Google Chat is a new com­mu­ni­ca­tion tool from Google that replaces Google Hangouts. It offers many ad­van­tages for virtual team com­mu­ni­ca­tion and helps col­lab­o­ra­tors share in­for­ma­tion faster. In this article, we’ll explain what Google Chat is and what the tool can be used for.

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What is Google Chat?

Today, most of the com­mu­ni­ca­tion in the workplace happens digitally, and it’s a trend that’s only in­creas­ing. In many pro­fes­sions, email has long been the standard method of sharing in­for­ma­tion, but emails alone often aren’t the fastest way to com­mu­ni­cate. Digital col­lab­o­ra­tion is es­pe­cial­ly important when groups of people need to share discuss or process in­for­ma­tion and documents. Google Chat helps you exchange in­for­ma­tion or discuss projects and is directly in­te­grat­ed into the Google Workspace en­vi­ron­ment as well as Google Meet, Google’s latest video con­fer­enc­ing tool.

Note

Google Workspace from IONOS gives you cen­tral­ized access to all your Google Workspace ap­pli­ca­tions and Google Drive documents on different devices. You also get a pro­fes­sion­al Gmail address and extra storage space for documents, spread­sheets, and pre­sen­ta­tions.

Google Chat: Features and ad­van­tages briefly

Google Chat is more than just a simple messaging app. Google Chat offers countless features for virtual team col­lab­o­ra­tion thanks to its in­te­gra­tion with Google Workspace and Google Meet. It also allows you to add apps such as Trello or Asana using bots. Below are Google Chat’s most important features:

Feature Use
Chat Direct messaging with in­di­vid­ual contacts
Chat room Con­ver­sa­tion in a group or about specific topics to share in­for­ma­tion or documents
Bots Apps such as Asana or Trello can be added using bots
Google Workspace in­te­gra­tion Direct access to documents and files from Google Drive, Google Meet and in­te­gra­tion with Gmail
Google Meet in­te­gra­tion Video chatting in Google Meet with in­di­vid­ual contacts or within a chat room
Gmail in­te­gra­tion Preview, no­ti­fi­ca­tions, and direct link to Google Chat messages in Gmail

Direct messages

You can use the search bar to select people and send them a direct message. The advantage of this is that your con­ver­sa­tion can only be read by selected re­cip­i­ents, like an email.

Image: Google Chat: Search function
You can find your contacts using the search function in Chat.

Chat rooms

You can set up a chat room if you want to start a group con­ver­sa­tion to discuss a project or share in­for­ma­tion on specific topics. Only approved members can join a con­ver­sa­tion in a chat room. You can adjust the list of members at any time if a par­tic­i­pant is no longer working on the project or a new member joins. There are usually one or more ad­min­is­tra­tors who manage the users of a chat room.

Image: Google Chat menu
From the main menu, you can display an existing Google Chat room or create your own chat room.

Adding bots

Another useful feature of Google Chat is the ability to add bots to the com­mu­ni­ca­tion tool. If a bot is available for your chosen third-party ap­pli­ca­tion, you can simply click to add your favorite apps, whether Trello, Asana or Giphy. To do this, go to the left-hand menu under Rooms, select your bots from the suggested apps already available from Google. Then specify the chat room or message in which you want to access a third part-app using a bot.

Image: Bot search in Google Chat
You can use bots to integrate other apps into Google Chat.

In­te­gra­tion with Google Workspace

As a Google service, Google Chat is extremely well in­te­grat­ed into to other Google ap­pli­ca­tions, es­pe­cial­ly Google Workspace. This gives you the following options:

  • In your message, you can directly link to documents and files saved on Google Drive. This is es­pe­cial­ly useful when members of a chat room are col­lab­o­rat­ing on documents.
  • In a private chat or in a chat room, you can simply click to start a video meeting in Google Meet.
  • You can also be notified about incoming messages in Google Chat by turning on previews and no­ti­fi­ca­tions in Gmail.
Image: Gmail with Google Chat preview
Use Google Chat directly in your Gmail account.

Other helpful features you can use when composing messages:

  • Built-in Spell check
  • Delete chat history after 24 hours
  • Upload external files such as photos or documents
  • Add emoticons

Can I use Google Chat and Hangouts Chat together?

If one of your contacts still uses classic Google Hangouts for messaging, you can still com­mu­ni­cate with each other by ex­chang­ing direct messages in Google Chat. However, this option is only available for direct messages. Group messages cannot be exchanged between a chat room in Google Chat and Google Hangouts.

Using Google Chat on desktop or mobile devices

Like Google’s services in general, Google Chat is already in­te­grat­ed into many Google apps. You can recognize Google Chat by the green speech bubble with an @ sign inside it. To use the Chat app, you need a Google account and a web browser or a mobile device with Internet access.

Tip

Are you having problems with your Google Account after not having used it for a long time? If so, you can try to recover your Google account at any time. You can also delete a Google account that you’re no longer using and create a new account.

Using Google Chat on desktop devices

There are three different ways to use Google Chat on a desktop computer:

Gmail: Open your Gmail account in a web browser. In the left column under Inbox, you’ll see a preview for Google Chat direct messages and chat rooms. To open the Chat app in a separate window, click the grid icon for all Google apps in the upper right corner. Scroll down in the menu and find the icon for Google Chat. Click the icon and Google Chat will open in a new tab or window in your browser.

Web browser: In the Chrome browser, Google Chat also au­to­mat­i­cal­ly appears in the Google apps menu when you click the grid icon in the upper right corner. Al­ter­na­tive­ly, you can open the app in any browser by entering the Google Chat URL.

Pro­gres­sive web ap­pli­ca­tion (PWA): Another option is to use Google Chat as a PWA on your computer. To do this, open the Chrome browser and log into your Google account. Now click the three-dots icon at the top right and select Install Google Chat....

Using Google Chat on a mobile device

On your smart­phone or tablet, you can use the Google Chat app, which is available for free from the Google Play Store for Android and from the App Store for iOS devices. The Google Chat app also comes pre-installed on some newer gen­er­a­tion Android devices. To find the app, look for a green speech bubble with an @ sign.

Google Chat: Personal settings

You can easily customize your Google Chat ap­pli­ca­tion to suit your needs. For example, you can change your profile picture or choose which push no­ti­fi­ca­tions you want to receive.

Changing your profile picture

To use Google Chat, you need to be signed in to your Google account. The profile picture in Google Chat is the same picture you use for your Google account. To change your profile picture, click your current photo and upload a new photo, which will then be displayed in both your Google Account and Google Chat.

Setting push no­ti­fi­ca­tions

Whether you use Google Chat as an app on your smart­phone or tablet, in a browser or as a PWA on your computer, you should first choose when and how you want to be notified about new messages. To do this, click the “Active” button in the menu on the left. Now you can choose not to be disturbed for the next few hours, for example. The “No­ti­fi­ca­tion Settings” option allows you to make further personal settings, tem­porar­i­ly stop no­ti­fi­ca­tions or mute no­ti­fi­ca­tions from selected people.

Image: Google Chat notification settings
In Google Chat, you can choose how and when you want to be notified about new messages.
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