Google Spaces cheat sheet: How to get started

Did you know Google has its own team collaboration app á la Slack or Microsoft Teams? It’s called Google Spaces, and it’s understandable if you’re not aware of it — Spaces looks a lot like Google Chat, and that’s because it’s technically an extension of it. Google Spaces is also integrated into Gmail and has close ties to other Google apps including Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Tasks.

Anyone with a Google account can use Spaces for free, although some advanced features are available only with a paid Google Workspace plan. We’ll take you through the steps of setting up and using Spaces to collaborate with your co-workers.

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How Google Spaces differs from Google Chat

Because Google Spaces and Chat look and work similarly, there may be confusion as to why you’d want to use Spaces over the other.

Google Chat is a basic chat interface where you can have one-on-one or group text chats with colleagues. Chat can be used in any web browser, or you can have the Chrome browser install a separate desktop Chat app. The desktop app, a Progressive Web Application (PWA) that runs in any operating system, looks identical to the web app but without the browser interface around it. There are also Google Chat apps for Android and iOS that offer most, but not all, features of the web and desktop apps.

Think of Spaces as Google Chat but with more functions for collaboration. You create a “space,” which is similar to a Google Chat session, but you give this space a name and (optionally) a description of its purpose. You invite other people to be members of the space, and then you and the other members can chat, collaborate on documents, assign tasks, and more.

You can create multiple spaces, each of which you’ve invited specific people to take part in. So you could create a space for discussing your business’ finances, and the people you invite to it would include co-workers who handle money issues. Then you could create another space for planning travel to an upcoming convention.

If you’re familiar with Slack or Microsoft Teams, Google Chat itself is like direct messages in Slack or Chat sessions in Teams, whereas Google Spaces is similar to channels in those apps.

With that out of the way, let’s begin.

10 steps to Google Spaces success

1. How to access Google Spaces
2. Create your first space
3. Add members to your space
4. Post messages in your space and tag people in them
5. Reply to messages in your space
6. Share and collaborate on documents in your space
7. Add meetings and tasks to your space
8. Add more tools to your space
9. Create or join more spaces
10. Manage your spaces

1. How to access Google Spaces

You can get to Google Spaces from either Gmail or Google Chat in your web browser, or from the Google Chat desktop app.

From Google Chat: On the panel that runs along the left side of the page, you’ll see a “New chat” button followed by three main sections: Shortcuts, Direct messages and, a bit further down the panel, Spaces. When expanded, the Spaces area shows all the spaces you’ve created or joined.

If you don’t see this panel in Chat, click the three-bar icon at the top-left corner of the screen to open it.

From Gmail: On the toolbar that runs along the left side of the page, click the Chat icon. Here you’ll see a panel similar to the one in Google Chat, with “New chat” at the top, followed by sections for Shortcuts, Direct messages, and Spaces.

If you don’t see the Chat icon (or this toolbar) on your Gmail page: Click the gear icon on the upper right corner. On the “Quick settings” panel that opens, click Customize under the subheading “Chat and Meet.” This will open another panel: check the Google Chat box and then click Done. You’ll be prompted to reload the Gmail web page. The toolbar and Chat icon will then appear on your Gmail main page.

2. Create your first space

Let’s create a space.

On the panel that runs along the left side of the page in either Gmail or Google Chat, click the New chat button and then select Create a space on the small panel that opens.

Another panel opens. Enter a name for your new space.

Under some paid Google Workspace plans, you’ll have the option to make a new space restricted (a user or group must be added to the space by an existing space member) or discoverable (the space will be visible to everyone in the organization, and any user with a shared link can join).

If you want to assign an avatar to the space, click face icon to the left of the name, then select an option from the panel that appears. For example, you could use a money icon to represent a space where you and your co-workers will work on your business’ budget.

Next, click the Create button.

The name of your new space appears on the panel to the left, and your new space opens in the main window.

If you like, you can enter info about the new space, such as its purpose. Click the name of the space at the top of the main window and select Space details from the menu that appears. On the panel that appears, type in a brief description and/or guidelines for using the space. When you’re done, click Save.

3. Add members to your space

Next, you’ll want to invite people to collaborate in your space. In the middle of the main window, click the Add members button. On the panel that appears, enter or select the names of people or groups in your Google Contacts, or in your Google Workspace organization, who you want to collaborate with in this space.

At any time you can add more people to your space, change how they can interact with it, or remove their access to it. In the main window showing your currently opened space, click the name of your space. On the menu that opens, click Manage members.

