Creating a Public Group is one of the most-done sharing configurations in any growing Salesforce org. The configuration is simple; the design decision (who exactly should be in this group, and why) matters more than the click path.
- Open Setup and navigate to Public Groups
Setup > Users > Public Groups. The list shows every existing Public Group with the member count.
- Click New
The New button at the top opens the group editor. Pick a clear Group Label and an API Name that reflects the group's purpose.
- Add members
Use the dual-pane Available Members / Selected Members UI to add Users, Roles, Roles and Subordinates, or other Public Groups. Most groups end up combining several membership types; pick the smallest combination that captures the intended audience.
- Configure Grant Access Using Hierarchies
Tick or untick based on whether Role Hierarchy should propagate access through the group. Default is on. Untick only when compliance requires flat group membership.
- Save
Click Save. The group is immediately usable as a sharing target.
- Wire the group into Sharing Rules and folder sharing
The group itself does nothing until something references it. Build the Sharing Rule, Folder Share, or List View Share that uses the group as a target.
- Test with representative members
Confirm that the users in the group can see what they should and that users outside the group cannot see records that were supposed to be group-restricted.
- Public Groups with nested groups can be hard to audit. Keep nesting shallow (one or two levels) for clarity.
- Grant Access Using Hierarchies defaults to on. Forgetting to disable it on compliance-sensitive groups can leak access to senior managers who were not explicitly intended to see records.
- Public Group membership tends to accumulate. Audit quarterly and remove members who no longer need access.
- Public Groups cannot have Group as a member on certain types (e.g., Queue groups behave differently from Public Groups). Confirm the group type matches your use case.