What is Office 365 Groups? How does it work?

Office 365 Groups is a service developed with collaboration in mind. It works with the Office 365 apps you use already so you can collaborate with your teammates when writing documents, creating spreadsheets, working on project plans, scheduling meetings, or sending email.

By creating a group in Outlook you’ll get:

  • Shared Inbox – For email conversations between your members. This inbox has an email address and can be set to accept messages from people outside the group and even outside your organization, much like a traditional distribution list
  • Shared Calendar – For scheduling events related to the group
  • Document Library – A central place for the group to store and share files
  • Shared OneNote Notebook – For gathering ideas, research, and information

You don’t have to manually create any of those resources; creating the group automatically creates them for you and assigns the necessary permissions for your group members so they can start using them right away.

You can access these resources through the familiar Microsoft Outlook 2016 desktop client, via Outlook on the Web or using Groups apps on iOS, Android or Windows Phone External link, opens in new window..

If you would like additional information before using Office 365 Groups, please see the following links:

Learn more (information provided by Microsoft)
Video introduction (a short introduction, approximately 1.30 minutes regarding the key functions of Office 365 Groups)

Additional information:

How to create an Office 365 Group External link, opens in new window.
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