Manage chats

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You can hide chats that you no longer want to see, and you can delete your chat history. You can also set up notifications to receive alerts when new chats appear.

Hide or delete direct message conversations

Hide a direct message conversation

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. On the left, next to the person's name or group, click More Hide conversation .

Note: If you hide a chat and then chat with that person or group again, your chat history reappears (if it's turned on).

Delete a direct message conversation

You can delete all your history of a conversation you had with someone. You can't delete your history for group conversations with 2 or more people.

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. On the left, next to the person's name, click More Delete conversation.
3. Click Delete to confirm.

To delete only a single message you sent, see edit or delete a message.

Turn Chat notifications on or off

You can get notified when someone sends you a message in Google Chat. If you create, respond to, or are @mentioned in a message or space, you will get a badge and a notification, if you turn notifications on.

You can also customize notifications by device, conversation or space, or threads, if available. You can customize whether to get an email reminder if you haven't read a message in 12 hours.

Customize notifications in Chat

1. Go to Google Chat.  
2. At the top right, click Settings   Settings.
3. To turn on notifications for Chat messages, under "Desktop notifications," check the box next to "Allow chat notifications."

Optional: To play a sound for incoming chat notifications, under “Notification sounds,” select the sound you want to use.

Optional: To turn email notifications for unread messages on or off, under "Email notifications," select Only @mentions & direct messages or Off.

Customize notifications in Gmail

1. On your computer, open Gmail.
2. At the top right, click Settings   See all settings.
3. Click the "Chat and Meet" tab.
4. Under "Chat notifications settings," click Manage chat settings.
5. Select "Allow chat notifications."
6. Under "Notification sounds," select the sound you want to use.

Tip: To turn off chat notifications, select None.

Turn chat notification sounds on or off

1. Open Gmail.
2. At top right, click Settings  click See all settings.
3. On top menu, click Chat and Meet.
4. Under "Chat notification settings," click Manage chat settings.
5. Select Allow chat notifications.
6. Next to "Notification sounds," select the sound from that list.
7. To turn off chat notification sounds, select None.

Customize notifications in a specific space or conversation

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. Select the conversation participants or space name.
3. At the top, next to the conversation participants or space name, click the Down arrow  or More options  Notifications.
4. Choose an option:
   • Notify always: Get push notifications and a notification dot for all new messages.
   • Notify less: Get push notifications and a notification dot when you’re @mentioned; a thread you follow gets a new message; or if someone in the conversation uses “@all.” 
     • For spaces with threads: To receive a notification when someone starts a new thread, check the box next to “Also notify for the first message of new threads.” 
   • Notifications off: You won’t get any push notifications, but @mentions & @all will continue to get a notification dot.

Tip: Even if you turn off notifications, you'll still get a red notification dot for @mentions and direct messages. 

Customize notifications for a specific thread in a space

When you follow a thread, the number of new messages appears next to the message or space. You automatically follow threads you start, reply to, or are @mentioned in.

Important: This option is only available if you have selected the "Notify less" notification setting.

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. Open a space.
3. Point to the thread.
4. At the top right, click Follow.

Tips:

• To unfollow a thread and stop notifications, next to the thread, click Following.
• Even if you turn off notifications, you still get a red notification dot for @mentions and direct messages.

Understand how badges appear in direct messages

Red dot icon	Status text	Status meaning
Yes	Bold	There are unread individual direct messages or group direct messages.
No	Normal	These conversations have no updates or new messages.

Understand how badges appear for spaces

Red dot icon	Status text	Status meaning
Yes	Bold	There are unread messages which directly mention you, or you turned on notifications for the space or thread.
No	Bold	There are unread messages which don't directly mention you, and you turned off notifications.
No	Normal	These conversations have no updates or new messages.

Do not disturb (mute notifications)

If you want to work uninterrupted you can temporarily hide notifications.

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. At the top, click your status.
3. Select Do not disturb  Select a time period to mute notifications.

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

Save chats

In Chat, if your organization allows it, you can use the history setting to change whether chats are saved. If history is turned off, messages are deleted after 24 hours.

When anyone in the chat turns history on or off, all chat members see:

• A note in the message stream that history was turned on or off
• A History on or History off prompt in the compose box

Note: History is always on in threaded spaces. If you turn history off in an unthreaded space, shared files won't appear under Files. If you want people to view shared files, turn on space history and then share files.

Messages you forward to your Gmail inbox remain in your email, even if chat history is turned off.

Turn history on or off in Chat

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. Select a conversation.
3. At the top, next to the contact or conversation name, click the Down arrow or More options .
4. Select Turn on history or Turn off history.

Turn chat history on or off in Gmail

1. Go to Gmail.
2. Select a conversation.
3. Click More options   Turn on history or Turn off history. 

Block and report someone

If you don't want to chat with someone in Chat, you can block them. You can block direct messages, but you can't block people in group messages or in spaces.

When you block someone:

• If the person you blocked is in your organization, they can still see when you're online.
• The person you blocked can see that they can't send you messages.
• Neither you or the person you blocked can edit your messages to one another.
• The person you blocked is also blocked in certain other Google services.

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. On the left, under "Chat," point to someone’s name and click More options Block & Report . If you use a Google Workspace account and the person is in your organization, this option is Block.
3. Optional: To report someone for abuse, check the box next to "Also report." If you use a Google Workspace account, you can only report people outside your organization.
4. To confirm, click Block.

Links or attachments the person sent before you blocked them are still active. To send the person a message, you need to unblock them.

When you report someone for abuse, a copy of the last 10 messages of your conversation is sent to Google for review.

Unblock someone

1. Go to Google Chat or your Gmail account.
2. Choose an option:
   • In Chat, at the top, click Settings SettingsManage accounts you have blocked. 
   • In Gmail, at the top, click Settings See all settingsChat and MeetManage chat settingsManage accounts you have blocked.
3. Select the person from the suggestions.
4. Click Unblock .

Tip: You can also unblock someone in Chat by going to SettingsBlockedManage accounts you have blocked. Click Removenext to the person that you blocked.

 

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