Google Spaces has been through several iterations since its inception in 2016. It began as a desktop and mobile app to compete with Slack and provide a space for teams (or friend groups) to collaborate, chat, and share videos and other content. Like other Google social experiments, it was discontinued the following year, in April 2017. That wasn't the end of Spaces. When Google+ (and its enterprise-focused follow-up, Currents) was sunsetted, the Spaces brand was revived to scoop up functionality Google wanted to keep in its portfolio.

Spaces replaces Google's old Rooms concept from Chat, allowing you to add users to a group and share content, manage a workflow, and collaborate. It's platform agnostic (Spaces can run anywhere Google Chat is available) and is great for businesses that provide employees with high-end Chromebooks or rely on a work-from-home or hybrid work model. Let's dive in and see how the new Spaces works.

What is Google Spaces?

Spaces is a lightweight group collaboration and project management platform in Google Workspace. It was announced as part of a redesign for Gmail in 2022. The revamp integrates its Chat, Files, Tasks, and other Google apps and services within Gmail. The redesign integrated into Workspace to create a new space for different topics and discussions, share files, and compose Google Meet group calls without leaving the Gmail tab.

Spaces lets you invite and chat with team members, collaborate on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, compose a quick Meet call, and improve group productivity.

How to create a new space

Google Spaces are easiest to access through Chat. Here's how:

  1. Open Gmail in a browser.
  2. Select Chat from the Google apps menu.
    A screenshot showing how to access Google Chat from the Google apps menu in Gmail
  3. Click Spaces in the left toolbar.
    A screenshow showing how to access Spaces in Google Chat
  4. Select Create a space.
    A screenshot showing how to create a Space in Google Chat
  5. Name your space, add an optional description, and click Create.
    A screenshot illustrating how to name and create a Space in Google Chat

Your new space is ready to use in Gmail. When your invited members join the space, check the list from the Space name > Manage members menu. You can check the space manager and pending invitations from the same menu.

A screenshot showing how to manage members of a Google Space

From the management menu, click + Add to invite new members to your Space.

Set Google Spaces guidelines

After creating a new Google Space and inviting members, write the space guidelines to set expectations around how members get the most out of this chat.

  1. Open Spaces in Gmail (check the steps above).
  2. Select any space and, under the pull-down menu, click Space details.
    A screenshot showing how to expand the details of a Google Space in Chat
  3. Click the Edit icon (it looks like a pencil).
    edit google space
  4. Enter the Google Spaces guidelines for the space and click Save. You can set guidelines of up to 5,000 characters. It should be sufficient for most.
    add google space guidelines

How to manage Google Spaces notifications

Frequent notifications throughout the day might interrupt your workflow when you have dozens of team members in a space. You can tweak notification settings for a specific space.

  1. Open Spaces in Gmail web (refer to the steps above).
  2. Select a space from which you get constant irrelevant notifications.
    turn off notifications in Google Space
  3. Click the space name at the top and open Notifications.
  4. Select Following.
    A screenshot showing how to edit notifications in Google Spaces

You can also select Notifications off and turn off all alerts from the space or mute individual conversations to prevent them from bubbling up to the top of your unreads. If you set your status to Do not disturb from the top menu, Google Spaces mutes all notifications.

enable do not disturb in Google Spaces

How to use Google Spaces chat features

Google Spaces has useful features to stay in touch with team members. Click A in the chat menu to display rich text editor options like bold, italic, colors to highlight details, bullet points, and strikethrough. Google also integrated emojis and GIF menus to add fun to boring conversations.

chat features in Google Space

Click the + icon beside the chat menu to share a Google Docs, Slides, or Sheets file from your Drive account. Select the Share menu to send a local file from your Windows or Mac computer to the group conversation. You can also host a group video meeting from the same menu.

attach a google Drive file in Space

Spaces also allows you to share emoji reactions to a message and a forward option to save messages to your Gmail inbox.

Create a calendar invite in Google Spaces

You can create a calendar invite from Google Spaces. You don't need to open Google Calendar in another tab to manage events.

  1. Go to the Spaces tab in Gmail and select a relevant Google space.
  2. Open the Chat menu and click + at the bottom.
    create calendar invite in Spaces
  3. Select Calendar invite to open Google Calendar in the side menu. The software automatically creates a one-hour event with all the space members.
  4. You can add more guests to the event. Click Save & share, and you are good to go.
    save and share calendar invite

How to manage Google Spaces message history

You can auto-delete team chat history after 24 hours. The option allows you to remove unnecessary messages from the conversation.

  1. Open Google Spaces from the Gmail sidebar (refer to the steps above).
  2. Click the space name at the top and select Turn off history from the drop-down menu. You can also revert the change from this menu.
    turn off history in Google Spaces
  3. Messages sent with the history off are deleted after 24 hours.

How to pin important spaces

Unlike Slack or Microsoft Teams, you can't create different channels under the same organization. You must create a new space for a different conversation or topic and invite members again. You may have dozens of spaces to manage in Gmail if you deal with multiple teams. Pin important spaces at the top to never miss a message.

  1. Go to the Spaces tab in Gmail (check the steps above).
  2. Select the space name at the top and click Pin.
    pin important space in Google spaces
  3. Repeat the same for all necessary spaces in Gmail.

How to assign tasks in Spaces

There are two ways to assign a task to a team member in a space. You can assign a to-do from the Chat menu or move to the Tasks tab.

  1. Hover the mouse cursor over a message and select the More menu (the three-dot icon).
  2. Select Create space task.
    Assign a task in Google Spaces
  3. Add a date, choose a time, and select a team member.
  4. Move to the Tasks tab and assign to-dos.
    Check tasks in Google Spaces

Your assigned tasks appear under My Tasks in the Google Tasks app on the web and mobile.

How to activate and use Google Spaces on your phone

If you want to use Google Spaces on your smartphone, turn on Chat in Gmail on mobile to use the Chat and Spaces tab. This works on the Google Chat app for Android and the iOS app in the App Store for iPhone users. Here's what you'll do:

  1. Launch Gmail on your phone.
  2. Tap the hamburger menu in the upper-left corner and open Settings.
  3. Select your Gmail account.
  4. Under the General menu, select the checkbox beside Chat.

You can download a separate Google Chat app from the Play Store to check your conversations and spaces.

Leave Google Spaces

After creating a space, you can leave it. After all, you won't want to end up with several irrelevant spaces in Gmail.

Use a web browser to leave Google Spaces

  1. Open Spaces in Gmail (check the steps above).
  2. Click the kebab menu (three-dot icon) beside a space and select Leave.
  3. Confirm your decision.
    leave google space on web

Use the mobile app to leave Google Spaces

  1. Open Gmail on your phone.
  2. Move to the Spaces tab.
  3. Long tap a space and select Leave.

Carve out space for optimal productivity

Spaces is a powerful integration of workflow software with chat and collaboration tools. Unlike similar platforms, it's intuitive and approachable due to Google's knack for simple, heavily researched, and constantly refined interfaces. Also, given the ubiquity of Gmail, many people have a Spaces-ready account, removing a step from the onboarding process.

For more ways to make the most of your Gmail account, look at our list of the best Gmail tips and tricks.