About group roles

You can assign one of the following roles to each user you add to a group: owner, manager, or member. A user's role, along with the settings for the group, determines what that user can do with the group.

Note: As a Google Apps administrator, you automatically have all the same privileges as owners do for all groups in your domain, including groups that users create.

Group owner

A group owner can:

  • Send messages to the group
  • Add or remove group members
  • Change member roles -- for example, from member to owner
  • Change any of the group's settings
  • Delete the group

If Google Groups for Business is enabled, users are automatically the owners of groups they create. However, users can edit their groups to remove their ownership.

If Google Groups for Business is disabled, users who are group owners can only send messages to their groups and view a group's members (they have no other control over the group).

Note that a group can have multiple owners.

Group manager

The manager role is available only if Google Groups for Business is enabled. A group manager can do everything an owner can do, except make another member an owner or delete the group.

Note that a group can have multiple managers.

Group member

Depending on the settings for a group, members may be able to send messages to the group. If Google Groups for Business is enabled, members may also be able to:

  • Subscribe to a group
  • View a group's discussion archives
  • View a group's members list

If Google Groups for Business is enabled, members can always unsubscribe from any group.