3 Ways to Create Groups in Google Workspace

Juggling team email threads, project files, and permissions can turn into its own full-time job. If your inbox already feels like a whiteboard covered in sticky notes, you’re not alone.

Google Workspace has a simple answer: groups. Build a single address, set who belongs, and the system does the routing and access control for you. In the guide below, you’ll see three quick ways to spin up a group and keep your crew synced.

Table of Contents

• Use Google Workspace's UI
• Use Torii
• Use Google Workspace's API

Use Google Workspace’s UI

This quick guide shows how to create a new email group in Google Admin. Everything happens in the web UI; no code needed.

Step 1 – Open the Admin console

• Go to admin.google.com and sign in with an account that has Group creation rights.
• Complete any 2-Step verification prompt.

Step 2 – Navigate to Groups

• On the Admin console homepage, select Directory in the left-hand menu.
• Click Groups. A list of existing groups (if any) appears.

Step 3 – Create the group

• Click the blue + Create group button.
• A setup panel slides in on the right.

Step 4 – Enter basic details

• Group name: the label users see in Gmail and the directory.
• Group email: something like [email protected]. It must be unique.
• Description: short purpose statement, optional but helpful.
• Click Next.

Step 5 – Set access options

• Decide who can view group members.
• Choose who can post messages (entire web, domain, or only group members).
• Pick how membership requests are handled.
• Click Next when done.

Step 6 – Add members and assign roles

• Type a user’s name or email, then pick from the dropdown.
• Use the role selector to mark each person as Owner, Manager, or Member.
• Leave this blank if you want to add people later.
• Click Add to group, then Done.

Step 7 – Finish up

• Review the summary screen.
• Click Create group. Google confirms creation.
• Close the panel to return to the Groups list, where the new group now appears.

Need edits later? Open Directory > Groups, click the group’s name, and adjust settings or members anytime.

Use Torii

Instead of opening Google Workspace’s admin console every time, use Torii, a SaaS management platform, to create groups in seconds. The platform gives IT one dashboard for all SaaS subscriptions and integrations, so teams can onboard or offboard users, track license data, and more without extra clicks.

Torii can handle the entire group-creation process without human touch. Once a trigger fires, such as a new hire, a departure, or an expiring contract, the workflow handles the update automatically. Repetitive manual steps disappear when the event occurs often.

Follow these steps to set up automatic group creation in Google Workspace through Torii:

1. Sign up for Torii

Contact Torii and request a free, two-week proof of concept.

2. Connect your Google Workspace account to Torii

Once your Torii environment is live, connect your existing Google Workspace tenant. Follow the official instructions here: Google Workspace integration guide.

3. Create a Torii workflow for Google Workspace

In Torii, open the Workflows tab, set your trigger, and add an action that creates the needed group in Google Workspace. From that point onward, every time the trigger criteria are satisfied, Torii will automatically update Google Workspace.

Use Google Workspace’s API

This walkthrough shows how to create a Google Workspace group entirely through the Admin SDK Directory API.

1. Turn on the Directory API for your project

• In Google Cloud Console, make sure the Admin SDK is enabled.
• You’ll need this OAuth scope:

https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.group

2. Grab an access token that can act as an admin

An account with super-admin rights must request the token.

• Create a service account in the same Cloud project.
• In the Admin console, grant that service account domain-wide delegation.
• When you ask for a token, impersonate a super-admin and include the group scope. Here’s a Python example that uses google-auth:

from google.oauth2 import service_account
from google.auth.transport.requests import Request

SCOPES = ['https://www.googleapis.com/auth/admin.directory.group']
SERVICE_ACCOUNT_FILE = 'service-account.json'
ADMIN_USER = '[email protected]'
creds = service_account.Credentials.from_service_account_file(
SERVICE_ACCOUNT_FILE, scopes=SCOPES)
delegated_creds = creds.with_subject(ADMIN_USER)
delegated_creds.refresh(Request())
token = delegated_creds.token
print(token) # use this in the next call

3. Build the request body

Create a JSON payload that includes the group’s email address and name.

{
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "name": "Engineering",
    "description": "All engineers"
}

4. Call groups.insert

Send a POST request to the Directory endpoint. Example with cURL:

curl -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-D @group.json \
"https://admin.googleapis.com/admin/directory/v1/groups"

If you prefer Python:

import requests, json

headers = {
'Authorization': f'Bearer {token}',
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}
body = {
'email': '[email protected]',
'name': 'Engineering',
'description': 'All engineers'
}
r = requests.post(
'https://admin.googleapis.com/admin/directory/v1/groups',
headers=headers,
data=json.dumps(body)
)
print(r.status_code, r.json())

5. Confirm the response

A 200 or 201 status code means the group exists. The response JSON includes the group’s unique ID; keep it for follow-up tasks such as adding members.

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Learn more by visiting Torii.