This article is intended for Google Workspace administrators. If you're looking for user help, visit Get started with Google Chat.
As an administrator, you can choose if chat services are available in your organization using the Service Status page.
Before you begin
- Review requirements.
- Turn on Directory contact sharing.
Turn on your chat preference
Before you begin: To turn a service on or off for certain users, put their accounts in an organizational unit (to control access by department) or add them to an access group (to allow access for users across or within departments).The Chat service setting for your top-level organizational unit controls the interaction between Chat and Space history. To learn more read, Interaction with the chat history setting.
-
In the Google Admin console, go to Menu
Apps
Google Workspace
Google Chat.Requires having the Google Chat administrator privilege.
- Click Service Status.
-
(Optional) To apply the setting only to some users, at the side, select an organizational unit (often used for departments) or configuration group (advanced).
Group settings override organizational units. Learn more
- Select how you want to use Chat in your organization:
- ON for everyone—Chat works in Gmail and everywhere else. You can also allow this setting to override your space history option.
- OFF for everyone—All Chat clients are turned off.
- Click Save.
Note: If you turn on Chat for an organizational unit where Gmail is turned
off, users who go to mail.google.com/chat get a You do not have access to
Gmail error. Instruct users to go directly to
https://chat.google.com/ or use
the Google Chat standalone app.
To deploy the standalone Progressive Web App (PWA) through Chrome policy
management, use https://chat.google.com/download. Installing and running the
standalone app requires Chrome Browser 73 or later, and Chrome Browser must
remain open while using the app. If you use Context-Aware
Access, assign
your access levels to Chat in addition to Gmail so they apply to
chat.google.com.