Group creation templates

This document guides you how to,

• Create a group creation template
• Use the layout view
• Create group creation rules
• Modify a group creation template
• Delete a group creation template

Steps to create a group creation template

1. Go to the Management tab.
2. In the left pane navigate to Azure Active Directory → Group Management.
3. Under Group Creation Templates category, click on the template you need to create. (Microsoft 365 group, distribution/mail-enabled security group, or dynamic distribution group creation template)
4. Click on Create New Template.
5. Provide a Template Name and select the Microsoft 365 Account.
6. Click on Rules View button for setting up rules to auto-fill desired attributes and configure group settings, if the specified conditions are satisfied.
7. Click on Enable Drag-n-Drop button to customize the template by just dragging and dropping the required fields from the Field Tray to the appropriate tab of the template and vice versa.
8. After configuring the template as per your requirements, click on Save Template.

How to use the layout view (Drag-n-Drop)

1. In the Group Creation Template page click on Enable Drag-n-Drop option found in the Layout View Section.
2. Under a tab in the Layout View section, you can find all the fields placed under several field groups. You can create new field groups by clicking the Add Group option found at the right corner of any tab and place new fields under them.
• To change the name of a field group, click on the icon located beside the field group name. Select the Rename option and modify the name.
• To hide the entire field group or delete it, click on Make Silently Active or the Delete link respectively.
3. The components found under field groups are called fields. To modify the name and other settings of a field,
• Click on the icon found beside the field. In the Edit Component window that appears,
• Enter the new name in the Field Name text box.
• Enter the default value for the respective field.
• Click on Options to make the field Mandatory or Read Only. For example, you can make the Primary SMTP Address mandatory.
• In the Help Card text box, enter the text that will be displayed as a tool tip near the respective field. For example, you can mention that the group name should always be unique near the Name field.
• Click on Done once all the required changes are made.
4. Refer this document to know about the various fields involved in Microsoft 365, distribution/mail-enabled security group and dynamic distribution groups creation.
5. Click on Save Template.

Group creation rules

These rules help administrators to specify the fields that should be automatically updated whenever a group is created. Values assigned to the fields can be condition-based also, i.e an attribute will be updated only when the specified condition is satisfied. For example, you can create a rule that always sends moderation notification to global admin for moderation enabled groups.

Steps to create group creation rules

1. In the Group Creation Template page, click on the Rules View button located in the right corner.
2. Click on Create New Rule to create a new creation rule. You can then add an existing rule from other templates or add new rules, as per your requirement.
3. To create a new creation rule, in the Conditions section,
• Click on Add Conditions.
• Select the field that must be checked, the condition, and also the value that it must be checked against. Eg: Moderated By - Equals - John
• Click on + to add another condition.
• In the Assign Values section, select the fields that must be automatically filled, if the conditions are satisfied, and the respective values. Eg: Send Moderation Notification - To - user@domain.com
• You can specify a custom name for this rule by clicking on the icon found near Rule 1 and keying in the required name. Eg: Moderator assignment
4. It is also possible to assign values to fields without evaluating any conditions. In the Assign Values section, select the required field from the list of fields from the Set drop-down, assign a value and click on Add to save this value.
5. To add a new rule, click on Add Rule button located on the top right corner of the Rules View section. Add conditions and then fields to the Assign Values section.
6. Click Save Template to save the changes.

The templates created will be available while creating single or bulk distribution, mail-enabled security and Microsoft 365 groups using M365 Manager Plus.

Go to top

Steps to modify group creation templates

1. Go to the Management tab.
2. In the left pane navigate to Azure Active Directory → Group Management.
3. Under Group Creation Templates category, click on the type of template you need to modify. (Microsoft 365 group, distribution/mail-enabled security group, or dynamic distribution group creation template)
4. The resultant page will display all the available group creation templates.
5. Under the Actions column click on the icon corresponding to the template you need to modify.
6. Modify the template as per your requirements and click on Save Template.

Steps to delete group creation templates

1. Go to the Management tab.
2. In the left pane navigate to Azure Active Directory → Group Management.
3. Under Group Creation Templates category, click on the type of template you need to delete. (Microsoft 365 group, distribution/mail-enabled security group, or dynamic distribution group creation template)
4. The resultant page will display all the available group creation templates.
5. Under the Actions column click on the icon corresponding to the template you need to delete.
6. Click Yes in the confirmation pop-up.

Note: The built-in creation templates cannot be modified or deleted.

Field Tray:

In the Layout View, the pane on the left extreme has all the default tabs and all their corresponding fields. This pane is called the Field Tray. The fields can be dragged-n-dropped to the required tabs in the template or unwanted fields can be moved back to the field tray from the template.

Go to top

Make silently active:

Using the make silently active option, it is possible to hide a tab or a field without actually deleting it. When this option is enabled, all the attributes made silently active will be updated in the groups but will not be displayed during the creation process.

This option is useful in cases where the administrator would like give values to the attributes in the tab but would not like the person creating groups to know the values being provided.

To view this option, in the Layout View, click on Enable Drag-n-Drop option, and hover over the field to be made silently active. Click on the icon to view the Make Silently Active. Even the field groups and an entire tab can be made silently active.

Go to top

Field Group:

A field group contains a group of related attributes placed under one common head. A new field group can be added using the Add Group' option that is placed inside the tab on the top right corner. Similar to the tab, a field group or any field that is placed in a field group can be made 'silently active'.

Go to top

Drag-n-drop:

This option makes it possible to drag and drop the required field or attribute in the required tab.

Click on the tab in which you would like to add a new field. Then, drag and drop the required field from the field tray to the required field group inside the tab.

While moving the field/attribute, a box will be automatically displayed inside the field group. You can drop the required field inside this box in the required position.

Go to top