Five annoying Google Chat Spaces issues that need to be fixed immediately

As Google Chat and Spaces in particular gain popularity, boasting over 50,000 active users, we must be open to point out its shortcomings as a platform.While it’s a great tool that’s helped me structure my life and work beyond any other solution I’ve tried in the past, it’s not perfect. Whether to just openly complain or to find like-minded users who feel the same, I’m going to pinpoint five specific things Google Chat Spaces can do to improve. In the future, I hope Google addresses all of these problems so I and perhaps even you can use it for projects, personal goals, and other collaborative efforts!

Allow longer document titles on attachments

The first thing that annoys me about Spaces is the hard limitation on document titles. When you create a Doc, Sheet, or Slide as a part of the attach file option in the Chat or Files tab of a Space, you are, for some odd reason, limited to a much shorter title than what you could create if you were to launch a new file by itself in a standalone window or tab! I see zero reason why this is a thing, and I often have to name my document something shorter, pop it open in a space or another window and rename it appropriately.

Fix the task thread navigation bug!

Navigating to task threads within the Chat tab can be frustratingly unreliable. If you’re looking at the Tasks tab and clicking the chat bubble icon to the right of any task (the thread icon!) you’re oftentimes brought to the bottom of the chat tab where the newest discussion is occurring instead of the spot where the task you created was logged. The reason I like this feature and the reason I’m irked that it’s busted is because I often store an active document draft in the task thread and return to it later. It’s just so disorientating to not be brought where I want when I click into a thread!

Make it easier to delete documents

The current process of deleting documents within Google Chat Spaces is unnecessarily convoluted. To delete a document from the Files tab, you’ve first got to locate it in the Chat tab history, click the thread button, and then proceed to delete it with the three dots ‘more’ options menu to the right of it on hover (that’s if the previous issue relating to thread navigation doesn’t occur, which it will).

It would be more intuitive and user-friendly to have a direct option to delete files from the Files tab itself, especially since many times, the documents I create are temporary. If I’m completely honest, this is just common sense. I’m really not sure what Google’s thinking was with this, but it’s obnoxious beyond belief.

Let us move tasks to other spaces

Flexibility in managing tasks is a key aspect of efficient collaboration, and Spaces is primed for working with teams. Believe it or not, Google Chat lacks the ability to move tasks between different Spaces! So, instead of just choosing the option next to a task and shifting it over to a more appropriate Space if you change your mind about where it belongs, you’re stuck copying and pasting across the board or deleting and re-creating them manually where appropriate. In a personal Google Tasks list, you can simply take an item and move it to another list, but Spaces never got that memo, apparently.

Allow inviting external users after a Space is created to prevent it

Last, but certainly not least, creating a Space that excludes users outside of your organization from joining or interacting is a fixed in stone decision from the get-go. This means you can’t change your mind later! That’s right, once you decide you can’t collaborate with others who aren’t a part of your Workspace setup, you can’t backtrack and add them in for simplicity. This is no doubt a security decision, but an annoying one at that.

For now, if you want to change the way you do business, you’ve got to delete and re-create the space with that option enabled, losing all of your chat history, tasks, files, and any members that were already a part of the setup. Once recreated, you’ll need to re-invite everyone who was already there before, and we all know how impossible it is to get people to do what you ask them, especially if they’re not using those tools frequently as a part of their day-to-day life.

I love Google Chat, but these problems suck

Whew! Now that I’m done moaning about these five things, let me know in the comments how you’re utilizing Spaces for your business or personal life. Are you also frustrated by one or all of these things I mentioned? I love Spaces, and think it’s the culmination of many past efforts Google has attempted, including, well, “Spaces” (not this one), Google+, and Google Chat to name a few.

With that being said, I want to see it improve, and I’m sure you’ll agree. Google has created one of the few products I see lasting far into the future and taking hold, and I don’t want them to screw that up with poor user adoption due to weird feature omissions and bugs.