Notify users about Google Chat transition

To notify your users about the Google Chat transition, you can customize the template below and send it as an email.

Sample email

To: all users @ company

Subject: Moving to Google Chat on [Date]

Hello [Users],

We’re excited to share that we’ll be transitioning everyone in the company to Google’s newest enterprise-grade collaboration product, Google Chat. Chat has a modern UI, team rooms that support better team collaboration, emoji reactions to make work fun, and bots to help you be more productive, and much more. 

Beginning [DATE], all teams will be using Chat for 1:1 direct messages (DMs), group messages, and team discussions. Classic Hangouts apps will be turned off.

How do I get Google Chat? It's important to do the following before [DATE] as classic Hangout apps will stop working:

• Explore the new Web experience at chat.google.com.
• Download the new mobile app for Android or iOS.
• Download the new standalone desktop app if you've been using the classic Hangouts Chrome extension or app. You can access the desktop app from a prompt that appears in chat.google.com
• On [DATE], refresh your Gmail to get the new Chat in Gmail experience.

Where do I find my old chats?

• You can continue recent 1:1 direct messages from classic Hangouts in Google Chat, but group messages from classic Hangouts (including their history) don't migrate to Google Chat.
• All previous chat history from classic Hangouts will be accessible in Gmail.
• The classic Hangouts web interface for chat, hangouts.google.com will remain available during this transition in case you need more time to access and move certain group conversations. Users can't chat in classic Hangouts by visiting hangouts.google.com in a mobile browser. 
• The classic Hangouts bot in Chat also notifies you of missed group messages from classic Hangouts.

What are the limitations of Chat?

• Google Voice and Google Fi are not available through Chat:
  • If you already have a Google Voice account, you can access Google Voice at voice.google.com, by selecting Voice from the App launcher , or by downloading the Google Voice app (Android, iOS).
  • Google Fi users must use the default SMS app on their mobile device to send and receive SMS messages.

• Group messages from classic Hangouts (including their history) won't migrate to Chat. Users can still access these group messages on the web.
  
  If you have important group messages in classic Hangouts, we recommend that you recreate them as Rooms in the new Chat.
   
• Group direct messages and rooms that you start in Chat do not send messages to people who are still using classic Hangouts.

Where do I go for help?

• For more information about the new Chat, go to the Learning Center.
• Our support desk is ready to answer your questions.
• We’ve also created a Chat room to help with Q&A.

Administrative Team at [Company]