{"id":31509,"date":"2025-07-03T10:19:33","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=31509"},"modified":"2025-10-06T12:24:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T16:24:29","slug":"m365-groups","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/article\/m365-groups\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft 365 &#8211; Groups"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft 365 (M365) Unified Groups &#8211; often just called <strong><em>Groups<\/em><\/strong> &#8211; are a foundational collaboration tool within the Microsoft ecosystem, integrating email, file sharing, calendaring, and more. At UVM, they serve as a flexible alternative to departmental accounts and distribution lists, offering integrated access to email, Teams, SharePoint, and more.<\/p>\n<h2>What is an M365\/Unified Group?<\/h2>\n<p><span data-teams=\"true\">You may not realize it, but you likely have been using M365 Groups for a while. Every Microsoft Team is built on a M365 group. When you create a new SharePoint Online site or share a Microsoft Planner plan, you also create a new M365 group.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An M365 Group in Microsoft 365 provides:\n<ul>\n<li>A shared\u00a0<strong>email address<\/strong>\u00a0(e.g.,\u00a0groupname@<strong>office.uvm.edu<\/strong>)<\/li>\n<li>A shared\u00a0<strong>mailbox<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>calendar<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>A\u00a0<strong>SharePoint site<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>OneNote notebook<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Optional integration with\u00a0<strong>Microsoft Teams<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Planner<\/strong>, and\u00a0<strong>Power BI<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-messages hts-messages--info  hts-messages--withtitle hts-messages--withicon \"   >\r\n    \t\t\t<span class=\"hts-messages__title\">Every Microsoft Team has an M365 Group, but not every M365 Group will be linked to a Team.<\/span>    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\r\n    \t\t<\/div><!-- \/.ht-shortcodes-messages -->\r\n    \t\t\n<p>Groups can be\u00a0<strong>public<\/strong>\u00a0(anyone at UVM can join) or\u00a0<strong>private<\/strong> (membership by invitation only). Groups can also be\u00a0<strong>hidden from the Global Address List (GAL)<\/strong> to reduce clutter or limit visibility.<\/p>\n<h3>Common Use Cases at UVM<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Replacing departmental accounts<\/strong>\u00a0with more flexible, user-managed groups.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Managing access<\/strong>\u00a0to SharePoint, Teams, and Power BI resources.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Collaborative communication<\/strong>\u00a0for committees, working groups, and projects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Creating a New Group in Outlook on the Web (OWA)<\/h2>\n<p>Any UVM user can create a new M365 Group using Outlook on the Web.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/outlook.office.com\/groups\/home\">Groups section of Outlook on the Web<\/a> and click\u00a0<strong>New group<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Fill in the required fields:\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Name<\/strong>: This becomes the display name and part of the email address\n<ul>\n<li>The email address will be in the format of <em>groupname@<strong>office.uvm.edu<\/strong><\/em>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Description<\/strong>: Optional but helpful for context<\/li>\n<li><strong>Privacy<\/strong>: Choose\u00a0<strong>Public<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>Private<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Click\u00a0<strong>Create<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Add members to the group or skip and add them later.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Email Delivery and Subscriptions<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Messages sent to the group\u2019s address are delivered to the\u00a0<strong>group mailbox<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Members can choose whether to receive a\u00a0<strong>copy in their personal inbox<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Managing Your Subscription<\/h3>\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-messages hts-messages--success  hts-messages--withtitle hts-messages--withicon \"   >\r\n    \t\t\t<span class=\"hts-messages__title\">Do you want to receive group messages in your inbox?<\/span>    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\t<p>\r\n    \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>Subscribed members receive group messages in their inbox.<\/p>\n<p>Unsubscribed members must check the group mailbox manually.<\/p>\n<p>    \t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\r\n    \t\t<\/div><!-- \/.ht-shortcodes-messages -->\r\n    \t\t\n<p>To subscribe or unsubscribe from group messages:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/outlook.office.com\/groups\/home\">Groups section of Outlook on the Web<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Select your group and click the the\u00a0<strong>Settings (gear)<\/strong> icon in the top right corner<\/li>\n<li>Select <strong>Follow in inbox <\/strong>or one of the options under <strong>Stop following in inbox<\/strong> as desired<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Manage Delivery of External Email<\/h3>\n<p>Group owners can enable or disable delivery of email from external addresses to an M365 group.