To access Google Groups, just click the grid box icon at the top of your Gmail or other Google Apps window, and then click Groups:
You’ll see your Google Groups home screen. For example:
Notice that the home screen has two sections: the main discussion area on the right and the navigation tree on the left. You can show/hide this navigation area by clicking the arrow that appears when you hover your mouse to the left of the welcome message (shown in the picture above).
View your group memberships
All the groups that you belong to are listed on your personal My groups page. If you manage or own a group, that will be indicated next to the name of the group.
Find groups in the Groups directory
All of the groups in your organization are listed in your Groups directory. To access the Groups directory from your home screen, click Browse all:
When you browse all the groups, it’s the same as if you search for all groups, so it could be a very big list!
Here’s an example of a Groups directory:
Search for a group
You can search for a group from the top of any Google Groups page. Just begin typing your search query, and suggestions–including groups matching your query–will appear in a drop-down menu as you type. Choose an option from the drop-down menu, or click the blue magnifying glass to see all search results.
For example, if you’re looking for groups for employees in your San Jose office, you might see something like the following as you start typing “san”:
You can select Search for groups named ‘san’ to see all groups that match your search criteria, or you can choose a specific group (like Perks – San Jose) right from the drop-down menu.
You can also narrow your search with search terms, like from:”name” or has:attachment. See the Groups Help Center to learn about the possible search term options.
Add a group to Favorites
If you belong to a lot of groups, Favorites are a great way to easily access your most used groups.
To add a group to your Favorites, just click on the group’s star icon.
Note: If you click Starred in the left navigation area, you’ll see starred topics and posts (but not groups). Starred groups are found under Favorites.
Organize Favorites
If you have a lot of Favorites, you can create folders to organize them.
To create a folder, hover your mouse over Favorites and select New folder… from the drop-down menu that appears.
To add a favorite group to a folder, hover your mouse over the group’s name, and select the folder from the drop-down menu that appears:
