Prevent members from leaving Google Groups

Introduction

In this blog post, we will learn how to prevent members from leaving Google Groups. Google Groups is a convenient tool in the Google Workspace ecosystem where members of an organization can congregate. This enables employees of different units to share their ideas and convey any messages they want to every member of that company in one go.

However, there is an issue here that makes it even more difficult to manage, especially when the members decide to leave Google Groups without the approval of the admin.  

Why do people need to prevent members from leaving Google Groups?

Companies add employees to a Google Group to improve communication and stop any disruptions in the workflow. However, there are no default functions in Google Groups where they can restrict them from unsubscribing from Google Group email or from leaving the group.

As a result, employees often leave the group without the group manager/admin/owner's approval. This leads to mismanagement by group owners and managers, and also leads to miscommunication, because the members who left, will not know what has been discussed in the group.

Now, this is a prevalent issue in almost every organization, and there is a need for an urgent solution to this crisis. So, read on to learn more about that.

How to set it?

But why do we have a problem with Google Groups? This problem exists in the Google Group Settings. Strangely, the Google Group Settings API has this setting included in its code which is 'who can leave group'.

In the write-up, we will explain what can be done with the help of this hidden setting. We shall also explain what values need to be changed to activate this setting. Then we shall demonstrate how Foresight shall help in solving the problem easily and effectively. 

How do members leave Google Groups or unsubscribe from it?

If Google Group members no longer want to be a part of the group, then they can choose one of the three methods –

• Unsubscribe from the group's email - No longer receive an email when there’s an activity in the group, however, you are still a part of the group.
• Leave the group - Once this action is completed, you cannot access the group if it isn't public.
• Modify your settings - If the Add me to their groups setting is on, a group manager can add you to a group without your permission and then send you messages from that group. Stop people from directly adding you to a group by following the instructions in I'm in groups I didn't join.

Unsubscribe or leave a group using Google Groups

Users can unsubscribe by signing into their Google Groups account and changing the settings for leaving the group. They need to look for Subscription in the settings and then click the displayed option to select No email. Or they need to click Leave group <-]. Then you need to click on Yes, leave group.

Users can also unsubscribe and leave a group using email by emailing the group name+unsubscribe@group domain. You don't need any content in the body of this email.

How does Foresight help?

Demo Video

For this, we must create a CSV file containing all the groups' emails. To carry out this demonstration, we have created 3 groups – customer services interns, social media hub, and Engineering Inters. Then we will be using the Data uploaded => Update group settings rule. We just need 1 column, Group email, for the CSV file. In the Update group settings rule, set the Who can leave group to be false. Now download that file as CSV.

Procedure

• Creating the rule

1. Log in to the Foresight account with the help of your Google Admin account. Click the New rule button on the Rules page.
2. Click on the Data uploaded trigger. After that, you need to upload the CSV of the groups’ emails that you have created.
3. Wait for the file to be parsed and after the parsing is complete, click on Next.
4. After that, select the Update group setting action.
5. First, you may need to grant permission to Foresight in your Google Admin Account. If you see the Access granted sign, then you can proceed ahead and in the Group email field, select Group email.
6. After that, you need to search for the Who can leave group field and select None can leave option. After that, you need to click on Review enter Rule name and then click on Create.

Rule Trigger

1. After the rule has been created, you need to upload the CSV file again by clicking on the Upload icon on the top right-hand side of the rule.

Rule verification

1. You will see a new notification on the Notification icon. Click on that and you will see that the rule has been triggered successfully. After that, you need to click on the View log to go to the Logs page. There also you will see the message that the rule has been executed successfully.
2. After confirming that the rule has been executed with success, you need to go to your Google Groups page and then look at the Groups dashboard. You will see that the groups that you mentioned in the CSV sheet don’t have the leave option <-] anymore, their leave option <-] is disabled now. Member cannot leave them.

Conclusion

With Foresight you can prevent people from leaving Google groups. You can also use other group actions like bulk rename Google Groups, bulk update Google Group settings, Bulk Add email aliases to Google Groups, How to bulk create Google Groups? and bulk delete Google Groups. If you want more information about Google Groups, then you can go through What is Google Groups used for? However, to see Foresight in its complete functionality, you can avail of the free 14-day trial before purchasing this wonderful Google Workspace productivity software. Foresight helps Google Workspace Admin and Users, to solve all issues on Google Workspace without any coding.