Using Google Chat in Gmail
Audience: Staff, Students
Purpose: The purpose of this article is to guide users in using Google Chat directly from Gmail.
Summary: Google Chat can be a helpful tool to quickly ask a question without cluttering your inbox with an email chain. When finished, conversations can be archived or deleted.
Table of Contents:
Access
Navigate to Gmail
To access chats click the Chat icon on the left side of your screen.
Starting a Conversation With a Single User or Group Chat
On the left side of your Gmail window, click on the New Chat button.
In the text box that says Add 1 or more people, type the name of the user or users you wish to start a conversation with.
Once you see the desired user appear, click on their name to start a conversation.
Creating a Space
Spaces are a feature of Google Chat which allow users to collaborate on long term projects with team members. There are a few distinct differences between Spaces and Group Conversations, the main one being that spaces support threaded discussions. A more in depth explanation on Spaces vs Group Conversations can be found on Google’s Help Article here.
On the left side of your Gmail window, click on the New chat button next to the chat or spaces heading.
In the window that appears, click the Create a Space option.
In the next window, you will have several options for setting up your new space.
Enter a name for your space.
Select an emoji icon.
Optimize your space for either Collaboration or Announcements. Learn More.
Select access settings.
Currently, you can make the space private, or available to anyone at ICCSD.
When you are finished making changes, click on the Create button.
Once the chat is created, click on the Add members button
On the last window, search or click on any members you wish to add.
Then click Add.
Browsing Spaces
Even if you leave a space, you are still able to view and join them at any time.
To leave a space, you can hover over it and click on the 3 vertical dots, then select the Leave option.
To view spaces that are available for you to join again:
On the left side of your Gmail window click on the New Chat button.
In the window that appears, click the Browse Spaces option.
In the window that appears, you will see a list of all spaces that are available for you to join.
To join, click the Join button.
You can also use the search bar to look for a space if you know its name.
You can view spaces you are currently in on the left side of your Gmail window under Spaces.
Message Requests
When someone you have not chatted with previously sends you a message, their chat will appear as a message request until you accept their invitation.
You can view your pending message requests by following the instructions below.
On the left side of your Gmail window, click on the New Chat button.
In the window that appears, click the Message Requests option.
Pending message requests will appear here.