#Create a Group

On the User management > Groups page, you can create groups of different types. For more information about group types, refer to Compare types of groups in Microsoft 365.

#Create a Microsoft 365 Group

To create a Microsoft 365 Group, complete the following steps:

1. Under the Microsoft 365 Groups tab, click Create.

2. Complete the basics for this Microsoft 365 Group, including:

   • Display name – Enter the display name of this Microsoft 365 Group.

   • Group email address – Enter the email address for the group.

   • Description – Enter an optional description for the group.

3. Click Continue to proceed.

4. Manage membership, including:

   • Microsoft Entra roles can be assigned to the group – If this is turned on, you can assign roles defined in your Microsoft Entra ID to this group. For more information, refer to Use Microsoft Entra groups to manage role assignments.

   • Membership type – Select from Assigned and Dynamic user.

     For a group with Assigned membership type, you need to manually assign owners and members for this group.

     For a group with Dynamic user membership type, you can configure rules to automatically manage membership for this group.

     To manage the membership, complete the following steps:

     1. In the Owners field, configure the users you want to assign as owners.

     2. Click Customize rules for membership.

     3. To add a rule for the user membership management, select a condition and enter a value for the rule. If you want to add more than one rule, click Add rule to add more rules.

     4. Click Save to save the rules and go back to the Manage membership panel.

5. Click Continue to proceed or click Back to go back to the previous step.

   NOTE

   For both Assigned and Dynamic user, if you plan to add ‎Microsoft Teams‎ to this Microsoft group, all owners must have a license that includes ‎Teams‎.‎ For more information, refer to Manage Teams licenses.

6. Edit settings for this Microsoft 365 Group, including:

   • Privacy – Select from Public or Private.

     • Content in a public group can be seen by anybody in your organization, and anybody in your organization is able to join the group.

     • Content in a private group can only be seen by the members of the group, and people who want to join a private group have to be approved by a group owner.

   • Allow external senders to email this Group – Select to enable or disable.

   • Send copies of Group conversations and events to Group members – Select to enable or disable.

   • Hide from my organization’s global address list – Select to enable or disable.

   • Add Microsoft Teams to this Group – Select to enable or disable.

7. Click Save.

#Create a Distribution Group

To create a distribution group, navigate to the Distribution groups tab. For a hybrid tenant, click Create and then choose whether to create the distribution group in Microsoft 365 or in the on-premises Active Directory. For cloud tenants, you will only have the option to create a distribution group in Microsoft 365.

Complete the following steps to create a distribution group in Microsoft 365:

1. Create distribution group in – If the current tenant is a hybrid tenant, select Microsoft 365 tenantto create a distribution group in Microsoft 365. Skip this step if the current tenant is a cloud tenant.

2. Complete the basics for this distribution group, including:

   • Display name – Enter the display name of this distribution group.

   • Group email address – Enter the email address for this distribution group.

   • Mark this group as room list – Turn on or off the toggle to indicate if you want to mark this distribution group as a room list.

     If you mark a distribution group as a room list, the group’s membership type will be automatically set to Assigned and cannot be modified, and only room mailboxes can be added as members.

     NOTE

     Only use this for distribution groups intended to manage rooms. Do not enable this for regular distribution groups, as this action cannot be undone once enabled.

   • Description – Enter an optional description for the group.

3. Click Continue to proceed to the next step.

4. Manage membership, including:

   • Membership type – Select from Assigned or Dynamic user.

     For a group with Assigned membership type, you need to manually assign owners and members for this group.

     For a group with Dynamic user membership type, you can configure rules to automatically manage membership for this group. To manage the membership, complete the following steps:

     1. In the Owners field, select the users you want to assign as owners.

     2. Click Customize rules for membership. The Customize rules for membership window appears.

     3. Select the recipient type.

     4. To add a rule for the user membership management, select a condition and enter a value for the rule. If you want to add more than one rule, click Add rule to add more rules.

     5. Click Save to save the rules and go back to the Manage membership panel.

5. Click Continue to proceed or click Back to go back to the previous step.

6. Edit settings for the group, including:

   • Allow external senders to email this group – Select to enable or disable.

   • Joining the group – Select from Open, Closed, and Owner approval.

     • Open – Anyone can join this group without owner approval.

     • Closed – Only group owners can add members. All requests to join will be automatically declined.

     • Owner approval – Anyone can request to join this group, and owners must approve the request.

   • Leaving the group – Select from Open and Closed.

     • Open – Anyone can leave this group without group owner approval.

     • Closed – Only group owners can remove members. All requests to leave will be automatically declined.

