited directly or as a member of a different group).
  • Group changes are only updated for future events (events that haven’t happened yet), including future instances of recurring events.
  • If you click the Expand group link, the group expands into a list of guests who can be individually removed. However, group membership information is lost, and the event will no longer keep up with subsequent changes.

Here are the differences.

Personal Contact Groups/Labels

  • Only group owner can use
  • Created through Google Contacts
  • Managed through Contacts
  • Can share docs and sites with group, share calendars and invite personal to events. However if you change contacts in the group/label, those changes will not apply to existing events, shares
  • Recipients see email in inbox only

Google Groups Email List

  • Group managers, members, and/or TMU community can use the list (or you can limit that so only members or some members can email that group)
  • Has to be requested (cannot create yourself)
  • Managed through Google Groups
  • Can share with a Group through Google Drive, Google Sites, Calendar, and add to events AND if you change group membership by adding or removing members, those changes do apply to existing events, and shares
    (for example, if you remove people from the group, they will no longer have access to shared Drive content or be included in events shared/invited through the Google Group)
  • Recipients can see emails both in their inbox and on the web through the online Google Groups forum