Manage groups

If you're an administrator of your organization or you have the correct privileges, you can manage groups that members own. For example, you can edit the group details, change who can see and join the group, change the sharing properties, invite members, manage membership requests, change the owner, update a member's role in the group, remove members from a group, and delete the group. You can also invite other members to join the group.

Tip:

It's recommended that you create some groups for members to join that showcase your organization's featured content, basemaps, and templates. This will help users gain an understanding of how content is organized in the portal and how to collaborate with others. For more information, see Site configuration groups.

Edit group properties and settings

To edit the properties and settings of a group owned, managed, or administered by the member, open the group page. Some actions may not be available depending on how the group was created.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your organization and that you have privileges to manage member groups.
2. Click Groups at the top of the site.
3. Use the tabs, filters, sort options, and search as needed to find the group you want to edit.
4. Click the name of the group to open its group page and do any of the following:
   • To edit the information of a group, click Edit next to the property you want to edit, make your edits, and click Save to save your changes. You can edit the group name, summary, description, thumbnail, and so on.
   • To change group settings, such as who can find, join, and contribute to the group, or to specify the type of items (for example, maps or layers) displayed by default on the group's Content and Overview tabs, click the Settings tab and update the properties you want to change. You must have the correct privileges to update the status of a private group or define an Active Directory, LDAP, or SAML group to manage membership.
   • To set up content categories for the group, follow the steps in Categorize content.
   • To change the owner of a group, click Change owner on the Overview tab, search for and select a new group owner, and click Save.

     For shared update groups (that is, groups that allow group members to update all items in the group), group ownership can only be transferred if both of the following conditions are true:

     • The member who is transferring ownership of the group is either a default administrator or has the Groups: Reassign ownership administrative privilege.
     • The member to whom group ownership is being transferred is either a default administrator or has the Groups: Create with update capabilities administrative privilege.

     Only default administrators can own administrative groups (that is, groups that restrict group members from leaving the group) and groups for which the member list is only visible to group owners and managers.

     Tip:

     If you need to change ownership of groups and other items in bulk, you can use the TransferOwnership command line tool. For more information, see Managing items.

   • To prevent the group from being accidentally deleted, click the Settings tab, check the box under Delete protection, and click Save.
   • To delete the group, click the Settings tab and click Delete group. In the Delete window, click Delete. This option is not available if Delete protection is enabled on the group.

     Note:

     If the group is linked to an Active Directory, LDAP, or SAML group from an organization-specific identity store, only the group item is deleted from the portal. The Active Directory, LDAP, or SAML group is unaffected because it is managed by the identity store.

     If the group is deleted directly from the identity store, the group item is retained in the portal. All group members are removed from the item, except the group owner.

Assign members to groups

As an administrator with the correct privileges, you can assign members to groups from the Members tab of the organization.

1. At the top of the site, click Organization and click the Members tab.
2. Select the member or members you want to assign to a group or groups, click More, and click Assign groups.
3. In the window that opens, select the group or groups that you want your members assigned to.

   You can verify the members you are adding by clicking the members selected drop-down list.

4. Click Save.

Manage groups for a specific member

As an administrator, you can manage group membership for a specific member in your organization from the member's Groups page.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your organization and that you have privileges to manage member groups.
2. At the top of the site, click Organization and click the Members tab.
3. Search for the member by name or user name and apply filters as needed.
4. Click the More options button for the member whose groups you want to manage, and click View groups.

   The member's Groups page appears.

5. Do any of the following:
   • If you see an Invitations link, the member has been invited to join the number of groups indicated by the number next to the link. Click Invitations and, for each group, click Join this group or Decline. Click Close when finished.
   • To add the member to one or more groups in your organization, click Add to groups, find and select the groups to add the member to, and click Add to groups.
   • To remove the member from a group, click the Remove member from group link for the group and click Remove.
   • To delete a group owned by the member, click the Delete group link for the group and click Delete.
   • To update the member's role in a group, click the name of the group to open the group page. For more information, see Manage group membership and roles.

Manage group membership and roles

You can remove members from a group and change their group roles from the Members tab of the group page. You can invite members to the group and manage requests to join the group from the Overview tab or the Members tab.Some actions may not be available depending on how the group was created. For example, if the group is linked to an Active Directory, LDAP, or SAML group from an organization-specific identity store, the options to invite users and manage membership requests are not available.

Group owners and administrators with privileges to manage groups can promote group members to group managers to help with group ownership tasks. Group managers can invite users to the group, process membership requests for groups that allow requests, remove content and members, and edit group properties.

1. Verify that you are signed in to your organization and that you have privileges to manage member groups.
2. Click Groups at the top of the site.
3. Use the tabs, filters, sort options, and search as needed to find the group whose properties and settings you want to edit.
4. Click the name of the group to open its group page and do any of the following:
   • To remove one or more members from a group, click the Members tab, check the boxes beside the members you want to remove, and click Remove member from group.
   • To change a member's role in the group, click the Members tab, check the box beside the member whose group role you want to change, and click Update member's group role. From the drop-down menu, select another role and click Update. Group roles include Owner, Group manager, and Group member, and the options available for a user depend on the user's privileges. For example, to be promoted to Group manager, a member must be a member of the same organization as the group owner and have privileges to create and own groups.
   • To manage requests to join the group, click Membership requests on the Overview or Members tab and accept or decline each request.
   • To invite other members to join the group, click Invite users on the Overview or Members tab and select the members you want to invite to the group. You can add users to the group without having to send them invitations that they must accept to become part of the group. To do this, check the Add organization members without requiring confirmation box. Click Send invitations to invite the users to join your group or click Add to group to add members directly.

     Note:

     Invitations are sent as a notification to the selected members; they are not sent as an email. Members see notifications for group invitations when they sign in to the portal. Notifications are listed next to the member's user name in the portal website.