The setup is a little different from a regular Gmail account because a Google Group isn’t a real mailbox — it’s a distribution list. You can’t log into it or configure forwarding in Gmail’s settings. Instead, you’ll add Jelly as a member of the group so it receives a copy of every message.
Before You Start
Make sure you have:
- Google Workspace admin access, or at least the ability to manage members of the group in question
- Admin or owner access to your Jelly team
If you’re not an admin of the Google Group, you’ll need to ask someone who is to help with the steps below.
Part 1: Understanding Your Setup
Google Workspace offers two kinds of groups that are relevant here:
Google Group — A standard mailing list. Emails sent to the group address are delivered to all members. There’s no shared inbox UI — members just get copies in their own inboxes.
Collaborative Inbox — A Google Group with extra features turned on: conversations can be assigned to members, marked as resolved, etc. It has a basic shared inbox UI in Google Groups, but it’s limited compared to a purpose-built tool like Jelly.
Both types work the same way for Jelly setup. The group has an email address, and you need messages sent to that address to also arrive in Jelly.
Part 2: Add Jelly as a Group Member
This is the key step. By adding your Jelly forwarding address as a member of the Google Group, every message sent to the group will be delivered to Jelly.
1. Find Your Jelly Forwarding Address
- Open Jelly
- Click your profile photo in the top-right corner
- Select Email Setup
- Copy your forwarding address — it looks like
hello@your-team-name.sendtojelly.com
2. Open Google Groups
- Go to Google Admin and navigate to Directory → Groups
- Or go directly to Google Groups and find your group
3. Add the Jelly Address as a Member
- Open the group’s settings
- Go to Members
- Click Add members
- Paste your Jelly forwarding address (
hello@your-team-name.sendtojelly.com) - Set the role to Member (it doesn’t need to be a manager or owner)
- Click Add
If Google won’t let you add an external email address, your Workspace settings may need adjusting. See Google Admin won’t let me add an external member below.
Google may send an invitation email rather than adding the member directly, depending on your group settings. If this happens, the invitation will arrive in Jelly. Open it and accept the invitation.
4. Check the Delivery Setting
Make sure the Jelly address will actually receive emails:
- In the group’s member list, find the Jelly address you just added
- Check that its subscription or delivery setting is set to Each email (not “Digest” or “No email”)
- If you’re in Google Admin → Groups, this is under the member’s delivery preferences
5. Test That It Works
- Send a test email to your group address from an account that isn’t a member of the group (or from a member, if your group allows members to post)
- Wait a few seconds
- Check Jelly — the test email should appear in your inbox
If it doesn’t arrive, see the troubleshooting section below.
Part 3: Set Up Sending
Now that messages are arriving in Jelly, you need to be able to reply. Since a Google Group isn’t a real mailbox, you can’t connect it directly to Jelly via Google OAuth the way you would with a regular Gmail account. You have two options:
Option A: Send via a Google Workspace Account (Recommended)
If you have a Google Workspace account that’s configured to “Send mail as” the group address, you can connect that account to Jelly and use it to send replies as the group address.
First, check that a Workspace account can send as the group address:
- In Gmail (logged into a real Google Workspace account, not the group), go to Settings → See all settings → Accounts and Import
- Look in the “Send mail as” section
- If the group address is listed there, you’re all set — that account can already send as the group address
If it’s not listed, a Workspace admin can enable it:
- Go to Google Admin → Groups → select the group
- Under Settings, look for Allow members to send from group address (also called “Post as the group”) and make sure it’s enabled
- Then in Gmail, go to Settings → Accounts and Import → Send mail as → Add another email address, and add the group address
Then connect the account to Jelly:
- Follow the Sending via Gmail guide to connect your Google Workspace account
- When adding the group address in Jelly, link it to the connected Google account
- Jelly will verify that the account is allowed to send as that address
Option B: Send via Jelly (DNS Verification)
If you’d rather not connect a Google account, you can verify your domain via DNS and have Jelly send on your behalf. This works well and avoids needing a specific Google account for sending.
- Follow the Sending via Jelly guide
- You’ll add DNS records (DKIM and return-path) to prove you own the domain
- Once verified, Jelly can send from any address at that domain
If you’re setting up Jelly specifically to replace your Collaborative Inbox, Option B is often the simpler path. You don’t need to worry about which Google account is connected or whether it has “Send mail as” permissions — just verify the domain and you’re done.
What About Your Existing Collaborative Inbox?
Once Jelly is set up and your team is comfortable using it, you might want to stop using the Google Group’s Collaborative Inbox features (assignment, resolution status, etc.) to avoid confusion about which tool is the source of truth.
You don’t need to delete the group or change its type — just have your team use Jelly for managing conversations instead. The group continues to work as a distribution mechanism, delivering messages to Jelly (and optionally to individual members’ inboxes too, if they want a backup).
If you want to keep things tidy, you could:
- Remove individual members from the group who no longer need direct copies (since they’ll see everything in Jelly)
- Turn off Collaborative Inbox features in the group settings so people aren’t tempted to manage conversations in two places
- Keep the Jelly forwarding address as the only member, so the group effectively becomes a forwarding-only address
Troubleshooting
Messages aren’t arriving in Jelly
- Check the member list — Make sure the Jelly forwarding address is actually listed as a member of the group
- Check the delivery setting — The Jelly address must be set to “Each email” delivery, not “Digest” or “No email”
- Check for pending invitations — If Google sent an invitation rather than adding the member directly, that invitation needs to be accepted in Jelly
- Check posting permissions — If the group is set to only allow members or certain people to post, make sure the sender of your test email is allowed
- Check spam settings — Some Google Groups have moderation or spam filtering that may hold messages for review
Duplicate messages in Jelly
If you’re getting two copies of every message, you probably have forwarding set up in two places — for example, both as a group member and via a Gmail forwarding rule on an individual account that’s also a member. Remove one of the duplicates.
Replies aren’t sending as the group address
- If using Option A: Check that the connected Google account has the group address listed under “Send mail as” in Gmail settings
- If using Option B: Make sure DNS verification is complete — check Email Setup in Jelly to see if there are any pending verification steps
- Make sure you’re selecting the correct “From” address when composing in Jelly
Google Admin won’t let me add an external member
Some Google Workspace configurations restrict groups to internal members only. A Workspace admin needs to change this:
- Go to Google Admin → Apps → Google Workspace → Groups for Business
- Under Sharing settings, make sure Allow external members is enabled (this can be set organisation-wide or per-group)
Next: Set up sending
If you haven’t set up sending yet, follow one of these guides: