Think of a Collaborative Inbox as a more robust version of a Google Mail shared mailbox, but without the calendar.

Features

• Assign or unassign a conversation
• Mark a conversation as completed
• Assign who can moderate metadata
• Mark a conversation as duplicate
• Mark a conversation as no action is needed
• Apply labels for organization
• Have up to 1,000 members.

Example Use Case

Could be used as a customer support mailbox or to distribute work across teams.

Use a Google Group as a distribution list, which works similarly to an Exchange Distribution List or Mailman, but with more options.

Features

• Email the group email address directly from any email client or from within the Google groups interface.
• Invite groups to Google Calendar events.

Example Use Case

Could be used to communicate with your entire department, inviting them to events or sharing important updates.

Features

• Post questions
• Reply to the group
• Threaded discussions
• Add a moderator to control forum posts

Example Use Case

Set your group up as a forum and allow individuals to post questions for your team to answer. Make the Google Group available to the campus community and use the group for Q & A.

Grant access to your group to everyone in the university and allow folks to join your group. Then send regular news updates to the members.

Features

• Email large groups all at once
• Invite large groups to events all at once

Example Use Case

Newsletter sign-ups for upcoming training sessions or professional updates.

You can also use a Google Group to set permissions to apps such as Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides.

Features

• Email large groups all at once
• Invite large groups to events all at once
• Grant access to Google Drive all at once
• Grant access to Google Drive apps (e.g., Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Drawings, Maps, Sites, Jamboard, etc.).

Example Use Case

Need to work with a cross-functional team? Create a Google Group and email, send invitations, share files, and more with a single click.

• Group name - this is the name that will display when you send mail from the group.
• Group description - use this field to add a description of the group, including its purpose and membership.
• Welcome message - include a welcome message that new members will receive when they are added to the group.
• Enable additional Google Groups features  - enable a Collaborative Inbox and manage group mail with others.
• Shared labels - enable this feature to use Google Mail labels within Google Groups.
• Allow external members - this defaults to off, but you can enable this feature if you work with those outside the university.
• Permissions - set permission levels for the following:
  • Who can view conversations
  • Who can post
  • Who can view members

Note: Select Group owners, Group managers, Group members, the Entire (CMU) organization, or Anyone on the web (Not Recommended). Select the lowest level that should be granted each permission.

• Identification required for new members - allows new members to select to display either the organization name or their name, just the organization name, or just their name.
• Who can contact group owners - identify the lowest permission level that can contact group owners. Select Group owners, Group managers, Group members, the Entire (CMU) organization, or Anyone on the web (Not Recommended).
• Who can view member email addresses - identify the lowest permission level that can contact group owners. Select Group owners, Group managers, Group members, or the Entire (CMU) organization. 

• Allow Email Posting - enable this if you would like members to be able to post to the group via email. 
• Allow web posting - enable this if you would like members to be able to post to the group via their browser
• Conversation history - enable this to save all messages sent to the group and keep them available in the group inbox.
• Permissions - 
  • Who can reply privately to authors
  • Who can attach files
  • Who can moderate content
  • Who can moderate metadata
  • Who can post as group 
  • Note: Select Group owners, Group managers, Group members, the Entire (CMU) organization, or Anyone on the web (Not Recommended). Choose the lowest level that should be granted each permission.
• Default sender - select the default sender of messages and choose either the author’s address or the group address.
• Message moderation - choose not to moderate messages, moderate messages from non-members, or moderate messages from all members to control content posting to the group.
• New member restrictions - choose to allow new member posting, moderate new member posting, or restrict new members from posting to the group.
• Spam message handling - choose to reject all spam messages, moderate and notify moderators, moderate without notifying moderators, or post suspicious messages to the group to manage spam messages.
• Rejected message notification - choose to notify senders when posts are rejected. Note: Helpful when testing posting permissions.
• Include default rejected message response - click this checkbox and enter a default reply that will be sent to posters when their message is rejected.

• Subject prefix - automatically add text before the subject, such as the group name.

• Email footer - include a standard Google Groups footer or enter your own custom footer.

• Group email language - select the preferred language for group email.

• Auto replies - set up auto-responses to posts from members inside the organization, non-members inside the organization, members outside the organization, and non-members outside the organization.
• Post replies to - send replies to group posts to group members, group managers, group owners, message author, a specific recipient, or a custom address.
• Conversation mode - choose to thread posts by subject.

• Permissions - 
  • Who can manage members
  • Who can modify custom roles
• Custom roles - create and edit your custom permissions.