Why use groups
Groups help you organize and target employees in Windmill: Pulse surveys Send surveys to specific groups instead of your entire organization. This lets you gather feedback from specific teams or cohorts. Performance reviews Choose which groups participate in review cycles. This is helpful when rolling out reviews to specific teams. Groups provide a flexible way to organize employees beyond your reporting structure. You can create groups for cross-functional teams, committees, locations, or any other grouping that’s useful for your organization.Creating groups manually
Only Admins and HR Admins can create and manage groups in Settings > Groups.1
Go to Settings > Groups
Open Groups.
2
Select Create group
Enter a group name, then select Create group.
3
Select Manage members
On the group page, open the employee picker.
4
Choose employees
Select employees to add. Deselect current members when you want to remove them.
5
Save the group members
Select Save. Windmill applies the complete member list.
Archiving a group
1
Go to Settings > Groups
Open Groups.
2
Open the group actions
Open the row actions menu and select Archive group. You can also open the group and select Archive.
3
Confirm the archive
Select Archive group in the confirmation dialog.
Syncing groups from integrations
Your connected systems—Google Workspace, Microsoft (Outlook), Salesforce, Slack, and your HRIS—often already have groups defined. Rather than syncing all of them into Windmill, you choose which groups you want to sync. This keeps your Groups list focused on the groups you actually use. Syncing is one-way: groups flow from your source systems into Windmill. Groups you create in Windmill are not synced back to those systems.Choosing which groups to sync
Groups available from your connected systems appear in the Available to sync tab, where you can turn on syncing for the ones you want.1
Go to Settings > Groups
Navigate to the groups
tab under account settings.
2
Open the Available to sync tab
This tab lists every group Windmill can pull in from your connected systems, like Google Workspace, Microsoft (Outlook), Salesforce, Slack, and your HRIS.
3
Select the groups you want to sync
Find the group you’d like to bring into Windmill and select it. You can select several groups at once to sync them in bulk.
4
Click Sync group
Windmill starts syncing your selection. Synced groups now appear in your Groups tab, each labeled with the system it came from.
What stays in sync
Once you’ve turned on syncing for a group, Windmill keeps it up to date automatically:- Group names
- Group membership (who’s in each group)
- Changes to membership when people join or leave groups
Supported integrations
- Google Workspace - Distribution lists, security groups, and other Google groups from your Google Workspace directory
- Microsoft (Outlook) - Mail-enabled Microsoft 365 groups
- Salesforce - Salesforce public groups and roles
- Slack - Slack user groups (not channels)
- HRIS - Teams, departments, and cost centers from your HR system integration
Managing SCIM groups
Your identity provider creates and manages SCIM groups. Change the group name or membership in the identity provider. SCIM-provisioned groups do not use the Available to sync selection flow. See SSO and SCIM for configuration details.Using groups
In pulse surveys
When creating a pulse survey, you can target specific groups instead of your entire organization:1
Go to Pulse > Create survey
Start creating a new pulse survey.
2
In the Audience section, select Specific groups
Choose to target specific groups instead of your entire organization.
3
Choose one or more groups to receive the survey
Select which groups should receive the survey.
4
Continue setting up your survey as normal
Complete the rest of your survey setup.
- Team-specific check-ins
- Onboarding cohorts
- Cross-functional initiatives
In performance reviews
When setting up a performance review cycle, you can use groups to control who participates:1
Go to Performance > Cycles > Create new cycle
Start creating a new performance review cycle.
2
In the Participants section, select Specific groups
Choose to limit participants to specific groups.
3
Choose which groups should participate in the review cycle
Select the groups that should be included in the review.
4
Continue setting up your cycle as normal
Complete the rest of your review cycle setup.
- Rolling out reviews to specific teams first
- Running different review processes for different teams
- Piloting a new review format with a subset of your organization
Groups and permissions
Creating and managing groups
Only Admins and HR Admins can create and manage groups in Windmill.Viewing groups
Only Admins and HR Admins can access Settings > Groups. Other members can see a group only when an available feature lets them select or view it.Synced groups
Groups synced from Google Workspace, Microsoft (Outlook), Salesforce, Slack, or your HRIS can only be modified in the source system. Admins cannot manually edit these groups in Windmill.FAQs
Can I add someone to multiple groups?
Can I add someone to multiple groups?
Yes. Employees can belong to as many groups as you need. This is helpful for cross-functional teams, committees, and other overlapping groupings.
What happens to groups when someone leaves the company?
What happens to groups when someone leaves the company?
Windmill keeps stored manual-group membership, but active group member lists and member counts exclude the archived employee. If you unarchive the employee, the retained membership can appear again. For an integration group, a later group refresh rebuilds membership from active mapped employees.
Can I delete a group permanently?
Can I delete a group permanently?
You should archive groups instead of deleting them. Archiving preserves historical data (like which groups were targeted in past surveys) while removing the group from active use.
Why can't I edit a group synced from Google Workspace?
Why can't I edit a group synced from Google Workspace?
Groups synced from integrations are read-only in Windmill to prevent conflicts with the source system. If you edit a synced group manually, your changes would be overwritten on the next sync. Make changes in the source system instead, and they’ll sync to Windmill automatically.
If I create a group in Windmill, will it sync to Google Workspace?
If I create a group in Windmill, will it sync to Google Workspace?
No. Group syncing is one-way only—from your connected systems into Windmill. Groups you create manually in Windmill exist only in Windmill and are not synced back to Google Workspace, Microsoft (Outlook), Salesforce, Slack, or your HRIS.
How do I know if a group is synced from an integration?
How do I know if a group is synced from an integration?
In the Groups tab, each group shows its source. Manually created groups are labeled accordingly, while synced groups show the system they came from (Google Workspace, Microsoft, Salesforce, Slack, or your HRIS). You’ll also see a notice that the group is read-only when you view its details.
I don't see a group from Slack or Google in my Groups tab. Where is it?
I don't see a group from Slack or Google in my Groups tab. Where is it?
Groups from your connected systems aren’t synced until you turn them on. Open the Available to sync tab in Settings > Groups, find the group, select it, and click Sync group. It will then appear in your Groups tab.
Can I create a group with the same name as a synced group?
Can I create a group with the same name as a synced group?
Yes, but we don’t recommend it. This can be confusing for other admins. If you need a group similar to a synced group, give it a distinct name (like “Customer Success Team” vs “Customer Success”).