Table of Contents
Overview and Requirements
The CalGroups-Google Sync feature allows a CalGroups group to automatically show up as a Google Group (bConnected list) at UC Berkeley. To use this feature, you must meet the following requirements:
- Administer a CalGroups Org or App folder to have sync privileges
- Limit group membership to 350 members or less for successful syncing
- Request sync activation by emailing calnet-admin@berkeley.edu with your group name
How to Sync Your CalGroups Group to Google
- Navigate to the group you created in CalGroups
- Click the More Actions button
- Select Edit Provisioning Info from the menu
- Select Yes for the Sync to Google bConnected Groups option
- Click Update to save your changes
Service Terms and Usage Rules
Synced groups must comply with the bConnected Service Terms and the Campus Online Activities Policy. Usage is restricted to departmental or campus-wide business purposes.
- Approve group creation through your department leadership
- Assign at least one owner to every group
- Restrict membership to your department unless you have campus-wide responsibilities (e.g., HR, Payroll)
- Acknowledge that policy violations may result in revoked CalGroups access
Syncing Tips and Limitations
- Wait at least 15 minutes for membership changes to reflect in Google Groups
- Manage all members exclusively in CalGroups; manual changes in Google are not permitted
- Note that synced groups will end with the suffix @calgroups.berkeley.edu
- Verify member counts; guest accounts without a Google Workspace account will not sync to Google
- Re-sync by toggling the sync setting back to "Yes" if a group was accidentally disabled
- Welcome messages configured in Google Groups will not be sent when CalGroups syncs to Google.
- 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?
- Syncing will be faster if you create your group and add members before you sync it to Google.
- Deletion: 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.
Default Security Settings
When synced, the following default permissions are applied to the Google Group:
- Identity: Users must provide either a display name or Google profile
- Posting: Anyone in the organization can post (Public); attachments are allowed
- Moderation: Spam messages are sent to a moderation queue for owner review
- View Members: Restricted to Owners and Managers only
- Join Group: Anyone in the organization can ask to join
Management and Manager Permissions
By default, all CalGroups administrators (found in the Privileges tab) are synced as Managers in Google. If you wish to be the only manager in Google while keeping other admins in CalGroups, you must create a specific subfolder for your groups and restrict the admin privileges on that folder to yourself only.
Detailed Troubleshooting
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.
Additional Resources
Testing CalGroups - Google Sync
How to Set Yourself up as the Only Manager in your CalGroups to synced Google Groups
What's the difference between Google Groups, bConnected Lists, and CalGroups?