In this tutorial, you will learn how to chat on Google Docs.
How To Chat On Google Docs
Do you want to work on a document as a team? If so, Google Docs is a great way to work together on documents remotely. However, it can be easier to communicate and coordinate with your team members with the help of an instant messaging service.
Fortunately, Google Docs has a built-in chat feature that you can use to communicate with your collaborators. While the features are quite limited, the chat feature has just enough functionality to act as a platform for real-time discussion when multiple users are working on the same document.
In this guide, we will show you how to chat in Google Docs and make collaboration easier. We will explain how to share a document with a user and how to open the chat window to start sending messages.
How to Chat with Other Users in Google Docs
Here’s our step-by-step guide on how to chat with other users in Google Docs.
Step 1
First, open the document you want to collaborate on with other users.
Step 2
Click on the Share button on the top-right corner of the page.
Step 3
Enter the email of the user you want to collaborate with. Click on the Notify people option if you wish to send them an email inviting them to access this document.
Click Send to proceed.
Step 4
Wait for another user to access the document at the same time as you. While you and your collaborator are both accessing the document, you can click on the Chat button on the top panel, next to the icons of both your accounts.
Step 5
A Chat panel will appear on the right side of your screen.
You can use the provided textbox to write the message you want to send to the chat.
Other users will also be able to send their own messages to reply to you. Each message will be color-coded based on the user who sent the message. Even when the chat panel is closed, you will still continue to receive messages in the background from other users. You will see them all the next time you open the chat window.
Do note that document chats are not saved and will be removed once you log off your account. Google Docs chats are also strictly group chats. You cannot send messages individually to a specific user.
Summary
This guide should be everything you need to learn how to chat on Google Docs.
Click this link to make a copy of this sample document to try doing it yourself!