Exploring the Capabilities of Groups in Microsoft O365

Unlike other mailing services O365 provides a vast type of Groups that could be imposed on the users as per requirement. This gives a better platform to manage users and their emails. There are five types of Group facilities in O365 that are elaborated below :

Office 365 groups

Office 365 groups are used to collaborate between users, both internal and external. With each Office 365 group, members get a group email and shared workspace for conversations, files, and calendar events, and a Planner as well.

But you can add users, external to your company, to an Office 365 group, if this has been enabled by the administrator of your domain. External senders are also allowed to send an email to the group email address.

Group members are also allowed to send as or send on behalf of the group email address if this has been enabled by the administrator.

Office 365 groups are also collaborated with Azure Active Directory and can be configured for dynamic membership, allowing group members to be added or removed automatically based on user attributes such as department, location, title, etc. Office 365 groups can be easily accessed through mobile apps such as Outlook for iOS and Outlook for Android.

Distribution lists

Distribution list creates a group that possesses a virtual email ID and users do not get personal mailboxes/workspace for the same. These are used for sending notifications to a list of people. Users in Distribution lists can receive external email if enabled by the administrator.

Distribution groups are best for situations where broadcast information to a set group of people is needed.

Security groups

Security groups are generally used for granting access to Office 365 resources, such as SharePoint. This makes administration easier because the group only needs to be monitored rather than adding users to each resource individually.

Security groups can contain users or devices. A security group is created for devices that could be used with mobile device management services.

Security groups are collaborated with Azure Active Directory to configure dynamic membership, allowing group members or devices to be added or removed automatically based on user attributes such as department, location or device attributes such as operating system version.

Mail-enabled security groups

Mail-enabled security groups function the same way as regular security groups, except that they cannot be dynamically managed through Azure Active Directory and cannot contain devices.

They include the ability to send mail to all the members of the group.

Shared mailboxes

Shared mailboxes are configured when multiple people need access to the same mailbox, such as company information or support email address or other function that might be shared among multiple people.

Shared mailboxes are allowed to receive external emails depending on the administrator's permission. Users with permissions to the group mailbox can send as or send on behalf of the mailbox email address, if the administrator has given that user permissions to do that. Users using shared mailboxes can also use these IDs to send mail from the Group email ID itself.