Using Google Groups as a Collaborative Inbox

Google Groups can be used as a collaborative inbox for group members within the Google Groups interface (groups.google.com) to organize, reply to, and assign messages or conversations to group members. A collaborative inbox can be used the same way as a shared email account, but it is self-created.

Collaborative Inboxes can:

• Assign responsibility for messages or conversations to one or more group members.
• Set a resolved status for messages or conversations – complete, duplicate, or no action needed.
• Search for messages or conversations according to resolution status or assignee.

To use your group as a collaborative inbox:

1. Sign into Google Groups.
2. Click My Groups and choose the desired group.
3. In the left menu, click Group settings.

Note: If Group settings is not available, either contact the Group Owner or create a Google Service ticket and ask that you be assigned group owner or manager permissions.

4. Under Enable additional Google Groups features, select Collaborative Inbox, and then click Save changes.

Assign a conversation or topic

You can assign responsibility for a conversation or topic to yourself or another group member.

1. Sign into Google Groups.
2. Click My Groups and choose the desired group.
3. Choose an option:
   1. To assign a single conversation, hover over the conversation and click the box that appears.
   2. To assign multiple conversations, point to each conversation and check the box that appears in the first column next to the poster’s name.
4. From the menu that appears at the top of the conversations, choose an option:
   1. To assign the conversation to yourself, click Assign to me.
   2. To assign the conversation to another group member, click Assign to someone and enter the email address of the person.
5. Add a note to the person if appropriate.
6. If the conversation is assigned to you and you want to remove the assignment, in the top menu, click Remove assignment.
7. To view conversations within a group that have been assigned to you:
   1. In the search bar at the top, click the Down arrow.
   2. Click Assigned to > Assigned to me.
   3. Click Search.
   4. Or, in the search box next to Conversations, type assignee:me and press Return.

Resolve a topic or conversation

1. Sign into Google Groups.
2. Click My Groups and choose the desired group.
3. Choose an option:
   1. To resolve a single conversation – point to it and check the box that appears.
   2. To resolve multiple conversations – point to each conversation and check the box that appears next to each one.
4. At the top, choose an option:
   1. If the conversation is completed, click the Mark as complete icon.
   2. If the conversation requires no further action, click the No action needed icon.
   3. If the conversation is a duplicate of another, click the Mark as duplicate icon and enter the URL of the duplicate conversation.

Use labels for organization

You can organize topics with labels. Unlike labels in Gmail, a label assigned to a conversation in Groups is seen by anyone who can view that conversation (e.g., members of the Google group).

Enable labels

1. Sign into Google Groups.
2. Click My Groups and choose the desired group.
3. On the left, click Group settings and under Shared labels, check Enable shared labels for this group.

Create a label

1. In the left menu, point to Labels and click the three vertical dots, then on Add label.
2. Label names cannot include spaces. Enter a label name and click Add.

Apply a label to one or more conversations

1. For a single conversation, select the conversation. For multiple conversations, point to each conversation and check the box next to each item.
2. In the menu on the upper right, click the Labels icon and check the box next to the label you want to add.

Delete a label

1. In the left menu, click the down arrow next to Labels. Point to the label you want to delete and click the three vertical dots. Click Delete label.
2. Click Delete.

Note: This removes the label from your list of labels, but conversations with the label assigned to them keep it unless you remove it.

Filter conversations

1. Sign into Google Groups.
2. Click My Groups and choose the desired group.
3. At the top, in the search bar, click the down arrow.
4. Use the search field to filter conversations using the following options:
   1. User who posted to the conversation
   2. Conversation subject
   3. Words contained in the conversation
   4. Conversations posted between a given start and end date
   5. Conversations with attachments
   6. Conversations marked as duplicate
   7. Conversations marked as complete
   8. Conversations marked as no action needed
   9. Conversations assigned to you, assigned to any user, or not assigned to anyone
   10. Whether the conversation is or isn’t resolved
   11. Label applied to conversations
5. Click Search.