What Is Forum in Gmail and How to Create One
If you know the Gmail mobile app, you may have (or not) noticed the email category titled Forums. This category is almost always empty and no (personal) mail is ever filled by default.
What does the Forum do in my Gmail app? Why is it here? How to use it? – Many people have asked such questions.
If you've also wondered what the Forum feature / tag is in your Gmail app or what it does, then this article should demystify everything for you.
In addition to breaking down the concept of forums in Gmail, we will also teach you how to create one and use it to interact effectively with your contacts.
What are the forums in Gmail
According to the name, it is quite easy to make a calculated estimate of the functionality. Google already has Google groups. It is a product dedicated to allowing people with similar interests to form a community (read: group) and easily communicate with each other using their e-mails.
Imagine it as a WhatsApp group where people with similar interests are added. But instead of WhatsApp groups where people join together using their phone numbers, Google groups use Google accounts – email addresses.
When you create or join a Google Group, messages shared in the groups you belong to will automatically be classified as Forums in your Gmail app.
This allows easy access to all your Google group messages and also allows you to separate group messages from your emails.
Before exploring in detail how to show how to create Gmail forums, we have highlighted Google groups to help you better understand.
Google Groups: summary summary
As mentioned earlier, Google Groups describes a community of people with a common interest in group communication via email.
For the context, if you are the head of a committee that plans a retirement at work, you can create a Google group only for committee members. It's much better than sending e-mails and CC-ing members individually.
Forums in a common type of Google Groups, and there are also other types. The mailing list, for example, allows you to easily send newsletters or promotional messages to multiple addresses on your mailing list. Collaborative email, on the other hand, allows you to assign roles and tasks to group members.
To return to the forums as a type of Google Groups, there are two types: the Web Forum and the Q & A Forum.
The web forum is similar to most forums you find online. Members of this type of group can create topics, participate in discussions, and interact with each other. You can create a public or private forum.
For the Q & A Forum, the main use case is to allow members to ask questions or provide answers to questions posted by other members. The question and answer forums also boast more complex features such as marking answers to questions as “ resolved ''. and the possibility for group members to evaluate the answers – in the same way that questions and answers can be increased or decreased on Quora.
Messages, comments, questions, and notifications from Google groups that you are a member of will be displayed in the Forums section of your inbox.
Now let's see how to create a Google forum and how to join one.
Create a Gmail forum
At the moment, it is not possible to create forums directly from the Gmail app. You must do this from the dedicated Google Groups website. Follow the steps below to do this.
Step 1: Go to the Google Groups website on your browser. This could be your mobile browser or PC; one or the other would work very well.
2nd step: Tap the Create button.
Note: Make sure you're signed in to your Google Account on the device. If this is not the case, you will be asked to do so before continuing.
Step 3: Type the name you want the Forum to be called in the box labeled Group Name.
It is advised that the name of the group is linked to the group objective.
When you enter the group name, Google automatically generates a group email address for your forum. If you do not like the auto-generated address, just tap the box to edit it – something shorter and easier to remember.
Note: A group email address must be at least four characters in length and must also be unique (it has never been used by other Google groups).
Step 4: Type some details about the group / forum in the Group Description box.
This will help new (and old) members to get an idea of the group's purpose.
Step 5: Then you can also customize the default language of the forum. Google Forums supports about 50 different languages.
Step 6: Now, tap the "Select a group type" drop-down button to choose the type of Google group you want to create.
Depending on the type of forum you want to create, select a web forum or Q & A forum.
Step 7: Set the group permissions.
Tap the Group Visibility drop-down list to customize forum availability; if it will be visible and searchable by anyone on the Web or only by members of the group.
The Show Topics option lets you choose who can display topics in your group.
You can also customize permissions on people who can post topics or comments to the group. You can choose to grant this permission to some (or all) group members (owners, managers and members) or to anyone on the web.
Finally, you can also customize how (potential) members join the group.
Step 8: When you have finished customizing the group's basic permissions, press the red Create button in the upper-left corner of the screen.
A congratulatory message informing you that the group has been created is displayed on the screen.
Step 9: Tap the "Invite people to join the group" option to add people to the newly created forum by adding their e-mails.
Step 10: Enter an e-mail address in the box provided. If you want to invite multiple people to join the forum at the same time, separate their email addresses with a comma.
You must also type an invitation message (this is required) in the box below. Then tap the Send Invitation button.
Viewing messages in forums
After inviting people to the forum, members would be informed of all comments on the topics of the forum. You will be able to access these notifications and messages in the Forums section of your Gmail application.
Interestingly, you can also post comments and reply to forum topics directly in your Gmail app, in the same way that you reply to e-mails. You would not need to visit the Google Groups website.
