Google Groups FAQ

Introduction

This document contains answers to frequently asked questions made in the official Google Groups Help Forum (which has been archive only since August 2010). It is not intended to replace the official Google Groups Help Center, tour and overview. Please read them if you haven't already done so. Update (June 2012): this FAQ contains answers mostly for the old Google Groups until it has been entirely replaced by the new Google Groups.Note: the November 8th, 2007 web version of this FAQ was used as a base on the official Google Groups Help Forum for the collaborative FAQ.

1. My Account and Settings

2. Discussions

3. Managing My Group

4. Pages, Files, and Other Stuff

1. My Account and Settings

Q: Do I need a Gmail address to be able to use Google Groups?

No, you don't need a Gmail address (which can also be considered as a Google account) to be able to use Google Groups. But if you want to create, moderate or manage a group, you need to create a Google account for your email address, see below.

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Q: Do I need a Google account to be able to use Google Groups?

Yes and no, depending on how much you will be using Google Groups. No, if you will not need to sign in to Google Groups for example to create your own groups and if you don't need to change your Google Groups settings (for example your name and email delivery settings). Yes, if you want to sign in to Google Groups to be able to discuss by also using the Google Groups web interface and if you want to create and manage your own groups and if you want to change your Google Groups settings. You can create a Google account associated with your email address here: https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount

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Q: How can I sign in to Google Groups?

1. Go to the Google Groups main page at http://groups.google.com/. To go to that web address with your web browser, write that address to the address bar of your web browser and press the Enter key (or equivalent key) on your keyboard. 2. If you have followed step 1 and you are now on the Google Groups main page and you see a "Sign out" link at the top of the page and you also see an email address on the same line and if that email address is not the email address you want to sign in to Google Groups, then you need to sign out from Google Groups. 3. If you have followed step 2 and you now see a page where your email address and password are asked, then you need to type your email address to the "Email" text field and your password to the "Password" text field and press the "Sign in" button. Instead of pressing the "Sign in" button, you may also press the Enter key (or equivalent key) on your keyboard. 4. You should now be signed in to Google Groups. If you are not signed in to Google Groups, see question "Why can't I sign in to Google Groups?" below for instructions.

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Q: Why can't I sign in to Google Groups?

When you sign in to Google Groups, use the email address you have used so far to sign in to Google Groups. Check the email address you are giving to Google Groups when you sign in. Check the password you are using. Use the Google Account password for signing in to Google Groups. If you have no Google account associated with your current email address, then you need to create one. If you have forgotten your Google account username and/or password, see the Google Accounts help pages for instructions: http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?answer=48598 If multiple people or multiple email addresses are used with the same computer to access Google Groups, the previous user or email address may still be signed in to Google Groups, so you need to sign out first. Many web services use cookies to know which user is signed in to that service. Sometimes cookies get corrupted, so try to delete your cookies for Google: http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=497&topic=8995 http://sites.google.com/site/tomihasa/google-general-faq#howtodeletecookies http://groups.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answer=32050 You also need to allow cookies for Google: http://sites.google.com/site/tomihasa/google-general-faq#howtoallowcookies http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?&answer=61416 If you have no Google account, but you have been invited to a group, you need to accept the invitation by clicking the appropriate link in the email message you have received. Then you need to create a Google account to be able to sign in to Google Groups. If you have no Google account, but you have been added to a group, then you need to create a Google account to be able to sign in to Google Groups.

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Q: How can I sign out from Google Groups?

When you are signed in to Google Groups, on almost any Google Groups page there should be a "Sign out" link at the top of the page. Click that link to sign out. Make sure you are signed out from Google Groups by looking at the top of the page. If you still see a "Sign out" link at the top of the page then you might have accidentally clicked a wrong link or maybe you had multiple web browser windows open in which case try to close all the web browser windows.

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Q: How can I see the Google Groups main page?

On almost any Google Groups page there should be a "My Groups" link at the top of the page. Click that link and you should be redirected to http://groups.google.com/. That page is also known as the "My Groups" page, because you can access it with the "My Groups" link (when signed in to Google Groups) and also because that page has the "My groups" heading.

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Q: How can I change my name?

To change your name in your email program/service, see the help pages and documentation for your email program/service. To change your Google account name, on almost any Google Groups page you should see a "My Account" link at the top of the page. Click it and then on the next page click the "Edit" link next to the "Personal information" heading. Link for the Google Account page: https://www.google.com/accounts/ManageAccount To change your Google Groups profile name, click the "Profile" link at the top of Google Groups main page. Then click the "edit" link next to the "My profile" heading. Link for the Google Groups profile page: http://groups.google.com/groups/profile?myprofile To change your name for a group you have subscribed to, click the "Edit my membership" link on the right hand side of the main page of that group. To change your name for all the groups you have subscribed to, go to the Google Groups main page and click the "Manage my memberships" link below the list of groups you own, manage or have subscribed to. Link for the "Manage my memberships" page: http://groups.google.com/groups/mysubs

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Q: How can I change my email delivery settings?

