Schoolbox Help

Overview - Groups

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A group page in Schoolbox is a page that is set up and individual users are added. Group pages are different to other pages as they have individual permissions assigned to them. This means that instead of giving permissions to different roles (Teachers, Senior Students, etc.) permissions are given to individual users.

Group pages can be used in Schoolbox for any group within a school. Some examples of these are:

Extra-curricular Groups
Committees
House Groups
Interest Groups

On this page, you will find the following information:

Creating a new group page

Adding users to a group

Removing a user from a group

Managing permissions in groups

Managing group membership approval

How to access your groups

Manage access to a group

How to manage your groups

Creating a New Group Page

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1. To create a new Group Page, navigate to the Resources area.

This may be located in the Top Menu or by adding /resources to the URL.

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2. Select the location for the group page.

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3. Select 'Add Folder'.

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4. Alternatively, navigate to the page that the new page will be created underneath.

5. Select the 3-dot menu and then select 'Add Sub Folder'.

6. Add the name of the group in the 'Folder Name' field.

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7. Select a homepage template that will be used when the page is created.

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8. Add a cover image to the group if required.

The cover image will be visible on the 'Groups I’m in' page.

9. Unselect the 'inherit permissions' box and select the appropriate access permissions to the group.

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10. Toggle 'Create Group' to 'YES'.

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11. Add the relevant year level and curriculum code information if required.

NOTE: Only Superusers can add year level information to folders and homepages.

12. Select 'Create Folder'.

You will be taken to the ‘Manage Group’ screen with a modal to set Group settings.

13. Select the level of access to the group.

A Private Group requires a Group Admin to add users to the Group. This page will not appear in the 'Groups I can join' page. Users cannot choose to leave the group.

A Moderated Group requires a Group Admin to approve a request to join the Group. Where a page has the folder permissions set to 'Read' for a role, it will appear on the 'Groups I can join' page. Users can also choose to leave the group.

A Free Group allows users to immediately join the Group without any approval. Where a page has the folder permissions set to 'Read' for a role, it will appear on the 'Groups I can join' page. Users can also choose to leave the group.

14. If you wish to send notifications from this group to users, select the ‘Notifications enabled’ checkbox.

15. If you wish to prevent users muting the group's notifications, select the ‘Force Follow’ checkbox.

NOTE: A user's notification settings will determine the notifications delivery method from a group page. Selecting 'Force Follow' will only apply to the users who have not selected the notification delivery method 'Muted'.

16. Select 'Update'.

NOTE: You will be redirected to the Manage Group page after completing these steps.

Adding users to a group

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You can choose whether you would like to add users individually, by group, role or from a list.

1. Navigate to the ‘Groups I’m in’ page.

NOTE: Access to your groups will depend on the set up of your school. You may access your groups from the top menu, side menu, dashboard or by adding /groups to the end of the URL from your dashboard.

2. Select the 3-dot menu next to the group you wish to add members to, then select 'Manage Group'.

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2. Select the checkbox that corresponds to how you intend to add your users. You can add users in four different ways:

Adding a user by Name will allow you to type a user’s name into the ‘Search users…’ field and select them from the list.
NOTE: You can also search for a user by their external ID. For example, Cecilia's external ID is 121.

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Adding users by Group will allow you to type a Group’s name into the ‘Search users…’ field and add all members of a group from the list.

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Adding users by Role will allow you to type the name of a Role into the ‘Search users…’ field and add all members of a role from the list.

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Adding users by List will allow you to type a comma separated list of names or external ID numbers and add all users in the list.

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3. Select 'Add Members'.

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Removing a user from a group

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1. Navigate to the 'Groups I’m in' page.

NOTE: Access to your groups will depend on the set up of your school. You may access your groups from the top menu, side menu, dashboard or by adding /groups to the end of the URL from your dashboard.

2. Select the 3-dot menu, then select 'Manage Group'.
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3. Use the checkbox to select the user/s you wish to remove.

4. Select 'Remove Members'.

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Managing permissions in groups

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For each member of a group, you can decide whether a user has read, write or administrative access.

1. Navigate to the 'Groups I’m in' page.

NOTE: Access to your groups will depend on the set up of your school. You may access your groups from the top menu, side menu, dashboard or by adding /groups to the end of the URL from your dashboard.

2. Select the 3-dot menu, then select 'Manage Group'.
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3. Next to each group member, you can choose to allow them Read, Write or Group Admin access.
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Read Access: This allows this user to access the page. They can contribute to collaborative components, such as the Social Stream.

Write Access: This allows this user to add, modify and delete components from a page.

Group Admin Access: This allows this user to manage group members, and add, modify and delete components from a page.

NOTE: Group Admins have full control over moderating the group. As a Group Admin or Superuser you can assign another user to become a Group Admin.

4. If you wish to modify multiple users, use the checkbox to select the users and adjust their permissions.

5. Select the access you wish to grant these users from the ‘Change Access’ drop down list.

Manage Folder Access Permissions

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1. Navigate to the Group Page.

2. Select the 3-dot menu and then select 'Modify Folder'.

3. Untick the 'inherit permissions' box and select the appropriate access permissions to the group, or view the permissions you currently have.

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4. When complete, select 'Modify Folder'.

Managing Group Membership Approval

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1. Navigate to the 'Groups I’m in' page.

