Add or invite users to a group

This page is for administrators who manage groups for an organization. To manage groups for an account that ends in gmail.com, go to Google Groups help.

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As a Groups administrator, you can directly add members to any of your organization’s groups, invite members to join groups, and respond to requests to join groups.

Where can I do this? You can directly add members to your organization’s groups in either your Admin console or Google Groups. You can invite members to join your groups and manage join requests in Google Groups.

Google Cloud administrators: To add a service account to a group, see either:

• Enter the members’ email addresses
• Upload members from a CSV file

Directly add a user to one or more groups

To complete these steps, you need the appropriate administrator privileges. Depending on your privileges, you might not see all the controls needed to complete these steps. Learn more about administrator privileges.

Using the Admin console

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu  Directory > Users.
3. In the Users list, find the user. If you need help finding the user, see Find a user account.
4. Click the user’s name to open their account page.
5. At the top, click Groups.
   
6. Click Add user to groups.
7. Search for a group by entering the first few characters of its name or email address. When you see the group you want, select it.
8. (Optional) To add the user to an additional group (or groups), search for and select the group.
9. When you finish selecting groups, click Add.
10. (Optional) To change a member role in a group, do the following:
    • Under Role, click the Down arrow select the new role.
    • Click Save.

Using Google Groups

Requires turning on Groups for Business

Get steps at the Learning Center: Add people to your group directly.

Add multiple users to a group

Choose users from a list

Using the Admin console

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu  Directory > Users.
3. Check the box next to each user that you want to add to a group.

   Tip: If all users belong to the same organizational unit, on the left, select the organizational unit. If necessary, at the top left, click Opento see the organizational tree. Learn more about the organizational structure.

4. At the top, click MoreAdd selected users to groups.
5. Enter the first few characters of the group name or email address to search for it. 
6. Select the group.
7. (Optional) To add the users to an additional group, search for and select the group.
8. Click Add.

Enter the users' email addresses

Using the Admin console

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu Directory > Groups.

   Requires having the Groups administrator privilege.

3. Click the name of a groupMembers.
4. Click Add members.
5. For users or groups, enter the first few characters of their email address. When you see the user or group you want, select them.
   For service accounts, enter the entire email address.
6. Repeat the previous step to find more members.
7. Click Add To Group.

All new members get the Member role and the All email subscription.

Upload users from a CSV file

Using the Admin console

1. Sign in with an administrator account to the Google Admin console.

   If you aren’t using an administrator account, you can’t access the Admin console.

2. Go to Menu Directory > Groups.

   Requires having the Groups administrator privilege.

3. Click the name of a groupMembers.
4. Point to Add  and click Bulk upload members.
5. Complete a comma-separated values (CSV) file for your group. Make sure you format the CSV file correctly (see below). 

   Tip: You can click the link to download a blank CSV template. To see a completed file, click the member list CSV file link.

6. Click Attach CSV; then navigate to your CSV file and open it.
7. Click Upload.

Format your CSV file

• Include headers in your CSV file. Headers are case-sensitive. 
• Maximum CSV file size is 35 MB.
• Maximum number of records per file is 150,000.

  If your file is larger or has too many records, open it in your spreadsheet program, split the table into separate files, and save each one as a CSV file. Make sure you include the column headings row in all CSV files.

CSV file example

Header: Group Email [Required],Member Email,Member Type,Member Role
Entry: [e-mail], [e-mail],USER,MEMBER 

CSV header	Details
Group Email	The email address of the group; required field.
Member Email	The email address of the group or user. Leave this field empty if you specify the CUSTOMER member type.
Member Type	The type of member. Member Types include: USER: Used to add a single user. GROUP: Used to add a Google Group. CUSTOMER: Used to add all users in the organization. If you use this Member Type, leave the Member Email field empty.  SERVICE_ACCOUNT: Used to add a service account.
Member Role	The role of the group or user. Enter MEMBER, MANAGER, or OWNER. Learn more about member roles.
Member Name	The member's name; available for internal members only. External member names are not displayed in the Google Admin console. Note: The Member Name column appears in a list of downloaded members, but doesn't appear in the CSV template. Also, you can't add an external member name, or change internal member names, by uploading a CSV file that includes a Member Name header and member names.

Invite users to join a group

Using Google Groups

Requires turning on Groups for Business

In addition to adding people to groups directly, you can invite people to join a group and view the status of invitations. 

Get steps at the Learning Center: Invite people to your group

Respond to requests to join a group

Using Google Groups

Requires turning on Groups for Business

You can view requests to join your group and accept or deny them on an individual basis.

Get steps at the Learning Center: Manage requests to join your group

Related topics

• Add all your organization’s users to a group
• Add a group to another group