Users can work with the same tools, files, and other resources, such as contact lists. Groove also supports shared, coordinated Web browsing, as well as communication media, including live voice over the Internet, instant messaging, text-based chat, and threaded discussions. Groove Networks calls its user interface the transceiver. Each transceiver stores all of its content and activities locally on a PC in an XML object store. Groove doesn't require any central, shared data store.
Groove compresses the XML content to minimize local storage requirements and to conserve bandwidth.
Groove's architecture is asynchronous, meaning that parties don't have to have real-time connections. When parties are on the Internet simultaneously, they communicate in real time. This asynchronous architecture enables Groove Networks to offer a relay service, which stores messages destined for clients disconnected from the Internet. When a client reconnects, the relay service updates it with changes from other team members. Any changes made on the disconnected client are simultaneously propagated to the other team members.