With over a dozen applications and four management tools, Google Workspace (previously known as G Suite) is a favourite cloud suite option for many small businesses.
Given its many features, Workspace may seem a little daunting for users to get to grips with. In truth, its ease of use means there’s nothing to be afraid of. To prove it, we’ve put together a list of Google Workspace tips (G Suite tips) that’ll begin to show you what it’s capable of.
1. Customize your email address
As part of Google Workspace, businesses can give staff access to their own Gmail accounts. But to retain professionalism and ensure brand consistency, use Gmail’s option to customise all employee email addresses so that they reflect the company domain.
2. Send meeting invitations
One example of Workplace’s seamless integration between applications is being able to send meeting invitations via Calendar. Simply hit create, input desired dates and attendees, and watch as invitations are automatically sent through Gmail.
3. Have your agenda sent to you
Reminder prompts will ensure you don’t miss a meeting, but if you want to be even more organized, head to event notifications in your Calendar settings and choose to have your daily agenda emailed to you every morning.
4. Revise revisions
5. Hide your activity
A standard feature on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides is to track all user activity in the activity dashboard. But if you’d rather limit this, you can do so via the activity dashboard privacy settings under tools. There you’ll see settings to switch off your view history—either for a single document or every time you use Workspace—to ensure you’ll no longer be seen in the activity dashboard.
6. Open Microsoft files
A great feature of Workspace is that it allows users to work with Microsoft files, even if they don’t have Office installed. So if someone sends you a Word file, simply save it in Drive – Google’s cloud service – open it, and click “Save as Google Docs.”
7. Hide the guest list
For public events, you might wish to keep your guest list private so that only the admin can see invitation responses. Simply click edit event and untick “See guest list.”
8. Use confidential mode
Gmail has a useful setting that can come in handy if you’re sending sensitive information. Simply activate confidential mode from your Google Admin console and you’ll ensure that those receiving the email won’t be able to forward, copy, print, or download the message.
9. Get a read receipt
If an email is time sensitive, it can sometimes be useful to know that your recipient has read it. This is easily done by clicking the more options button on the bottom right, then selecting “Request read receipt.”
10. Undo email send
Listed the wrong recipient or forgotten an attachment? Don’t panic: Gmail allows you to halt sending an email for up to 30 seconds after hitting send. Simply click the undo popup at the bottom of the page. You can adjust the sending cancellation period in settings.
11. Survey the staff
Want to gauge your staff’s opinions on new ideas or business directions? Use Google Forms to generate quick and simple surveys, with responses neatly collated.
12. Send large attachments
Gmail may appear to have an attachment restriction of only 25MB, but you can overcome this by using Drive. Simply save the file in Drive, then select it using the Drive button when composing an email: et voila, you can now send attachments of up to 10GB.
13. Dial in to meetings
Joining a video conference is easy with a shared link on Google Meet. But what if you don’t have an internet connection? Worry not—every Meet will provide a dial-in phone option. Simply click the more button and find the “Use a phone for audio option” for all key information.
14. Save time typing
When composing an email in Gmail, you can be more efficient by using Google’s Smart Compose and Smart Reply, which use algorithms to offer suggestions on words and phrases. The built-in spelling and grammar check will also reduce typos.
15. Get staff usage data
If your business is new to Google Workspace, Insights can provide handy analytics on staff usage. Admin can get crucial oversight on levels of adoption, collaboration, and productivity, and spot areas where more instruction is required.
16. Mute conversations
It’s common to be copied into an email chain that is no longer relevant to you, yet continues to flood your inbox. With Gmail there’s an easy fix: simply select mute from the more options button, archiving the conversation away from your inbox.
17. Protect your data
Google Endpoint offers vital security management for all staff devices. It means that if an employee loses their phone, you can use Endpoint to remotely lock a lost phone or even wipe it completely, securing your company’s data.
Workspace’s Currents platform is a remnant of Google+, and is essentially a staff social media platform. Employees can share ideas and post about company successes to keep morale high, a feature that’s especially good for remote workers.
19. Create Chat rooms
In addition to direct messages to contacts, Google Chat’s rooms functionality allows users to curate their own channels based on subjects or teams. Admins can send invitations and restrict entry, with up to 8,000 members permitted.
20. Compile audit reports
Data policies are increasingly important for businesses, and with the Vault archiving tool, you can ensure your data policies are adhered to. With Vault, you can dictate data retention timeframes, restrict user access, and even compile audit reports.
21. Use chat in Gmail
If your company employees use Chat as their main messaging tool, it’s worth noting that users don’t always need to open the app. Instead, you can use Chat within Gmail itself, keeping all communications in one window.
22. Use shortcuts
Enable keyboard shortcuts with Gmail and Calendar to make using shortcuts simpler and quicker. For example, on Calendar, hitting W brings up week view; D brings up day view; and C creates a new event.
23. Create groups
Save time composing mass communication emails by creating a mailing list in Gmail, known as a group. It’ll save you from having to input the same email addresses time and again. Simply head to your contacts list, select those you want to add, and save the group as a label.
24. Create Heatmaps
For more visible context to your data, use Sheets’ heatmaps function by highlighting your chosen range, then selecting “Color Scale” from the conditional formatting options under the format menu.
25. Create shared folders
Tailor who will see what with Drive’s shared folders option, which allows you to select exactly which users can access the folder. You can also restrict access to a single created group (see tip 23 above), or open it up to anyone with a link.
Summary
Now that you’ve got 25 new Google Workspace tips and tricks up your sleeve, you and your employees will be able to reap the productivity benefits of using Workspace to its full potential.
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