A new pane opens in the main window that lists the members of this space. You can click the three-dot icon to the right of any member’s name to change their access (Block or Remove from space) or send a direct message to them (via Google Chat). You can also designate someone as a “space manager.” This means they’ll be able to make changes to your space, such as inviting or removing people.

You can also add more people to the space by clicking the + Add button. This will open a panel that helps you search for people in your Google contacts or Workspace organization. After you select people you want, click the Add button — they’ll get an email containing a link that they can click to access your space.

Another way to invite people a space is to simply send them a link to it. (They must be a Gmail user or have a Google Workspace account.) Click the name of your space, and from the menu that appears, select Copy link to this space. You can paste this link in a new email or another messaging format, or even publish it on a website. But remember that anyone who clicks this link can join your space automatically, so adding specific members is more advisable for business use.

4. Post messages in your space and tag people in them

Inside the message composing bar, write a message and click the arrow icon to the right to post it to your space. This composing bar has icons that you can click, such as to change the formatting of the words that you type inside it, insert an emoji, or insert a gif animation.

If you want to post a message directed to one or more people who are in your Google or Workspace contacts (whether or not they are members of this space), type @ followed by their first name, and click their full name when it appears in the composing bar. Once you post your message, they’ll get an email and a notification in their Google Workspace that you’ve mentioned them in this space.

Once a message with a tagged person is posted, anyone in the space can hover their mouse pointer over the tagged person’s name to open a pop-up card that lists their contact info and other information they’ve provided in their profile.

If you want to send a (private) direct message to someone in the space rather than posting it in the main chat area, click the space name at the top of the main window, select Manage members on the menu that appears, click their name in the members list, and choose the speech bubble icon (Send message) on the card that pops up. Or, if they’ve posted a message in the main chat window for the space, simply click their avatar.

5. Reply to messages in your space

Anyone in the space can post more messages in the main chat window. If you want to reply to a specific message, hover your mouse pointer over the message. On the toolbar that appears, click either the speech balloon icon (Reply in thread) or the bent arrow (Quote in reply).

Reply in thread: Clicking this opens a Thread panel along the right. On it, you can post a response to the message.

Then, in the main chat area for your space, it’ll be added to the tally of responses below the original message. Anyone can click this number to open the Thread panel and see all the replies to this message.

Quote in reply: When you click this, you write your reply as though it’s a regular message. The original message that you’re responding to will appear inside your own message when you post it to this space.

To see a list of all the messages in your space that have threaded responses: Toward the upper right, click the speech bubble icon (Active threads). This will open the “Active threads” panel to the right. Click a message to view the responses that have been posted to it.

To follow a thread, move your mouse pointer over it in the “Active threads” panel and select the Follow button. You’ll receive notifications when new replies are added to the thread.

6. Share and collaborate on documents in your space

Right below the name of your space, click the Shared tab. On the page that opens in the main area, click Add.

This opens a panel that lets you select a document that’s stored in your Google Drive account (Recent or My Drive), shared with you through Google Drive (Shared with me), or stored on your computer (Upload). Select the document that you want to share and click the Insert button.

You’ll be taken to the main chat window in your space. A large thumbnail of the document that you selected will appear in the message composing bar. You can enter text to go along with this thumbnail. Then click the arrow at the lower right.

A panel will open with the following options:

Share with the space: By default, others in the space will be able to add comments to the document but can’t edit it. Click Commenter to change this to either Viewer or Editor. Viewer means others in the space can only view it, while Editor allows them to make changes to it if it’s a Workspace document (Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides) or a Microsoft 365 document (Excel, PowerPoint, or Word).

Allow anyone with the link to view: If you create a link to this message with this document attached after you post it to the space, then anyone who accesses this message with this link can view this document.

(To create a direct web link to a message that’s posted in the chat window: Move your mouse pointer over the message. On the menu that opens, click the three-dot icon and then select Copy link.)

Don’t give access: Nobody will be able to open this document in this space. They’ll only see it as an attachment in your message posted to the space.

Once you’ve made your choice from the options above, click Send message. Your message with the document attached will be posted to the space.

Others in the space can click the document’s thumbnail in your message to open it in a new page. If it’s a Workspace document, it’ll be opened with the appropriate web app (Google Docs, Sheets or Slides) in a new browser tab.

