How to update Department for Google SSO

Summary

• Sign in to your Admin Console
• Update Department using Google Cloud Directory Sync
• Edit multiple accounts with a spreadsheet in Admin Console
• Edit a single account using Admin Console
• ‘Department’ can be set to ‘Staff’ or year group, such as Year 7, Year 8

Methods for updating the Department field

You can update the Department field for Google user accounts using one of three recommended methods. Choose the method that best fits your organisation’s needs:

1. Google Cloud Directory Sync
2. Google Admin (multiple accounts)
3. Google Admin (single account)

Update using Google Cloud Directory Sync (GCDS)

1. Sign in to the server hosting GCDS (usually the AD Server).
2. Launch GCDS.
3. In General Settings, confirm User Profiles is checked.
4. Go to User Profiles and map the department to Department. For additional mapping options, see: Google User Profile Help and User Profile Attributes Guide
5. Ensure Active Directory has a value in the Department field (e.g., Staff for staff members, or the year group—such as Year 7, Year 8—for students).

Note: Synchronization with Active Directory will override changes made in Google Admin Console.

Update in Google Admin (multiple accounts)

1. Sign in to your Admin Console.
2. Click on the Users tile.
   
3. Select the required organisational unit in the menu on the left, then click Download users.
   
4. Choose all user info columns and currently selected columns and Comma-separated values (.csv), then click Download.
   
5. Click Download CSV in the left Admin task area.
   
6. Open the CSV file with user information you downloaded.
7. Under the Department column, enter values such as Staff for staff or year group (e.g., Year 7, Year 8) for students.
   
8. Note:
   • Leave untouched columns, delete if not required, or clear information as needed.
   • For non-required columns left blank, existing data remains unchanged.
   • To keep passwords unchanged, ensure the Password column contains **** (four asterisks).
9. Save the CSV file.
10. Return to Admin Console and click Bulk upload users.
    
11. Click ATTACH CSV, select your updated CSV file, then click Upload.
    
12. The spreadsheet will be merged with user accounts (no new accounts created).

Update in Google Admin (single account)

1. Sign in to your Admin Console (https://admin.google.com).
2. Click on Users.
   
3. Select the user to update the Department field for.
4. Click User Information under Basic Information.
   
5. Scroll to Department, select it, and add values like Staff or year group (Year 7, Year 8).
   

Frequently asked questions