Collaborate and communicate using Microsoft 365 groups

When working in a team or on a project, you tend to communicate with the same group of people via email or Microsoft Teams on a regular basis. You would normally add each person one at a time when you communicate with them, which is time consuming and could result in you forgetting to add someone if it’s a big group.

Microsoft 365 groups are designed to help you communicate more effectively. A group can be created for each project or team that you regularly engage with. Once this group is set up, you can send emails, communicate via Teams, collaborate on documents, and schedule meetings. This ensures that all the relevant people receive the same information, with the same permissions access. Basically, it is like a shared mailbox and distribution list rolled into one.

Microsoft 365 Groups has replaced Mailman

UCT staff previously had access to the Mailman bulk mailing list service to send emails to large groups on and off campus, as well as manage subscriptions.

With different bulk mailing platforms now being used on campus (i.e., Everlytic), Microsoft 365 Groups was identified as the ideal solution to replace Mailman as it complements our existing offerings and improves mailing list management and group collaborations.

The Mailman service has since been decommissioned and all eligible mailing lists have been migrated to Microsoft 365 Groups.

This offering is easy to set up and manage. It also complements Microsoft Teams, which is already being used for communication and collaboration across campus.

What’s the difference between Mailman and Microsoft 365 Groups?

The major difference between Mailman and Groups is that Mailman had an online interface where you could easily manage your lists using the wide range of available administrative functionality.

Microsoft 365 groups are set up differently in that most of the administrative settings are managed in the backend by ICTS. List owners can

Manage group membership
Select whether a group should be public or private
Create the group name
Allow external emails to be sent to group

All other functionality such as moderation is managed by ICTS.

The table below outlines some of the major differences between the two platforms.

Mailman vs Microsoft 365 Groups

Feature	Mailman	Microsoft 365 Groups
Create a mailing list	You would need to have logged a call each time you needed a new mailing list.	You can now create your own group directly in Outlook. If you’re more comfortable getting help to do this, please either log an online call with the IT Helpdesk, or send an email to icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za. In your request, please provide: preferred list name overview of the list list of members’ email addresses to be added Whether you create it yourself or get help, list owners receive an email address to which bulk emails can be sent via Outlook, Everlytic, or similar messaging platforms can manage subscriptions and list administration via Microsoft 365 Groups Outlook.com is the best option to manage you groups once it has been created. Navigate to https://outlook.office.com and log on with your staffnumber@wf.uct.ac.za and UCT password. Click Sign In. In the left pane where your Inbox and Sent Items are listed, scroll down to Groups. You can either create a new group or edit an existing one that you own. List owners can view and manage all their groups at https://outlook.office.com/people/group/owner.
Public vs private	You could prevent unwanted people from joining your private mailing list by setting Privacy Options on the Mailman backend. Public lists were findable via the Mailman web interface.	Groups are automatically made private upon creation. This ensures that only group members can see what is happening in the group. If you would like to make your group visible to anyone at UCT, you can make it public. NOTE: All Mailman mailing lists that were migrated to Microsoft 365 Groups are visible on the Global Address List but this is set to change. Newly created lists are not automatically visible but can be made public by following these instructions.
Manage members	You could view members alphabetically from the Mailman online interface using the Manage Members option.	For a complete list of members in a group, check Groups on Outlook.com instead of the Outlook desktop client. Outlook Web App lists all members per group, while the Outlook desktop client only lists the first 100 group members, whereas Outlook Web App shows the complete list. Navigate to https://outlook.office.com and log on with your staffnumber@wf.uct.ac.za and UCT password. Click Sign In. In the left pane where your Inbox and Sent Items are listed, scroll down to Groups. Select the applicable group that you manage. Click Members to view the list of owner(s) and members. List owners can view and manage all their groups at https://outlook.office.com/people/group/owner.
Add members	You could enable settings to allow members to automatically subscribe to your mailing list or put settings in place that would allow you to moderate new subscriptions. You could also add new members via the Manage Members option.	Only group owners can manually add members to a list. Before adding a member, always make sure that the person is not already on the Members list. A complete list of members can be found on Outlook Web App. Navigate to https://outlook.office.com and log on with your staffnumber@wf.uct.ac.za and UCT password. Click Sign In. Select the applicable group and click Members to view the list owner(s) and members. Click Add members and enter the email address of a new member. For bulk uploads, please either log an online call with the IT Helpdesk, or send an email to icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za. In your request, please provide the list of members’ email addresses to be added.
Enable welcome message	You could enable a setting via the Mailman web interface that allowed new members to receive a welcome message containing more information about the group, and where applicable, their username and password.	New members will soon receive a welcome message once they have been added to a group. The group will then appear in their Groups list on Outlook.
Remove members	You could remove members by unsubscribing them from the Mailman online interface using the Manage Members option. Additionally, members could also automatically unsubscribe from a list or send a request to the list owner.	Only list owners can remove members. Navigate to https://outlook.office.com and log on with your staffnumber@wf.uct.ac.za and UCT password. Click Sign In. Select the applicable group that you own and click Members. Click X next to the name of the member you would like to remove. For bulk removals, please either log an online call with the IT Helpdesk, or send an email to icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za. In your request, please provide the list of members’ email addresses to be added.
Unsubscribe to a list/group	You could unsubscribe from a mailing list via the Mailman backend or send an email to the list owner.	Follow these instructions to leave a group you’re currently part of. External members will need to send an email to icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za to be removed from the mailing list.
Subscribe to a list/group	You could subscribe from a mailing list via the Mailman backend or send an email to the list owner.	Follow these instructions to join a group you’re keen to be a part of.
Delete a list/group	You would have needed to log a call to permanently delete a mailing list.	If a group is no longer needed, you can delete it following these instructions. It is important to note that when you delete a group, you’re removing all the information related to this group. This includes: Conversations Files Notebook Planner tasks Deleted groups can, however, be recovered up until 30 days after the date it was deleted. Where there is no list owner, please either log an online call with the IT Helpdesk, or send an email to icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za. The Head of Department will need to authorise this request.
Manage subscription requests	List administrators and moderators were notified daily of pending administrative requests (i.e., subscription requests). By default, if approval was required for subscription, an email was immediately sent to the list administrators and moderators for each subscription request.	List owners will receive an email notification when a new member wants to subscribe to their group. You can either choose to accept or reject the request.
Manage senders	Open vs closed lists – Anyone can send an email to these lists, whether a member of the list or not. Only subscribers to these lists can send an email to the list.	Moderation has been turned on for all mailing lists, excluding those where owners opted to turn moderation off. This includes new lists and those that were migrated from Mailman. This ensures that only the list owner(s) and members who have rights to email the group without moderation, can send to the group without requiring approval. Emails sent by all other members will be moderated and either released or rejected by the list owner or moderator. List owners can log a call with the IT Helpdesk to verify who the current moderators are, and either add or remove individuals. Please either log an online call or send an email to icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za. In your request, please provide the list of members’ email addresses to be added or removed.
Ban from subscribing	You could set the mailing list to automatically accept, reject, discard or hold members posts for approval, all depending on the email address of the sender. Settings could also be put in place for non-member posts.	Only list owners and moderators are able to release messages sent by any member of the group.
Maximum message size allowed	Mailman placed a limit on the size of message that it could deliver to. This prevented large messages from disrupting the list server or user mailboxes. Owners could change the default value if it wasn’t large enough to allow messages and file attachments to pass through in a manner suitable for their list's purpose.	The maximum size for an email sent via groups is 36MB. The maximum size of an email that can be received is 35MB. This is applicable to internal and external members.
Archiving	Mailman archived all correspondence on the mailing list and allowed users to view this correspondence using their web browser.	All emails sent to the group are automatically stored in the group’s mailbox. It is recommended that emails in these mailboxes are not deleted to ensure there is a reference of all emails sent via the group. Please either log an online call with the IT Helpdesk or send an email to icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za if a member accidently deletes emails in the group mailbox.
Contact the list owner or the list moderators directly	List owners could be contacted using a dedicated admin email address.	You can see who the list owner is of a particular group by navigating to Outlook.com. Navigate to https://outlook.office.com and log on with your student/staffnumber@wf.uct.ac.za and UCT password. Click Sign In. In the left pane where your Inbox and Sent Items are listed, scroll down to Groups. Select the applicable group that you want to join and click Members to view the list of owners. If the list is private, please either log an online call with the IT Helpdesk or send an email to icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za to be added to the list.
Set up your mailing list(s) to send appointment requests	You could send Outlook appointment requests, using the available settings.	You can still send meeting invites to a group. Instead of adding each member’s email address separately, enter the group email address. This should only be used when all group members are required to attend the meeting.
Manage spam and attachments	You could block spam by filtering messages that contained specific headers.	This is done automatically by our spam filtering service, Mimecast, and Microsoft Exchange online protection.
Change a mailing list's subscription	There was an option to change the mailing list’s email address.	Once a group name is created, it along with the email address can only be changed afterwards via the IT Helpdesk. Please either log an online call with the IT Helpdesk or send an email to icts-helpdesk@uct.ac.za and indicate what updates are required.
Copy of email sent to sender’s mailbox	Recipients and the sender would receive a copy of the email in their mailbox	Everyone in the group except the sender receives a copy of the email. The sender can, either add their email address in the BCC field, or check the group mailbox, to ensure the email was successfully delivered.
Non-delivery report	You would receive a mail undelivered notification for each email that was successfully delivered to a particular recipient	You will still receive a similar email to what was sent in Mailman, with some subtle differences.

