The new Groups release has a fresh look, including controls that match Gmail and other Google services.
New Groups
What you need to know about new Groups
New Groups includes most popular Groups features as well as:
- Improved navigation—Group settings are consolidated into one section for easy access.
- Streamlined group creation—A three-step wizard simplifies group creation.
- Powerful search options—New filtering and search options help you find content.
- Simplified My groups page—When you’re signed in to Google Groups (groups.google.com), you can find all your groups on the same page. If you're signed in to an account managed by your work or school, the groups and features available depend on the settings for your organization.
- Standardized messaging—Topics are now called conversations and match Gmail patterns.
- Enhanced member management—The updated Members page provides quick access to group member subscriptions and permissions.
The new Groups release offers many of the key features you use in Groups, including the following:
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Mobile readiness | The Groups UI refined for use on mobile devices. See Using new Groups on mobile. |
| Collaborative Inboxes |
Creating Collaborative Inboxes, using Collaborative Inbox features such as assigning topics, and changing a group’s type to Collaborative Inbox. Collaborative Inboxes you’ve created in classic Groups are accessible in new Groups. |
| Labels | Replacement for tags and categories. |
| Multiple domains: Group creation |
Creating groups in multiple domains. To use this feature, you must be signed in to a work or school account. The options you see might be different. To learn more, contact your administrator. |
| Favorite conversations | Viewing all of your favorite conversations (topics) on a single page. |
| Custom group roles | Creating and managing custom roles. |
| Welcome messages | Adding or changing the group welcome message that appears above group conversations. |
| Global settings | Viewing or changing preferences and settings that apply to all of your groups. |
| Signed-out users |
Allowing users who aren’t signed in to a Google Account to work in Groups. If a group is publicly visible, you can search for the group and view conversations without being signed in. However, you must sign in to perform any actions in the group. |
| Show original message source | Viewing the source code of a message, including its headers. |
You can use Groups on your mobile device to search for and view groups, conversations, and your membership settings.
To perform tasks such as creating a group or posting to a conversation, use the full desktop version of Groups. Many popular browsers let you view the desktop version of a site on a mobile device. For example, in Google Chrome, in the top right, click More select Desktop site.
Performing common tasks in new Groups
|
Location in new Groups: Left panel > People
|
| To view... | Do this: |
|---|---|
| Members whose messages are bouncing | On the left nav, click Members. A red triangle appears next to the Subscription column entry of members whose messages are bouncing. |
| Moderated messages | On the left nav, click Conversations > Pending. You can view the five most recent messages waiting for moderation. To see more messages, at the top right, click Next |
In new Groups, to view a group’s settings, click Group settings at the bottom of the left navigation panel.
To learn more about new Group settings, see View or edit group details.
General
|
Available settings:
Learn more about general settings. |
Member privacy
|
Available settings:
Learn more about member privacy settings. |
Posting policies
|
Available settings:
Learn more about posting policies. |
Email options
|
Available settings:
Learn more about email options. |
Member moderation
|
Available settings:
Learn more about member moderation settings. |
Deprecated features
To simplify Google Groups, the following features are no longer supported in new Groups.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Pinning topics | Making conversations appear at the top of the list. |
| Moving topics | Moving topics from one group to another. |
| Tags and categories | Using tags and categories to manage content. The functionality is replaced by labels. |
| Group types | Creating web and Q&A forums and using forum-related features such as marking the best answer in existing groups. |
| Topic types | Creating and managing topic types other than regular discussions. |
| Statistical info on the About Group page | Usage graphs and other statistical information about a group. |
| Embedding groups in web pages |
Using iFrames to embed groups in external web pages. Located in classic Groups under Manage group Instead, you can link to a group from an external web page and view the group in Groups. |
| Some advanced keyboard shortcuts | Some advanced keyboard shortcuts are no longer supported. See supported keyboard shortcuts at Use keyboard shortcuts in Google Groups. Accessibility shortcuts are still supported. |
| Editing own posts | Allowing users to make changes to their messages after posting them. |
| Themes and Configurable density display | Choosing a background theme for your Groups display and adjusting density views in your conversations. |
| Some Favorite groups features |
Viewing unread message counts for favorited groups or folders in the left navigation panel, dragging, dropping, and sorting groups into favorites folders, and a combined view of conversations for groups in a folder. You can create a filter for your group messages in Gmail and view unread message counts there. |
| User activity | Viewing activity for a user such as recent posts, total posts, posting trend per month, and group memberships. |
| My Discussions |
Viewing the My Discussions page from the left navigation panel. Instead, workspace users can search to view specific groups and messages. |
| Group Feeds | Subscribing to RSS/Atom feeds from Google Groups. |
| Search simplifications | Using Recent and saved searches, Saving a search, and some Advanced Topic & Message Search Filters. |
| Opt out from Groups |
Opting out of Google Groups. Instead, users can follow instructions in I'm in groups I didn't join to prevent themselves from being added or invited to groups in the future. |
| Print messages |
Printing messages from conversation options. Instead, you can print from your browser. |
| Language in Global Settings |
Setting a specific language in Groups. Instead, your global language settings can be configured in account settings. |
| Select image upload mechanisms | Adding inline images using image URLs or a Google image search in the conversation composition dialog. |