I'm not sure that you can add contacts to a group en masse. I think you have to add them one at a time. These are the instructions I found:

To add a contact to a contact group:

1. Select the contact in the Contacts list.
2. Open the Groups drop-down menu.
3. Under Add to..., select the group you'd like to add the contact to, or select New group to create a new group.

or

1. Select the group you'd like to add to.
2. Enter the contact's name or email address in the Add this to group box at the top of the contact list.

Gmail is good BUT it is the WORST to figure out how to use it!

Someone sends me a link .. You click on it .. Nothing!
In the address bar you always get something like: HTTPS: lfefijjjejehhhfj

You really can't figure out the SEND TO address crap either!

I'm outta there!

Thanks Joann. That makes sense. I have to access the contact from the contact list first - in order to get the Groups drop-down menu. That's fairly easy. Unfortunately, I didn't think gmail's instructions made it clear that you had to open the contact list first - I had to go to "all contact" in order to get the group drop down menu. The second option isn't working for me- I don't have an "Add this tot he group box." I do have two symbols in the upper left - one is to add a single contact (this works if I hit it, it opens up a field on the right to add a contact to the group) and one is to add a new group. Not sure if this is what you meant.

Anyway - now I can add addresses to my group.

Stinkbug - sorry to hear you're giving up on gmail. There have been some things that are different and taken getting used to - but there's a lot I love about it. When I get a link, I can click on it and go to the site. When I open an email, I like to click "show details" to find out what email address it's coming from bc. gmail shows their own name - this was very confusing when I tried to copy and paste the emails of an organization I belong to - and send it to all members - the members could not see the actual email addresses bc. they don't always appear in the send to box. That seems unnecessarily confusing - but perhaps there's a reason for it I don't understand.

I also like how gmail groups emails together. Except for when it doesn't work - like when it groups the same thread - in two different groups, so I dont' realize I"m missing some emails as I read through a group. Or sometimes a new email is sent on the topic - and it sometimes comes to the top of my inbox - and other times remains lower in queue - where it was last positioned - meaning I don't realize that there's been a new email sent.

I still like gmail - but if anyone has light to shed on those confusing aspects, I'd appreciate it.

Thanks.
Lynn.

Gmail lover here.

Lynn, I don't really understand what you mean by the following:
"I also like how gmail groups emails together. Except for when it doesn't work - like when it groups the same thread - in two different groups, so I dont' realize I"m missing some emails as I read through a group. Or sometimes a new email is sent on the topic - and it sometimes comes to the top of my inbox - and other times remains lower in queue - where it was last positioned - meaning I don't realize that there's been a new email sent. "

Are you saying you have two different labels on a thread? It will show up under both labels. If you read it while looking at all the messages of one label, it will show up as already read when you look at the other label. But it will be there.

You can archive messages, which will remove them from the inbox, but they will still show up when you look at a particular label.

When you say "read through a group" do you mean a thread or label?

Hi, Susan. It's always dangerous for me to describe situations on my computer when I don't have the right language for it. Thanks for even attempting to decipher what I said.

I'll try that again. When I'm corresponding back and forth with someone (or a group of people) about the same topic - let's say, renting a beach apartment - in my inbox, I will see the subject title (that's what I meant by thread - or group of emails) - for the sender's email, it might list the last sender, me - and then have a number in parentheses which shows how many individual emails are grouped together. I do in fact try to sublet a beach apartment - and when I get correspond back and forth with potential renters, gmail groups all the emails together so it shows up in one line in my inbox (with the number of actual emails in parentheses).

My confusion is that most of the time, if a new email has been sent on the topic (say at 9pm), that grouping of emails will appear higher up in the inbox - according to the time of the last email. But once in a while, a new email is sent - but the entire grouping is not placed chronologically according to the time of the last email. So I may get a new email and not realize it bc. the entire grouping of emails stays further down in my inbox - where I might not see it at first. If I checked my email say eight hours earlier, I tend to only look for emails that came in the last eight hours. But sometimes an email comes in the last eighthours - but is grouped further down in the inbox according to the time of an earlier email - so I don't realize it's there bc. it's not with the latest eight hours of emails.

I hope that makes sense.

I wasn't saying anything about having two different labels on a thread - but I appreciate you making that point - it's good to know that it would appear under both labels - and show up as already read even if it's under the other label.
It's also good to know that archived messages also appear in groupings of emails under the same label. I hadn't gotten that far yet - but it's good to know.

Thanks.
Lynn.

Here's one possibility:

The order of messages depends on the time the original sender sent the message. It may go through several servers, any of which could cause a delay. Also if the message was sent to another of your addresses which forwards messages to gmail, or an address which gmail fetches periodically for you, that can be another delay.

If there was a significant delay anywhere, it is quite possible that the time stamp will actually show a time before you last checked your mail.

The next time you see that happen, check the time stamp and see if that makes sense.

Susan