Definition
Public Groups is a Setup page where administrators create and manage groups of users, roles, and other groups that can be used in sharing rules, email alerts, and other access controls. Public Groups simplify access management by allowing administrators to grant permissions to a named group rather than individual users.
Real-World Example
The admin at TechNova creates a Public Group called "Regional Sales Managers" containing all eight regional sales manager users. She then creates a sharing rule that grants this group read/write access to all Opportunities in the org. When a new manager joins, the admin simply adds them to the group instead of creating individual sharing rules.
Why Public Groups Matters
The Public Groups page in Salesforce Setup is the central management console where administrators create, edit, and manage all Public Groups in the org. Each Public Group is a named collection of users, roles, roles and subordinates, or other groups that can be referenced in sharing rules, email alerts, queues, report/dashboard folder access, and list view visibility. This Setup page matters because it provides the single point of administration for group-based access control — the admin can see all groups, their members, and where each group is used, enabling effective governance of the organization's sharing model.
At scale, the Public Groups page becomes a critical governance tool. Organizations with dozens of groups need to regularly audit membership to ensure that access grants remain appropriate as people change roles. The page supports group nesting (groups within groups), which enables powerful but complex access hierarchies. Without regular review of Public Groups, organizations accumulate stale memberships — former employees still in groups, users in wrong groups after role changes — which creates security vulnerabilities. Best practice is to pair Public Group management with a quarterly access review process that involves business stakeholders.
How Organizations Use Public Groups
- TechNova — TechNova's admin uses the Public Groups page to create 'Regional Sales Managers' containing all eight managers. She then creates a sharing rule granting this group read/write access to all Opportunities. When a new manager joins, she adds them to the group on the Public Groups page instead of creating individual sharing rules.
- Clearwater Financial — Clearwater's security team conducts quarterly access reviews using the Public Groups page. They export group memberships, compare against HR's current role assignments, and remove 12 users who had changed roles but were still in groups granting them access to sensitive financial records.
- Pinnacle Services — Pinnacle uses the Public Groups page to manage nested groups: 'All Support Staff' contains 'Tier 1 Agents,' 'Tier 2 Engineers,' and 'Support Managers.' When they add a new 'Tier 3 Specialists' group, the admin nests it under the parent on the Public Groups page, and all existing sharing rules for 'All Support Staff' automatically include the new tier.