Google Workspace: Your New Home for Work

Everyone’s favourite email service, Gmail has been given updated features to allow for it to stand out even more. Google’s new campaign for Gmail’s updated interface is Your New Home For Work in Google Workspace (formerly G Suite). Designed specifically for business customers, Google Workspace is attempting to condense workloads into one space. These additional features in the new Gmail interface include enhanced Chat and Google Meet developments within Gmail. These have been integrated for ease of use, bringing Google Workspace’s core tools together. Damson Cloud’s Fintan Murphy demos these new integrations to help you see how Gmail’s updated interface can help you with your business needs. 

Google Workspace’s New Features

Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) has produced some excellent features in its updated Gmail interface. Google’s new campaign, Your New Home For Work in Google Workspace, offers a complete overhaul of Gmail and allows it to be the singular space where you can access all your most essential google tools  in one place. As well as a brand new chat interface, Google now has rooms within chat which act similarly to Slack’s ‘channels’ feature. This tool will be incredibly useful for project management and discussions, and provide customers with interesting options for their internal business needs. 

Gmail also now hosts a Google Meet and a new Gmail search feature. These have launched previously but may have been missed by many in the recent updates. These updates are available on both mobile and web, just ensure you or an administrator of your business has enabled these features. To do that, simply go into the settings within your Gmail. From here, you will be able to see your Google Chat and Meet settings. Turn on Google Chat and ‘Show Meet in My Main Menu Bar’ and this will pop up as soon as you log in to Gmail. 

Within your settings, you will also be able to change chat notifications. These need to be enabled by an administrator as well. Simply click on the little arrows and open them all up at once. With all these added features, it can be somewhat cumbersome to facilitate these features on a small screen as it shrinks your inbox down to a rather small size, so it may be the case that you decide not to have Chat or Meet open at any one time. However, the ease of access has made this new Gmail update an exciting one. 

Gmail Search: The New Way to Find Things

The new Gmail Search has provided an instantaneous way of accessing information in your inbox and, now, Google Chat. To search for things swiftly, simply click on the chat that you need to glean information on and type in the word to your search bar that will lead you to your information. Almost instantly, you will see a comprehensive list of the times you have used this word and will be able to narrow down your search. To make it even easier, you can narrow down the search parameters by selecting the user or users that have sent information or a document that you need to find. Showing them in threads, this makes it incredibly fast to find what you are looking for. 

If you are familiar with the old Google Hangouts Chat, you will be aware how difficult it is to find links, files, or sheets that may have been shared in a chat message. This update transforms this search, making it simpler to find this information - a huge improvement from the last update. Within the chat, you can have conversations and dropdowns which can upload files or attach documents. You can also jump into a video call straight away. For haste, you can make your chat full screen within your inbox, making it even easier to find information that you need. In the near future, Google is planning to have an in-video call box where a video can appear within the Gmail interface whilst you continue to  work on an email or document. 

Gmail: Finding Rooms

Rooms are an interesting addition to Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) and they have made it even easier to access the information you need in your Gmail. They contain threads within them from previous conversations which can be followed or new threads can be created. Each thread can be created around a particular theme or even a customer. For instance, you might want to have a marketing room, a finance room, or an operations room which team members can join and have threads about different topics. Google has also added a feature that allows for people to look at the files that have been shared in a particular room - making this easier in comparison to previous versions.

Finding What To Do: Gmail Tasks

Organising tasks can be a nightmare for any organisation, but Gmail’s new features has allowed tasks to be added to specific rooms. This allows an administrator to add additional details to a task, add a time to it, then assign it to a particular team or individual. This team or individual will then receive a notification alerting them to the task you have assigned to them. It also allows the person or team to see the other tasks associated with that particular project. This task option has made Google an interesting alternative to task or project management. 

A room could be created for a project and there you could have all the files and tasks associated with it in the same place. You will be able to see what has been completed and even change the date and/or the assignees on it if you wanted to. One minor issue is that you won’t be able to see the tasks or projects unless you are assigned to it. A further update could offer the ability to see tasks from a team room that aren’t personally assigned to you or your team. 

Add Your Meetings: Google Meet Interface

Another exciting addition to the Gmail update is the fresh Google Meet interface. You can now effortlessly create a Google Meet, copy the details, and send an invitation quickly by either copying the link or opening it up in a new tab and sending it off to somebody. This feature will be incredibly helpful for those who need to jump onto calls quickly. The ‘My Meetings’ section also gives a comprehensive view of your calendar. It automatically alerts you to anything that is coming up and if there are any attachments included with the meeting. You can click on these and they take you directly into the attachments. 

This is a valuable addition to those who might be working in their emails with a meeting coming up, and you will be able to click on the attachments and go straight to your video call. 

Google is working hard to bring all the work you do into a single location and now it can even be utilised on mobile devices. 

Gmail for Mobile 

Gmail’s mobile interface offers all the same features of the web interface on a smaller screen. Mail, chat, and rooms are all available. In rooms, you are able to enter any of the team spaces and see the threads you’ve been following and reply to them. You can click on files which will guide you to their information. Tasks are also able to be edited, added, or reassigned. Google Meet is also available on mobile devices which allows for video calls to be joined, you can view meeting links, or click into and participate in Jamboard sessions. 

One issue posed by mobile is the notifications. You might have dual notifications if you have the chat app installed, so that will have to be disabled. Another issue with this is having to leave Gmail and into a chat if you need to find something you are looking for which could slow you down when this feature has been designed for ease of access and speed. Having the chat app installed and open would remove this problem. 

As a longstanding member of the Google Cloud Partner Program, Damson Cloud specialises in bringing people and ideas together through new ways of working. We champion the very best practices in remote working and change management, helping companies and their teams collaborate productively from anywhere in the world. To find out more about our services, check out our library of tutorial videos or our blog.