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I'm a manager on Google Groups for a group that has about 100 members. I want to be able to edit the display name so I can identify who my users are, instead of "JKL6" for example, which is the prefix for an email address. First, I can't seem to edit the "Display Name" and second, I have deleted the list of email addresses when I was fooling around with the identity tool. I was trying to change the settings about display name vs. Google name, and now my "Members" list does not have ANY email addresses showing.

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If you need to edit the "Display Name" of a user there is a easy work around for the Group Manager.

  1. Make a note of the members details i.e. email address
  2. Remove them from the group.
  3. Directly add them using the following format: "Display Name" <fred@example.com>

*update as of 5/21/19 the format is simply:enter image description here You don't need quotes around the name & using them makes it appear in the user name (e.g. "Fred Smith" will appear if you use quotation marks). Put a space between first & last name, but NO other spaces are needed. Put a comma after each bracketed email if you're adding multiple emails. You can only add 10 emails at once.

This is handy for fixing typos or making display names more meaningful

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    This does not work for users outside the domain. – dmikester1 Apr 6 '17 at 15:31
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    Indeed does not work. Has not worked since at least 2010. See productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/apps/6Z8OpwGk7UM for a support thread from 2009. Still not fixed. – Wim Leers May 17 '18 at 11:48
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    This worked fine for me in October 2018. I added someone to my group with format "John Doe" <john@ymail.com> and "John Doe" was correctly used as the Display name – Eric Barr Oct 19 '18 at 14:51
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    worked for me yesterday for any user, gmail or another. thanks a lot. – Serge Mar 21 '19 at 16:18
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    The only drawback here is that the users get an email saying that they have been added to a list they thought they were already on. It would be great if this could be done behind the scenes somehow so as not to confuse people (and it definitely will...) – Conrad Apr 25 '19 at 15:32
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How to set the display name for group members in Google Groups?

Group managers can't edit the display names of the group members but they can change the member identity settings. Check out the official help article in references to learn about the available options.

References

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    what is the question about, and what is the answer about... – Serge Mar 18 '19 at 14:28
  • @Serge Have you experience using Google Groups? What about creating and managing groups on Google Groups? – Rubén Mar 18 '19 at 17:11
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    OP asked how to change the display name, not how to change the identity settings. Fortunately, the @peter answer worked, by removing and then adding the member using the specified format – Serge Mar 21 '19 at 16:16
  • @Serge I mentioned changing the identity settings as an alternative. I'm glad to know that the Peter's answer worked for you on 2019. Not all group managers could use that workaround. – Rubén Mar 21 '19 at 17:18
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    but what kind of alternative is that? is like someone asking for a good restaurant and you recommend a very cool swimming pool – Serge Mar 22 '19 at 9:34

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