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Microsoft 365 groups play a crucial role in the Microsoft 365 environment. Before the Microsoft cloud was created, Active Directory, Microsoft's on-premises directory service, consisted of only two group types: the security group and the distribution group. With the advent of its cloud platform, Microsoft introduced the Microsoft 365 group. This powerful Azure Active Directory object has since been used profusely for various functions by most organizations that use Microsoft 365 services. But what is a Microsoft 365 group? How do you manage Microsoft 365 groups? Read ahead to learn the answers to these questions.
What is a Microsoft 365 group?
A Microsoft 365 group is an object in Azure Active Directory, just like security and distribution groups. But what makes it different and more powerful is that it can perform the functions of both and more.
Functions of Microsoft 365 groups:
- Secure items like a security group, and help distribute emails to a group of users like a distribution group
- Function as a collaborative workspace by providing all members with a shared inbox, a SharePoint site, and a Microsoft Team
In general, you cannot manage Microsoft 365 groups created automatically by Microsoft services. On the other hand, group owners can add and remove members, add and remove guests, change the name of the Microsoft 365 groups, etc. When you manage Microsoft 365 groups, keep in mind that deleting them also removes all the resources associated with those groups like SharePoint documents, emails, and files.
Managing Microsoft 365 groups with M365 Manager Plus
ManageEngine M365 Manager Plus offers several capabilities to make creation, modification, and removal of Microsoft 365 groups easier and more efficient.
- Not only can you create individual Microsoft 365 groups, you can also create them in bulk.
- You can also make use of creation templates if you want to ensure that the groups are created across the organization without any discrepancy.
- Manage Microsoft 365 groups in bulk using the various bulk group modification management tasks, such as Add/Remove Microsoft 365 Group Owners, or Modify Microsoft 365 Group Members.
Management tasks specifically for Microsoft 365 groups (excluding general group tasks)
- Microsoft 365 Group Creation (single group creation)
- Microsoft 365 Group Creation Template
- Create Microsoft 365 Groups (bulk group creation)
- Add/Remove Microsoft 365 Group Owners
- Modify Microsoft 365 Group Members
Microsoft 365 group reports
M365 Manager Plus also offers various preconfigured reports to help you understand your groups and lists better. Use these reports to keep an eye on daily Microsoft 365 group activities, such as activities count and storage used, while also checking up on other aspects such as group members, sizes, and recently added and removed members.
List of Microsoft 365 groups reports (excluding general group reports)
- Microsoft Group Members
- Microsoft 365 Groups
- Daily Microsoft 365 Group Activities Count by Type
- Daily Active Microsoft 365 Group Count
- Daily Microsoft 365 Group Storage Used
- Daily Active Files Count across Microsoft 365 Groups
- Daily Microsoft 365 Group Activities
Reporting capabilities offered by M365 Manager Plus
- Export these reports into PDF, HTML, CSV or XLSX file and mail them.
- Add the graphs in them as widgets to your dashboard or export them as images.
- Customize the way the reports are displayed (add/remove columns and filter the results).
- Schedule these reports to be generated automatically at regular intervals of your choice.
FAQs
Security groups: Security groups do exactly what their name says. They secure items like folders and files, and you can use them to grant permissions to users by adding them to the group.
Distribution groups are used mainly to distribute information among users. They are a convenient way to send emails to a group of recipients without having to send the message individually to each recipient.
There are certain instances when a Microsoft 365 group gets created automatically. This functionality helps you work with other Microsoft services and manage your users efficiently. For example, when you make a team in Microsoft Teams, a Microsoft 365 group is automatically created in the background. This group will have all the users in the team as its members and this membership allows them to access that team's SharePoint site and its content, be a part of team chats, and more.
There are other actions like this that can trigger a Microsoft 365 group creation. Such actions include the creation of a new:
- SharePoint site collection.
- Outlook group.
- Workspace in PowerBI.
- Plan in Planner.
You can add users as members of a Microsoft 365 group you have created. The roles of users added to Microsoft 365 groups include:
- Owner: The person who created the group automatically becomes the group owner, and they can manage Microsoft 365 groups they have created. The owner can add other users as additional owners. They can also add or remove members or guests, promote members to group owners, rename the group, delete conversations from the shared inbox, and even delete the group.
- Member: The person added to a group by the group's owner is a member. Group members can nominate guests and access all the group's resources, but they cannot change any of the group settings or add guests to the group.
- Guest: A person from outside your organization who can be added to the group is a guest. Guests can access the group's conversations and resources, like calendar invitations and files. Though guests can send messages to the shared inbox, they can't directly access it, so any email sent to the group will be in the guest's inbox.
By default, anyone in an organization can create up to 250 groups. End users mostly create them in Outlook, while administrators can use the Microsoft 365 admin center or the Exchange admin center to create and manage Microsoft 365 groups. PowerShell can also be used to create them.