Configure class settings

As a G Suite administrator, you can choose:

  • Who can join classes in your domain
  • Which classes your users can join

Set class membership

Your G Suite account is initially set up so your users can only join classes in your domain. To allow other users to join your domain’s classes, or to allow your users to join other domain’s classes, you specify class membership settings for Classroom in the Google Admin console.

In order for users in external domains to join classes and turn in assignments, you must configure your Drive settings to allow file sharing outside of your organization. Allowing your users to join classes from other domains allows sharing of files to your domain. For details, see Set file sharing permissions. 
 

Control who can join your classes

Allowing users to join classes from other domains allows file sharing to your domain.

  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Appsand thenG Suiteand thenClassroom.
  3. Click Class settings.
  4. Next to Who can join classes in your domain, choose an option:
    • Users in your domain only—Only G Suite for Education users in your domain can join your domain's classes
    • Users in whitelisted domains—G Suite for Education users from domains you allow can join your domain's classes. You need to whitelist these domains and domain administrators from those domains need to whitelist your domain. 
    • Any G Suite user—Any G Suite user who has access to Classroom can join your domain's classes
    • Any user—Any G Suite user who has access to Classroom or personal Google Account user can join your domain's classes
  5. Click Save.

Control which classes users in your domain can join

Allowing your users to join classes in other domains will allow file sharing out of your domain.
  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Appsand thenG Suiteand thenClassroom.
  3. Click Class settings.
  4. Next to Which classes can users in your domain join, choose an option:
    • Classes in your domain only—Your domain’s users can only join classes in your domain
    • Classes in whitelisted domains—Your domain's users can join classes in a whitelisted domain
    • Any G Suite for Education class—Your domain's users can join classes in any G Suite for Education domain
  5. Click Save.

Whitelist a domain 

When you whitelist domains for Classroom, you’re allowing users in trusted domains to join classes in your domain. It also allows your users to join classes in the domains that you trust. For whitelisted domains to work properly in Classroom, the G Suite administrators of both domains need to make changes in the Google Admin console.

Subdomains and domain aliases aren't included when you whitelist a domain, so whitelist these separately if needed. For example, if you whitelist the domain abbeycollege.com, and then get abbeyschool.com, you need to whitelist abbeyschool.com to grant access to that organization, too. Learn more about how to whitelist domains for G Suite.

After you add a whitelisted domain, you must configure Drive settings to allow file sharing between the domains.

Whitelist a domain
  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Appsand thenG Suiteand thenClassroom.
  3. Click Class settings.
  4. Next to View configured whitelisted domains, click Edit.
  5. Enter the full address of the domain and click Add.
  6. Click Save.

Note: Changes may take up to 24 hours to take effect. 

Grant file sharing access for whitelisted domains

  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Appsand thenG Suiteand thenDrive and Docs.
  3. Click Sharing settings.
  4. In the left panel, select the desired organizational unit.
  5. Under Sharing outside of organization, select the Whitelisted Domains option.

    Note: This is the minimum level of sharing required. You may also choose more permissive settings. For details, see Set file sharing permissions.

  6. (Optional) Check the For files owned by users in organization, warn when sharing with users in whitelisted domains box.
  7. (Optional) Check the Allow users in organization to receive files from users outside of whitelisted domains box.
  8. Click Save.

Note: If you change the Drive settings after users join classes, you may prevent users from completing tasks. For example, a student may be unable to turn in an assignment or a teacher may be unable to return work to a student.

Remove a whitelisted domain

  1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

    Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

  2. From the Admin console Home page, go to Appsand thenG Suiteand thenClassroom.
  3. Click Class settings.
  4. Next to View configured whitelisted domains, click Edit.
  5. Click Remove Remove next to the name of the whitelisted domain.
  6. Click Save.
Was this article helpful?
How can we improve it?