German: how to greet people

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Greetings depend on two or three factors, the degree of formality, the region, and often the time of the day.

Formally
until noon: Guten Morgen
ca. 11:00-18:00: Guten Tag
from 6 pm: Guten Abend

Not too Formally
morning: Morgen
(after)noon: Tag
evening: 'n Abend (pronounced as one word)

Informally
Hallo
Servus (actually Austrian, but now also used in Germany)
Grüß dich

Very Informally
Hi (pronounced as in English)

At work At many companies the workers greet each other by saying Mahlzeit when they meet around midday. Mahlzeit means "meal", and is probably a shortening of "Gute Mahlzeit", just like a plain Morgen" is a shortening of "Guten Morgen".

There is a number of regional variations for the (not too) formal greeting:

In the far north of Germany
Moin moin

Central Germany (the area where central German dialects are spoken)
morning: Morje(n) / Morsche(n) (depending on the region)
(after)noon: Tach (pronounced with a short A)
evening: 'n Amnd / 'n Awend

Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Austria
Grüß Gott

Switzerland
to one person: Grüezi
to several persons: Grüezi mittenand

In Saarland, one word expresses "Hello, how are you? How is your work going on? / Are your children still ill? / How was the party yesterday? / Have you bought your new car already? etc. etc.": Unn?

Apart from that, the equivalents of "How are you" are not as often used in Germany as in France and North America. So you would just say "Hello" instead of "Hello, how are you" as a greeting. But if you do ask "How are you", expect to get an honest answer about the other person's problems...