Google Workspace Changes

Visibility of thread participants via avatars in Google Chat.

Google Chat will add the ability to see avatars of users who have replied to a specific thread, providing better context on who is participating in the discussion.

New 'Home' shortcut for managing Chat messages and followed threads.

A new 'Home' view is coming to Google Chat, serving as a central hub to manage messages, catch up on followed threads, and filter for unread conversations.

Introduction of a resizable threads sidebar in Google Chat.

Google Chat will introduce a resizable threads panel, allowing users to adjust the sidebar size to better fit their screen or increase focus on the most important threads.

Existing topic-based spaces in Google Chat are transitioning to in-line threading.

Google Chat is upgrading all existing spaces organized by conversation topic to an in-line threaded experience to provide a more continuous conversation flow. The migration begins September 30, 2023, and is expected to be completed by March 2024. During the upgrade, spaces may be briefly inaccessible, and messages will be rearranged chronologically with separators indicating where new topics began.

On September 30, 2023, all existing spaces organized by conversation topic will be upgraded to the in-line threaded experience.

On September 30, 2023, we will begin taking the next step toward a single, streamlined flow of conversation in Google Chat: all existing spaces organized by conversation topic will be upgraded to the in-line threaded experience. We’d like to share more information regarding the migration, what to expect, as well as what’s next for Google Chat.

Introducing message linking, an additional feature that helps teams collaborate more effectively.

Building upon the recent updates in Google Chat, such as message views, in-line replies and larger spaces, we’re introducing message linking, an additional feature that helps teams collaborate more effectively. To generate links to messages easier so that others can reference a particular topic or announcement, we’ve added a “Copy link” option for all messages posted in spaces, group messages and direct messages.

We’re introducing a new app for Google Chat called Bulk Member Manager that enables space managers and space members to easily add or remove members to or from a space in bulk.

We’re introducing a new app for Google Chat called Bulk Member Manager that enables space managers and space members, who have permission to manage members, to easily add or remove members to or from a space in bulk. In addition to the new membership search feature and the ability to add up to 50,000 members to spaces in Google Chat, this update will help you better organize people, topics, and projects to help ensure effective conversations take place in spaces.

Introduction of the Bulk Member Manager app for Google Chat to add or remove members in bulk.

Google Chat has introduced the Bulk Member Manager app, enabling space managers and authorized members to efficiently add or remove members from a space in bulk. The app supports slash commands such as /addDialog and /removeDialog for copy-pasting email addresses, as well as /addCsv and /removeCsv for processing .csv attachments.

The new “Manage apps” and “Manage webhooks” options will allow space managers to control the ability of space members to add and remove apps and webhooks to a space.

We’re adding two new controls to the list of space manager capabilities in Google Chat that were introduced earlier this year to ensure effective conversations take place in spaces. The new “Manage apps” and “Manage webhooks” options will allow space managers to control the ability of space members to add and remove apps and webhooks to a space.

New full screen view for managing apps and webhooks in Google Chat spaces.

A new full screen view is now available on the web version of Google Chat, allowing space managers to view all installed apps and webhooks within a space in one place.

Updated '@' mentions dialog notification in Google Chat spaces.

Google Chat has updated the '@' mentions dialog notification to provide specific explanations as to why a particular user or app cannot be added to a space.

New 'Manage apps' and 'Manage webhooks' controls for Google Chat space managers.

Google Chat is introducing two new controls for space managers: 'Manage apps' and 'Manage webhooks'. These options allow space managers to control whether space members have the ability to add or remove apps and webhooks within a space.

Google Chat introduces message bubbles to differentiate between incoming and outgoing messages.

Google Chat is introducing message bubbles to help users more easily distinguish between incoming and outgoing messages in the chat stream. Incoming messages will be aligned to one side with a solid color background, while outgoing messages will be aligned to the opposite side with a different color background, improving the overall visual organization of conversations.

Add Google Groups to spaces in Google Chat for automated membership syncing.

Google Chat is introducing the ability for space managers and authorized users to add Google Groups to a space. Once a group is added, its members are automatically added to the space, and any subsequent changes to the group's membership are automatically reflected in the space, significantly simplifying the management of large member lists.

Expanding autocorrect to Google Chat on web

Google Chat on web now automatically corrects misspelled words to reduce typos. Corrected words are indicated with a gray underline, similar to the functionality found in Gmail and Google Docs. This feature is rolling out to all English users.