Sign in to Google Groups, go to the main page the group and click the "Edit my membership" link (for a Google Groups discussion group) or the "Edit my subscription" link (for a Usenet newsgroup) on the right hand side of the page, and select one of the email delivery options. You can also change all the delivery settings for all the groups you have joined: go to the main page of Google Groups and click the "Manage my memberships" link.

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Q: What kind of email delivery settings can I use?

With a Google discussion group you can decide to get all the messages sent to the group ("Email"), or no email at all ("No Email"), or one email message containing a summary of new messages to the group ("Abridged Email") or email messages each containing 25 new messages to the group ("Digest Email"). With a Usenet newsgroup you can't use the "Email" delivery setting.

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Q: How do I prevent from being invited or added to a group?

Sign in to Google Groups, go to the Google Groups main page and click the "Manage my memberships" link and select the "Do not allow group managers to invite me to their groups" and "Do not allow group managers to directly add me to their groups" options and push the "Save invitation preferences" button. You need to make those changes for all the email addresses you use with Google Groups.

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Q: How can I see and edit my profile?

On the Google Groups web interface click the "View profile" link next to your name on one of the messages you have posted. Or click the "Profile" link, which should be at the top of the page on almost any Google Groups page (when you are signed in). Link for the profile page: http://groups.google.com/groups/profile?myprofile If you also want to edit your profile, click the "edit" link next to the "My profile" heading on your profile page. You should see seven sections where you can change your information: "Name", "Location", "Title", "Industry", "Website or Blog", "Quote", and "About me". If you want to give for example more contact informations, such as your AIM, ICQ, Jabber, MSN, Skype, Yahoo!, and other instant messenger and chat names, you could list them on the "About me" section of your profile. Or you could tell about them on one of your web pages (if you have any) and then mention the URL (web address) of that web page on the "Website or Blog" section of your profile.

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Q: Why can't I see some group sections or some parts of pages?

1) If you can't see some of the group sections (discussions, pages, files) at all, have the owner (which may be you), click on the "Group settings" link on the right and then on "Access" to check to see if these sections have been hidden. 2) If you can see the sections of your group but they're cut off or falling off the page, then you may need to try the following settings that should help you see them more easily: Try changing the text size setting of your web browser. If you have Internet Explorer 7 or 8 select the "Text Size" option from the "View" menu. If you have Mozilla Firefox 3, select the "Zoom" option from the "View" menu and. If you have Google Chrome 8, select the wrench tool icon and look at the options next to the "Zoom" text. If you have Safari 5, select "Zoom In" or "Zoom Out" from the "View" menu (if you can't find the "View" menu, click the tool icon and select "Show Menu Bar"). Try maximizing your web browser window. If you are using the Windows operating system, left-click once the icon on the top left hand corner of the browser and select the "Maximize" option (if you don't see that option available, then your web browser window might already be maximized). Try increasing the screen resolution. If you are using the Windows operating system, from the Control Panel, double-click the "Display" icon, select the "Settings" tab, and adjust the screen resolution by dragging the controller under text "Screen resolution". (You can find the Control Panel by pressing the "Start" button and selecting "Settings". Or you can find the "Display" window by right-clicking the Windows Desktop and selecting "Properties" option from the pop-up menu that appears.) 3) If none of the above helps, then try another web browser (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, etc.) as Google Groups have been known having different layout problems with various web browsers.

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Q: How can I use a certain language setting with the Google Groups web interface?

To change the language settings for Google and your web browser, see this page: http://sites.google.com/site/tomihasa/google-general-faq#changelanguage If you are encountering problems with your group, check the language setting for your group from "Group settings", "Advanced", "Primary language". If changing the language settings for Google, your web browser and operating system doesn't help, then it's probably a bug in Google Groups, but you should be able to force Google Groups to use a certain language by defining the web interface language by adding ?hl=xx (where xx is the language code) to the current URL (web address) in the address bar of your web browser. For example, if you are on the below Google Groups page: http://groups.google.com/grphp? and you want to use the English language, try adding hl=en to the end of the URL (and press Enter or equivalent key): http://groups.google.com/grphp?hl=en See the below page for a list of some of the language codes you can use with Google: http://sites.google.com/site/tomihasa/google-language-codes

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2. Discussions

Q: How can I follow discussions?

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You can bookmark discussions by clicking the star on the discussion page below the topic of the discussion so that the star color changes to yellow. If you want to receive email notifications, on the discussion page, click the "Options" link at the top of the page and then the "Email updates to me" link. You can only get email notifications for Google Groups discussions group, not for Usenet newsgroups. To find the discussions you have bookmarked, go to the Google Groups main page and click the "Favorites" link at the top of the page. The maximum number of Google Groups bookmarks seems to be 200 (March 2007).

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Q: How can I find my messages?

You can go to your profile to see the discussions you have participated in with your current email address. You can search for previous messages posted by you by using the Google Groups search function: go to the Google Groups main page, type author:YOUR.EMAIL @ADDRESS.COM (remove the space before the @ character) and press the "Search Groups" button. Or use the Advanced Groups Search page and type your email address to the "Author" text field and press the "Advanced Search" button. You can also use Google Alerts to get alerts for messages that contain keywords you are interested in (for example your name or email address).

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Q: Why can't I receive messages?

