Members of the U-M community can create MCommunity groups to use for sending email, sharing U-M Google resources, authorizing access to resources, and more.
Related documentation: To learn about managing your MCommunity groups and the responsibilities of group owners, see Managing MCommunity Groups that You Own.
- Go to MCommunity and log in with your uniqname and UMICH (Level-1) password.
- On the directory's home page click My Groups.
- Near the top left area of the page, click Create a Group.
- Enter a name. Group names:
- Should be descriptive and easy to read.
- Must be between 9 and 60 characters long.
- Can contain any letter or number.
- Can contain spaces, single quote marks ('), and dashes (-), except that it cannot end with a single quote mark (').
- Cannot contain other special characters, such as a period.
- Cannot already be in use as an alias for a person.
- We recommend that you separate words in your group name with spaces. Then, when you send email to the group, you can substitute dots (.) for the spaces in the email address. Once your group has been created, you cannot change the name, so choose it with care.
- Enter an email address for your group. The group email address:
- Must be between 9 and 64 characters long (excluding the @umich.edu part).
- Should be something that is quick and easy for people to type when sending mail.
- Can contain letters, numbers, dashes (-), and dots (.), but no other characters.
- The @umich.edu will be added for you. The address you enter here will be reserved for your group; MCommunity makes sure the address is not already reserved for another group before saving it. Once your group has been created, you cannot change the email address, so choose it with care.
- Enter a description for your group.
- You cannot change your group name once it has been created, so choose carefully. The name will be displayed in search results and on the group's profile page.
- Enter the email address you'd like to use for sending mail to your group.
- The description will appear on the group's profile page. You will be able to make changes to the description after you create the group.
- Select your group settings, then click Continue.
Important! Your group members depend on you to protect their privacy regarding membership in your group. While it is appropriate and preferable for some groups used for university business to have public member lists, there are situations where it is more appropriate to make the member list viewable by members only. Please refer to our appropriate use guidelines and respect the privacy expectations and preferences of your group members when selecting how visible the member list should be.
Warning! If the group is self-joinable, anyone will be able to circumvent the "only viewable by members" setting by joining the group.
- After creating your group, you will be directed to its MCommunity entry. As the owner, you will have the ability to edit the group from this page. Add members to your group using the Add Members button, and assign Member and Owner roles as appropriate. When you are done, click Save.
- For individuals affiliated with U-M, enter uniqnames in U-M Member.
- For directory groups, be sure to enter the group's name (not its email address) exactly as it appears in its group profile. If, for example, the group name is made up of more than word with spaces inbetween, enter the spaces; adding dots between words will not work.
- You can add external members who do not have a U-M email address in External Member. Add them by typing in their full email address. You can optionally include a name along with the email address.
- It is a good idea to have several owners for your group in case one of you is away when a change needs to be made. You can have another group be the owner of your group if you wish. This allows the members of the owning group to make changes and renew the group.
- There are two ways to add members to your group. You can enter uniqnames, group names, or, for people outside U-M, full email addresses.
- You will see your new group profile.
You can make changes to your group at any time:
- Add and Remove MCommunity Group Members, Owners, and Moderators
- Privacy Settings for MCommunity Groups
To Renew a Single Group
- Navigate to My Groups > Trash tab and click Recover to the right of your group. Alternatively, view the group’s profile page and click Renew below Settings.
- You will see a success message. The group will now appear on your Owned Groups tab.
To Renew Multiple Groups
You cannot renew multiple groups at once, but you can renew them fairly quickly by looking at the Trash tab for a list of all your expired groups. Click the Recover icon to the right of a group name to renew a group.
Important! Only the owner of a group can delete it. If a group has multiple owners, please check with the other owners before deleting it. You must be logged in to the directory to delete groups.
To Delete a Single Group
- View the group profile page. Then click the Move to Trash button below Settings on the left side of the page.
- Find the group on your My Groups page and click its Move to Trash button.
- In the confirmation dialog box, click Move to Trash.
Important! When a group owner deletes a group, the group is removed from the Owned Groups tab and added to the Trash tab. An email notification is also sent to all of the group’s owners (example provided in this Appendix). The group displays on the Trash tab for 30 days in a deactivated state. During the 30 days, it can be recovered or permanently deleted from the Trash tab by any owner of that group.
To Delete Multiple Groups
You cannot delete multiple groups at once, but you can delete them fairly quickly using the My Groups page. A Move to Trash button will appear to the right of any group you have the authority to delete.
Important! You must be an owner of a group and logged in to recover it. Groups must be renewed on an annual basis. For details, see MCommunity Directory Group Expiry Policy.
Directory groups expire after one year unless they are renewed. When a group expires, it becomes deactivated. At that point, group functions stop working, including delivering email to group members. Mail sent to the group will be returned to the sender as undeliverable; the error message will say that the group does not exist. If the group is used for authorization (for example, to allow access to a restricted web page), the authorization will fail.
The group owner(s) and the ITS Service Center can renew expired groups that are disabled.
You renew a deactivated group the same way you renew any group that you own—by clicking the Recover button.
Note: Directory groups are sometimes deactivated in response to complaints from group members when use of the group violates university policy. Owners are not able to renew groups that are deactivated for policy violation.