information technology central services at the university of michigan
Managing Your Membership in U-M Online Directory Groups

S4345 • February 2007

This document explains how you become a member of e-mail groups in the directory and how you can get yourself removed from them.

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What Is a Directory Group?

A group in the U-M Online Directory is basically a list of people and/or groups. It is typically used for sending e-mail. Mail sent to a directory group is delivered to each member of the group.

E-mail groups created in the directory can be used by anyone to send mail, regardless of what e-mail package they use. To send e-mail to a directory group, send it to groupname@umich.edu (where you have substituted the actual group name for groupname).

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Finding Groups of Which You Are a Member

You can look at your own directory entry to see a list of all the directory-based e-mail groups of which you are a member.

  1. Go to the directory at http://directory.umich.edu.

  2. Click the Bind button and log in with your uniqname and UMICH Kerberos password. (You must be bound to the directory to see your membership in private groups; you can see your membership in non-private groups without binding.)

    Screen shot of Bind button

  3. Click your uniqname to display your entry.

    Screen shot of where your uniqname will be -- in the upper right corner

  4. Near the upper left corner of your directory entry, click the Show Membership button.

    Screen shot of Show Membership button

  5. A list of the groups of which you are member will be displayed. Click a group name to see that group's entry.

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Getting into a Group

If you want to be added to a group, you must, in most cases, ask the group owner to add you. Group owners are listed in the group's directory entry. You can contact the group owner and ask that he or she add you by sending e-mail to
groupname-owners@umich.edu
where you have substituted the name of the group for groupname.

NOTE: A small number of directory groups have been set up by their owners as "joinable." You can join these groups yourself. See Joinable Groups below for details.

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Getting Out of a Group

  1. Contact the group owner(s) and ask to be removed from the group. You can contact the owner(s) of a group by sending e-mail to
    groupname-owners@umich.edu
    where you have substituted the name of the group for groupname.

  2. If you get no response from the group owner(s), contact the directory administrators (diradmin@umich.edu). One of them will remove you from the group.

NOTE: A small number of directory groups have been set up by their owners to be "joinable." You can remove yourself from these groups if you are a member. See Joinable Groups below for details.

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Joinable Groups

If a group in the directory has been set up by the owner to be "joinable," you can add yourself to the list of members and remove yourself. To tell if a group is joinable, look near the bottom of the group entry for this text:

Screen shot of text -- Others May Join: True

To join, or remove yourself from, a joinable group, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the directory (http://directory.umich.edu).

  2. Click the Bind button. (You cannot join groups unless you are bound to the directory.)

  3. At the login screen, enter your uniqname and UMICH password, then click Log in.

  4. In the Search text box at the upper left corner of your window, enter the name of the group you want to join, then click the Search button.

  5. The directory entry for the group will be displayed. If you are not yet a member of the group, you will see a Join button. If you are already a member, you will see a Resign button.

    Depending on what you want to do, click the Join or Resign button to the left of the group name.

  6. When you are finished using the directory, click the Unbind button at the top of the page, click logout (in the bottom right corner of the page), and quit or exit your web browser.

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When Groups Stop Working

If a group of which you are a member suddenly stops working, it is likely either because the group has expired or because the group owner has deleted it.

Directory groups expire after one year unless they are renewed by one of the group owners. When a group expires, it stops working. Mail sent to it will bounce. If you know the exact name of the group, you can search for it in the directory. The search results will indicate if the group has been disabled because it has expired.

Disabled groups can be renewed by the group owner. If the group owner(s) is unreachable and you need to have the group renewed, you can contact Directory Administration (diradmin@umich.edu) and ask to have ownership of the group turned over to you. It will then be your responsibility to maintain the group.

If the group has been and you search the directory for it, the search results will indicate that the group does not exist.

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Additional Resources

Visit ITCS's Information System to obtain ITCS computer documentation and other resources. A list of relevant documents follows:

We welcome your comments; please send e-mail.

ITCS's Online Help Desk provides a variety of computing help resources.

For further help with directory groups, send e-mail or phone (734) 764-HELP.

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