We recommend that each group have at least two owners.
Group members are the regular users in your organization who use the group to collaborate. They can access everything in the group but can't change group settings or delete conversations from the shared inbox. Guests are like group members, but they are outside your organization. #### Group Resources - 15GB Shared Inbox – For email conversations between your members. This inbox has an email address and **can be set** to accept messages from people outside the group and even outside your organization, much like a traditional distribution list. - Shared Calendar – For scheduling events related to the group. - 50GB SharePoint Document Library – A central place for the group to store and share files. - Shared OneNote Notebook – For gathering ideas, research, and information. - SharePoint Team Site – A central repository for information, links and content relating to your group. - Planner – For assigning and managing project tasks among your group members. You can access these resources through the Microsoft Outlook desktop client (2016 or newer), via Outlook on the web, via Outlook 2016 for Mac (shared inbox only), or via Outlook mobile. You'll find your Microsoft 365 Groups in the navigation pane on the left in Outlook desktop or on the Web. #### Default Group Settings - Groups are created as Private. This means that only group members can view group content. - Email sent to the group address is not delivered to members' inboxes. Members have to visit the group workspace to view the conversations and events. - People outside the A-State organization **cannot** send email to the group. - Group address is visible in the Global Address Book. #### Limitations - Share Inbox is not the same as a shared mailbox. - Limited support for subfolders. - Limited support for mail rules. # Group Expiration Policy Microsoft 365 groups are set to expire after 180 days of inactivity. The expiration period begins when the group is created, or on the date it was last renewed. When a group expires, all of its associated services (the mailbox, Planner, SharePoint site, team, etc.) are also deleted. When a group expires it is "soft-deleted" which means it can still be recovered for up to 30 days. Groups that are actively in use are renewed automatically. Any of the following actions will auto renew a group: - OneDrive/SharePoint - view, edit, download, move, share, or upload files. (Viewing a SharePoint page does not count as an action for automatic renewal.) - Outlook - join group, read or write group message from the group, and like a message (Outlook on the web). - Teams - visiting a team's channel. #### How and when a group owner learns if their groups are about to expire Group owners will only be notified via email. 30 days before the group expires, the group owners will receive an email allowing them to easily renew the group. If they don't renew it, they'll receive another renewal email 15 days before expiration. If they still haven't renewed it, they will receive one more email notification the day before expiration. If for some reason none of the owners renew the group before it expires, the ITS Systems team can still restore the group for up to 30 days after expiration. # Guest Access to Microsoft 365 Groups Guest access in Microsoft 365 Groups lets you and your team collaborate with people from outside A-State by granting them access to group conversations, files, calendar invitations, and the group notebook. Access can be granted to a guest—for example, a partner, vendor, supplier, or consultant—by any group owner. #### How it works People using Microsoft 365 Groups can use Outlook on the web or Outlook for Windows to add and manage guests in their Microsoft 365 groups. Guests can have any email address, and their email account can be a work, personal, or school account.When sharing OneDrive folders/files, syncing between OneDrive Business accounts and OneDrive Personal accounts is not supported by Microsoft at this time. You can still share with guests that only have Personal OneDrive accounts (accounts that are not tied to an organization), however, the user will only be able to access the shared file or folder from a web browser.
1. A group owner adds a guest to the group. 2. The group owner is informed of which content and resources the guest can access within the group. A combination of text and icons gives all group members a clear indication of guest participation. 3. The guest receives a welcome email and can participate in group conversations, receive and respond to calendar invitations, and access the group files. 4. Guests can leave the group at any time via a link in the footer of all group email messages and calendar invitations. When a guest is invited to join a group, they receive a welcome email message that includes a little information about the group and what they can expect now that they're a member. The message also includes a set of links to help them get started and connect to group resources. All of the guest member's interactions occur through their email inbox. They can't access the group site but can receive calendar invitations, participate in email conversations, and, if the admin has turned on the setting, they can open shared files using a link or attachment. All group email messages and calendar invitations the guest receives will include a reminder to use Reply all in responses to the group, along with links to view group files and leave the group. The following table summarizes what guests can and can't do.Only group owners can change group settings.
1. Open the Outlook desktop app. 2. In the navigation pane, under **Groups**, select the group you want to change the settings for. 3. [](https://kb.astate.edu/uploads/images/gallery/2025-07/m365groups1.png) 4. On the ribbon, select **Home > Group Settings > Edit Group**.[](https://kb.astate.edu/uploads/images/gallery/2025-07/m365groups2.png) The following group settings can be updates from the **Edit Group** dialog. - Group name - Description - Privacy - **Private** - private groups aren't open for everyone to join them and the group owners are the only ones that can add members. Only group members can access group content. - **Public** - public groups can be joined by everyone without approval from a group owner. Anyone can access group content. - Add/remove members - Delete the group - Let people outside of the organization email the group - This setting allows people outside of A-State to send an email to the group. This option should be carefully considered as it will expose the group to possible SPAM messages. - Subscribe new members so they receive group emails in their inbox - If enabled, anything sent to the group appears in user inboxes, including invitations to Teams meetings. - *When you change this setting, the user preferences for all members of the group will automatically be updated.* - Promote member to owner - Demote owner to a memberYou cannot change the group email address or add aliases.
# Accessing Group Files Depending on how you prefer to work, you can access group files from several different locations. #### Web applications From any web browser, go to [https://office.com](https://office.com) and sign in using your A-State account. You can easily switch among Microsoft apps by selecting the app launcher [](https://kb.astate.edu/uploads/images/gallery/2023-10/app-launcher.png) from the upper left corner of the page and click an app icon. You can access group files from the Outlook, OneDrive, Teams or SharePoint apps. ##### Outlook for the web Expand the **Groups** list in the left navigation pane and select the group you want to access. [](https://kb.astate.edu/uploads/images/gallery/2023-10/outlook-web-groups.png) Once you select the group, you will see the group inbox and some icons at the top. To access the group files, click on the File icon to load the group files. [](https://kb.astate.edu/uploads/images/gallery/2023-10/outlook-web-groups-fileicon.png) ##### OneDrive for the web| [](https://kb.astate.edu/uploads/images/gallery/2025-07/m365groups3.png) |
You cannot view/modify rules from Outlook mobile apps.
Mail rules are very limited for group shared mailboxes. You can only create rules to move, copy, delete or forward.
1. Sign into your mailbox by using Outlook on the web and select the group in the left side navigation. 2. Click on the three horizontal dots from the menu ribbon and select **Rules** > **Manage rules**. 3. To create a new rule, select **Add new rule**.