Stepwise Instructions On How to Create a Microsoft 365 Group

Microsoft 365 Groups allow people to collaborate and work more engagingly. Therefore, an organization whose employees have the answer on how to create a Microsoft 365 Group has an edge over its competitors. However, Office 365 group creation is a complex subject involving several variables such as permissions, policies, services, etc.

With this in mind, the objective of our article is simple, to present the most straightforward approach for forming an O365 group. Moreover, we also discuss multiple ways by which admins and users can make and operate groups on any Microsoft 365 service of their choice. 

However, before we begin the setup, let’s understand what is a M365 Group, and its underlying architecture. 

Microsoft 365 Group Architecture Visualized

The first step towards learning anything new is knowing its internal structure. This is especially true if users want a sure-shot way of setting up a Microsoft 365 Group. Given below is a crash course in Microsoft 365 Group.

In essence, M365 Group is a service that brings the different Microsoft apps together on a single platform. 

It includes the following components: 

• Exchange Online (mailbox, calendar)
• SharePoint Online (document library)
• Microsoft Teams (chat, meetings) 
• Planner (task management)
• Yammer (social networking) 
• Power BI (data visualization)

Any user who has the “Global Administrator”, “User Administrator”, or “Group Administrator” role can answer how to create a Microsoft 365 group. Moreover, this process can be automated by assigning policies through Azure Active Directory.

A user can belong to one of three categories:

• Owners – They can not only add and remove members at will but also possess exclusive authority such as the power to remove entire conversations. Moreover, owners can also rename the group, modify the description, and change its profile picture. Apart from the other having the default admin privileges.
• Members – Members consist of the majority of the users in any group. They have free access to everything in the group, except the group settings. However, group members can extend invitations to outside individuals to join your group.
• Guests – They are temporary members of a group with view-only permissions by default. Guests are outsiders who can be asked to take part in a joint endeavor via invitations.

Admins then provide access to resources based on the category a user belongs in. 

Equipped with the basic knowledge of Microsoft 365 Groups, users are ready to learn about group types currently available in the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.

Find Out How to Set up a Microsoft 365 Group of Your Choice

The group types in Microsoft 365 are given below:

• Microsoft 365 Groups include SharePoint and Planner as collaboration tools. Moreover, it is used by MS Teams as well.
• Distribution groups come in handy when users want to send email notifications in bulk outside the organization.
• Dynamic distribution groups are utilized for simultaneous intra-organization email exchange. 
• Security groups are the gatekeepers for accessing resources like Teams or Sharepoint.
• Mail-enabled security groups as the name suggests are responsible for managing security for emailing notifications.
• Shared mailboxes are not exactly a Microsoft 365 group but it works on the same basic principle. It is created when more than one person requires access to the same mailbox.

The Steps For How to Create a Microsoft 365 Group Are

Step-1. Visit Admin-Center and then click on Groups.

Step-2. Hit “Add a group”, then the “Choose a group type” page opens, pick Microsoft 365, and click Next.

Step-3. In the Basics section, type the group name, and if you wish, provide a description as well. Proceed, by clicking Next.

Step-4. Then, visit the Owners page, and choose the group manager(s)(maximum limit is up to 100). Hit Next.

Step-5. Navigate to the Members page, and appoint all the people who need to be members of the group (Microsoft recommends not more than 1000 to avoid issues). Press Next.

Step-6. Enter the Settings page, input a distinct email address for the group that was not previously used, configure the privacy settings, and then press Next.

Step-7. Take a look at all the settings, and make any changes. Then press Create Group. Finally, press Close.

After knowing how to create a Microsoft 365 Group a question often arises “Are there cases where I need to Migrate Microsoft 365 Groups”. The answer is of course there are. The next section covers them in brief. 

Real-Life Scenarios that Demand a Group Migration in Microsoft 365

Here are some day-to-day business situations requiring a group transfer:

• Company Merger: A merger or acquisition is a complex scenario involving multiple layers. One of the most important is data migration which in many cases also contains groups as well.

• Security Enhancement: Once a company has an answer for how to create a Microsoft 365 Group they oftentimes need a group migration to take their security up a notch.
• Cloud Adoption: More and more organizations look forward to joining the cloud-based infrastructure. A key step in that transition is ‌moving the on-premise group setup to the cloud.

These are just a few of the reasons. However, there is a vast array of such causes that can be user-specific. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a solution. 

Wrap-Up

This guide taught users how to create a Microsoft 365 Group along with the importance of setting it up. Moreover, users now know the different group types and the rules to set up each one of them. However many occasions arise where companies look to shift or join their O365 groups. For that, the above-mentioned utility is all that’s required.