Why does someone keep being taken out of a Google group or classroom?

The sync keeps every Google group and Google Classroom in line with its group in Realsmart. If someone keeps disappearing from one, the sync is usually doing just that: in Realsmart, they aren't in the group that the Google group or classroom belongs to. This guide covers the usual reasons, how to check each one, and how to fix it yourself.

Start here: their Logs tab

Open the person (Users → select their name) and select the Logs tab. Each removal is a row, with the date and time of the sync that made it:

• DELETE MEMBERSHIP — for example Member: j.smith delete From: [email protected]. They were taken out of that Google group.
• DELETE CLASSROOM_MEMBERSHIP — for example USERNAME: 23jsmith removed from classroom: 12b-ar. They were taken off a Google Classroom. The name after classroom: is the Realsmart group that the classroom belongs to, which may not be the class you expected.

A DELETE MEMBERSHIP row marked ERROR, or one starting Out of time or Abandoned, didn't remove anyone.

Cause 1 — They were added in Google, not in Realsmart

If you add someone to a group in the Google Admin console or Google Groups but not in Realsmart, the next sync sees that they aren't in the Realsmart group and takes them out again. This applies to groups Realsmart manages, whether they come from your MIS or you made them yourself.

Fix: add them in Realsmart instead. Open Groups, open the group, and add them on the Members tab (see Add a user to a group). The next sync puts them in the Google group, and they stay there.

People from another school who were added to a Google group directly in Google are left as they are.

Cause 2 — The classroom belongs to a different group

Every Google Classroom the sync makes belongs to one Realsmart group, and the sync keeps its students in line with that group. If a teacher uses one group's classroom for a different class (often after renaming it in Google), the sync takes that class's pupils off it again, usually overnight.

How to check: open the pupils' group and select the Classroom tab. Then open the group named in the removal rows on the Logs tab and check its Classroom tab too. Each lists the classroom linked to that group, under the name it has in Google. A classroom whose name doesn't match its group is the sign. See Find and link a group's Google Classroom.

Fix: to keep the teacher's work where it is, put the class's group inside the group the classroom belongs to. Open the group that owns the classroom, select the Members tab, and under Groups in this group search for the class's group and add it. Its pupils are added to the classroom as students at the next sync and stay in step with your MIS. They're also added to that group's Google group. See Put a group inside another group.

Cause 3 — A colleague's address is an alias on their account

If a colleague's email address is still an alias on this person's Google account (for example a new member of staff whose address is very like theirs), Google treats the two addresses as one account. Until early November 2026 the sync could take this person out of groups while it was updating the colleague. It no longer does: it leaves the groups alone, and the colleague's Logs tab shows Membership changes withheld (Google primary email does not match Realsmart), naming both addresses. The colleague's own groups won't appear until the alias is gone.

Fix: in the Google Admin console, open this person's account (Directory → Users), go to User information → Alternate email addresses, and remove the colleague's address. The next sync can then set up the colleague's own account. If the alias is there because someone was renamed in Google first, see Rename a user instead.

Cause 4 — They were suspended and made active again

Suspending someone takes them out of all their groups. When you make them active again, their MIS groups come back at the next MIS import and the groups you'd added by hand come back within about an hour, each with the role they had, such as Manager. This works for anyone suspended in the last 90 days. For someone suspended longer ago, add the hand-made groups and roles back yourself. See What happens to a leaver's account?.

If you want to switch pupils off over a holiday, use a holiday pause instead of suspending them. A pause keeps everyone's groups and roles.

Lots of people were about to be taken out at once

If a sync was about to take a very large number of people out of groups in one go, Realsmart pauses removals from Google groups (not Google Classroom) and shows a card on your Dashboard. Nobody is taken out of those groups until your groups are back to normal, your new school year starts, or someone at your school chooses Let removals go ahead. See Realsmart paused some changes to keep your groups safe.

Still stuck?

Contact Realsmart support with the person's name, the group or classroom, and the date and time of one removal row from their Logs tab.