Admin settings for groups

Important group admin settings to understand

Some of the most important group settings that a group admin or workspace admin who belongs to the group can control revolve around who can join a group, who can reply in a group, and archiving the group. Workspace admins can manage any group in the workspace, even if they are not a member of that group.

Group Access

Group or workspace admins can control who in your workspace can join a group (open vs closed group). Group content is currently not visible to a user until they join the group, even if the group is open.

Open Group

Anyone in your workspace can find and join the group.

Closed Group

Anyone in your workspace can find the group, but must request access and be approved by an admin (of the group or workspace).

Group Replies

By default, anyone in a group can send chats and start threads. However, group and workspace admins can turn off replies in group chats to make a group read-only, restricting posts to admins only.

When to Use

Read-only groups work best in large companies that might need to make a group just to push announcements, and reduce the notification noise of everyone replying.

Most groups should remain open for conversation. Use this setting sparingly to keep communication dynamic.

Turn off replies in any Group

Workspace and group admins can control who can reply in a group:

• Go to Group Settings > Group Chat.

• Change reply permissions from “Everyone” to “Only admins.”

Group Settings menu to turn off Group Chat replies

Group members who are not admins will not see these Group chat settings in the settings menu. There are other visual indicators that will let them if know replies are turned off.

Turn off replies in the General Group

The General group includes all workspace members automatically. Anyone can post messages here, making it ideal for company-wide updates or discussions.

Workspace admins can control who can reply in the General group to make it read-only:

• Go to Workspace Settings > General Group Chat.

• Change reply permissions from “Everyone” to “Only admins.”

Most companies should leave the General group open for communication, but for large companies that want to reduce notification noise, you can make the General group an announcement-only forum.

Workspace Settings menu to turn off General Group Chat replies

What Happens When Group Replies Are Turned Off?

When a group is made read-only:

• Only admins can send chats or threads to that group.

• All other group members can still read, react, and share message links.

Visual Indicators

Admin Badges

When a group has replies turned off, admins will have a role badge appear next to their profile picture both in messages and in the group member list. That way you can easily see who has admin privileges in the group.

Message Editor

• Admins: A banner above the message editor reminds you replies are off, but you can still post based on your role.

• Other members: The message editor is hidden with a banner explaining replies are turned off.

Non-admin view when Group chat replies are turned off

Removing users from a Group

Only admins (workspace and group admins) can remove users from a group after they've been added.

1. Go to the group members list (via group settings or clicking on the group name)

2. Search for or find the user you need to remove

3. Click the dropdown arrow that lists them as an admin or member

4. Select "Remove User"

5. Confirm removing the user.

Archiving or deleting the Group for everyone

Archiving the group

Group admins and workspace admins who belong to a group can archive the group for all members of the group. This keeps your groups view free of the clutter, but allows you to still search and reference the contents of the group.

Archiving a group will:

• Prevent new threads or chat messages from being sent to the group. The message composer will be hidden in the group and a banner will be displayed in its place that says the group has been archived.

• Remove the group from the Groups tab for all members of the workspace.

• Move the group to an "Archived" section in the Group Directory.

• Display an icon next to the name of the group to show it's been archived. The icon looks like a storage bin.

• Allow you to unarchive the group at any time.

Group Directory view of Archived groups

How to archive a group

• Go to Groups Settings.

• Scroll down to the bottom to find "Archive for everyone" and select that.

• A pop up will come up confirming if you want to archive the group. Select "Archive group."

Try to set a cadence for regularly archiving old groups to keep the workspace organized.

Deleting the group

Group admins and workspace admins who belong to a group can permanently delete the group from the workspace. If you know you no longer need to use or reference the contents of the group, you can delete it.

All members of the group will immediately lose access to the thread and message history from the group. This action cannot be undone and the group cannot be restored.

How to delete a group

• Go to Groups Settings.

• Scroll down to the bottom to find "Advanced Settings" and click to expand the menu.

• Click on "Delete group."

• A pop up will come up confirming if you want to delete the group. You will need to type in DELETE to confirm and then click the "Delete group" button.