7. Click Save.

Complete the following steps to create a distribution group in the on-premises Active Directory:

1. Create distribution group in – Select On-Premises environment to create a distribution group in the on-premises Active Directory.

2. Complete the basics for the distribution group, including:

   • Display name – Enter the display name of this distribution group.

   • Group name (pre-Windows 2000) – Enter the pre-Windows 2000 group name.

   • Domain – Select a domain for the group.

   • Group email address – Enter the email address for the group.

   • Company/Organization – Select the company/organization from the drop-down list.

3. Click Continue to proceed to the next step.

4. Manage membership, including:

   • Managed by – Select the user you want to assign as the manager.

   • Members – Select the users that you want to assign as members.

5. Click Save.

#Create a Security Group

To create a security group, navigate to the Security groups tab. For a hybrid tenant, click Create and then choose whether to create the security group in Microsoft 365 or in the on-premises Active Directory. For cloud tenants, you will only have the option to create a security group in Microsoft 365.

Complete the following steps to create a security group in Microsoft 365:

1. Create security group in – If the current tenant is a hybrid tenant, select Microsoft 365 tenantto create a security group in Microsoft 365. Skip this step if the current tenant is a cloud tenant.

2. Complete the basics for this security group, including:

   • Display name – Enter the display name of this security group.

   • Description – Enter an optional description.

3. Click Continue to proceed to the next step.

4. Manage membership, including:

   • Microsoft Entra roles can be assigned to the Group – If this is enabled, you can assign roles defined in your Microsoft Entra ID to this group.

   • Membership type – Select from Assigned or Dynamic user.

     For a group with Assigned membership type, you need to manually assign owners and members for this group.

     For a group with Dynamic user membership, you can configure rules to automatically manage membership for this group. To manage the membership, complete the following steps:

     1. In the Owners field, select the users you want to assign as owners.

     2. Click Customize rules for membership. The Customize rules for membership window appears.

     3. To add a rule for the user membership management, select a condition and enter a value for the rule. If you want to add more than one rule, click Add rule to add more rules.

     4. Click Save to save the rules and go back to the Manage membership panel.

5. Click Save.

Complete the following steps to create a security group in the on-premises Active Directory:

1. Create security group in – Select On-Premises environment to create a distribution group in the on-premises Active Directory.

2. Complete the basics for the security group, including:

   • Display name – Enter the display name of the group.

   • Group name (pre-Windows 2000) – Enter the pre-Windows 2000 group name.

   • Domain – Select a domain for the group.

   • Group email address – Enter the email address for the group.

   • Company/Organization – Select the company/organization from the drop-down list.

3. Click Continue to proceed to the next step.

4. Manage membership, including:

   • Managed by – Select the user you want to assign as the manager.

   • Members – Select the users that you want to assign as members.

5. Click Save.

#Create a Mail-enabled Security Group

To create a mail-enabled security group, complete the following steps:

1. Under the Mail-enabled security groups tab, click Create.

2. Complete the basics for this mail-enabled security group, including:

   • Display name – Enter the name of this mail-enabled security group.

   • Group email address – Enter the group email address.

   • Description – Enter an optional description.

3. Click Continue to proceed to the next step.

4. Manage membership. The membership type can only be Assigned for a mail-enabled security group. Assign the owners and members manually.

5. Click Continue to proceed or click Back to go back to the previous step.

   NOTE

   You must have at least one owner. We recommend adding two to have coverage in the event one owner changes roles.

6. Edit settings for the group, including:

   • Allow external senders to email this Group – Select to enable or disable this setting.

   • Require owner approval to join the group – Select to enable or disable this setting.

7. Click Save.

#Create an Application Group

To create an application group, navigate to the Application groups tab. For a hybrid tenant, click Create and then choose whether to create the application group in Microsoft 365 or in the on-premises Active Directory. For cloud tenants, you will only have the option to create an application group in Microsoft 365. An application group is a (security group) indeed.

Complete the following steps to create an application group in Microsoft 365:

1. Create application group in – If the current tenant is a hybrid tenant, select Microsoft 365 tenantto create an application group in Microsoft 365. Skip this step if the current tenant is a cloud tenant.

2. Complete the information for this application group, including:

   • Display name – Enter the name of this application group.

   • Mail nickname – Enter the mail nickname.

3. Click Create.

Complete the following steps to create an application group in the on-premises Active Directory:

1. Create application group in – Select On-Premises environment to create an application group in the on-premises Active Directory.

2. Complete the information for this application group, including:

   • Display name – Enter the name of this application group.

   • Domain – Select a domain.

   • Company/Organization – Select the company/organization from the drop-down list.

3. Click Create.