Google Groups New Features: Tags, Improved Search, Topic Filtering

In Part II of our Google Groups series, we're going to look at the new features and functions associated with Tags, Improved Search, and Topic Filtering.  All of these features have made the Google Groups experience better for users ... let's explore each of them below.


Google Groups Tags


Tags are key words that group administrators create. They are used to associate topics with group discussion subjects.  Once these tags are created, members of the group can apply them to the specific topics happening in the group discussion.  

A great example of this feature would be when an administrator of the 'Company Activity Planning Committee' group, creates tags for the St. Patricks Day party, Memorial Day party, Halloween party, and Christmas party.  Now, when the committee members are discussing specific parties, they can tag the discussion with the appropriate topic tag.

One important bit of information to know is that these tags can only be applied via the web interface of Google Groups.  If you would like to learn more about creating tags, click here!

Please enjoy this short video on Tags in Google Groups.

Improved Search

We all know that the power of search is a great asset to have when using the Google Apps suite and the applications associated with it.  With the new look of Google Groups, the power of search has been 'powered up' and is now extremely efective.  Let's take a look at the attributes associated with the improved search functions below.

Group Search:

This will allow you to search within a particular group. This includes; All Groups, your starred groups, specific words your group name contains, and the group address.  From there, you can search for specific subjects, whether the topic contains certain words or whether the topic does not contain certain words.

Posted By:

This feature allows you the ability to search for topics that were Posted by or Not Posted By a specific person. You can also search for topics that were Assigned to people and Not assigned to people. The final way to search is whether the topic was Assigned by OR Not assigned by.  The search criteria is determined by specific email addresses or specific names.

With Tag:

This option allows you to break down your search by specific tags that were placed on the topics created.  Underneath of ‘With Tag’ you have the option to search for topics posted After specified dates and/or Before specified dates.

Include only these types of topics:

This is a really cool feature because it allows you to fine tune your search with specific attributes and whether you want to include these attributes or exclude these attributes in our search. The attributes are described below. A list of these attributes and their descriptions can be seen here.

Please enjoy this short video on the Improved Search in Google Groups. 

Topic Filtering

Having the ability to focus on the topics happening in a Google Group discussion and their status is important because you can easily stay on top of the topics that directly concern you.  With the new Google Groups interface, you can now filter topics that are not replied to, are my discussions, and resolution status according to the selected topic discussion.

These filtering options can be useful when you want to track the progress of a specific topic or easily locate ones that you haven't been introduced to yet.


Please enjoy this short video on Topic Filtering in Google Groups. 

Stay tuned for tomorrows post where we will be taking a closer look at Question & Answer groups, Taking and Assigning topics, and Collaborative Inbox.  If you found this post informative, give it a +1 so others can benefit from it as well!