If you have been invited to a group, you need verify you want to be a member of that group by clicking the appropriate link in the invitation email message that has been sent to you. Check your settings. If you already are a member of the group, check the email delivery settings for your email address for that group. Maybe you or a group manager has accidentally changed your email delivery settings, unsubscribed you or even banned you. Check the email address you are using. Maybe you have subscribed to the group using a different email address. If you are using Gmail, it can be a feature of Gmail: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?&answer=6588 http://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?&answer=66346 See the unofficial troubleshooting guide for more possible reasons and instructions: http://sites.google.com/site/tomihasa/google-groups-sending-messages

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Q: Why can't I send messages via email?

If the group is moderated, you need to wait until your message is accepted. If the group uses the "People have to be invited" or "People can request an invitation to join" setting, you need to be invited to that group and you need to accept the invitation. If the group is a Usenet newsgroup, your messages will not appear, because Google Groups doesn't support sending messages via email to Usenet newsgroups. Check your membership. You need to be a member of the group with your current email address (unless the group uses the "Anyone can post" setting on the "Access" tab of the group settings). Check the group settings. If you are the owner or manager of the group, go to the "Access" tab of your group settings. If the setting "Who can post messages?" is "Managers only" then only managers can post to that group. If you are using the setting "All messages are held for moderation" then all messages need to be approved first. Go to the "Email delivery" tab. If the setting "Replies are sent to the whole group" is not used, then your group might not show any messages. Check the settings of the members of the group. If you are the owner or manager of the group, click the "Management tasks" link and go to the "Manage members" tab. Look at the "Delivery" column. If the setting is "Bouncing" for someone, that person might be using a vacation setting or has deleted his email account or may have some other problems. If the setting is "Banned" for someone, that member may not post messages. Now look at the "Posting" column. If the setting is "Not allowed - override" maybe you or someone else has disallowed that member from sending messages to the group intentionally or accidentally. Check the moderation queue. Sometimes the automatic spam filtering system in Google Groups marks some messages as "Message may be spam" so if you are the owner or manager of the group, click the "Management tasks" link, go to the "Review pending messages" tab and see if your message is in the moderation queue. Check the email address of the group. You need to send your messages to the correct group address. Check the settings of your email program/service. If you are using a forwarding or a vacation setting with your email program/service, that can cause problems if you are sending automatic email messages to Google Groups, which could think you are on a vacation (or even a spammer). Check the settings of your security software (virus scanner, firewall, spyware remover, etc.) as it may be blocking your email traffic. Check the size of your messages. Make sure that the size of the email message including file attachments is no more than 2 MB, which seems to be the current size limit at the moment (year 2008). Check your location. If you are trying to send email from work or other organization, maybe there is a computer or company firewall or other settings that do not allow you to send email messages with every email service to every internet domain, in which case you may need to contact the system/network administrator of the company. If the problem is not with any of the above, then it might be a lagging problem and you may need to wait from a few minutes to a few hours (sometimes maybe even a few days) before your message appears and/or will be delivered. If your message doesn't appear in about a week, then it's probably a problem with Google Groups.

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Q: Why can't I reply to messages?

To reply with the Google Groups web interface, you need to be signed in to Google Groups. You can't reply in a group unless you are a member of the group (unmoderated Usenet newsgroups seem to be an exception). You can't reply to messages older than 60 days. Google Groups is not the only discussion service to use a time limit for replying to messages. The probable reason for a time limit is that the longer the discussion gets the more probably no-one has time or interest to read all the messages in the discussion and the longer the discussion gets, the more useless it gets. You can't reply to a discussion topic if the group owner or manager uses the "Close this topic" setting for that discussion topic. If you try to post a message and you see a server error or a message that for example says "An error was encountered while trying to post, please try again later." then you may need to post the same message again as the server may have been too busy or it no longer works correctly. To post the message again, you may need to copy the text in your message that didn't get posted, go to the discussions section of the group, go to the discussion topic and reply again. If you copied your text, you can paste it to your answer (to save time from typing the same text again). If you are using your email program/service to discuss with group members, your email service provider may have problems. Or maybe you have accidentally changed the settings of your email program. Also, incorrect settings in your security software (virus scanner, firewall, spyware remover, etc.) may prevent you from sending messages. If you are trying to send messages from a company, the computer's firewall or company firewall may also prevent you from accessing your email service provider or from sending some or all the messages to some or all the email addresses.

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Q: How can I delete a message?

You can remove a message from the Google Groups web interface by clicking the "More options" link next to the point of time of the message and then by clicking the "Remove" link. To remove a message you have posted yourself, you need to be signed in with the same email address you used to post the message. To remove messages other people have posted from a group you own or manage, you need to be signed in using the email address that is used as to own or manage the group. When you delete a message using the Google Groups web interface, the email version (that is sent to people who use the "Email" delivery setting for a group) of the message does not get removed. Also, keep in mind, that Usenet newsgroups are different than Google Groups discussion groups. When you post a message to a Usenet newsgroup and then in Google Groups you use the "Remove" link for that message, the message will only be removed from the Google Groups Usenet archive, not from the Usenet news servers or from other Usenet archival services or from web sites that copy messages from Usenet newsgroups to their own web pages.

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Q: How can I delete a discussion topic?

