How To
February 4, 2021

How To Create A Group in Gmail: Step By Step Guide

Team Polymail

When using your inbox within a workplace, emails can begin to feel extremely repetitive. 

While we can eliminate the need to type the same messages using templates, how can we reduce the time spent adding recipients to emails? 

In many cases, emails are meant for more than just one recipient. This leaves you adding members of your team, or multiple members within the recipient’s company to an email for visibility. Keeping track of who should and shouldn’t be in each email becomes a hassle, especially if you work from your email and send dozens a day. 

What if you could group certain people together? 

Utilizing the Contact Labels option within Gmail, you can group specific people into easy to add groups which can be used as your recipient on new emails, adding every member. 

How Groups Work

Let’s say that every time you message a client, you need to add your department head, their marketing team of four, and their sales rep into the messages. Originally, you would create an email and ensure that each of these individuals were added one at a time. Good thing you never forget a name or make a mistake. 

It’s true -- human errors happen and sometimes you accidently leave someone out, or add someone that shouldn’t be there. This can be embarrassing and unprofessional, and you should avoid it at all costs. So, how can you ensure each member that should be in an email is there, and reasonably quickly?

Groups, often referred to as Contact Labels, allows you to create various groups that can be your one-click solution to grouped contacts. This means you can create a label called “CompanyA” which has a range of members, and can be added to any email instantly. 

Groups can also be used on other Google platforms, including Google Calendar, Drive, 

So, how do we make a group? 

Creating Groups

Before you can create a group, you need to be able to access Google Contacts. 

  1. Open Google Chrome, and click on the Apps button at the top left
  2. Click the Gmail app
  3. At the top right, next to your profile image click the square of dots that shows Google Apps as you scroll over it
  4. This drop down menu shows a series of Google's applications. Scroll down until you see “Contacts”
  • You can move Contacts towards the top -- simply click and hold over the app. You can then drag it to the top to make it easier to access later. 
  1. As you enter the Contacts app, you will find a spreadsheet style organization of each of your contacts showing Name, Email, Phone, Company, and Job Title. It’s important to keep these contacts up to date. 
  2. On the left side, click the label that says “Labels,” ensuring it’s expanded
  3. Click “Create Label” 
  4. Name your new label
  5. Your label should now appear on the left
  6.  Select your contacts with the small boxes on the left. 
  7. At the top, there is an outlined label. As you scroll over it, it should state “Manage Labels.” Click this label. 
  8. Click which label you would like to link these contacts to. 


If you prefer the drag and drop style of adding names, Google supports this option as well. Simply click and drag the name, and drop into the filter. Next to the filter name there should be a number, the number of participants. Ensure this number increases when you drop the content. 

Contacts can be linked to multiple labels, allowing you to create a wide range of custom labels for each project, conversation, or team you work with. 

Use Your Groups

Now that you have your Groups created, they can be used on a variety of Google platforms to save you time, and ensure all recipients are added.

If you find yourself needing most recipients from a group, it’s often faster to add the entire group to the email, and then simply hit the “remove” button next to the recipients you don’t want.

Gmail

It’s time to create your first email using groups!

  1. Open Gmail on your Google Chrome internet browser. 
  2. At the top left, you should see a large white circle with a colorful plus sign. Click this button. 
  3. A white box will appear to compose your new email. 
  4. In the “To” box, begin to type the name of your group. As you start typing, a drop down menu should appear with possible options. When you see your group, simply click the name and the entire team will be added to the email. 
  5. Type your email or import your email templates as normal, click send, and you’re good to go!

Creating email templates with Polymail is not only simple, but can create a standardization for company emails, keeping each email flawlessly uniform while saving time. Not only will you save time for yourself only needing to proofread the template itself once, but templates can be shared with your entire team. 

Google Calendar

Groups can also be utilized in Google Calendar to create a one-click option for creating meetings and other activities. This is great for business wide events or when working with representatives from other companies to ensure no one is forgotten. 

  1. Go to Gmail and click the Google Apps option at the top right of the screen near your profile icon. 
  2. Search for the Google Calendars icon and click.
  3. You should see a 1-week display of your calendar, and any other calendar you're invited to. To reduce the view of invited calendars, they can be deselected at the bottom left.
  4. On the left, there is a month view if scheduling more than a week out. Simply click the date on the mini map. 
  5. Click the time slot you intend to add the meeting. 
  6. A box should appear -- name the meeting something simple but descriptive. 
  7. As you fill in the box, you should see an “Add Guest” box. Begin typing the name of the group you want to add, and click the group. 

A reminder should be sent to each member saying they have been invited to an event, asking if they would like to join the event. 

Polymail’s Meeting Links can be added to the shared calendar event, which will be shared to each invited team members calendar. This could link to both a teleconference and videoconference, allowing you a custom option to fit your company’s meeting preferences. 

Google Drive

A great resource for any working team is Google Drive. Drive allows you to share images, documents, and entire folders with your team which can be edited in real time from anywhere.

  1. Create a file that is ready to be shared. 
  2. Click on the file to select it, it should glow blue. 
  3. At the top of the screen there is an user icon outline with a plus button. Click this button. 
  4. Begin typing the name and select your group. 
  5. On the right side, there should be a drop down to select the recipients’ permissions. Select if you want them to receive a view only, comment only, or full editing power over the document. 
  6. An option to notify the recipients can be selected, along with inserting a customized message. 

You can edit or remove permissions once a document is created and shared, changing what recipients are able to do. 

Google Drive documents can be edited by multiple individuals at the same time, allowing teams to log into a project and work together. Teams can also communicate using google docs Comments option. This creates mini tasks that can be resolved,

Working With Groups

In most cases, work is completed by teams of people who all require a wide range of information. Groups create insurance that each team member will be added to a group. Save time and money by utilizing groups with Gmail. 

Gmail Groups becomes essential when creating promotional content to your consumers, especially when utilizing sequences. Polymail Sequences creates a web of emails that are sent as customers interact, creating interactive advertising. Understanding groups will help you organize possible recipients into easy-to-use sets. 

Continue to unlock the potential email services can bring into your company with the communication solutions by Polymail. Ensure your email is clean, organized, and ready to make a lasting impression on your B2B and B2C recipients alike!
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Sources  

https://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/social-networking/networks/google-groups.htm 

https://www.businessinsider.com/google-calendar-vs-apple-calendar-2018-7#the-verdict-google-clearly-has-apple-beat-when-it-comes-to-calendar-apps-15 

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