Never Stop Learning: Sending Mail From A Google Group

Google groups are a great way to address a group of folks under a single e-mail address. They can be used for announcements and discussions. At SCVi Charter School, we use them for two basic purposes.

1) A way to address many users under a single e-mail.Having a group with many users allows you to address many people at once. You don't have to worry about whether you CC'd or BCC'd them, you simply send to the group and everyone will get it. It is a very useful way for a Facilitator to address parents or for a a club to addres it's members.

2) A way to have multiple people read the same mail accountThere are times when multiple people want to be able to read messages going to a single mail address. They can all be given access to a group where they can read mail sent to the group, or even send mail as though it comes from that address. Since groups allow you to send mail as the group, it is o a way to show a mail as coming from a "generic" address such as "school-mascot@scvi-k12.org". Many folks may read, or send mail from the address, but it always appears to come from the same user.

This posting walks you through sending mail from a group instead of as an individual. This assures that replies go to the entire group instead of just one person. Anyone who is a owner of a group can do this. Here is how it is done.

1) Go to the group page.

You can see all your groups at SCVi by going to your groups page.

https://groups.google.com/a/scvi-k12.org/forum/#!myforums

As you can see here, I am currently a member of 4 groups and they are all listed on this page. You can select the group you want to send mail from.

2) Start a new topic

Once you have selected the group you want to read, select "New Topic".

3) Choose to post as the group.

You'll notice that there is a "By" option for who should send the message. You can choose to send on behalf of the name of the group you are reading.

4) Send your message!

Your message will appear to come from the group instead of from an individual. Folks can then log in to the group and continue the discussion. Here is the discussion I sent. You can see that it shows as being sent from "technology" instead of from myself.

But Wait,. There's more.

If you have a group that you ALWAYS want ALL messages to show as coming from the group instead of as an individual user, you can set up the group this way. First go to the Manage section (button in upper right hand corner):