What can I do with Google Chat?

Google Chat is the recommended Chat (messaging) app for the university. It comes standard with all university Google accounts. 

With Google Chat, you can:

• Have direct message (1:1) chats with anyone who has a Gmail account, including those with non-nd.edu accounts.
• Have Group Chats with 2 or more people simultaneously.
• Create a Chat Space which are typically used for ongoing, long-term chats. For example, you can create a Space for chats with your team, a committee or project group.

How to interact with Google Chat?

1. Use Chat on the Web. In Chrome, open a new tab and enter: chat.google.com. You might need to log in to your ND account.
2. You can enable Chat so that it appears in the left pane of Gmail on the web by clicking the Gear icon > Settings > Chat and Meet tab. See this Google article on using Chat within Gmail
3. Install the standalone app on your machine. See this Google article for instructions.
4. Install the app for your mobile device from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

How to hide Chat from the left pane in Gmail

• To Hide Chat and/or Meet on the left-side pane in Gmail, see this link from Google.
• Within Gmail on the web: Click the Gear icon > See all settings > Chat and Meet > click the radio button for Chat and Meet to off. Be sure to click Save Changes.

Known issues with the Chat standalone app

• You need to keep your Chrome updated to the latest version on your computer. Chrome doesn't have to be your default browser to use the new standalone app.
• To use the new standalone app, the Chrome browser needs to be open.

Chat History

• To comply with information security best practices, all chat message history will be automatically deleted after 180 days.
• This applies to new Spaces as well as Spaces that you may have created if you’re already using Google Chat. If you want to save any/all of your Spaces message history, we recommend that you copy/paste what you want into a document for future reference. Note: Chat Spaces history is not available for search in Gmail.
• For Direct Messages, chat history is searchable in Gmail, but the messages will disappear from Gmail after 180 days.

Chat Notifications

• See this article for how to set/allow notifications from your browser. In the linked article, at the bottom is a link to how to set Google Chat notifications (click the gear icon in Chat) as well as how to troubleshoot issues if you are not getting chat notifications. 

Inviting People outside nd.edu to Chat

There are several limitations and information about this ability so it is best to review this support page from Google as these items may change over time. A few other highlights:

• We do have the setting enabled that allows you to chat with someone outside nd.edu
• You can send direct messages to other Google customers outside nd.edu accounts. There’s also the ability to add people outside ND to Group Chats.
• You cannot add an external account to a current Chat Space. You can only chat externally with a 1:1 direct message or in a Group Chat. You will need to make a new Group Chat if you want to include people outside nd.edu.
• The person outside nd.edu that you are inviting to Chat must have a Google Account, and they will be marked with a yellow “External” badge in Chat to make sure you’re sharing information with the right people.
• For a new Chat Space, you can add external members, but you want to allow external members during the Chat Space setup. You will need to designate a room as External when you create it, and you will not be able to change this setting after the room is created. 
• You cannot turn an existing Chat Space into an external Chat Space. To create an external Space, you'll need to recreate existing Spaces and add external users.