How To Chat In Google Sheets

In this tutorial, you will learn how to chat in Google Sheets.

One of the biggest reasons people like using Google Sheets is that it’s cloud-based and collaborative. Multiple editors can work in the same spreadsheet at the same time and see each other’s edits in real time. While this feature is extremely handy, sometimes it can be frustrating to see what a colleague is doing, but not be able to communicate directly. Fortunately, Google implemented a chat feature directly into the Google Sheets editor so collaborators can communicate in real time while editing a spreadsheet. Read on to learn how to use the Chat feature in Google Sheets.

Chatting in Google Sheets

The Google Sheets Chat feature is available when more than one user is logged into a Google Account and editing a spreadsheet simultaneously

Note that accounts under certain domains such as school or business domains may not be able to chat if the administrator for the account turned off the feature. If only such a user is editing the spreadsheet,, you will not see the chat icon mentioned below. If there are other editors, you will see the chat option but any user without chat enabled will not receive the chats

Here’s how to use Google Sheets Chat::

Step 1

Open the spreadsheet you want to chat in and check the upper right corner for the list of active users

Step 2

If other users are active, you should see the chat icon bubble to the right of the list of active users. Click on this to open the chat sidebar

Step 3

In the chat sidebar, type your message to the other users

Step 4

Hit enter to send the message

Step 5

Collaborators will receive a notification of the message, and see a red dot

Step 6

Note that chats are only active for a single edit session. As soon as you close or refresh the page, all chat history will be erased and there is no way to get it back.

Summary

In this tutorial, I covered how to chat in Google Sheets. Want more? Check out all the Google Sheets Tutorials.