Google Groups has no bulk function to remove discussions with a single mouse click (March 2007). Instead, you need to remove every message in the discussion individually. To remove a message, see the question "How can I delete a message?".

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Q: How can I delete all the messages in my group?

Google Groups has no function to remove all the messages in a group with a single click (March 2007). Instead, you need to remove every message in the group individually. To remove a message, see the question "How can I delete a message?".

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Q: How can I delete an attached file in a message?

After the message has been posted to a discussion group, the attached file can not be removed from the message. But, of course, you can delete the whole message (see the three above questions for instructions).

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Q: How can I attach files to my messages?

You can not use file attachments with your messages by posting a message with the Google Groups web interface (March 2007), but you can use file attachments by using an email program/service that supports file attachments by sending the email message to the group email address (this does not work with Usenet newsgroups). The size limit for the message including file attachments seems to be 2 MB. You probably can not copy and paste files to your messages, instead you probably need to use the file attachment function of your email program/service. See the help pages and manuals for your email program/service on how to attach files. Keep in mind that Google Groups or your web browser can not show every file format in the world if you decide to click the link for the file in the Google Groups web interface to view it.

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Q: How can I create links in my messages?

Type, or copy and paste, the URL (web address) to your message and the Google Groups web interface will automatically make it a link.

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Q: How can I use a tree view to see a list of messages in a discussion?

Go to the discussion topic page you are interested in, at the top of the discussion page click the "Options" link and then the "View as tree" link.

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Q: How can I get more information about a message?

Click the "More options" link on a message. Then click the "Show original" link to see the headers of the message ("From:", "To:", "Subject:", "Message-ID:", etc.). From the headers you might find out for example the IP address, web browser's or email program's or Usenet newsreader's name and version, operating system's name and version, character set, content encoding, Usenet news server (for a Usenet newsgroup article), and of course the original format of the message contents. With official Google groups (excluding Google's Usenet newsgroups) there is no "Show original" link.

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Q: Why do I receive messages from a group when I shouldn't?

If you changed your delivery setting to "No Email" for a group, maybe the change wasn't a success, so check your email delivery settings for that group. It may take a few hours before the change will take effect. If you unsubscribed from a group and you still are receiving emails from that group, maybe your unsubscription wasn't a success, so check are you really unsubscribed from that group. It may take a few hours before the change will take effect. If you have subscribed to a group with another email address, you need to unsubscribe with that email address also. If you are using a forwarding or other redirecting or filtering setting with your current or other email address, fix the settings for that other email address or try to change the Google Groups email delivery settings for that other email address or even unsubscribe from the group with that other email address. Maybe the group owner has added your email address back, so unsubscribe from the group again. If a group owner or manager adds your address yet another time, contact the group owner or even the Google Groups team. Maybe it only looks like the messages have been sent from a Google Groups discussion group, but in fact it is a spammer that has forged the email address to look like the message has been sent from a Google Groups discussion group. Maybe it's a bug in Google Groups, in which case contact the Google Groups team.

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Q: Does Google Groups have a function to filter unwanted users?

No, Google Groups has no killfile or other setting to filter messages from users you don't want to see.

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Q: I don't want my messages archived. How can I get them removed automatically?

Google Groups has no setting for a group owner to get messages removed automatically after a certain time period (situation in March 2007). Because many Usenet users don't want their newsgroup postings archived by Usenet archival services (such as Google Groups), you can use the following line (in the body of your message, not in a file attachment) as the first line in your message not only in Usenet newsgroups but also in Google Groups discussion groups: X-No-Archive: Yes That message will be removed from the Google Groups archive in seven days. If you are using a Usenet newsreader with Usenet newsgroups, you can also use this header: X-No-Archive: yes (if your Usenet newsreader supports modifying headers). If you use the aforementioned text line or header, the Google Groups web interface will show this kind of text in red background for the message: "Note: The author of this message requested that it not be archived. This message will be removed from Groups in X days" (where X is the amount of days left). When you delete a message using the "X-No-Archive: Yes" text line or header, the email version (that is sent to people who use the "Email" delivery setting for a group) of the message does not get removed. Also, keep in mind, that Usenet newsgroups are different than Google Groups discussion groups. When you post a message to a Usenet newsgroup and at the same time you use the "X-No-Archive: Yes" text line or header in that message, the message will only be removed from Usenet newsgroup archival services (such as Google Groups) that obey the "X-No-Archive: Yes" text line or header, not from the Usenet news servers themselves or from web sites that copy messages from Usenet newsgroups to their own web pages.

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Q: Can I modify my messages?

Yes, with new Google Groups (GG4) you can. No, with old Google Groups (GG3) you can't.

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Q: Can I use discussion board tags and codes in my messages?

No, Google Groups web interface doesn't support discussion board tags such as [quote] [/quote] or <blockquote> </blockquote> used for example in BBCode, Ikonboard, phpBB, vBulletin, WWWBoard, and YaBB. Instead, discussion board codes are shown as they are without any special effects.

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Q: Can I use features such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript in my messages?

