How to Make Groups for Texting on an Android Device

In my previous post, I outlined many of the reasons it's a great idea to send daily mass text messages to your parents. If you're tired of looking back one post, it's called Some Rules for Teachers Who Text Parents or Want to Text Parents.

It's a great thing, and when you pair your Android device with a great app called Handcent SMS, you will have the ability to write a single text and send it to as many as 60 people at once.

OK, this sounds great, but there are plenty of people out there who don't know how to make groups.

It's easy, you can do it on your computer (in fact, I recommend you do it on your computer, it's much faster that way). You see, your Gmail contacts are your Androids contacts, so we're going to go into Gmail.

1.

Once you're in Gmail, you'll want to click on the "Gmail" above the compose button. All of what I will show you happens in the left hand column of the Gmail layout.










2.

Now, a drop down menu will come up, click on "Contacts."










3.

On the page that comes up, look near the bottom for "New Group." Click it.










4.

You'll be prompted to name your group. Once you've done that, the page will refresh. Now, at the top of your list, you'll want to click "My Contacts" so it opens up. Your new group will be listed.








5.

Now, for this last step, I'm going to assume that you've already added all the parents to your contact list. If you don't know how to do that, let me know. That's a good idea for another "how to" post.

Now, when you open up the contact you want to add to your group, you'll be taken to the page shown to the left. Click the image of the three circles above the body (GROUPS), and click a check mark next to the group you are adding this contact to. That's it, you're done. Repeat this last step for everyone you want in your group.


Now, finally, on your Android phone, this will automatically sync. Depending upon which Droid operating system you use, you'll have a group listing in your phones address book. If you decide to use Handcent SMS, it automatically syncs the phones data to it, you don't have to do anything else.

I hope that's helpful!