1. Dashboard overview

The Google Apps user dashboard is accessible to all Google Apps users. If you have a Google Apps account, you can visit http://www.google.com/a/your_domain.com to sign in and access the dashboard. The user dashboard allows you to see and access all the available services in one place. Active Google Apps services will appear in the 'My Services' section of the page. Simply click on any of these services to access it.

If you have questions about using any of these services, check out the User Help Center for further assistance.

If you're using Google Apps Team Edition, you'll have access to additional features in the dashboard. Read on to learn more!

2. Team Edition dashboard features

In addition to the features above, users of Google Apps Team Edition also have access to group-wide tools via the user dashboard. Unsure of whether you're using the Team Edition? The features described below will only appear in your account if you are, so you can check your own dashboard at http://www.google.com/a/your_domain.com to find out.

If you've forgotten your password or you're receiving the error 'Username and password do not match,' please follow these instructions to reset your password:

1. Navigate to your user hub login page at https://www.google.com/a/your_domain.com. Be sure to replace 'your_domain.com' with your actual domain name.
2. Click I cannot access my account.
3. Enter your username and click Submit.
4. Complete the captcha by typing the characters you see in the image and click Submit. You will see a confirmation message to let you know that reset instructions have been sent to the email address at your domain.
5. Sign in to your secondary email account and click the tokenized URL in the password reset message.
6. Enter and confirm the new password, then click Save new password to apply your changes.

   If your IT administrator manages your domain, please contact your administrator to reset your password.

If you're using the Team Edition and have access to management features in your dashboard, please note that other Google Apps users from your business or school can also access these features. Read on to learn more about what you can do in the Google Apps Team Edition dashboard.

3. Customize Google Apps

The Team Edition lets you customize the look and feel of Google Apps. Remember that all users can edit these group-wide settings, so it's best to choose settings the whole group can agree on.

• Organization info - Enter your organization's name and set the default time zone for your group. Note that the default time zone you set will be applied to all new users at the domain. If your domain has users in multiple time zones, each user can select their own time zone in their calendar settings.
• Appearance - Upload a custom logo for your business or school and customize the color of the login box on your sign-in page. The 'Sign-in page' link allows you to view the setting you choose, just make sure to save changes first!

4. Invite users

Because anybody with an email address issued by your business or school can create a Google Apps Team Edition account, some of your colleagues or classmates may already be using the service. You can see how many people are in your group from the dashboard. Click on the user count to view a list of current users. If colleagues or classmates you wish to collaborate with aren't on the list, you can invite them by following these steps:

1. Click on 'Invite more users' on the Google Apps dashboard.
2. Enter the email addresses of the people you wish to invite. NOTE: Their email addresses must match yours, so if your address ends with '@example.com,' theirs need to end with '@example.com,' too. If you want to collaborate with people from outside this domain, visit the 'Sharing information' section of this page to learn more.
3. Add a personal note to be sent with the invitation, if you like.
4. Click 'Invite users.' We'll send a verification email to the invitees. Once they accept the invitation, you'll be able to see them in the list of users in the dashboard and share information with them using Google Apps!

Any Google Apps Team Edition user can view the user list and invite other people to use the service.

5. Sharing information

Google Apps is designed to allow easy sharing of information with other people at your school or workplace, but you can also share information with people outside your organization, or with classmates and co-workers who haven't signed up for the Team Edition yet. Here's how:

• Within Google Apps
• Contacts - Colleagues and classmates who join the Team Edition are automatically added to the user list, which everyone in your group can view. When you add a user to chat or share a document or calendar, Google Apps suggests other Team Edition users as you input the first few letters of their username or their first of last name.
• Calendars - You can share calendars or calendar events with specific Team Edition users at your organization by invitation--events you invite them to will automatically show up on their Google Apps calendar. You can also choose to make your calendar viewable to all other Team Edition users at your company or school. This allows other users to search for your calendar and view events. You can learn more about calendar sharing options here.
• Docs - You can share documents, spreadsheets and presentations with individual users, or with your entire domain. If you share a doc with everyone at your domain, other users can search for it in their own accounts. You may also wish to send people a link to help them find the document. If you share a doc with one or more individuals, you have the option of sending them an invitation to view it.
• Sites - You can invite individual users to view or edit sites you create, or share a site with your whole domain.
• Outside your company or school and with users from your school or business who haven't signed up for Google Apps Team Edition
• Calendars - You can send event invitations to any email address. If you send an invitation to a person using Google Apps or a Google Account, the event will automatically be placed on their calendar. You also share your entire calendar with other people using Google Apps or a Google Account by inviting them in your calendar settings under 'Share this calendar.' If you'd like to share your calendar with people who aren't using Google Calendar, you'll need to change the sharing settings to publish the calendar so that anybody on the internet can view it. You can then invite people to view the calendar by sending them the HTML link found in your calendar settings under 'Calendar address.'
• Docs - You can share a doc with anybody with a Google Apps account or a Google Account. These users will receive an invitation to view the doc and can log in to view it even if it's not published to everyone. The doc will also be added to their own docs list. If you'd like to share a document with people who aren't using Google Docs, you'll need to visit the 'Publish' tab and publish the doc so that anybody on the internet can view it. You can then invite people to view the doc by sending them a direct link to it.
• Sites - You can share or collaborate on sites with anybody with a Google Apps account by invitation. If you wish to let people who aren't using Google Apps view your site, you can also publish it so that anybody on the internet can view it.

6. If your IT admin verifies ownership

The IT administrator who issued your email account at your school or business will continue to manage that email account. Google Apps Team Edition simply uses the address you provide to send you the notifications and invitations related to your Google Apps services.

If you sign up to use Google Apps Team Edition using an email address provided by your school or company, it's always possible that the person who owns or manages your organization's email system may later begin to manage Google Apps for your group. After your IT administrator verifies ownership of Google Apps, the ability to edit group-wide settings is restricted to the admin and any people they grant admin privileges to. If you're not an administrator, you'll no longer be able to edit your organization's information, customize the appearance of Google Apps, invite new users, or change the default settings for the group. You'll receive an email notification if your IT admin begins managing your Google Apps account.

Google Apps offers additional management options and other features for administrators that users don't get with the Team Edition. The admin can set sharing limitations for all users, including restricting the ability to share docs or calendar information with outside users. They can add and remove user accounts, create custom internet addresses for each application to allow easier access, and use APIs to integrate Google Apps with other IT systems that your company or school uses. While many administrators are happy to adopt Google Apps, please note that the admin can also choose to delete Google Apps for your school or business, which permanently deletes all user data. Though we discourage admins from deleting active accounts, please note that this is possible, and that the Google team is unable to retrieve deleted user data on an individual basis.

If you're concerned that your IT administrator might cancel Google Apps for your company or school, we offer several options that allow you to migrate your data to another account. If an admin makes changes that affect your work or your account, you can contact the admin directly for assistance. Please note that if you wish to sign up for applications for your personal use, we recommend creating a free Gmail account, which can be used to access all the services in Google Apps.

If you're the IT administrator for your domain and would like to learn more about verifying domain ownership to begin managing Google Apps, please visit our verification overview. You can find full information on managing Google Apps in the Google Apps Admin Help Center.