Comprehensive Group Management in Microsoft 365: Types and Administration

Comprehensive Group Management in Microsoft 365: Types and Administration

Group management is a foundational aspect of Microsoft 365 administration, allowing you to control access, permissions, and collaboration features across your organization. By categorizing users into different group types, you can efficiently assign licenses, share resources, and streamline communication.

This guide details the various types of groups available in Microsoft 365 and explains how to manage them from the Microsoft 365 Admin Center.

Accessing Group Management

In the Microsoft 365 Admin Center (admin.microsoft.com):

1. Navigate to the left-hand menu.
2. Click on Groups > Active groups [00:13].

1. Microsoft 365 Groups (Modern Collaboration)

Microsoft 365 Groups are the modern standard for collaboration, offering a shared workspace for teams.

• Functionality: When you create an M365 Group, it automatically creates a shared inbox, a team site (SharePoint), a shared calendar, a OneNote notebook, and often an associated Team in Microsoft Teams.
• Creation Process:
  • Click Add a group and select “Microsoft 365” as the group type [00:27].
  • Assign an Owner and Members [00:43].
  • Set the Group email address [01:05].
  • Privacy: Choose between Public (visible and joinable by anyone in the organization) or Private (membership requires admin or owner approval) [01:18].

2. Distribution Groups (Email Communication)

Distribution Groups (or Distribution Lists) are strictly for communication, allowing you to send an email to a single address that is then delivered to all members of the list.

• Functionality: Purely for mass email sending. They do not come with shared resources like a calendar or SharePoint site [01:54].
• Use Case: Ideal for internal announcements (e.g., all-employees@company.com).

3. Security Groups (Access Control)

Security Groups are fundamental for controlling access to resources, applications, and permissions. They can be split into two types:

• Security Group (No Mail): Used solely to assign permissions or access to Microsoft 365 and Entra ID resources (e.g., granting access to a specific SharePoint site or an Intune policy) [02:16].
• Mail-Enabled Security Group: This group has all the capabilities of a Security Group but can also receive email [02:35].
  • Creation: When creating, you can choose to allow external users to send email to the group by checking the corresponding box [03:23].
• Use Case: Granting permissions to a pool of users (e.g., HR_Admins group gets access to HR files).

4. Shared Mailboxes

While technically distinct from groups, Shared Mailboxes are managed under the Groups section and serve as generic email accounts that multiple users can monitor and send mail from (e.g., info@company.com).

• Key Feature: Shared mailboxes do not require a separate license (up to 50 GB) [04:25].
• Use Case: Customer service inboxes or department contacts.

Deleting and Restoring Groups

If a group is no longer needed, you can delete it from the Active Groups list.

• Restoration Window: Deleted groups are moved to the Deleted groups section and are retained for 30 days [03:50].
• Permanent Deletion: After 30 days, the group is permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.

Advanced Group Management Portals

For more complex scenarios, such as dynamic group creation (where membership is updated automatically based on user attributes) or advanced security configurations, administrators can utilize other portals:

• Microsoft Entra Admin Center (entra.microsoft.com): Provides comprehensive control over all group types, bulk creation/deletion, and dynamic membership rules [04:46].
• Microsoft Intune Admin Center: Groups are primarily used here to target mobile device management (MDM) policies and app protection rules to specific sets of users [05:08].

For day-to-day creation and management, the Microsoft 365 Admin Center is the simplest and fastest tool available.

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