Google: Calendar Invitation Behavior with MCommunity Groups

Environment

U-M Google, Google Calendar, MCommunity groups

Issue

• If I invite an MCommunity group to a calendar event and later add new members to the group, will those new members automatically receive the calendar invitation?
• Do the group's settings and individual roles affect behavior in Google Calendar?
• Do behaviors change for recurring events vs. single events?

Resolution

Addition/removal of members from the group

• New members added to an MCommunity group after a calendar event has been created will automatically receive the invitation via email and find it in their calendar.
• Also, members who are removed from a group after an event has been created will automatically have the event removed from their calendars, and their previous invite email will change to say "Unable to retrieve this event from your calendar" in the RSVP section.

MCommunity settings and roles

There are situations (listed below) in which different behaviors may occur when you invite an MCommunity group to a calendar event. All behaviors are the same for both single and recurring events.

In the MCommunity group settings:

• "Who can view members" is set to "Anyone with an @umich.edu address"
  • If you are a member, member-owner, only an owner, or not in the group, inviting the group will send an invite email and calendar event to every group member.
  • You can also view the group members and their RSVP status in the calendar event by clicking the down arrow beside the group name. 
  • If someone in the group is only an owner, they won't receive the invite via email or calendar. You'd need to invite them manually as guests to the event or add them as a group member.
  • Subgroups within the main group must have the same setting to expand in the calendar invite and see each subgroup member's RSVP.
• "Who can view members" is set to "Members only"
  • If you are a member or a member-owner, inviting the group will send an invite email and a calendar event to every group member.
    • You can also view the group members and their RSVP status in the calendar event by clicking the down arrow beside the group name.
    • As a member of the group, you'll still receive a separate invite email to yourself, which you can ignore.
  • If you're only an owner or not in the group, you will receive an error message after entering the group into the Guests field:
    • "You don't have permissions to view the (email@umich.edu) members list. If you continue, group members will receive the email invitation but must add the event to their calendars manually. Learn more."
    • If you click Continue and send the invite (ensuring to send the notification), Google will email the group with the invitation, and all group members will receive that email. However, the event won't appear on their calendar automatically. They must respond to the RSVP email before it appears on their calendar.
    • You, as the event creator, will receive an email for each member's response and can see them listed as an individual guest (outside the group) on the event with their RSVP. However, you won't be able to expand the group in the event to find a full list of members.
• "Restrict who can send messages to this group" is set to "Anyone"
  • This ensures that Google can send calendar invitations and event update emails to group members.
  • Changing this to "Selected addresses only" may prevent these emails from being sent to members. While this isn't always the case, it's better to keep it set to "Anyone" to avoid issues.

Known issue: MCommunity group synced incorrectly with Google

• Sometimes, event creators will receive the "You don't have permissions to view the members list" error mentioned above, even though the MCommunity group settings and their group role are correct.
• Other times, they don't receive an error but notice that the group in the calendar event doesn't list or invite all members.
• This is often due to the MCommunity group incorrectly syncing with Google.
• To resolve this issue, contact the ITS Service Center for assistance with resyncing the group with Google.

Additional Information

• Google will only display the first 200 group members in the event details if the MCommunity group has more than 200 members.
• Uniqnames marked as private are included as members of MCommunity groups synced to Google.
• MCommunity groups associated with Shared Accounts do not sync membership to Google. Inviting the account's group will not invite the members, only the account.

Need additional information or assistance? Contact the ITS Service Center.