If you post your message using the Google Groups web interface you can not use for example HTML, CSS and JavaScript in your message so that they would work. Instead, they will be shown as text in your message. If you send your message via email, you can not use for example HTML, CSS and JavaScript in the message body. But if you send an HTML file as a file attachment, Google Groups web interface should support some of the HTML features, but it will remove for example <bgsound>, <embed>, <iframe>, <object>, and <script> tags, so you can't use for example JavaScript or embedded videos with your messages, but you should be able to use "inline style CSS" (CSS that is defined for example in a paragraph tag). In addition to attaching an HTML file to your email message, your email program/service might use HTML in the messages, but in that case you may need to look for a "Send as HTML" or "Rich Text Format" or a similar kind of setting. You may need to experiment with your settings a little. A possible reason why some tags in HTML are removed might be because of security issues, because for example <embed>, <iframe>, and <script> tags could be used to infect computers with viruses.

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Q: Why is the email address marked with dots?

Because spammers use automatic bots to collect email addresses from web pages, the Google Groups web interface munges (hides partly) email addresses mentioned in messages so that the three characters to left of the @ character in the email address are changed to a link with three dots (...). Click the link and answer the question on the next page (it is called a CAPTCHA page) to unlock the email addresses mentioned on the message. In official Google discussion groups email addresses mentioned in messages are totally hidden so that they have been replaced with this text: [email address]. In official Google discussion groups you can't unlock email addresses mentioned in messages. If you want to tell your email address in a message, you could try adding a space on left or right of the @ character or you could replace the @ character for example with (at), *, or some other way.

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3. Manage My Group

Q: What kind of groups can I create?

You can create for example a public group, private group, moderated group or an announcement only group. You can also change other aspects of your group like how it looks and what sections (discussions, pages, files) you can see.

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Q: What is a public group?

A public group can be accessed by anyone. You don't need to be a member of the group to see at least the discussions of the group. A public group uses for example the "Anybody can view group content" setting (see the "Access" tab from the group settings).

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Q: What is a private group?

A private group can be accessed only by the members of the group. A private group needs to have the "Only members can view group content" setting used with the "People have to be invited" or "People can request an invitation to join" setting (see the "Access" tab from the group settings).

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Q: What is a moderated group?

A moderated group means that messages must be approved by group owners or managers before they will appear on the discussions section of the group. With a moderated group you can use the "All messages are held for moderation" setting. Or you can also select the "No moderation - messages are delivered directly" setting and then the "Messages from new members are moderated" setting below it (see the "Access" tab from the group settings). You can also go to the "Manage members" page and change the moderation settings for the members individually.

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Q: What is an announcement only group?

The idea of an announcement only group is that only the group managers can post messages to the group and no-one else. To create an announcement only group, change the "Who can post messages?" setting to "Managers only" ("Access" tab in group settings) and the "Replies to messages" setting to "Replies are sent to the author of the message" or "Replies are sent to the owners of the group" ("Email delivery" tab in group settings).

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Q: What is an official Google help group?

An official Google help group means a group that is created and managed by a Google employee. Many Google services mention their own group in their help pages.

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Q: How can I find my groups?

Sign in to Google Groups with the email address you are using as the owner or manager of your group. Then go to the Google Groups main page to see the list of the group you own, manage or you have subscribed to. If you have joined many groups, it can be difficult to find your group, so try the search function of your web browser (try pressing Ctrl+f) and search for the name of your group. If you are using many email addresses to own and manage your groups, try signing in with all of your email addresses until you find the email address that is set as the owner or manager of the group.

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Q: Why can't I see my groups?

Sometimes when you sign in to Google Groups, and you go to the Google Groups main page, you may not see a list of any of the groups you own, manage or you have subscribed to with your current email address. Maybe the Google Groups servers were too busy, so try to reload the page: http://sites.google.com/site/tomihasa/google-general-faq#reloadwebpage

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Q: How can I change the settings of my group?

Sign in to Google Groups with the email address you are using as the owner or manager of your group. Go to the main page of your group and click the "Group settings" link on the right hand side of the page. You should now see seven tabs (links): "General", "Access", "Appearance", "Navigation", "Email delivery", "Categories", and "Advanced". Keep in mind that the owner of the group is able to do more with the settings (for example delete the group) than a manager.

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Q: How can I manage my group?

Sign in to Google Groups with the email address you are using as the owner or manager of your group. Go to the main page of your group and click the "Management tasks" link on the right hand side of the page. You should now see three tabs (links): "Review pending messages", "Review pending members", and "Manage members". Keep in mind that the owner of the group is able to manage the group more (for example remove an owner) than a manager.

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Q: How can I manage my group members?

Go to the main page of your group and click the "Management tasks" link on the right hand side of the page. Then click the "Manage members" link. From the "Manage members" page you can change the delivery type and group membership for the group members. If you click the "Edit" link for a member, you can also change the "Posting permission" for that member.

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Q: How can I change the names of my group members?

You can't change the names of your group members. But when you add or invite a group member, you can define the name and email address of the member like this: "first.last" <first.last @somewhere.com> (remove the space before the @ character). Also, the members themselves can change their name in their email program, Google Account page, Google Groups profile page, and on the "Edit my membership" page of a group they have joined.

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Q: How can I change the email delivery settings for my group members?

