How To Use Google Hangouts While Working From Home?

Since most of the companies and their employees around the world are practicing social distancing due to the coronavirus outbreak, maintaining connections digitally have become more important than ever. In that case, both employer and the employee need a strong channel of communication to facilitate video meetings and managing work remotely.

If you too are working from home and looking for a perfect tool, we recommend you to use Google Hangouts. It is one of the most prominent communication tools and can help you quickly get sorted with things like Google Hangouts chats, video meets and what not?

Google Hangouts- What is it and what it offers?

Hangouts were originally introduced by Google+, years before the launch of the standalone Hangouts app in 2013. However, Google+ faced it’s death few years back but this brand name keeps on going with some added and lost set of features. Now, the current version of Hangouts is split into three segments, i.e. Google Hangouts Chats, Meets and Dialer.

With classic Hangouts, you can let users message either one-on-one or in-groups of up to 150 people altogether. Not only this, but you can also video chat individually or in groups of 10 people. Moreover, the ones owning a Google account can make video calls in a group of 25 people.

What else does Google Hangouts offer? Well, the list is long as the Hangouts ecosystem is full of applications for Google Voice subscribers and GSuite users. It means that the Google Voice account holders can make voice calls to anyone across the world using its Dialer app for free. On the other hand, the GSuite holders can use Google Hangouts Chat and Meet, quite similar to Slack.

If you wish to give this amazing communication tool a try, check out this guide.

Have a look: Best Skype Alternatives for Android

How To Use The Google Hangouts?

Google Hangouts is a multi-platform application that makes it easy to work remotely. Whatever the case is, be it you are in your living room with your laptop or you are demonstrating something in the phone, Google will always have an app that has you covered. Yes, you can use Google Hangouts on all devices including- Desktops, Laptops, Smartphones, and tablets etc.

Desktop or Laptop: No matter whether you are using Windows or Mac OS, you can easily access Google Hangouts as a Chrome extension. If you do not use Chrome browser, you can also directly login on Google Hangouts official website on Safari, Edge or any other browser.

Smartphones and Tablets: Whether you’re using an iOS or an Android device, you can download Hangouts native app for a smooth use including quick chat, and audio/video calls.

While accessing Hangouts on Mac or Windows, it will continue to run in the background even after you close the Chrome browser. While if you are using a Google Hangouts website, you’ll be required to login every time you start your PC or Mac.

What Can I Do With Google Hangouts?

Share Screen Using Google Hangouts

You can use Google Hangouts even if you are a novice and you can take help from your coworkers to sort any difficulty you come across while working remotely. Most of the tools available on Google Hangouts are fairly simple and you can use the Hangouts share screen feature to show your participants the presentation on either Microsoft PowerPoint or Google Slides.

• Start Google Hangouts through browser or extension. Start video call, and while in the middle of the call, you can share your screen by clicking on the three-dots at the top right and clicking Share Screen.

Make sure that you are already having your presentation or query opened in the taskbar or in the background of your Hangouts window for quick access.

Also Read: Best Zoom Alternatives For Remote Meetings/ Video Conferencing

Add Attendees To Your Meeting

Video meetings or calls made on Hangouts are not limited to just one individual, rather you can add up to 25 participants to chat and call simultaneously. In case you have a business account of G Suite, you can have upto 250 participants and 100,00 live stream viewers over a single call.

Use Emojis To Enhance Chats

While using Google Hangouts, you can also use some of its secret emojis to add some grace to your chats and conversations. For instance, bikeshed will change the background color of the chat window, /happy will show a happy face etc.

How to Use Google Hangouts in App, Web Browser and Extension?

Look at the steps below, if you do not know how to access and initiate conversations on Hangouts. Wherever you access Hangouts, remember all the data gets synced in real-time and you can access from anywhere.

• Tap the green and white “+” button at the bottom right of the app and select either New conversation or New video call.
• You can then type in the name, email address, or phone number of an existing Hangouts user to start a text-based conversation or video call. In case you have to start a new conversation with someone who does not use Hangouts, it will send them an invite to use the service.
• To message multiple people at once, you can create groups by selecting New group below the contact entry field and adding up to 150 people.
• You can add more people to groups at any time by selecting the three vertical dots at the top right of the app and tap People.
• You can also invite more people to an ongoing video chat by tapping the three vertical dots at the top right of the video call and selecting invite.
• There’s an option to share a link to an ongoing video call. People with the link can join the video call by simply signing in with their Gmail account.

Wrap Up:

That’s all people! Enjoy working from home smoothly using this guide on how to use Google Hangouts as your communication tool. Go ahead and set up your video meetings, check in on family members, or catch up with friends, no matter where they are in the world!