Set up your group and start engaging

If your team or group regularly communicates via email or needs a shared mailbox, then we recommend that you set up your group in Outlook. If Microsoft Teams is your preferred method of working, then set up a dedicated team.

Currently only UCT staff members are able to create Microsoft 365 groups.

Manage your Microsoft 365 group in Outlook

Work with Microsoft 365 groups

Note: a group can be edited at any time, but the group’s name can only be changed by the IT Helpdesk.

When to use Groups:	When not to use Groups:
To send formal communications to mailing lists or groups. To share information that doesn’t require feedback. For projects. To regularly communicate with the same group. To maintain a record of communications.	To send low priority messages, or informative and inspirational communications. When group decision-making is required. When you want to store historical documentation

Group creation

Only create a group when you need to, always ensuring that a similar group does not already exist.

When creating a group, ensure that you consider carefully whether to make it private or public.
Most groups should be private as this will ensure that all content is only accessible to those who are owners or members.
Only add applicable people to your groups, i.e. those working on dedicated deliverables.

Group management

It is important that each group has at least two owners. This is helpful when moderating emails and managing admin tasks. This also prevents a group from being without a list owner if the person leaves UCT.

Group owners are responsible for ensuring that membership is maintained, by removing and adding members, as well as assigning access, as required.

File management

All files saved in groups are saved in SharePoint. These files are accessible to all members. It is therefore important that confidential and personal information should not be stored here. Rather save it in on Teams or in a folder that is only accessible to the people who need to view it.

View our best practices for managing files on Microsoft Teams, which has similar principles in Microsoft 365 Groups.

Known issues

Sender does not receive a copy of the email that was sent to Microsoft 365 groups

When you send an email to your group it is successfully delivered to all members except your mailbox. ICTS is currently investigation this with Microsoft.

In the meantime, please either BCC your email address when sending emails or check your group’s mailbox in Outlook or Outlook.com to see if the email was successfully delivered