Email Lists

UC San Diego uses Google Groups for creating mailing lists. Departments, classes, teams, and other organizations can use Google Groups to do things such as:

• Join groups to find people with similar hobbies or interests and take part in online conversations.
• Create a group to easily email each other using a single email address.
• Work on projects together.
• Organize meetings and events.

Using the Google Groups interface, you can manage your subscriptions and global settings. Email list managers can configure dozens of options for the Google Groups they own.

Key Capabilities:

• Mailing list use-case
• Forums
• Member Moderation
• Contact management
• Members can post
• Membership posting permissions
• External Contacts Allowed

Find more information on managing or requesting a new Google group here.

• Campus Google Groups
• UCSD Google Groups Quick Start Guide
• Google Groups content policy
• Google Limits
• Google Workspace Acceptable Use Policy

Distribution groups are used when you want to send email to an internal group of people without having to type each individual recipient's name. Distribution groups are usually organized by a subject or by users who share common work and communicate frequently. Distribution groups can also be used for group email forwarding

Key Capabilities:

• Internal group communication
• Mailing group email address appears in Outlook address book
• All member in the group can send to the group
• Member list is not visible
• Members are managed, and changes must be submitted to ITS
• Size limitations 25MB
• New members only see discussions starting from when they joined
• Automatically forward emails to multiple email addresses.

Best Use Cases:

• When you want to send email notifications to a group of people without having to type each individual recipient's name.
• When you want to broadcast information to a set group of people, such as "People in Building A" or “Everyone at Department B."
• When you want to group your team members together for specific projects.
• When you want to give employees access to resources like templates, documents, and project plans.
• When you want to migrate to Microsoft 365 Groups, which offer more collaboration features than Google Groups.

Exchange limits

UCSD uses Emma for newsletters and email marketing campaigns. You can create, share, and easily manage your mass email communications with Emma. It also allows you to reach specific groups of people and track your campaign's engagement with analytics. This service is provided at no cost as it was initially set up for the official campus notices, and we now offer the service to the rest of the university. We also provide pre-built templates with approved UCSD branding, which requires zero coding.

Key Capabilities:

• Mass Marketing & Newsletter Campaigns
• Engagement Tracking
• Form Builders (for subscribers)
• Contact Management
  
  • Multiple contact lists
  • Official UCSD contact lists that sync every day
  • External contacts allowed
• Pre-built email templates with drag and drop capabilities
• Rich HTML editor

To request your own Emma subaccount, please email servicedesk@ucsd.edu.

Visit the Emma support hub to read their support articles or review their email marketing guides.

Decision Tree

Do you want to collaborate with users inside and outside of UC San Diego?

        No -> Choose Microsoft 365 Group

        Yes -> Choose Google Group

    No -> Do you want to send email notifications to a group of people?

        Yes -> Choose Distribution Group

        No -> Do you want to grant access to resources such as SharePoint sites?

            Yes -> Choose Security Group or Mail-enabled Security Group

            No -> Do you want multiple people to access the same mailbox?

                Yes -> Choose Shared Mailbox

                No -> Choose Dynamic Distribution Group

Primary differences between Google Groups and Microsoft Distribution Groups:

• Google Groups are used for collaboration between users, both inside and outside your company, while Microsoft Distribution Groups are used for sending email notifications to a group of people.
• Google Groups include collaboration services such as SharePoint and Planner, while Microsoft Distribution Groups do not.
• Google Groups have a shared inbox, a document library, and a shared calendar, while Microsoft Distribution Groups do not.
• Google Groups have more flexible settings and permissions than Microsoft Distribution Groups.

Policy & Records Administration (PRA) is responsible for electronic distribution of official Campus Notices and Campus Flyers.

• Campus Notices are memoranda distributed to a large segment of the campus community and must be routed through the appropriate vice chancellor. Once your email has VC approval, it will be posted to the requested official campus list by Policy & Records Administration.
• Campus Flyers are announcements regarding campus events, activities, and general information and do not require a signatory. Email a flyer request to adminrec@ucsd.edu for processing.

Visit the PRA website to see a list of all official campus mailing lists, learn how to submit a posting request, or to subscribe.

• Submit announcements online.

Visit the Marketing Council website to find more information about how to Publicize on Campus.