GOOGLE GROUPS HOW-TO

HOW TO SIGN UP FOR OPCUG GOOGLE GROUPS

LOGIN TO OPCUG GOOGLE GROUPS

(Should you encounter any difficulty in subscribing to any of our Google Groups, please send a message to sysop@opcug.ca and we will do our best to resolve the issue.)

The OPCUG operates 3 Google Groups for disseminating and sharing information:

  • OPCUG-Announcements – a “read only” group replacing the PUB’s Announcements conference area/mailing list and used to post upcoming meeting details. Anyone from the public can join.
  • OPCUG-Newsletter – a “read only” group replacing the PUB’s NewsletterPDF conference area/mailing list and used to post the newsletter each month. Anyone from the public can join.
  • OPCUG-Member-Forum – a forum for any member of the OPCUG to read and post anything of general interest to other members. Only members of the OPCUG will be authorized to access the group. This will replace the PUB’s General Messages conference area/mailing list.

All members should sign up for the OPCUG-Announcements and OPCUG-Newsletter groups to ensure you are kept informed of what’s happening in the club. Additionally, members are encouraged to sign up for the OPCUG-Member-Forum if you want to partake in the online discussions.

There are many ways of signing up for and accessing Google Groups. If you are familiar with those processes, feel free to “go your own way”. Otherwise, the sign-up processes detailed below will allow you to access the OPCUG Google Groups either via the web or through your email address.

E-mail access only

If you don’t need the ability to access the Google Groups through a web browser and are happy just accessing them using email, the simplest way to subscribe is by sending an email message (no subject or body text required).

After subscribing to any of the above, you will receive an email anytime something gets posted to the Google Group.

If you subscribe to OPCUG-Member-Forum, you can also post a message to the forum by sending it to opcug-member-forum@googlegroups.com and your message will be sent to all who are subscribed to the forum.

If you later decide you would also like to be able to access the Google Groups through a web browser, you must ensure the email address you used when subscribing is a “Google Account”. Any email address can be a Google Account. Simply follow the steps below in the “Creating a Google Account” section. From then on, you can access the OPCUG Google Groups by browsing to groups.google.com and search for “OPCUG”.

Web and e-mail access

If you want to access the Google Groups via a web browser in addition to having email access, the process is a little more involved.

Google Account required

Because web access to Google Groups requires authentication, everything is far simpler if you have a Google Account before you start the process to sign up for groups. Gmail is already a Google Account, so if you have Gmail, and are happy with postings from the OPCUG groups arriving in your Gmail account, you can use your existing Gmail as your Google Account. You can then skip the next instructions on creating a Google Account.

Creating a Google Account

Any valid email address can be used as a Google Account. Pick an email address you want to use and browse to accounts.google.com. Click Create account and follow the instructions. One thing worth noting: when you create a Google Account, although you are using an existing email address, there is no real link between the two. You do not need to, and perhaps should not, give the Google Account the same password as you use to access the email.

Make sure your new Google Account is functioning properly by going to accounts.google.com and signing in.

Signing up for the OPCUG Google Groups

Browse to groups.google.com. If you are not signed into your Google Account, click the Sign in button at the top.

  1. In Search for groups or messages, enter OPCUG. The top of the search results will show Groups matching OPCUG. Click on See all 3.
  2. Click on OPCUG-Announcements, then click the Join group button. In the resulting dialog box (shown below), you can opt to change some preferences, such as;
    1. If My display name shows as your email address you can change this to something like firstname lastname
    2. Email preferences can be changed to only send daily summaries or not email you at all when new postings are made (meaning you must manually check at the web site to see if there are any new posting

3. Click the Join this group button.
4. You will then see the list of postings that have been made to the group. Click on any entry to see the actual posting.
5. A handy feature is to click the star just below the name of the group to make it a favourite. Then, when you browse to Google Groups, your favourites are listed in the left column and you can jump to one by clicking its entry.

Click the red Groups near the top of the left column to return to the main Google Groups page and repeat the above steps to join the OPCUG-Newsletter group.

Joining the OPCUG-Member-Forum is a little different because only members of the OPCUG can join.

  1. Click the red Groups near the top of the left column to return to the main Google Groups page, search groups for OPCUG and select OPCUG-Member-Forum from the results.
  2. Click on Apply for membership. You will get a dialog box that presents all the options you had for the other groups.
  3. IMPORTANT: An additional edit box asks you for either your email address the OPCUG has on file for you or name, address, and membership number. This information is required to verify your membership in the OPCUG prior to granting you access to the group.
  4. Click Apply to join this group.

Once membership is verified, you will get an email letting you know that your request to join OPCUG-Member-Forum has been approved.

You can then read messages posted to the group, respond to existing posts, as well as post new items in the group by browsing to the group and clicking on NEW TOPIC.

You can also post to the group by sending an email to the group address, which is OPCUG-Member-Forum@googlegroups.com. You can reply to any message from the group and your reply will go back to the group and be re-distributed to other members of the group.

The footer of every email sent out by the groups includes information about how to post, how to unsubscribe, and a link to visit the group in your web browser.

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