Go to the management tasks section of your group and then click the "Manage members" link. You can select the users you want to modify and then select the appropriate delivery type from the "Set delivery type" selection box. Remember to push the "OK" button next to the correct selection box. You can also click on the "Edit" link next to a member's name and then change their settings under "Subscription type" and click on the "Save Changes" button.

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Q: How can I change the pictures of my group members?

You can not change the pictures for your group members, but they can change their own profile picture from their profile page.

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Q: How can I change the ownership of my group?

Sign in as the owner of your group, go to the main page of your group, click the "Management tasks" link on the right hand side of the page, click the "Manage members" link, make another email address as the owner of the group (you may need to add that email address as a member of the group first) by clicking the "Edit" link next to the email address you want to make a group owner, change the membership type to "Owner" and press the "Save Changes" button. Now you can change the membership type for your current email address to "Regular member" if you don't want that email address to be the group owner anymore. Then, if needed, you can even unsubscribe from the group with your current email address.

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Q: Why doesn't everyone in my group receive messages via email?

If the member is non-verified, that member will not receive messages sent to the group. When you invite someone to your group, that person needs to verify he wants to be a member of your group by clicking the appropriate link in the invitation email message. If the email delivery setting for a group member is "No Email" that member will not receive messages sent to the group. You can change the email delivery settings for your group members, but a group member can change his email delivery back to the setting he likes (for example to "No Email"). See the unofficial troubleshooting guide for more reasons: http://sites.google.com/site/tomihasa/google-groups-sending-messages

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Q: How can I rename my group?

To change the name of your group, sign in as the owner of the group, go to the main page of your group, click the "Group settings" link on the right hand side of the page, and on the "General" tab press the "Edit" button. Now you can only the change the name of your group that appears on top of the group web pages, or you can also change the email address of your group. If you change the email address of your group, the URL (web address) of your group will change appropriately.

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Q: How can I delete my group?

Go to the group settings section of your group and click the "Advanced" link. Then push the "Delete Group" button. You need to be signed in as the owner of the group to be able to remove your group. Keep in mind, that if you delete a group, you will no longer be able to create it again so that the group would have the same email address and web address as before (March 2007).

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Q: How do I add members to my group?

Click the "Invite members" link on the right hand side of the main page of your group and click the "Add members directly" link. Write the email address to the text box. You may also add the name of the person (if you know it) inside quotation marks before the email address so that there is a space between the name and the address. You can add more than one member at a time so that each one is on its own line like this (email3 has no nickname defined in the example): "nick1" <email1> "nick2" <email2> email3 Then press the "Add members" button.

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Q: How do I invite members to my group?

Click the "Invite members" link on the right hand side of the main page of your group and you should see the "Invite members by email" page. Write the email address to the text box. You may also add the name of the person (if you know it) inside quotation marks before the email address so that there is a space between the name and the address. You can add more than one member at a time so that each one is on its own line like this (email3 has no nickname defined in the example): "nick1" <email1> "nick2" <email2> email3 Then press the "Invite members" button.

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Q: What is the difference between adding and inviting members?

When you add someone to your group that person starts receiving via email messages posted to the group (if he uses the "Email" delivery setting for the group). That person also receives an email message, which tells him that he has been added to your group. When you invite someone to your group that person needs to accept the invitation by clicking the appropriate link in the invitation message. That person will not receive via email messages posted to the group until he has accepted the invitation (and he uses the "Email" delivery setting for the group). Keep in mind that a person might possibly use the "Do not allow group managers to invite me to their groups" and/or "Do not allow group managers to directly add me to their groups" options in Google Groups, because not everyone wants to be added or invited to groups.

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Q: How can I re-invite members to my group?

First copy the email addresses of the invited people, then remove the open invitations from the "Open Invitations" section (see the next two questions on how to do that), and then re-invite the copied email addresses using Google Groups. Or instead of using Google Groups to re-invite people you could use your email program or service and send email to all the people you want to invite and in the email message mention the URL (web address) of the group so people can visit the group and subscribe to it if they are interested in it.

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Q: How can I copy the email addresses of the invited members so I can re-invite them?

Click the "Management tasks" link, click the "Manage members" link, click the "Open Invitations" link, copy the email addresses to a text file one by one. Or you could push the "Export member list" button to download the members list in a CSV file, open the CSV file with a spreadsheet program (e.g. with OpenOffice.org Calc or Microsoft Excel) and only copy the email addresses marked as "invited".

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Q: How can I remove the invited members so I can re-invite them?

Click the "Management tasks" link, click the "Manage members" link, click the "Open Invitations" link, and remove invited email addresses. Before removing the email addresses you probably want to copy them first to be able to re-invite them (see the above question on how to do that).

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Q: How do I export members list from my group?

Click the "Management tasks" link on the right hand side of the main page of your group, click the "Manage members" link, press the "Export member list" button and you should be able to save the members list as a CSV file, which you should be able to open with a spreadsheet program (for example OpenOffice.org Calc or Microsoft Excel). If you open the file and if your spreadsheet program asks the character set, it should be "Unicode" (or "UTF-8").

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Q: How do I import members to my group?

