Google Groups

Google Groups allow you to create and participate in email-based groups for community conversations. Google Groups are the official University email distribution (mailing list) service.

With Google Groups, when you send a message to the Group address, e.g., test-group@cua.edu, all email addresses that are members of that Group will receive a copy of the message in their mailbox. There is also an option to have a web forum that all members can access. Groups are useful to use when you need to publish an address, because the Group email address remains the same even as members come and go.

Requesting a Google Group

To request that a Google Group be created, please visit tickets.cua.edu with the following:

1. Proposed email address of the Group. Please refer to the naming requirements below.

2. Display name of the Group (normally the same as the group address, but with optional capitalizations).

3. Owner(s) of the Group, who can add and remove Group members. Please list the owners' Cardinal email addresses, not names. You must specify at least two Group owners and no more than four.

4. Settings you would like the Group to have - see "Group Settings" below. The owner has the option of changing these settings later.

5. Department head. This is the person with overall responsibility for this list, almost always the VP/Provost, Dean, Chair or AVP for your area. Please provide this person's Cardinal email address, not name.

Group Address Naming Requirements

Your suggested email address for a Google Group must adhere to these conventions.

• Between 3 and 20 characters, which must be a-z, 0-9 and one or more hyphens (dashes). Only lowercase letters are allowed.

• Directly relatable to the group / organization / topic for which it is being requested.

• Follows format org-description@cua.edu. E.g., cua-classes, ts-web, math-contest24. All Groups must follow this format. If the department already has Google Groups or Shared drives, that "org" prefix will be used. Academic departments normally use their course catalog abbreviation as the prefix.

Group Members

If you are an owner of a group, you can add or remove members. By default, you can add only members with Cardinal email addresses that end in @cua.edu or @law.edu.

You can  request that the Group be configured to allow you to add email addresses outside of the CUA domain. You will need to request this via email to techsupport@cua.edu. This email should come from the owner of the Group and include the full Google Group email address, along with justification for why outside email addresses need to be added to this Group. Technology Services will respond with an approved/denied message when we review the request; we may need to reach out to the department head for their approval as well.

At the time you request the Group, you optionally can provide the initial list of member email addresses you would like added. After that, owners usually maintain the list membership themselves.

Group Settings

You should specify settings for your new group. These are the four most useful sets of Group settings. Please select one set when requesting your new Group.

1. Mailing list, owners can post, not moderated
   Only owners (and managers) can post messages to the Group. Moderation is disabled because only owners can post.  This is suitable for announcement-only informational mailing lists and is the usual configuration.

2. Mailing list, owners can post, moderated
   Only owners (and managers) can post messages to the Group. A Group owner (or manager) needs to provide content moderation by approving the message before it is actually posted to the Group.  This is suitable for very large announcement-only mailing lists in which moderation provides a second safeguard against mistaken postings.

3. Mailing list, subscribers can post, moderated
   All subscribers can send messages to the Group address, but a Group owner (or manager) needs to provide content moderation by approving the message before it is actually posted to the Group. This is suitable for large discussion Groups where an inappropriate message sent by a subscriber might cause issues.

4. Mailing list, subscribers can post, not moderated
   All subscribers can send messages to the Group, and their message is posted to the Group immediately (without owner moderation). This is suitable for small or internal departmental discussion lists where subscribers all tend to know each other.

To each set, you might also want to select one of these settings instead, or in addition to, those above:

• Allow external members (allows subscribers that do not have CatholicU email addresses)

• Entire organization can post  (anyone with a Cardinal Mail account can post to the Group)

• Anyone on the web can post  (anyone can post to the Group)

• Do not include in global address list  (hide the Group in the Cardinal Mail Gmail contacts lookup; useful when the Group is for internal department use only)

• Do not include in Directory  (hide the Group in the list of Groups)

Managing a Google Group

After your Group has been created, owners can add and remove members, and edit Group settings.

Email Aliases

An email alias allows a person to send and receive email as another Cardinal address in the same mailbox. Aliases are created by Technology Services.

About Aliases

Aliases can be used if you legally change your name, or have an approved business use for an alias address. There is a one-to-one correspondence between an email alias and a user mailbox, unlike a Google Group that has a one-to-many correspondence. When the individual who has the alias leaves the University, the alias is deleted.

Requesting an Alias

To request that an alias be created for your Cardinal account, please send email to techsupport@cua.edu with the proposed alias address and the reason you need it.