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/outlook.office.com\/groups\/home\">Groups section of Outlook on the Web<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Select your group and click the the\u00a0<strong>Settings (gear)<\/strong> icon in the top right corner<\/li>\n<li>Click <strong>Edit group\u00a0<\/strong>to view additional group settings<\/li>\n<li>Check or uncheck the box next to the\u00a0<strong>Let people outside the organization email the groups<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Managing Group Membership<\/h2>\n<h3>Roles<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Owners<\/strong>: Can add\/remove members, manage settings, and configure permissions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Members<\/strong>: Can participate in conversations, access shared files, and use group resources.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-messages hts-messages--danger  hts-messages--withtitle hts-messages--withicon \"   >\r\n    \t\t\t<span class=\"hts-messages__title\">Only group owners can add or remove members.<\/span>    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\r\n    \t\t<\/div><!-- \/.ht-shortcodes-messages -->\r\n    \t\t\n<h3>Adding Members<\/h3>\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-messages hts-messages--alert  hts-messages--withtitle hts-messages--withicon \"   >\r\n    \t\t\t<span class=\"hts-messages__title\">Non-UVM Guests and LCOM users can also be added<\/span>    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\t<p>\r\n    \t\t\t\t\tMembership <strong>is not<\/strong> restricted to only UVM affiliates; you can add Non-UVM accounts as well!    \t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\r\n    \t\t<\/div><!-- \/.ht-shortcodes-messages -->\r\n    \t\t\n<ol>\n<li>Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/outlook.office.com\/groups\/home\">Groups section of Outlook on the Web<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Select your group, then click the\u00a0<strong>Add members<\/strong> button in the top right corner<\/li>\n<li>Enter the email address or NetID of the person to be added, optionally make them an owner, then add them to the group<\/li>\n<li>Select\u00a0<strong>Manage Group<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>Settings<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Use the\u00a0<strong>Add members<\/strong>\u00a0or\u00a0<strong>Remove members<\/strong> options<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Removing Members<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/outlook.office.com\/groups\/home\">Groups section of Outlook on the Web<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Select your group, then click <strong>Members<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Click the\u00a0<strong>X<\/strong> next to the member, then click\u00a0<strong>Yes<\/strong> to confirm removal from the group<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h2>Admin-Only Actions<\/h2>\n    \t\t<div class=\"hts-messages hts-messages--info  hts-messages--withtitle hts-messages--withicon \"   >\r\n    \t\t\t<span class=\"hts-messages__title\">Some configurations require an administrator<\/span>    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\t<p>\r\n    \t\t\t\t\tTo request these changes or for additional needs, please <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/contact\/\">submit a ticket to the Tech Team<\/a>    \t\t\t\t<\/p>\r\n    \t\t\t    \t\t\t\r\n    \t\t<\/div><!-- \/.ht-shortcodes-messages -->\r\n    \t\t\n<div class=\"___i31lg00 f10pi13n f14t3ns0 f1nbblvp fat0sn4 f1ov4xf1 fekwl8i f1lmfglv f1oz7aqm f1abmfm4 f1w619qj f16h0jq8\">\n<table class=\"___1hm93bs f1ddd56o f16vktn6 f1enuhaj fdclmfp f1ev3kgc ftgm304 f1uinfot fibjyge fvueend f9yszdx f1fu4s3n f3l3pb3 f1s2k7dp f8fmt76 fjvbh62 fysh76l fic4ptz f1yenhzu f1yn6nvh f14tj6oe f1jq587y f1el8yx3 f1pymoxg f1ofu761 fe6itr f7coize f1794535 f70r78m f4zgifc fk1v6el f16pyhcb fo436u6 fzy4j18 fc43013 f1hmrcvb fc4t9fq fgp09rh fjnyn6r\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Task<\/th>\n<th>Description<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Hide group from the Global Address List (GAL)<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Useful for limiting visibility<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Disable welcome emails<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Prevents automatic messages sent to new members.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Convert a group to\/from a Team<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Structural changes that affect how the group is used.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Grant \u201cSend As\u201d permissions<\/strong><\/td>\n<td>Allows a user to send mail as the group address.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Microsoft 365 (M365) Unified Groups &#8211; often just called Groups &#8211; are a foundational collaboration tool within the Microsoft ecosystem, integrating email, file sharing, calendaring, and more. At UVM, they serve as a flexible alternative to departmental accounts and distribution lists, offering integrated access to email, Teams, SharePoint, and more&#8230;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[271],"ht-kb-tag":[],"class_list":["post-31509","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-email-and-calendar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/31509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/ht_kb"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31509"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/31509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31918,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb\/31509\/revisions\/31918"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-category?post=31509"},{"taxonomy":"ht_kb_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uvm.edu\/it\/kb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ht-kb-tag?post=31509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}