Gmail just got a big upgrade that can save you time — how to turn it on

Gmail just got a large upgrade that can salve you fourth dimension — how to plough information technology on

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Update: Gmail has an iOS upgrade to help you save time .

Google wants to bridge the gap between habitation use and productivity, and due east-mail has a foot in both worlds. That'southward why yous can now actuate Google Chat in your Gmail account, whether you use the service on a computer or an Android device. (iOS will accept to wait a petty while longer, it seems.)

While Google Chat offers pretty similar functions to the already-available Hangouts, the new interface looks a little neater and offers more productivity tools.

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This data comes from 9to5Google, which discovered that the characteristic was bachelor and provided instructions for how to activate it on different platforms. Regarding Google Chat itself, the service lets you lot message back and forth with other Google users in real-time, just similar Hangouts.

Different Hangouts, nevertheless, Chat makes information technology easy to set channels, antipodal with multiple users and share files, particularly from other Google services. While Google Conversation is withal available every bit a separate tab on Chrome, or a split up client on Android, these new updates incorporate Chat right into the Gmail interface.

In any case, Chat's functionalities are pretty straightforward — which you'll acquire immediate, if you desire to effort the program for yourself. Hither's how to turn it on.

How to activate Google Chat within Gmail

While activating Google Conversation on Android isn't hard, activating it in a browser is positively trivial. Merely visit https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#settings/conversation, and notice the "Chat" option.

By default, Chat will be gear up to "Off." Simply select "Google Chat" instead, so click "Save Changes." That's it. From there, just get back to Gmail and attempt it out.

How to activate Google Chat on Android

If you want to integrate Google Chat with Gmail on Android, you'll have to jump through a few boosted hoops. The whole process is still non too tough, nevertheless. To get-go, ensure that you accept the latest version of the Gmail app; if not, you can update your apps in the Play Store.

Subsequently that, go to the Gmail settings menu, and scroll down until yous encounter the "Chat (Early Access)" choice nether the "Full general" heading. Click "Try Information technology," then follow the prompts. If you detect Chat isn't to your sense of taste, you can always turn it off the aforementioned way.

Enterprise users accept had access to Google Chat functionality for a while already, and the programme seems to work smoothly enough. We'll have to see whether Conversation sticks around for the long booty, or goes the way of so many other Google productivity projects.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom's Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing background, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and engineering. Later on hours, y'all can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on archetype sci-fi.