Well this is very disappointing. Google recently announced that they were going to suggest 1:1 Google chats (March 2021) and group Google chats (June 2021) based on current meetings on your Google Calendar.
The idea was that the chat would be available 10 minutes before the meeting and 10 minutes after the meeting ended.
We hope this feature makes it easier to share information and files before a meeting begins, let meeting attendees know you’re running late, or share quick follow-ups once a meeting has concluded.
Image and text credit: Google Workspace Updates blog post
I thought this was a great idea and have been eagerly awaiting its rollout.
However.
After waiting patiently and seeing it go live in other Google Workspace setups, it has become clear that this feature is only available if your meeting is with someone in your Google Workspace domain – that is, someone who works in your company.
The ‘suggested chat’ feature will not appear even if the other person also uses Google Workspace, and even if you’ve chatted with them previously via Google Chat.
Which makes it completely useless for sole traders whose every meeting, by definition, is with someone outside of their organisation! And in fact, it is probably less than useful to most small business owners as well.
So there you have it, sole traders and solopreneurs, or in fact anyone who holds meetings with people outside of their organisation. If you’ve been wondering why you’re not seeing this feature – it’s because it just doesn’t exist for you (insert a big sad face here).
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