Google Groups supports adding members for example so that the nicknames are in quotation marks and separated with a space from the email addresses inside less than and greater than symbols like this: "name" <email> If your members list is in a spreadsheet file (for example .xls, .ods, or .csv) and if the file contains at least nicknames and email addresses, open the file with a spreadsheet program (for example OpenOffice.org Calc or Microsoft Excel). Save the file with a new name (so you won't accidentally save the changes to your current file). Move the nicknames column to the left side of the email addresses column (if it isn't there already). Add a new column to the left of the nicknames column and add quotation mark to every cell on that column to as many cells as there are nicknames on the nicknames column. Add a new column to the right of the nicknames column and add quotation mark followed by a space to every cell on that column. Add a new column to the left of the email address column and add less than symbol to every cell on that column to as many cells as there are email addresses on the email addresses column. Add a new column to the right of the email addresses column and add greater than symbol to every cell on that column. The contents of your columns should now look something like this: " nick1 " < email1 > " nick2 " < email2 > " nick3 " < email3 > Copy and paste only those six columns (without column headers) to a text editor (e.g. Notepad), use the "search and replace" function of your text editor to remove tabs from the list and the list should look like this: "nick1" <email1> "nick2" <email2> "nick3" <email3> Now you can copy and paste the list on the "Invite members" section of your group to the "Invite members by email" or "Add members directly" page.

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Q: Can I create sub groups for my group?

No, you can't create sub groups (also known as categories) for your group (March 2007).

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Q: How can I change the time zone of my group?

Google Groups has no function to change the time zone for a group (March 2007). But you could check the time settings of your computer, email service and Google account, which, of course, is not the same thing.

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Q: I created a new group. How can I start a discussion?

Go to the main page of your group, click the "Discussions" link on the right hand side of the page and you should end up to this kind of page: http://groups.google.com/group/NAME/topics (Replace NAME with the appropriate characters for your group.) You should see a link and a button to start a new discussion and when you click one of them you should end up to this kind of page: http://groups.google.com/group/NAME/post (Replace NAME with the appropriate characters for your group.) If you still can't see the discussions section for your group, make sure you have allowed the discussions section for your group on the "Navigation" tab of the group settings.

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Q: I was invited to Gmail. Where are all my groups?

When you are invited to Gmail (or Google Mail) and you accept the invitation, the group membership does not automatically transfer to the new Gmail account. You need to add your new Gmail address as a member to the groups you want.

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4. Pages, Files, and Other Stuff

Q: Why can't I use a certain feature on my page?

You can't use for example embedded videos or JavaScript on Google Groups pages, because Google Groups removes for example the following HTML tags (in HTML source): <bgsound>, <embed>, <form>, <iframe>, <object>, <script> (March 2007).

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Q: How can I delete a page?

To be able to delete a page from the Pages section of your group, you need to be signed in as the creator of the page or as the owner or manager of the group. Go to the Pages section of your group and select the page you want to delete. Click the "Edit" link, which is on the same line as the name of the page. Click the "Options" link, which is on the same line as the name of the page. Click the "Delete page" link and reply "OK" to the confirmation question.

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Q: Why can't I upload my files?

The size limit for a single uploaded file seems to be 10 MB in the uploaded files section of a group. You can not upload larger files than that. File system and encoding issues lower the actual size limit. The quota (total file usage for all the files in the uploaded files section of a group) is 100 MB (March 2007). You can not upload more than that. If the file you are trying to upload is substantially less than the size limit, then the problem might be with your connection to Google. Your internet connection speed might be good enough, but there can be problems in one of the cables or servers between your system and Google. If your group members need more quota for their files and photos, they could use for example Google Page Creator and Picasa Web Albums: http://pages.google.com/http://picasaweb.google.com/ Also, Google Groups doesn't allow you to upload potentially dangerous files, such as files with file extensions .bat, .com, .exe, .pif, or .scr. Instead, you probably get a message with this kind of text: "Unable to upload unsupported file type of file: [name].[extension]"

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Q: Can I use folders in the uploaded files section of my group?

No, you can not use folders in the uploaded files section of your group (March 2007). But you could upload packed files, such as ZIP files, which may contain files and directories inside them. If you want to access the files and directories inside a packed file, you need to download it to your computer and then open it.

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Q: How can I delete an uploaded file?

To be able to delete an uploaded file from the Files section of your group, you need to be signed in as the uploader of the file or as the owner or manager of the group. Go to the Files section of your group and select the "Rename & delete files" link above the list of file names. Click the "Delete" link on the same line where you see the name of the file you want to delete. You may select more than one file to be deleted. Go to the bottom of the current page and push the "Save changes" button. Reply "OK" to the confirmation question.

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Q: Why can't I see the main page and/or other parts of my group?

If you can't see your group's main page and/or sections of your group when you sign in to Google Groups as the owner of the group and if you have tried different web browsers (Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, etc.), then it's probably a bug Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/group/Is-Something-Broken/browse_thread/thread/d36ffd2de3b235df/a62f60b19d75b8e9#a62f60b19d75b8e9 In that case try to contact the Google Groups team and mention your group address, the group owner's email address and other suitable information: http://groups.google.com/support/bin/request.py

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Q: How do I subscribe to a group?

