Thanks to its variety of applications, Google stands out especially in the area of communication. However, one branch he ventured into without much success was instant messaging, with your Hangouts chat app, which has not had a great impact on measure yourself with WhatsApp and FB Messenger, developed by Facebook.
Nevertheless, Google has made a new commitment to this service, with the removal of the Hangouts brand renaming it as Google Chat, and directing its use to the internal communication application of work teams.
Whether you are an individual trying new messaging applications, or you are part of a work group looking for methods of remote coordination, it is convenient that you learn to handle this application. And if that’s what you want, you’ve come to the right place.
What is Gmail chat and what are its most interesting features?
It’s about a communication software developed by Google under the Freemium license, accessible via the internet for computers and available as an application for Android and iOS, that was thought to compete with applications like Microsoft Teams and Slack.
It is the Google’s commitment to the market for instant messaging aimed at companies, since much of communication at work is done digitally via email, but this medium is inefficient for fast communication.
Google Chat It was designed to facilitate communication in working groups and speed up the exchange of information. Besides this, It has a direct connection with the Google Workspace and Meet platforms, for immediate video calls. This compatibility with other Google work platforms, added to the basic characteristics of an instant messaging service, make Google Chat one of the most competent applications available for coordinating work groups.
Among its main characteristics we can highlight:
- Direct chats: allows you to send instant messages to individual contacts.
- Chat rooms: Useful for the coordination of group work and the exchange of information and documents.
- Bots: work in a similar way to chrome extensions. Basically, if a third-party application has a bot available, Google Chat allows you to install said bot and access the desired application.
- Gmail connection: from Gmail we will have access to a preview of notifications and direct links to Google Chat news
- Google Meet compatibility: enables the possibility of having individual video calls or conferences in a video chat room.
- Access to Google Workspace: Through its connection to Meet and Gmail, it allows direct access to files and documents hosted on these services.
Learn step by step how to enable or disable Hangouts chat in your Gmail account quickly and easily
The Chat feature is disabled by default in Gmail, both in its web version and in its mobile applications, so it is necessary to enter the mail settings to enable this service. It is possible to activate the chat function in any of the Gmail clients through their settings, either in the web portal or in the mobile application.
We will now show you the steps to activate Google Chat on PC, Android and iOS:
On the web portal
Like many sections of Gmail, access to Google Chat is disabled natively, showing instead the classic version of Hangouts.
So the first step is to enable the new version:
- Open your web browser and enter Gmail.
- Log in with your email and your password
- Once in the Gmail web portal, click on the settings icon, shown as a gear at the top.
- Press about button “See all settings.”
- In the settings tab selection, enter the section “Chat & Meet”.
- Click on “Chat” to activate the new version and remove Hangouts from your Gmail. If you wish disable Google Chat, click “Disabled”.
On Android and iOS
Of course, you can’t miss the chat function in the Gmail app for mobile devices. The application of Gmail has the useful feature of working exactly the same way on both devices Android like in iPhone.
Through the Gmail settings, mobile device users can access the Chat and Spaces function through the mail application, for which they only need to follow these steps:
- Sign in to the app Gmail.
- Open the side menu pressing the three lines in the upper left corner.
- Swipe down until you find the button “Setting” and click on this.
- Choose your email.
- Swipe down until you find the category “General” and check the box labeled as “Chat” to enable the function.
- Press “Accept” in the window that will appear.
- As soon as your Gmail application restarts, you will see a dock at the bottom with the accesses to “Mail”, “Chat” and “Spaces”.
- The access “Chat” will allow you to search for contacts and start individual conversations while accessing “Spaces” It will allow you to create a room or search for a chat room to join.
We show you step by step how to reduce the size of the Gmail chat so that it takes up as little space as possible on the interface
The Gmail interface has pretty decent customization capabilities, so that each user has the possibility to edit their interface at will, and this function also applies to the Google Chat window.
Go for it:
- All you have to do is select the chat header or the space you want to modify.
- Hold down the left mouse button on it and drag it down to reduce its size, and occupy the minimum possible screen space.
This function also applies to those users who have a special interest in maintaining a good visualization of their chat tabs and spaces, since, By dragging the header up, you will increase the size of your chat windows. Everything will depend on the size of the screen monitor that you have available to see the conversations in this section, on a larger screen, surely it will not be necessary to adjust the Gmail interface.