Answers to common questions about Groups, including choosing group types, managing members and permissions, understanding Owner versus Manager roles, working with Guest users, and using Confidential Groups for sensitive communication.
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Creating Groups
When should I use a Public Group vs a Private Group?
Use Public Groups when you want all users at your school to see the group and join freely. Public groups work well for clubs, activities, or interest areas where self-enrollment is beneficial. Parents and staff can browse public groups and join those that interest them.
Use Private Groups when you need to control membership or want to limit visibility to group members only. Private groups are ideal for committees, targeted communication, or situations where you need to add specific members manually or via join codes.
What makes a group Confidential?
A Confidential Group hides the group name from recipients when posts are sent. This is useful for sensitive groupings based on criteria like Special Needs students, intervention programs, or health-related situations. Members see the group name, but when posts include other recipients, the confidential group appears as "Undisclosed" to protect member privacy.
Can Community Groups be Confidential?
No. Only Private, Rule-based, and SIS-synced groups can be marked as Confidential. Public Groups and Community Groups cannot be Confidential because their visibility model conflicts with the confidential concept.
Can I change a group from Public to Private or vice versa?
Yes. Group Owners and Admins can change group visibility settings at any time through the group's settings. Keep in mind that changing from Public to Private will prevent users from joining freely, and they'll need to be added manually or via join code going forward.
Can I create groups at the district level?
Yes. District Admins can create district-level groups that include parents and staff across multiple school sites. District staff can be assigned as Group Owners to manage communication to these cross-school groups.
Can Admins see all groups at my school or district?
District Admins can see all groups created at the district level. School Admins can see all groups created at their school level. Regular users (teachers, parents) can only see groups they own, manage, or belong to, plus any Public Groups available at their location.
Will Admins be notified when groups are created with multiple owners?
Yes. School Admins are notified when a private or public group is created at their school with multiple Group Owners. Notifications are not sent for additional changes to a group's owners after initial creation.
Archiving Groups
Why "Archive" instead of "Delete" groups?
Many school administrators prefer to retain historical records rather than permanently remove data. Archiving keeps group posts preserved for reference while removing the group from active lists. Note: The group and its members cannot be restored or reactivated after archiving.
Can I access posts after archiving a group?
Yes. After a group is archived, all posts within the group remain accessible to authorized users via advanced search. Admins and post authors can find archived posts, though the group itself no longer appears in the active groups list.
Guest Members
Can Guests interact with post add-ons?
Yes. Guests can interact with any post add-ons, except for forms or sign-ups that require student information.
When would there be an extra charge for Guests?
If you add a large number of Guests, there may be additional charges. ParentSquare provides 10x your enrollment free email-only Guests and up to 10% of your enrollment free for text/voice Guests. See the ParentSquare School Agreement (Section 5.5) for details.
Can a Guest receive and reply to a direct message?
It depends on whether the Guest is using the mobile app or a web browser. On the mobile app, Guests can receive and reply to direct messages. If using a web browser, they can view messages but cannot reply. Guests cannot initiate direct messages in either case.
What things can Guests not do?
- View all-school or all-district posts (unless their group is specifically included).
- View student information or interact with post add-ons that require student information.
- Initiate Direct Messages (they can only reply).
Can I add incoming students to a group as Guests before they're in the SIS?
We don't recommend this practice. Guests only see posts made to their specific group and don't see the full school news feed. If a parent is added as a Guest and later added to your SIS, their permissions don't automatically change from "guest" to "parent," which can cause confusion.
For incoming families, consider using Smart Alerts instead. You can upload a CSV file with parent information to communicate with these individuals. See the Smart Alert article.
Why are school Staff, Admins or Parents showing as district Guests?
If a school Staff, Admin or Parent is made a Group Owner at the district level, they will automatically become a Guest member of that district, allowing them to access Group members via direct messaging. Users will need to initiate direct messages from the district level.
Group Membership
Does uploading a CSV replace existing group members?
No. When you upload a CSV file to add members to a group, it adds those members to the existing group without removing current members. It's an additive process, not a replacement.
What's the CSV file size limit for uploading members?
The CSV file size limit is 10,000 rows. If you need to add more members than this, split your data into multiple CSV files and upload them separately.
What format should the CSV file be in?
Create a CSV file with a single column of student SIS IDs or staff IDs to add regular members. For Guest users, use a CSV file with columns for users' names and emails. Make sure the file has proper column headers.
Can I create a link or QR code for an existing group?
Yes. From the Groups page, hover over the group name and click Add People, then click Generate Link. The link and QR code can be created for any public or private group.
Note: Links are not available for community groups, rule-based groups, or confidential groups.
Can I customize the group invitation link code?
Yes. You can personalize the group link code with up to 10 characters using letters and numbers only. (Do not use special characters, spaces, or mixed case.) The code must be unique across your entire district. Click the edit icon next to the generated link to customize it.
Can I disable or change a group invitation link after creating it?
Yes. Group Owners, Group Managers, and Admins can disable the link at any time, which prevents new members from joining via that link. You can re-enable the same link later if needed. You can also edit the custom code portion of the link.
Can unregistered users join a group using a link?
No. If an unregistered user clicks a join link or scans a QR code, they will be prompted to register first. Only registered ParentSquare users can join groups via links.
Can Admins disable group codes for the entire district or school?
Yes. Admins can disable group codes (join links and QR codes) at the district or school level from the Add-Ons tab under Groups settings. District Admins can also enable or disable this feature for individual schools as needed.
Do private groups require approval to join?
By default, yes. When someone clicks a private proup join link, they must request to join and a Group Owner or Manager approves the request. However, Group Owners can disable this requirement in the group link settings by unchecking "Require approval to join the group."
Will users be notified if their request to join is approved or denied?
No automatic notification is sent. Users can check their Groups page to see if their request was approved or denied.
How long can the optional message be when requesting to join?
The optional message in the "request to join" window can be up to 256 characters long.
Who can view a group's member directory?
For most groups, members can see the member directory by default. Group Owners and Admins can restrict directory visibility to only Group Owners and Admins by enabling the "Hide directory" advanced option. This is useful for groups where you don't want members to know who other group members are.
Can Group Owners see the member directory?
Yes. Group Owners can always view the group's member directory, even if directory visibility is restricted for regular members.
Can members leave groups on their own?
Yes. Members can leave Public Groups at any time by clicking "Leave this group." For Private Groups, members cannot leave on their own - they must be removed by a Group Owner, Manager or Admin.
Posting and Communication
Who can post to a group?
By default, only Group Owners can post to a group. However, Group Owners and Admins can enable the "Allow group members to post to this group" option in advanced settings, which lets all members post. This is especially useful for committees, staff groups, and community forum groups.
Are Group Owners automatically post collaborators?
No. Being a Group Owner does not automatically make you a post collaborator for posts sent to your group. Post collaborators must be explicitly added to each post.
What happens if I add someone to a group after a post was already sent?
New members added after a post was sent will not receive a notification for that post. They will see the previous posts in the group's feed.
What happens if I include both district and school groups in a post?
If you include both district and school groups in the same post, the post becomes a district-level post.
What happens when I add a Confidential Group to a post?
- The group name is hidden and appears as "Undisclosed" to protect member privacy.
- If you include both confidential and non-confidential groups in the same post, all group names are hidden.
- Only District and School Admins, post authors, and post collaborators can hover over "Undisclosed" to see the actual recipient groups.
- Regular members and other users cannot see that the post recipients included a confidential group.
Troubleshooting
Having trouble with group visibility, membership updates, sync issues, or permissions? See Groups: Troubleshooting for step-by-step solutions.
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