Sign in to Google Groups, go to the main page of the group, and click the "Join this group" link (public group) or the "Apply for group membership" link (private group) or the "Subscribe to this group" link (Usenet newsgroup). If it is a public Google Groups discussion group or a Usenet newsgroup, you should also be able to subscribe to the group by sending an email message to NAME+subscribe @googlegroups.com (replace NAME with the appropriate characters for the group and also remove the space before the @ character). You should receive a confirmation email message. Click the appropriate link in the confirmation message or reply to the message.

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Q: How do I unsubscribe from a group?

Sign in to Google Groups, go to the main page of the group, click the "Edit my membership" link (for a Google Groups discussion group) or the "Edit my subscription" link (for a Usenet newsgroup) on the right side of the page and then press the "Unsubscribe" button. You should also be able to unsubscribe from the group by sending an email message to NAME+unsubscribe @googlegroups.com (replace NAME with the appropriate characters for the group and also remove the space before the @ character). Click the appropriate link in the confirmation message or reply to the message.

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Q: How do I avoid spam?

When you use your email address on web sites, automatic bots may collect your email address from the web pages and start sending spam. Also, when you sign in to a web service or a discussion group, the owner or one of the employees of the service, or the owner or one of the members of the forum might be a spammer and collect email addresses. Some spammers sell databases of email addresses to other spammers. Also, some spammers use electronic dictionaries to generate email addresses and some of the email addresses might actually even exist. The Google Groups web interface does munge (hide partly) the email addresses, but you only need one spammer on a group to collect the email addresses of the users. So one way to avoid spam is to create a free email address for collecting spam messages. Another option is to use a spam filtering program (or setting, if your email service provider has that kind of setting).

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Q: What is a Usenet newsgroup?

A Usenet newsgroup is part of the Usenet news system. Usenet was created in 1979 (over 20 years before Google Groups was born). Usenet newsgroups were meant to be accessed with Usenet newsreader programs, but later there appeared also web-based Usenet newsreaders that allowed people to access newsgroups with web browsers. Many Usenet newsgroups are not moderated, which means many of them may be full of spam messages and off-topic discussions. On the other hand, they can be accessed with old computers and with slow internet connections (e.g. dial-up connections) using a simple Usenet newsreader application, such as slrn and tin.

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Q: Is the Usenet same as the Google Groups?

No. Google Groups started in 2001 as a Usenet newsgroup archive and a web-based Usenet newsreader (over 20 years after Usenet was created). In 2004 Google Groups added the ability to create your own Google Groups discussion groups. Usenet newsgroups are not owned by Google, they are propagated to different Usenet news servers, which are owned by different organizations. Google Groups archives text-only Usenet newsgroups (there are also binary Usenet newsgroups). With Google Groups discussion groups you can use for example the files, pages, members, and settings sections for a group, with Usenet newsgroups you can't.

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Q: Where can I ask about some other Google product?

With many Google services you should be able to find the appropriate discussion group by going to the main page of that Google service, clicking the link for the help pages and then the link for the help group. The below page lists links to many help pages for many Google services: http://www.google.com/support/ The following page includes some of the official and unofficial Google forums and newsgroups: http://sites.google.com/site/tomihasa/google-forums

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Q: What is the version history of Google Groups?

Google acquired DejaNews in February 2001, so the first version of Google Groups (Google Groups 1, GG1) used DejaNews technology. Google Groups 1 was a Usenet newsgroup archive service and a web-based Usenet newsreader. Google Groups 2 (GG2) was published as Beta in May 2004. With Google Groups 2 you were able to create your own Google Groups discussion groups. By the end of July 2005 all the Google Groups 1 sites were replaced by GG2 sites. Google Groups 3 (GG3) was introduced as Beta in October 2006. It replaced most of the GG2 sites in January 2007. With Google Groups 3 you can create editable pages, upload files and change the outlook of your group. Google Groups 4 (GG4) should replace Google Groups 3 in 2011 or some year after that: http://groups-announcements.blogspot.com/2010/09/notice-about-pages-and-files.html

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Q: Do Google Groups employees answer in the Google Groups group?

Not anymore since August 2010 when the official group was archived. A Google employee uses the name "Google Groups Guide" and messages posted by Google employees were marked with a blue and white "G" logo. Here is a post from the "Google Groups Guide": http://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!topic/groupsknownissues/BHx5OgDdJ1M

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Q: How can I contact the Google Groups team?

With many Google services the contact link has been hidden to the sub pages of the help pages. The link for the contact form is: http://groups.google.com/support/bin/request.py

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Copyright (C) 2007—2012: Tomi Häsä (tomi.hasa@gmail.com). Disclaimer: This article is provided as is without any express or implied warranties. While every effort has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this article, the contributor assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

Last modified: June 14th, 2012

Author: Tomi Häsä (tomi.hasa@gmail.com)

URL: http://sites.google.com/site/tomihasa/google-groups-faq

List of changes.

Google Groups FAQ

Google Groups FAQ

Introduction

Contents

1. My Account and Settings

2. Discussions

3. Managing My Group

4. Pages, Files, and Other Stuff

1. My Account and Settings

2. Discussions

3. Manage My Group

4. Pages, Files, and Other Stuff