Chat vs Hangouts
G Suite admins can now remove Google Hangouts and add Google Chat to Gmail.
Here’s what you need to know…
Instead of group chats, you can create ‘Rooms’, where all your messages will be organised into threads. It takes a bit of getting used to, but it means you no longer lose track of replies.
It has an integration with Meet, so you can insert a link to a video call in your messages.
It has an integration with Drive, so you can quickly add links to files and share them within Chat (we suspect this integration will expand further at some point)
When you set an Out of Office it will notify people in Chat when they go to message you.
It has ‘Bots’ (we recommend checking out the Drive and Meet bots). You will already have the ‘Classic Hangouts’ bot. This will notify you if you receive any messages from your old group chats in Hangouts.
You can chat with external organisations who use G Suite.
When you mute Chat, it will show others you are away
You can @mention colleagues when messaging them in ‘Rooms’
You can install the Chat app on your laptop/computer and mobile.
We are super excited to be using Chat fully now they have introduced external messaging.
The updates will keep coming to keep up with competition. What updates would you like to see next?
