About the Groups services and interfaces

This page is for administrators who manage groups for an organization. To manage groups for your own account, visit Google Groups help.


The Groups feature in Google Workspace consists of several components where you create and manage groups, enable features for users, and control policies for using groups. 

Here's an overview of each component that admins can use to manage groups for an organization. 

Manage individual groups

Admin console Groups list
Location: Admin console Homeand thenGroups 
Used by: Administrators

Description:

Create and manage groups in your organization

The Groups list in your Admin console is your main hub for managing groups in your organization. Go here to create a group, add members, and update many group options. Groups created here can be used for communication and collaboration (including email lists), and as configuration groups.

Details:

Google Groups app
Location: App launcher and thenGroups    (groups.google.com)
Used by: Administrators and users

Description:

Add features such as Collaborative Inboxes

If you turn on the Groups for Business service (below), you can use the Google Groups app to manage your organization's groups. You can perform many of the same tasks as in your Admin console, and also add additional features. And depending on settings you make for Groups for Business, you can give users permissions to create and manage groups.

Details: 

Target audience list
Location: Directory and thenTarget audiences
Used by: Administrators

Description:

Create recommended sharing groups for Drive and Docs editors

Target audiences are departments, teams, or other groups that you recommend for users to share their items with. You can add them to users' sharing settings in Google Drive and Docs editors. Using target audiences encourages users to share items with appropriate teams rather than your entire organization. You can't add non-Google accounts, including visitor accounts, to a target audience.

Details:

Set organization-wide policies

Groups for Business service
Location: Admin console Homeand thenAppsand thenGoogle Workspaceand thenGroups for business 
Used by: Administrators

Description:

Enable and manage Google Groups features for internal groups

The Groups for Business service is where you go to control whether users can access your organization's internal groups at their Google Groups app, at groups.google.com. You also set policies for who can create and manage groups, and participate in group discussions.

Details: What you get with Groups for Business

Google Groups additional service
Location: Admin console Homeand thenAppsand thenAdditional Google servicesand thenGoogle Groups 
Used by: Administrators

Description:

Allow or block access to external groups

The legacy Google Groups additional service in your Admin console controls whether users can access external groups at their Google Groups app. These include public groups, and groups outside your organization that users might subscribe to using their Google Workspace account.

Details: Allow or block access to external groups

Advanced options 

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