Since the corona crisis, apps for online collaboration have become extremely popular. Tools like Slack and Microsoft Teams saw the number of users increase noticeably. Google is now also claiming part of the pie and has integrated Google Chat and Chat Rooms into Gmail.
These are the Chat and Chat Rooms apps, which professionals have been using for some time as part of the Workplace suite, better known under the (former) name G Suite. In Gmail, the Chat Room tool is housed in Google Chat.
Google Chat lets you chat with individual contacts or with groups, on both an informal and formal basis. If you want to have business conversations, you can use a special chat room.
Chat and Chat Rooms?
The difference between Chat and Chat Rooms is that the first option is simply for short, one-time conversations between friends or family, while Chat Rooms is more focused on conversations that you have with someone more often and for a longer period of time. Each channel, or chat room in other words, has its own name and remains available to your contacts. They can step in and out of the conversation at any time. You can also share files with each other. You can even split a ‘main channel’ into multiple channels, which is especially useful if you’re working with project groups or planning a wedding, for example.
Activate chat
To try out Google’s collaboration tools, you must first activate Google Chat in Gmail. If you want to use the chat service in both your browser and your mobile device, you need to set it up separately for both versions of Gmail. That’s a bit clumsy, but it’s not very complicated.
In the Gmail app on your phone or tablet, tap the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines below each other) and choose at the bottom of that menu for Settings. Select the account for which you want to enable the chat function. Under the heading General do you see the option chat stand. Turn on the function here. Use your Gmail on your iPhone or iPad then you need to restart the app before the changes become visible.
If you use Gmail in the browser, go to the settings and choose the tab Chat and meet. Here you can enable Google Chat.
Three options
In Gmail you will now find three options, To chat, Rooms and meeting (the name is slightly different in the mobile version of Gmail). You may also notice some other adjustments. For example, the large Compose button, which you use to send emails, has been replaced by a pencil icon and you will find a button next to the search bar at the top of the screen to adjust your status so that your contacts can see whether you are available or not. for a conversation.
below To chat you’ll find every conversation you’ve had in Hangouts and by pressing the plus sign you can search for people or rooms, start a group conversation, or create a chat room. Starting a conversation speaks for itself and we will not discuss it in detail. You can also create a group conversation in this way by entering the names or e-mail addresses of your contacts. They will then receive an email with a link to the conversation and have the choice to participate in the conversation or decline. If your contacts have Hangouts or Chat turned on, they will receive an invitation through these apps.
As with other chat features, you can send emojis, as well as files, or set up a video call.
If you choose to create a chat room, enter a name for the group and add the contacts to the conversation. In the end, the regular group conversations are very similar to the conversations you have in chat rooms. There are only minor differences, including the ability to edit the names of members in the group. Google has the differences between rooms and group conversations on here a row put.
