Google hangouts chat

This article is written for Google Workspace for Education Administrators.Schools want to restrict students from chatting in Gmail using the Hangouts Chat widget located in the left sidebar. This article is not about disabling the Hangouts Chat from the Gmail Settings > Chat > Chat off option. It's about turning off the Chat feature in Gmail for school managed Chrome browsers. Here are 3 ideas.Method 1. Disable Google Hangouts ServiceBeginning from June 15, 2020, Google Meet is a separate service settings (Apps > G Suite > Settings for Google Meet) from Hangouts in Admin Console so it's safe to turn off Hangouts separately. Sign into Admin Console.Go to Apps > G Suite > Hangouts Meet and Google Hangouts.Click Service status.Select your students' OU on the left.Select OFF for everyone.Turn off Google Hangouts service without disconnecting Google MeetMethod 2. URL BlockingGoogle was aware of this issue and provided a solution for it, Block Google Hangouts and Google Chat on school-managed Chromebooks. Here is a short recap. Sign into Admin Console.Click Devices > Chrome management > User & browser settings.Select your students' organizational unit, and next to URL blocking, enter these URLs: URL blacklist exceptions, enter this URL: this method is limited to school-managed Chromebooks and may not be applicable for everyone.Method 3. Remove Chat in Gmail with Safe Doc Chrome ExtensionSafe Doc chrome extension has the ability to disable Hangouts Chat in Gmail too. If you have yet to install Safe Doc, apply a 30 days trial. What's changed?It's straightforward to understand the change with the following screenshot. The Hangouts Chat widget is removed and the sidebar is much cleaner. Hangouts Chat in Gmail disabled by Safe DocHow to get started?Assuming you have deployed Safe Doc and read Safe Doc configuration, add the following policy to block the Chat widget. "BlockGmailChat": { "Value": true}To revert the Chat feature, remove this policy or set it to false. You may also like Remove Inappropriate Emojis in Gmail, Chat, and DocsBlock Stickers in HangoutsDisable Chat in Google Meet

Google has a multi-stage plan to shut down classic Hangouts and move enterprise Workspace customers to Chat. This latest step in advancing Google Chat adoption takes place next month.For the past year, your Workspace administrator has been able to keep both classic Hangouts and Google Chat available for end users that they manage. Google is now moving companies on the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting to one called “Chat preferred.”This will see Google Chat replace classic Hangouts as the default chat application for a Workspace domain. The migration will start on August 16 and take two weeks for all users to see. At this point, the setting to maintain both services will be removed. If there are affected users in your domain, you will receive an email notification that contains more information and any necessary action that needs to be taken.However, the ability to opt out and keep both apps working remains. Similarly, there are no changes to domains that have already selected “Chat only,” “Chat preferred,” or “Classic Only.” This is “phase 4” in Google’s plan to retire classic Hangouts for Workspace accounts. This opt-out is the penultimate step before the “mandatory upgrade” in late 2021. At that point, as Google reiterated today, “classic Hangouts will no longer be supported and all remaining users will be migrated to Google Chat.”It’s important to note that Google has not detailed when classic Hangouts will stop working for free accounts. Google Chat is now available for all Gmail users, but classic Hangouts remains, though there’s work under way to deprecate it.More about Hangouts:Google Hangouts app set to warn that it’s ‘going away soon’Classic Hangouts shutdown starts as Google Voice and Fi integrations stop workingGoogle widely rolling out Chat ‘early preview’ to replace classic Hangouts Add 9to5Google to your Google News feed. FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

And to Google Chat. See a companion article to this one, What Google Workspace admins need to know about the Hangouts to Chat transition, for more details about these Admin options. This administrative setting affects whether you can access Hangouts or Google Chat within Gmail on the web. It can also enable or prevent access to either app entirely. Google has worked to make communications between people who use Hangouts and people who use Google Chat as smooth as possible. For most chats, you can freely switch back and forth between Hangouts and Google Chat. There are also many fundamental distinctions and differences between how the two chat apps operate. A line from “Ghostbusters” offers excellent advice for people during the Hangouts to Google Chat transition: “Don’t cross the streams.” If at all possible, make the switch from Hangouts to Google Chat as a group, in coordination with the team of people you collaborate and communicate with closely. Decide on a day, install Google Chat and start to use that as your primary app. Unless your administrator turns off access, keep Hangouts installed or bookmarked and adjust notification settings as desired. If you do end up having to “cross the streams,” meaning you and the people you communicate with are using a mix of Hangouts and Google Chat across platforms and/or organizations, expect occasional oddities, omissions and gaps. Google has provided a long list of details on a help page, for detail-oriented people who want to know exactly what will