CalGroups - Google Sync Tips and Tricks

The following are some tips and tricks on syncing your CalGroups group to Google.

Timing

  • Allow at least 15 minutes for changes that you make in CalGroups to be reflected in Google.

Limitations

  • When CalGroups manages membership of a Google Group, some features of Google Groups are no longer available.
  • Welcome messages configured in Google Groups will not be sent when CalGroups syncs to Google.
  • You cannot directly add or remove membership to the Google Group.  Any changes to membership must be made in CalGroups.
  • You cannot change management permissions directly on the Google Group.  Administrators in CalGruops will be added to the Google Group as a manager.  See below for more related tips.
  • Opt-in and Opt-out is not available in the Google Group.  If you need functionality similar to other public mailing list managers consider just creating a Google Group.  See CalGroups or bConnected Lists?

Group Syncing

  • Syncing will be faster if you create your group and add members before you sync it to Google.

  • You only need to sync your group once.  Any updates to your group thereafter will sync automatically to the Google group.

  • When your CalGroups group is synced, you will see it listed in "My Groups" in Google groups. CalGroups-synced groups will end with "@calgroups.berkeley.edu"; Google-created groups will have "@lists.berkeley.edu".
  • If you change your bConnected Google sync to "No" from "Yes", that group will disappear in Google.  If you switched the sync back to "Yes", that group and the Google management settings you configured will re-appear.

  • If you delete your group in CalGroups, that group will be deleted entirely in Google also. If you create a new group with the same name, a completely new group will be created in Google with all default settings.

Group Management

  • All administrators of your CalGroups group (which you add by using the Privileges tab) will appear as managers in Google. If you have several administrators in CalGroups but want to set yourself up as the only manager of the synced Google groups, here are instructions on how to do so.

  • If you have a group that's already synced, any member you add or delete will be reflected Google.  Allow at least 15 minutes for the changes to occur.

  • As of now, you can sync groups of 350 members or less. Any update that would result in the total group membership to be greater than 350 will fail. For example, if you already have a group that’s synced with 100 members and then add another 400, none of the 400 members you added will be synced. The original members will still be synced, however.

  • If there is a discrepancy between the number of members you see in your groups in CalGroups versus Google, there could be several reasons:

    • If there are more people in the Google Group than the CalGroup, it could be due to group administrators (Seen on the Privileges tab in CalGroups) being automatically added as managers even if you did not explicitly include them as group members.

    • If there are fewer people in the Google Group than the CalGroup, it could be because some CalGroups group members do not have a Google account, that member will not show up in Google.  Guest accounts and some HCM affiliates are not eligible for bConnected accounts.  Other account holders may not have yet claimed their bConnected account.

    • If there are fewer people in the Google Group than the CalGroups, look to see if your CalGroups group is comprised of other groups.  If so, the groups themselves are counted as members in CalGroups, in addition to each of their members.