Can’t add a user to a group

This page is for administrators who manage groups for an organization. To manage groups for your own account, visit Google Groups help.

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If you get a message that a user is already a member when you try adding them to a group, it could mean that you entered an invalid email address. It’s also possible that the user is already in the group—either with the email address you entered or an alternate address. 

Step 1: Check the user’s email address

You might have entered an incorrect email address. Check the email address and try again. 

Step 2: See if the user is already a member

View the group's members and check if the email address is already listed.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryGroups.
3. Click the name of the group.
4. Click Members to see the group's members and their email addresses.

Tip: Click Download  to download the members' information in a comma-separated values (CSV) file or in Google Sheets.

Step 3: Check the user’s aliases and alternate addresses

An email address that’s associated with the user’s account, such as an email alias or alternate email address, might already represent a group member. You can check email aliases in the Google Admin console. You can’t access a user's alternate email addresses, but they can provide them for you.

1. Sign in to your Google Admin console.

   Sign in using your administrator account (does not end in @gmail.com).

2. In the Admin console, go to Menu  DirectoryUsers.
3. In the Users list, find the user. If you need help, see Find a user account.
4. Click the user’s name to open their account page.
5. To check for email aliases, click User informationEmail aliases.
6. Ask the user to sign in to their managed Google Account and go to https://myaccount.google.com/email. Under Alternate emails, have them give you all of their alternate email addresses.
7. Check if any email aliases or alternate email addresses are already a group member (follow the directions in step 2).

Step 4: Check group type

If the group is a dynamic group that manages membership automatically, you can’t add users to the group manually. To check the group type, go to the Groups list in the Admin console. Dynamic groups have Dynamic in the Group Labels column. Learn more about dynamic groups.

Step 5: Check if the user is at the membership limit

If a user is at or above the maximum number of group memberships, they cannot be added to new groups. 

To join additional groups, the user can remove some of their  memberships until they are below the limit.

For more information, see “Membership” in Understand Groups policies and limits.