Computer Basics & Beyond

Using Google Groups is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends no matter where they are. Or, if your would like to create a Group to discuss a certain hobby with others with the same interest, this is easily done with Google Groups. Create a community that people can interact with either in a private or public setting. Whatever your vision is for your Group, you'll be able to get it started very quickly! Each Group has a generous storage capacity of 100 MB. That's going to be very difficult to reach that storage capacity limit! If you're ready to get started building your new Group, I'm happy to help you! The first thing that you will need to do is create an account. Here's how:

1. Go to the Groups Homepage here:

http://groups.google.com/

2. Click the "Create a group..." button.
3. Click the "Create an account now" link.
4. Fill out the information required. When finished, click the button titled: I accept. Create my account.

Now that you've got an account. Create your Group:

1. Sign in to your account.
2. At the "Create a group" page, fill out all of the information and when finished, click the "Create my group" button.
3. At the "Add members" page, enter in the email addresses of anyone that you would like to invite to your Group. Fill in your invitation message.
4. Click the "Invite members" button. Or, if you do not have anyone to invite at this time, you can click the "Skip this step" button.
5. You now have a newly created Group and are now ready to start customizing your Group.

<>Customize Your Group:

When you are at the home page of your Group, you will notice 4 links:

• Invite or add members

• Create some pages

• Upload some files

• Tune your group's settings
  
  Let's take a quick look at each of these options.
  
  Invite or add members:
  
  You may not have had a list of people prepared at the time of the Groups creation, so you can always go back here to invite people at any time.
  
  Create some pages:
  
  1. Creating pages will give your members something to discuss or to just let the Group view that big fish you caught last Saturday! What-ever you decide to write about, you will be able to create Group pages that can be very rich in design. You can customize the font (size and color), upload image files or create links to other pages. All of this can be done very quickly and easily!
  
  2. Once you've created your page, click the "Save & Publish" button.
  
  3. Next, you will be able to inform your Group members of this newly created page by clicking the "Post message" button. Create as many pages as you like!
  
  Upload some files:
  
  Once you like the "Upload some files" button, you are taken to a simple upload page. Here, you can upload as many files as you like (as long as you are under the quota). You can upload pictures for your Group members to view, or pre-made text files. When you are done uploading, click the "I'm done uploading files" link.
  
  Your uploads will now be viewable at your Groups Home Page.
  
  Tune your groups settings:
  
  Once clicked, you will be taken to the "Group settings" page where you can view all of your Group settings at one glance. If there is anything that you would like to change, simply click the "Edit" button. When finished making any changes, click the "Save changes" button at the bottom.
  
  That's it! I hope that you will have a lot of fun with your new Group!