Tips to use notifications in chats & spaces

Modified on Wed, 9 Jul at 4:33 PM

On this page:

Turn chat notifications on or off
Customize notifications for a single 1:1 conversation
Customize notifications for a space
Temporarily mute all notifications
Get notifications about Drive activity

Turn chat notifications on or off

Customize your chat notifications from either the Chat app or from Gmail, depending on which app you use for messaging.

Turn on notifications in Chat

On your computer, go to Google Chat.
At the top right, click Settings Notifications .
To turn on notifications for Google Chat messages, under "Desktop notifications," check the box next to "Allow chat notifications."

Tips:

If you don’t get Google Chat notifications after you turn it on, allow Google Chat notifications in your operating system and browser.
To turn email notifications for unread messages on or off, under "Email notifications," select Only @mentions & direct messages or Off.

Check if notifications are on in Chat

On your computer, go to Google Chat.
At the top right, click Settings Notifications .
Under "Desktop notifications," click Show an example.
If an example notification doesn’t appear:
- Your notifications may be muted because of your availability status.
- Turn on notifications for the device and browser you use with Google Chat.

Turn off notifications in Chat

On your computer, go to Google Chat.
At the top right, click Settings Notifications .
To turn off notifications for Google Chat messages, under "Desktop notifications," uncheck the box next to "Allow chat notifications."

Turn on Chat notifications in Gmail

On your computer, open Gmail.
At the top right, click Settings See all settings.

At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.

Go to Gmail settings

Next to "Chat settings," click Manage chat settings.
To turn on notifications for Google Chat messages, under "Desktop notifications," check the box next to "Allow chat notifications."

Check if notifications are on in Gmail

On your computer, open Gmail.
At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.

Go to Gmail settings for Chat

Next to "Chat notifications settings," click Manage chat settings.
Under "Desktop notifications," click Show an example.
If an example notification doesn’t appear:
- Your notifications may be muted because of your availability status.
- Turn on notifications for the device and browser you use with Gmail.

Turn off Chat notifications in Gmail

On your computer, open Gmail.
At the top right, click Settings See all settings.
At the top, click the Chat and Meet tab.

Go to Gmail settings for Chat

Next to "Chat settings," click Manage chat settings.
To turn off notifications for Google Chat messages, under "Desktop notifications," uncheck the box next to "Allow chat notifications."

Customize notifications for a single 1:1 conversation

This applies only for a conversation with one person:

On your computer, open Google Chat.
Next to the direct message or group DM, click More options Notifications.
- For group DMs, you can select to get notifications for:
  - All: All new messages
  - For you: Only @mentions
  - None
Select All or None.
Optional: To prevent the conversation from being bolded and moved to the top of your conversation list, select the box next to "Mute conversation."

Customize notifications for a space

Learn how:

By the name of the space, click the Down arrow .
Select notifications .
Select an option for notifications:
- All: Notifications for new messages and replies to threads you follow.
  - Tip: This is the default setting.
- Following: Notifications for replies and threads you follow and @mentions.
- None: No notifications, just a dot if you’re @mentioned.

Tip: When you follow a thread in a space, you’re notified with a red dot whenever there’s activity in that thread. You can view the number of unread messages next to each thread in a space.

Temporarily mute chat notifications

Learn how:

Change chat status to Do not disturb

On your computer, open Google Chat or Gmail.
At the top, click your status.
Select Do not disturb.
To set your preferred duration, select a duration from the list or click "Until a specific time."
Click Set.

Tip: Notifications automatically turn back on after the mute duration expires. To end mute sooner, click your status Do not disturb Turn off Do not disturb.

Get notifications about Drive activity

Learn how:

Step 1: Add the Drive app to chat

Available only if your organization allows adding apps to Chat.

Follow these steps to add the Drive app:

Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
Next to “Chat,” click Start a new chat Find apps.
- For Chat in Gmail, click New chat Find apps.
Search or browse for an app.
Click the app card.
Choose an option:
- To install the app, click Install.
- To add the app to a space:
  1. Click Add to space
  2. Select the space.
  3. Click Add.

Step 2: Turn on Drive notifications in Chat or Gmail

On your computer, open Google Chat or Gmail.
Send any direct message (such as "hello") to the Google Drive app.
In the response, click Turn On Notifications.

Turn off Drive notifications in Chat or Gmail

On your computer, open Google Chat or Gmail.
Send any direct message (such as "hello") to the Google Drive app.
In the response, click Turn Off Notifications.

To turn notifications back on, send another direct message to the Google Drive app.