Posted by Ryan Falor, Google Groups Product Manager

Google Groups makes communicating with a group of people easy through online and email-based communities. Some groups are in high demand and have many active members or receive a lot of messages from external senders. Google Apps customers have told us that it’s time-consuming for group leaders to respond to every message individually. So based on your feedback, we’re launching a new auto-reply feature for Google Groups for Business to help streamline communications.

If you’re the creator or administrator of a Google Group, the auto-reply feature allows you to create up to four different, customized responses for different recipients:

1. Group members from inside your company
2. Non-members from inside your company
3. Group members from outside your company
4. Non-members from outside your company

Imagine your company has a Google Group set up for customer support, and the address is published on your website. If the office will be closed during the holidays, setting up automatic replies could be helpful. For company employees who email the group, you can provide the CEO’s cell phone number in case of emergencies. For non-members, you can add a note instructing them to join the group for updates. And for external customers, your automatic reply can say the company is closed for the holidays but will respond to inquiries after January 2.

To get started using auto replies in Google Groups for Business, go to Email Options under your group Settings.

Posted by Boris Khvostichenko, Product Manager, Google Calendar

Life is full of changes, especially at work. As some people retire or move on to new jobs, other people arrive to take their place. Even within a company, people often switch teams and take on new roles, which can dramatically change how they spend their time or who they need to meet with at work.

Google Calendar should make it easy to manage your schedule at work, especially if you're switching teams and trying to attend a new set of meetings. Starting today when Google Calendar invitations are sent to members of a Google Group, the attendee list will automatically update as people join or leave the group.

When you join a Google Group, you will be added to all of its meetings. And if you leave a group, those meetings will be removed from your calendar. Now you don’t have to worry about missing your new team’s meetings or having your calendar overrun by events that no longer matter.

This update will roll out to Rapid Release customers today and to Scheduled Release customers in the coming weeks. It will only apply to new calendar events created after the roll out is complete, but you can apply it to existing meetings by re-inviting the group.

Posted by Ryan Falor, Product Manager, Google Groups

(Cross-post noted on the Gmail Blog)

With Google Groups, you can manage a mailing list, coordinate with your team, and find experts who share your interests. Over the last year we have been working on improving the experience and adding new features while keeping our old version running.

Today we’re retiring the old version and excited to be bringing the new Google Groups to everyone. If you haven’t tried Groups in a while you’ll notice improved options for managing your groups and long time users may be surprised by all the features we have added along the way.

One of the recently improved features is the ability to create an inbox that allows you to collaboratively share, distribute and track responsibilities with others. Imagine you and a few co-workers are organizing an event for your global team and want a single email address to coordinate with vendors, attendees, and speakers. Members of the group can work together to manage email, assign items to each other, and mark items resolved. This can be a great feature for teams seeking a really simple way to get things done without sharing passwords or losing track.
Additionally, there are several new moderation tools to make managing your forum easier and faster. For example, you can now use canned responses in forums and use streamlined options to make moderating forum posts easier. And if you are on the go, you can browse and moderate your groups with our mobile website.

You can learn more about the new Google Groups in the help center.