Managing Email Lists With Group Gator

Group Gator is a tool for designated users to be able to manage certain HandySchool email lists. If you are a delegate on your campus' email lists, these instructions will show you how to use Group Gator.  

IMPORTANT: Though you can use the same spreadsheet every time and just make changes it's more reliable if you use a new spreadsheet each time, only work on the list(s) you need to update on that day, then delete the spreadsheet.   

Getting Started:

Open Google Drive, click the New button then select Google Sheet.

From the list of menu options at the top of the spreadsheet, select Add-ons, highlight Group Gator then click Manage Groups.

 

 You may be prompted to allow Group Gator to install. It may ask for permissions since it needs to access multiple Google services on your behalf. This will only happen the first time you use it. Click to agree on all prompts.

Once installation has completed Group Gator will open as a sidebar on the right side of the screen and is ready to begin managing your groups. 

How to select groups in Group Gator:

Select which group you would like to manage from the drop down menu then click Manage Group In Sheet. Repeat this for each group that you wish to update that day.  You will have a new tab at the bottom of your sheet for each group you selected. 

 

After importing a group to the spreadsheet you are given additional buttons that allow you to add users and run bulk updates based on changes made to the spreadsheet. 

Adding a user:

Click on the Add users icon that looks like a little person.

 Select the group in which you would like to add a user. By default it will show the group for the tab you have open which makes the most sense.

 

Type in the name of the person you’d like to add to the group then click on the search icon. The  search results will show the user’s name, email address and avatar so you can always be sure you're adding the correct user to the list.  This is especially important since we have students with the same name as some of our staff.

After clicking on the user to add them to the list, that user will show up in the spreadsheet with their  mail address, first name, last name, and a timestamp of when they were added.

Adding users in this manner is an immediate change.

Note: You can add a user to the group by typing their email address into the Google Sheet but we do not recommend that method.  If the address isn't exactly correct (using a nickname or typo in the address) the process will fail.  Adding users with the Add icon is the safest way to ensure a successful list update.

Removing a user:

Removing a user is a slightly different process with a couple more steps but equally as easy. To remove a user, simply delete their row on the spreadsheet or clear the contents of the cells.

Once all users are removed you will perform a bulk update by selecting the up-down arrows icon from the tab bar next to the Add icon.  You may notice an exclamation mark next to group names for which you’ve made edits in the sheet.  Select the group you’d like to update.

 If multiple groups were impacted by changes, you can select all of them at once. Note that Update Group from sheet is selected as the update direction.

After clicking the Preview and Apply Changes button you are able to see the changes that will be made to the spreadsheet. If it looks correct, click Apply All Changes for the sync to begin. If it indicates a lot more users will be deleted than you intended, be sure to check the red warning above. 

Please wait to close the window until the prompt says the changes have been successfully made. It only takes a few seconds.

 If you are unsure if changes have been applied, such as if a user has been successfully added, look under the Sync status column in the spreadsheet. If  Added to Google group is written on the same line as user that was just added, then that means the sync was successful.

You've successfully managed your email lists!