Monday, September 18, 2023

Add Google Groups to spaces in Google Chat

What’s changing

In continuing our efforts to improve spaces in Google Chat, we’re introducing the ability for space managers and users with the permission to manage members to add Google Groups to a space. With this update, the group members are automatically added to a space and any changes to the group's membership, such as adding and removing members, are also automatically reflected in the space. 
Add Google Groups to spaces in Google Chat

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why you’d use it 

This feature adds a Google Group to a space and continuously syncs membership from Groups to Chat, making membership management, especially adding or removing a large number of members, much easier. 

Additional details 

  • Memberships are updated from Groups to Chat, which means changes to the space membership will not be reflected in the group members list. 
  • Some groups and their members may not be visible to all members in the space as group member visibility in spaces will respect the group’s member visibility settings set in Google Groups. 
  • Group members can be promoted to space managers. Visit the Help Center to learn more about making someone a space manager. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: 
    • By default, any space manager or user with permission to manage members can add groups to space. 
    • To limit this feature so that only Google Group owners and managers can add groups to spaces, sign into the Admin console > go to Menu > Apps > Google Workspace > Google Chat > select “Groups in Chat” > Choose who can add groups to spaces > click Save. Visit the Help Center to learn more about restricting who can add Google Groups to spaces. 
  • End users: 
    • If you are a space manager or have permission to manage members, you can add the Google Group as a member by selecting the space > going to space settings > click Manage members > select the “+ Add” button > enter the name of the group you want to add > click Add. 
    • If you are unable to add a group to a space, it is likely that your admin has restricted the ability to add a group to the Group owners and managers. Reach out to the Google Group owners and managers to add the group. 
    • Google Groups can also be added when creating a new space. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating spaces. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding a group to a space, removing a group from a space, viewing groups in a space and more. 
  • Developers: For developers who are registered in the Workspace Developer Preview program, you will be able to modify your Chat App to also list Google Groups added to spaces using the Chat API. 

Rollout pace 

Admin controls: 
Add Groups to spaces: 

Availability 

Resources