You can now add Google Groups to Chat spaces

Google has added the ability for space managers and users with the permission to manage members to add Google Groups to spaces in Chat. The group members will be automatically added to a space and any changes to the group's membership will also automatically reflect in the space.

Since memberships are updated from Groups to Chat, any change to the space membership will not be reflected in the group members list.  Additionally, some groups and their members may not be visible to all members in the space as group member visibility in spaces will respect the group’s member visibility settings set in Google Groups.

"This feature adds a Google Group to a space and continuously syncs membership from Groups to Chat, making membership management, especially adding or removing a large number of members, much easier," Google said.

Admins can restrict the ability to add groups to spaces to Google Group owners and managers. In the admin console, go to Menu > Apps > Google Workspace > Google Chat > select Groups in Chat > Choose who can add groups to spaces > click Save. The admin controls are gradually rolling out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains and may take up to 15 days to be fully visible.

You cannot add a group to a space if your admin has restricted this ability to the Group owners and managers.

If permitted by their admins, end-users can add the Google Group as a member:

• Select the space > go to space settings
• Click Manage members > select the "+ Add" button
• Enter the name of the group you want to add
• Click Add.

The ability to add Google Groups to spaces in Google Chat will gradually roll out to Rapid Release domains, starting on October 17, 2023. Scheduled Release domains, on the other hand, will see this feature starting on November 1, 2023. It will be available to all domain-verified Google Workspace customers.