Important Message About The Manhattan College Transition to Google Chat on June 15th

We’re excited to share that we’ll be transitioning everyone at Manhattan College to Google’s newest enterprise-grade collaboration product, Google Chat. Chat has a modern/easy viewing interface as well as team rooms that support better team collaboration, emoji reactions to make work fun, and bots to help you be more productive. Manhattan College is receiving early access to some great new features, such as an upgraded Gmail integration and the ability to chat with external users (non-Manhattan College users).

Beginning Monday, June 15th, 2020, all teams will be using Chat for direct messages (DMs), group messages, and team discussions. Classic Hangouts apps will no longer be accessible in Gmail..

How do I get Google Chat?

It's important to do the following before 6/15 as classic Hangout apps will stop working:

1. Explore the new Web experience at chat.google.com
2. Download the new mobile app for Android or iOS.
3. Please make sure you install the Chat mobile app (Android or iOS) before 6/15 to minimize chances of missed messages.
4. Download the new standalone desktop app if you've been using the classic Hangouts Chrome extension or app. You'll be able to access the desktop app from a prompt that will appear inside chat.google.com
5. On 6/15, refresh your Gmail to get the new Chat in Gmail experience.

Where do I find my old chats?

1. You will be able to continue recent direct messages from classic Hangouts in Google Chat, but group messages from classic Hangouts (including their history) will not be migrated to Google Chat. This means on 6/15 you will no longer see any group messages you had using classic Hangouts in your Google Chat.
   
2. All previous chat history from classic Hangouts will be accessible in the Gmail Chat label.
   
3. 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 cannot chat in classic Hangouts by visiting hangouts.google.com in a mobile browser. Using hangouts.google.com will be the only way to access your classic Hangouts group chats.
   
4. The classic Hangouts bot in Chat will also notify you of missed group messages from classic Hangouts. This means if you are using Google Chat and someone messages a classic Hangouts group you are in, you will receive a message with a link to the conversation. Please use this link for further assistance if you need to add the classic Hangouts bot to Google Chat. 

What are the limitations of Chat?

1. Google Voice and Google Fi are not currently available through Chat:

• Users who already have a Google Voice account 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

2. Group messages from classic Hangouts (including their history) will not be migrated to Chat. Users can still access these group messages in hangouts.google.com.

       If you have important group messages in classic Hangouts, we recommend that you recreate them as Rooms in the new Chat.


3. Group direct messages and rooms that are started in the new Chat will not send messages to users who are still on the classic Hangouts apps.

Where do I go for help?

G Suite Learning Center for more information about the new Chat.