We’re excited to share that Fordham University will transition from Hangouts to Google’s newest collaboration product, Google Chat. This blog post will help you understand Chat’s features. It also describes how to get Chat before June 17, when classic Hangout apps will stop working.
With Google Chat, you’ll get…
> A modern user interface
> Team rooms that support better team collaboration
> Emoji reactions to make work fun
> Bots to help you be more productive
Beginning June 17, you and your teams can use Chat for 1:1 direct messages (DMs), group chats, and team discussions. You won’t need to do anything except refresh Gmail in your browser to see the new Chat. The Classic Hangouts app will be turned off.
How do I get Google Chat?
It’s important to do the following before June 17, as classic Hangout apps will stop working:
> Preview the new web experience at chat.google.com.
> Download the new mobile app for Android or iOS.
> Download the new standalone desktop app if you’ve been using the classic Hangouts Chrome extension or app. You can access the desktop app from a prompt that appears in chat.google.com
> On June 17, refresh your Gmail to get the new Chat in Gmail experience.
Where do I find my old chats?
You can continue recent conversations from classic Hangouts in Google Chat. Over time, older conversations from classic Hangouts will also migrate to Google Chat.
All previous chat history from classic Hangouts will be accessible in Gmail.
The classic Hangouts web interface for chat, hangouts.google.com, will remain available during this transition, but you can’t use classic Hangouts in a mobile browser.
Note: If you start rooms in Chat with the option for threaded conversations, people who still use classic Hangouts will not see these rooms.
Get help with Chat
For more information about the new Chat, go to Google’s Learning Center and also watch a video overview of Chat. IT Customer Care can also assist you with any questions.