---
title: "Group creation settings"
slug: "group-creation-settings"
tags: ["Totara Learn", "Content Creator", "Reference"]
updated: 2025-07-22T10:52:18Z
published: 2025-07-22T11:18:39Z
canonical: "totara.help/group-creation-settings"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://totara.help/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Group creation settings

## Manual group creation settings

When [manually creating groups](/19/docs/create-groups) for your courses or activities you can configure the following settings.

| **Setting** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Group name | The name of the group. | - |
| Group ID number | This can normally be left blank as it is only used when connecting the group to an external system. | - |
| Group description | A description of the group, could be useful to help other trainers understand who to add into it. | - |
| Enrolment key | If you have enabled self enrolment with an enrolment key in the [self enrolment plugin](/19/docs/configure-self-enrolment) then users can self enrol using the key provided. Here you can set a group enrolment key, meaning users will be added to the group when they self-enrol. If users self-enrol using the course enrolment key instead they will not be added to a group. | If you haven't set a master course enrolment key or group enrolment keys then any users can self enrol without using a key and users won't be added to groups. |
| Hide picture | Select either **Yes** or **No** to hide or show the group picture. | - |
| New picture | Browse or drag and drop a group picture. This will be shown as 100x100 pixel square image to represent the group. | - |

## Auto-create groups settings

When [setting up auto-creation of groups](/19/docs/set-up-auto-creation-of-groups), you can configure the following settings.

| **Setting** | **Description** | **Notes** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Naming scheme | You can have groups follow a sequential letter or number pattern. - Enter **@** for a letter pattern e.g. A, B, C - Enter **#** for a number pattern e.g. 1, 2, 3 You can also enter text to appear before the letter or number. For example 'Group #' will create Group 1, Group 2, Group 3 etc. | - |
| Auto create based on | Choose whether to create groups based on: - Number of groups - Members per group | This setting relates to the **Group/member count** setting below. |
| Group/member count | Enter the number of groups/ member per group to create. For example, if you selected **Number of groups** above and then enter **2** here then two groups will be created with any users that match the include criteria (set below) distributed across those two groups. If you selected **Members per group** above and then enter **3** here then a number of groups will be created so that each has no more than three members. | This setting relates to the **Auto create based on** setting above. |
| Select members with role | Choose which role you want group members to have, or select **All** to include everyone enrolled on the course, regardless of role. |  |
| Select members from audience | You can choose a [specific audience](/19/docs/what-is-an-audience) to select group members from. Anyone not in the selected audience will not be added to any of the created groups. |  |
| Select members from grouping | You can choose a specific [grouping](/19/docs/create-groupings) to select group members from. Anyone not in the selected grouping will not be added to any of the created groups. |  |
| Select members from group | You can choose an existing group to select group members from. Anyone not in the selected existing group will not be added to any of the new groups created. |  |
| Allocate members | Decide how to allocate group members. - No allocation - Randomly - Alphabetically by first name, last name - Alphabetically by last name, first name - Alphabetically by ID number | If you select **No allocation** then you will need to [manually assign users to the groups](/19/docs/manage-group-members). |
| Prevent last small group | If **Auto create based on** is set to **Members per group** then this setting can be ticked to stop one group that is smaller than the others from being created. | This may result in a larger group being created. For example if you have 7 users eligible to be added into a group and set **Auto create based on** to **Members per group** with a **Group/member count** of **3**, ticking this setting will mean that you end up with a group of three and a group of four, rather than two groups of three and one group with a single user. |
| Ignore users in groups | Tick this if you wish to only include users who are not already in an existing group. | - |
| Include only active enrolments | Only include users whose enrolment is currently active (not suspended). | - |
| Grouping of auto-created groups | If you want you can add your newly created groups to a [grouping](/19/docs/create-groupings) from the dropdown menu choose an existing grouping or select **New grouping** to create a new group (you will need to enter the name below). Select **No grouping** if you do not wish to add groups to a grouping. | - |
| Grouping name | If you are creating a new grouping enter the name here. | - |

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