New in Chat, in a nutshell!
- Coming soon... Message forwarding: you'll soon finally be able to forward messages from one conversation to another. Forwarded messages will directly show the original sender, source, and any attachments. Google Chat does, however, enforce strict rules to prevent inappropriate data use: you cannot forward internal information to groups with external people or forward information from one external group to another external group. You can, however, safely share information from external parties with your own internal colleagues. When forwarding from private conversations, you will always receive a warning to be careful with sensitive data.
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Send later: With this feature, just like in Gmail, you can schedule messages in Google Chat to be sent at a later time or date. By scheduling messages, Chat users can respect colleagues' schedules and avoid sending messages late at night or early in the morning when recipients are in a different time zone or unavailable. Additionally, the new "Drafts" shortcut (which only appears when you have saved at least one scheduled message) provides a clear overview of scheduled content and is a convenient way to streamline internal communication!
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New web address: Google Chat has moved to its own, faster environment at chat.google.com. Previously, this was technically linked to Gmail. The old link still works, but the new site loads faster and is more stable!
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Block unknown senders: You can now set it so that you only receive chat requests from people from the same domain or external people who are already in your contact list. This helps to prevent unwanted spam from unknown accounts. Although the default setting allows invitations from everyone, users can now choose to limit incoming requests to known senders only. This restriction can be set for 1-on-1 conversations, Spaces, or both. You will then only be contacted by someone from outside your organization if they have previously communicated with you or if the person is in your contacts. Invitations from users who do not meet these criteria will be sent to spam.
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Source in Gemini: You can now add your chat conversations and spaces as a source in your integrated Workspace Gemini. This way, you can quickly get an answer to your question, with the right context and specific circumstances.
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Improved group settings: Administrators have gained more control over who can join Spaces, including better options for adding external guests.
- Discoverable spaces: Google Chat is introducing a new, third access category for spaces: "Discoverable". Employees within an organization can find these spaces via the search function, but the content and chat history remain shielded. A user only gains access after an administrator approves the membership request. This option offers the perfect middle ground between private and fully public spaces and allows for more flexibility and openness within the organization!
Read the previous update about Google Chat and Spaces here.
