Before switching to Google Workspace, complete this checklist to...
- Understand Google Workspace
- Clean up old mail and calendar events
- Prepare for your new tools and schedule training
Understand Google Workspace
Google Workspace helps you:
- Communicate and collaborate instantly with your co-workers—Connect with your team over video meetings, email or chat whether they're using Google Calendar, Gmail, Google Meet, and Google Chat.
- Store files securely and find what you need instantly, on any device—Keep documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and more all in one place with Google Drive.
- Create, share, and present professional templates, project plans, videos, and slide decks—With Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Vids you can create and edit documents, spreadsheets, videos, and Slides right in your web browser.
Gemini for Google Workspace is available when your Google account language is set to an English dialect. Additionally, some features are available in Spanish and Portuguese. Learn more about language availability.
If you’re new to Gmail, you’ll notice that you can:
- Use conversation threads to see multiple related messages in one view. You'll see new messages at the bottom of a thread.
- Click the 3 dots at the bottom to see the entire thread.
- Tag messages with labels and use search operators to find messages.
- Use Gemini for Google Workspace to Draft email with Gemini in Gmail.
When you switch to Google Workspace, you’ll work in Chrome Browser to use tools such as Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Docs. You can customize Chrome and work securely across all of your devices. With Chrome Browser, you can:
- Synchronize bookmarks and settings across all your devices.
- Add to your browser’s functionality with Chrome Web Store extensions, such as photo editors and project-management tools.
To get familiar with Chrome Browser before your company makes the switch, download Chrome and start using it now.
Clean up old mail and calendar events
About 30 days before your organization switches to Google Workspace, it's a good idea to start cleaning up your email and email folders. You need time to think about what you really need to keep in Outlook. Here are some other tips to get you started:
- Try and keep your email folder structure to 10 folders for a smoother migration process.
- Check messages in your folders, including nested folders that might not be visible. You might need to search for messages.
- Delete email messages that you don’t need to keep.
Review your mailing lists and see what lists you need to keep or delete.
Make a note of recurring events and important meetings before you switch to Google Calendar—during the migration process, some recurring meetings might not appear in Calendar.
Prepare for your new tools and schedule training
When you start using Google Workspace, you’ll find files, email messages, and more by searching for what you need.
- On the day your organization switches to Google Workspace, allow time to review your account settings and familiarize yourself with your new Google Workspace account.
- Work with your manager to coordinate this schedule with other members of your team.
If you work remotely, schedule 1:1 and peer support time at your organization’s office the week your company switches to Google Workspace.
Before your company switches to Google Workspace, contact your training team to see what Google Workspace courses and resources are available:
- Review Google Workspace training resources from your training team. For example, is there an internal website where you can find learning resources, such as recordings or presentations?
- If your training team has a shared training calendar, check out upcoming dates and add these to your calendar.
- Explore this Google Workspace Learning Center for switching guides, tips and tricks, and more.
- If your training team offers it, register for advanced training and sign up for the mailing list to hear about Google Workspace updates.
See if your organization has a signature template with a company logo or other appropriate publicly-hosted image. If there is a template available, make sure you get it before your organization switches to Google Workspace.
If your organization doesn’t have a signature template, here are some other options:
- If your organization can share Google Drive files externally, copy and paste the signature from your old email app into Gmail.
- If your organization can't share Drive files externally, ask your company’s IT team for a signature template with a public URL for the image. Or, if this isn’t possible, search for a public image from the site and copy the URL.
- Paste your previous signature into a Google Doc and then paste this into Gmail. You’ll need to test to see if this works so have an external person verify the logo in the signature.
Set up basic mobile device management for company-owned Android or iOS devices to access your new Google Workspace account and work apps on the go.
- Add a password to protect your device.
- If you own an Android device, you can set up a work profile that separates work apps and data from your personal apps and data.
- Get approved and internal apps on your device.
Next steps
Google, Google Workspace, and related marks and logos are trademarks of Google LLC. All other company and product names are trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.
