Guide and Best Practices for Google Apps Admins: Tools & Resources

Throughout this series, we have showed you the basics and the essentials for managing and maintaining the Google Apps Control Panel. We have looked at managing users, deprovisioning user accounts, and managing the organization. If you missed any of these post, be sure to check them out.

Part I: Managing Users
Part II: Deprovision User Accounts
Part III: Managing the Organization and Sub-organizations
Part IV: Extended Management and Tools

In this last post of our series, we will cover two additional resources available to Google Apps Administrators.

• Top Web Apps for 2013 That Integrate with Google Apps
• Dito GAM

The first resource we will highlight is a public Trello board, Top Web Apps for 2013 That Integrate with Google Apps, created by Dito staff as they went through the process of finding and evaluating various web app solutions for our own organization. This interactive tool is intended to be an ever evolving resource as visitors are encouraged to vote on and submit their favorite and most useful apps. To receive notifications of any changes, visitors can easily subscribe to the board to stay informed. From CRM and Project Management tools to Admin Tools and Learning Management, Administrators are sure to discover a robust web app solution that integrates well with Google Apps as well as fits the specific needs of their business.

Check out the Top Web Apps for 2013 that Integrate with Google Apps!


Next, we will discuss Dito GAM. This is a free, open source command line tool that allows Administrators to efficiently manage their domain and user settings. With GAM, it is very easy to perform very large operations against your Google Apps domain quickly and easily. Listed below are a few examples of the features accessible through GAM.

• Create, delete and update users, aliases, groups, organizations and resource calendars
• Modify user email settings such as IMAP, signature, vacation message, webclips, profile sharing, email forwarding, send as address, labels and filters.
• Delegate Gmail mailboxes and Google Calendars to other users

Below you will see a few examples of commands executed using Dito GAM. This unique tool is used by hundreds and has received a multitude of positive reviews on the Google Apps Marketplace.

Click here, to get started with Dito GAM.

Thanks for reading along with our blogs series dedicated to Google Apps Admins. Hopefully you can use these posts as a survival guide as you strive to effectively manage your domain, users, and organization. Feel free to let us know what tips you use or specific use cases in the comments section below. If you have questions, be sure to stop by our blog office hours on Thursdays between 11am - 12pm EDT!