NOTE: Access to your groups will depend on the set up of your school. You may access your groups from the top menu, side menu, dashboard or by adding /groups to the end of the URL from your dashboard.

2. Select the 3-dot menu and then select 'Manage Group'.

3. Select ‘Approve’ to allow a user to join the group or ‘Reject’ to deny a user joining a group.

4. Alternatively, to approve users, select the checkbox next to the users and use the ‘Change Access’ drop down list to set the users’ access. This will also automatically approve their membership.

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How to Access Your Groups

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Groups can be accessed in many ways, and how you will access them depends on the set up of your school.

Top Menu Access

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NOTE: Groups within your 'Groups I'm In' page can be added to 'My Favourite Groups' by selecting the Star outline to change it to a filled star. A Star outline identifies that a group is not in 'My Favourite Groups', whereas a filled Star identifies that it has been added as a favourite group.
NOTE: Notifications can be enabled for a group by selecting the Bell outline to change it to a filled Bell. Notifications can be disabled by selecting the filled Bell icon, to change it to a Bell outline.

Side Menu Access

NOTE: The ability to access Groups via the side menu must be configured by a Superuser by navigating to Administration > Personalisation > Side Menu. Enabling ‘Favourite Groups’ will allow users to see groups they have favourited in the Side Menu. The default ‘Manage Groups’ link will take users directly to the Groups page.

Dashboard Access

NOTE: The ability to access Groups via the Dashboard must be configured by a Superuser by navigating to Administration > Personalisation > Dashboard Templates.

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URL Access

You can add /groups to the end of the URL from your dashboard.

Manage Access to a Group

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1. Navigate to the 'Groups I’m in' page.

NOTE: Access to your groups will depend on the set up of your school. You may access your groups from the top menu, side menu, dashboard or by adding /groups to the end of the URL from your dashboard.

2. Select the 3-dot menu and then select 'Manage Group'.
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3. Select the 3-dot menu in the top right corner and select ‘Update Group Settings’.

4. Select the level of access to the group.

A Private Group requires a Group Admin to invite users to join. Any Private Group should have the folder permissions set to NONE.

A Moderated Group will show on the 'Groups I can join' page, but their access to the group will have to be accepted by a Group Admin. The folder permissions for Moderated Groups should be set to READ.

A Free Group will appear on the 'Groups I can join' page, and users can immediately join any Free Group. The folder permissions for Free Groups should be set to READ.

5. If you wish to send notifications from this group to users based on their notification settings, select the ‘Notifications enabled’ checkbox.

NOTE: The delivery of notifications is set in Administration > Notifications > Settings. A Superuser can set the default notifications and can allow users to adjust their notification preferences. This will determine how or if they receive notifications.

6. If you wish to disable the ability for a user to mute the group’s notifications, select the ‘Force Follow’ checkbox.

NOTE: If the user has configured their settings to universally mute particular types of notifications, these settings will still be honoured, even with Force Follow enabled. If you do not wish users to be able to mute notifications, this can be configured by a Superuser in your school in Administration > Notifications > Settings.

7. Select 'Update'.

How to Manage Your Groups

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1. Navigate to the 'Groups I’m in' page.

NOTE: Access to your groups will depend on the set up of your school. You may access your groups from the top menu, side menu, dashboard or by adding /groups to the end of the URL from your dashboard.

To Join a Group

1. Use the dropdown list to select ‘Groups I can join’. You will see two types of Group on this page:

A Free Group will appear on the 'Groups I can join' page, and users can immediately join any Free Group. The folder permissions for Free Groups should be set to READ for all roles.

A Moderated Group will show on the 'Groups I can join' page, but their access to the group will have to be accepted by a Group Admin. The folder permissions for Moderated Groups should be set to READ.

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2. Use the ‘+’ icon next to the group you wish to join.

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NOTE: A modal will appear when joining a moderated group, informing you that you have ‘Requested to join group’. Until an admin approves your membership, it will appear in the drop down under ‘Groups pending membership’ after navigating away from the page.

3. If you wish to cancel your membership request before being approved, select the 3-dot menu on the group and select ‘Cancel membership request’.
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To Leave a Group

1. Select the 3-dot menu and select 'Leave Group'.

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NOTE: You cannot leave a ‘Private’ group. You must be removed by a Group Admin.

How to Email Members of a Group

1. Navigate to the 'Groups I’m in' page.

NOTE: Access to your groups will depend on the set up of your school. You may access your groups from the top menu, side menu, dashboard or by adding /groups to the end of the URL from your dashboard.

2. Select the 3-dot menu and then select 'Manage Group'.

3. To email group members, select the 3-dot menu and select ‘Email Group Members’.

NOTE: Users will need to have email addresses in Schoolbox in order for this option to appear.

4. To email parents of group members, select the 3-dot menu and select ‘Email Group Parents’.

NOTE: This method is intended to be used to email parents when they are not already a member of the group.

5. To create a list of users to email, select their checkboxes and select ‘Email Members’.

6. To add additional recipients in the ‘To’, ‘CC’ and ‘BCC’ fields, type the user's name into the field and select it from the list. Alternatively, type an email address into the field and select the email once you have completed typing it.

NOTE: By default, the Group Admin sending the email will be added to the ‘To’ field and recipients added to the ‘BCC’ field.

7. Add a subject to the ‘Subject’ field.

8. Add content to the body of the email using the Text Editor.

9. Attach files if necessary.

10. Select ‘Send’.