Note: There are two other ways to post a document to a space:

• Inside the message composing bar, click the up arrow icon (Upload file). But this only lets you upload a document that’s on your PC’s local storage.
• If you know the filename of the document in your Google Drive, type @ inside the message composing bar, followed by the first few letters of its filename. A menu will pop open that should list the document that you want — just click its filename and it’ll be attached to your message.

7. Add meetings and tasks to your space

In addition to chats and shared documents, Google Spaces can directly interact with two other Workspace apps for collaboration: Google Meet and Google Tasks.

Add meetings

You and others in your space can add a link to a Google Meet video meeting in a message post. Inside the message composing bar, click the video camera icon. This will generate a link to a new meeting. After you post your message, any person in your space can click the thumbnail representing the meeting to join it (or start it if nobody is currently in the meeting).

Add tasks

Spaces also works with Google Tasks, the task manager in Google Workspace. You can assign a task to someone who’s in your space.

Right below the name of your space, click the Tasks tab. On the page that opens in the main area, click Add space task. This will open a blank form below for a new task.

Enter a name for this new task, and a description for it right below that. Then click Add date/time, which will open a mini calendar to let you select a deadline for this task. Click Assign to open a panel that will list all the members of this space; pick the person or persons who you want to assign this task to. Finally, click the Add button, and the task will appear in the tasks list in your space.

This new task will also be posted as a message in your space’s chat window, with the names of the assignee(s) tagged in the message. And when a task is assigned to you in Spaces, it also appears in your My Tasks list in Google Tasks.

When the task is completed, go to the space’s Tasks page again and click the circle to the left of the task name. This will mark it as complete. Or, if you’re the assignee, you can mark the task done in Google Tasks, and it will be marked as complete in the space as well.

Note: You can also turn a message into a task. Move your mouse pointer over the message; on the toolbar that opens, click the three-dot icon. Then on the small menu that opens, click Create space task.

8. Add more tools to your space

You can install apps in a space to add more features to it. Most of these are by third-party developers, but a few are Google’s. Examples include chatbots that you can program to give automated responses to questions posted by people in your space, quick polls for space members to respond to, and a scheduler that helps you find the best times for space members to meet. There are also apps that integrate with other enterprise services such as Salesforce and Workday.

To browse through the apps that you can install to a space, open the space in the main window and click the + icon that’s to the left of the message composition bar. On the panel that opens, click View more apps for Chat.

On the panel that appears, click an app to find out more about it, and click Add to Space to install it. (Your IT department may limit which apps you can install.)

9. Create or join more spaces

To create more spaces, just click the New chat button at the top of the left panel and click Create a space.

To look for spaces created by others in your organization that you can join, select New chat > Browse spaces. On the “Browse spaces” screen that appears, you can search for a space by name, or use the dropdown to the right of the search bar to filter by Spaces I have joined, Spaces I haven’t joined, and All spaces. Click Preview to get a peek at the space or click Join to join the space immediately.

All the spaces you’ve created or joined appear in the Spaces list in the left panel. Click any space name to open it in the main window, or, to open the space in a small pop-up window, move your mouse pointer over it and click the rectangle-in-rectangle icon (Open in a pop-up).

10. Manage your spaces

By default, when a new message or task is posted in a space, you’ll hear a notification sound and the space name will be bolded and moved to the top of the Spaces list in the left panel. You can change those defaults by moving your mouse pointer over the name of a space and clicking the three-dot icon to open a small menu:

Mark as unread/Mark as read: Click this to bold or unbold the space name in your spaces list.

Pin: When you click this, the space will be moved to the top of your list of spaces and remain there.

Mute/Unmute: Mute moves the space to the bottom of the spaces list and stops notifications except when you’re @ mentioned. Unmute returns the space to normal status.

Notifications: Clicking this opens a small panel where you can choose to be notified for all new messages and replies to threads you follow, to be notified only for replies to threads you follow or when you’re @ mentioned, or to turn off all notifications. You can also mute/unmute the conversation from this panel.

The three-dot menu also has options to Leave the space and to Block & Report it.

You have even more options for managing a space when it’s open in the main window. Click the name of the space to open a menu that lets you manage its members; change the name, description, and other details about the space; and manage notifications as described above.

On this menu, you can also select Apps and integrations to manage the apps installed to the space; Turn off history to delete messages after 24 hours; and, if you created the space, Delete to delete the space and all its contents entirely.

Now that you know how to create, join, work in, and manage Spaces, let the team collaboration begin!