There are a few ways an organisation can connect Mindjoy to Google. Each one does a different thing, and they are easy to confuse because the buttons can look similar. This is a quick guide to what each one does, who needs to do what to set it up, and which one you actually want.
If you are looking for the equivalent on the Microsoft side, see Microsoft Single Sign-On with Mindjoy.
Quick guide to who does what
There are three different "admin" roles that come up in this doc. They are not the same person:
Google Workspace admin (your school's IT team). This is the person who can sign into the Google Admin Console and configure apps for your whole domain. If your IT team is reading this for the first time, the Getting Started: IT Administrators and IT Administrator FAQ articles are good starting points.
Mindjoy organisation admin. This is someone in your school who has admin rights inside the Mindjoy platform. Often the same person as the IT admin, but not always. See Adding Admins and Organisation Settings.
Educator. A regular teacher signed into Mindjoy.
If you are not technical and you are reading this, the short version is: forward this to your IT team. The whole thing should take them under five minutes for the most common option.
Option 1: Google Sign-In (authentication only)
This is the simplest option and most likely what you want. It lets your staff and students sign into Mindjoy by clicking "Continue with Google" instead of typing an email and password.
What it does: Authenticates users against their Google account. If their email matches an existing Mindjoy account, they sign in. If they have a pending classroom invitation, an account is created for them automatically.
What it does NOT do: It does not pull any class lists, Google Classroom rosters, or any other data from your Google Workspace domain. It only confirms that the person is who they say they are.
What your IT team needs to do:
In most cases, nothing. Google Sign-In works across any Google account or Workspace domain straight away.
The one exception is if your Google Workspace domain has been configured to restrict which third-party apps users can access. In that case:
Users who try to sign in will see a "This app is blocked" or "needs administrator approval" message from Google.
Your Google Workspace admin goes to the Admin Console, finds Mindjoy in the app access settings, and marks it as trusted.
After that, every user on your domain can sign in without seeing the prompt.
What your Mindjoy admin needs to do: Nothing. Google Sign-In is enabled on the platform by default.
Who can use it once set up: Both staff and students.
Option 2: Google Classroom sync (per-educator)
This is a different feature that happens AFTER an educator is signed in. It is not part of authentication.
What it does: Lets a single educator authorise Mindjoy to read their own Google Classroom classes and student rosters. Their classes appear in Mindjoy, with the right students in each one.
What it does NOT do: Sign anyone in. The educator has to be already signed in to Mindjoy to set this up. It also does not give Mindjoy access to any other educator's classes.
What your IT team needs to do: Nothing. Each educator does this for themselves, and only their own classes are accessed.
What the educator needs to do:
The full step-by-step guide is in Google Classroom Integration. In short:
Sign into Mindjoy.
Go to their account Settings > Integrations and click "Connect Google Classroom".
Approve the permissions when Google asks — Mindjoy will request read-only access to classes and rosters.
Their classes appear in Mindjoy.
For pulling specific student rosters into a classroom afterwards, see Import Students from Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams to Mindjoy.
Who uses it: Educators only, and only the ones who explicitly turn it on for themselves.
Option 3: Google Classroom sync (organisation-wide)
This is for schools that want all Google Classroom classes in their domain to be available in Mindjoy automatically, without each educator setting it up individually.
What it does: A Google Workspace admin grants Mindjoy permission to read all Google Classroom classes and student rosters across the organisation, in one go. This uses a Google feature called Domain-Wide Delegation.
How it works (two-step coordination): Unlike the Microsoft equivalent — where the same person can complete the whole flow in Mindjoy — Google's Domain-Wide Delegation requires your IT team to configure something in the Google Admin Console first, and then your Mindjoy admin to finish the setup on the Mindjoy side.
What your IT team needs to do (Google Admin Console):
The full walkthrough is in Google Workspace For Education Integration. The summary:
Sign into the Google Admin Console at admin.google.com.
