Sometimes it makes sense to have an email inbox that is shared across a group of people, especially if the person in charge of the work changes over time. This makes a lot of sense for central office teams with turnover, school sites with changing clerks or admins, and even student clubs.
In the past, DoT's only option was to create a new account and have people share the password to access it. However, over time, Google has significantly improved the tools and features available for sharing a digital space. DoT no longer creates standalone accounts, as this poses a significant security risk and can result in Google automatically deactivating the shared account due to multiple logins.
We want one email address for our team
Typically, the best solutions for a shared email address is through either delegated access or a Google Group.
Delegated access
Delegated access gives people access to a single shared inbox, allowing them to read, reply to, and send emails on behalf of the shared account, but there are no notifications in their own SFUSD inbox, which means they have to regularly check the shared account's inbox. Delegated access is best for situations where a team needs to receive emails from individuals and respond to them on an individual basis. Learn more about delegated access.
Google Groups
Google Groups are like a listserv, meaning that each member of the group receives a copy of every email sent to the group's email address (group@sfusd.edu). All group members can reply to that email, but group members will only see the reply if the replier uses "Reply all". Since a copy of each email is sent to everyone in the group, everyone sees all group emails right in their own inbox. Google Groups are best for where all people on a team need to receive the same information/notification, usually on a one-way basis, such as an easy way to email all of the staff on a team. Learn more about Google Groups.
We want a shared Google Drive space
To create a Google Drive space that's easy to share with a changing group of people, you can use a shared drive. Shared drives are a separate Google Drive space, and each person is granted access to it with their own SFUSD account. If the team or group changes, the team's manager can easily remove and add people without impacting what is inside the shared drive. SFUSD is the owner of all files and folders in a shared drive.
Students can also be added to shared drives as long as there is a staff member supervising the shared drive.
Learn more about shared drives: Things to know about shared drives
To request a new shared drive, the team or group's manager should submit a Help Desk ticket. Please include a requested name for the shared drive within the ticket.
We want a shared Google Calendar
To have a team calendar, one person should create a new calendar and add the rest of the team with either "Make changes & manage sharing" access or "Make changes to events" access. Learn more about sharing calendars.
Note: Unfortunately, there is no ability to send calendar invites from this shared calendar. The event can be created on the shared calendar, but the invitation will have to come from someone (not from the calendar itself), usually whoever created the event or whoever added guests to the event.
We want a shared YouTube channel
The best way to create a shared YouTube space is to create a collaborative playlist and have members of the team "join" it as collaborators. Anyone who is a collaborator can add or remove videos from the playlist, including videos they uploaded themselves. Learn more about collaborating on playlists.
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