Google has finally delivered on its promise of coming out with a new integrated workspace, and the new feature is available for personal Gmail accounts. The idea behind integrating workspace with Gmail is to let users conduct their work out of one page of Gmail instead of switching between two or more websites or apps.
The ‘Mail’ and ‘Meet’ options have been there for the past few months. The tech-giant introduced Rooms for larger conversations with shared chat, files, and tasks. The ‘New Room’ feature is at the bottom right bar on Android; however, the Gmail sidebar on the web comes in four sections. Clicking ‘Chat’ opens a new small window for conversations, whereas Rooms open in fullscreen and replace all the default list of messages.
Other new additions include, next to the search bar users can now search for both mail and chat, and there is also a feature where it will indicate the status set by the user (Automatic, Do not disturb, Set as away).
The new feature with the Chat will be made available to many free personal Google accounts starting April 5th. However, this feature is not available for iOS yet. For Android users to get this new feature, they need to update their Gmail apps to the latest version.
To access the new feature, users have to enable Chat “Early Access” on their respective Android devices and the web along with their Gmail accounts. To get the new feature Android users need to open Settings, go to personal Gmail account, and under General, click “Chat(Early Access)”. After clicking the “Try It” tab, the Gmail app will relaunch with the tutorial and prompt to turn off notifications from the Google chat app. For the web version of the same access, users need to go to settings and then to Chat, and select “Google Chat (Early Access) instead of “Classic Hangouts” and then click confirm.