Go to Security > Access and data control > API controls > Domain-wide delegation.
Click Add new and enter the Mindjoy service account Client ID (your Mindjoy contact can provide this, or it is displayed during the Mindjoy setup flow).
Save the delegation entry.
What your Mindjoy admin needs to do (Mindjoy):
Sign into Mindjoy and go to Organisation Settings > Integrations.
Find Google Workspace for Education and click Connect.
A setup dialog will display the Mindjoy service account Client ID and the required scopes — these are the values your IT team entered in step 3 and 4 above.
Enter the email address of the Google Workspace admin account used to configure the delegation (this is the account Mindjoy will impersonate to read classroom data).
Click Connect. Mindjoy will test the connection immediately — if the Admin Console delegation has not been saved yet, this step will fail.
Who uses it: Configured once by an admin, then applies to everyone.
Domain restriction (recommended add-on)
For any of the options above, you can lock your Mindjoy organisation so that only email addresses on specific domains can sign in or have accounts created. For example, only @yourschool.edu addresses can join your Mindjoy organisation.
What it does: Blocks account creation and sign-up for any email that is not on an authorised domain. Applies to every pathway: Google Sign-In, Microsoft Sign-In, manual signups, classroom joins, bulk invites.
For students specifically, this also enables one-click sign up. The full guide is in How to limit Student sign ups to your domain, and enable one-click student sign up.
What you need to do: Tell your Mindjoy contact which email domains to allow. We will configure it.
This is the cleanest way to enforce "only people from our school can have an account in our Mindjoy organisation" without needing to maintain custom restrictions on the Google Workspace side.
Quick decision guide
Want | Use |
Just sign in with Google, no class sync | Option 1 |
Sign in with Google AND have my own Google Classroom classes appear | Option 1 + Option 2 |
Sign in with Google AND have all classes in our domain appear automatically | Option 1 + Option 3 |
Restrict who can join our Mindjoy organisation | Add domain restriction to any of the above |
We use an LMS (Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, Brightspace) and want Mindjoy embedded there | Use LTI 1.3 instead or alongside |
Things to know
Multi-factor authentication still applies. If your Google Workspace enforces 2-Step Verification, users see the Google MFA prompt during sign-in. Mindjoy does not bypass this.
No SAML support yet. Google Sign-In works through OAuth 2.0 and OpenID Connect. SAML 2.0 is not currently available.
Options 2 and 3 require Google Workspace for Education. The class roster data lives in the Google Classroom API and is only populated for accounts that have Google Classroom enabled. Option 1 works on any Google account, including personal Gmail.
Option 3 requires your IT team to act first. The Domain-Wide Delegation entry in the Google Admin Console must be in place before the Mindjoy side of the setup will succeed. Coordinate with your IT team before starting the Mindjoy setup flow.
Domain restriction is the best way to enforce who can sign in. Restricting app access on the Google Workspace side is also possible but heavier to maintain. The domain restriction we set on our side covers all sign-in pathways consistently.
If you are not sure which option you need, the answer is almost always Option 1 plus a domain restriction. The Classroom sync options are only worth turning on if you actually want classes to appear automatically.
Related articles
For IT administrators: - Getting Started: IT Administrators - IT Administrator FAQ - Organisation Settings
Google Classroom setup: - Google Classroom Integration - Google Workspace For Education Integration - Import Students from Google Classroom or Microsoft Teams to Mindjoy
Domain restriction: - How to limit Student sign ups to your domain, and enable one-click student sign up
Classroom sync (Google and Microsoft): - Classroom Sync Guide - Microsoft Single Sign-On with Mindjoy
LMS integration via LTI 1.3: - How LTI works on Mindjoy - Connecting Canvas with LTI 1.3 - Connecting Moodle with LTI 1.3
Mindjoy admin basics: - Adding Admins - How to invite Educators on the Mindjoy Platform