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As with all Google updates, they take about six months to a year to materialize after being announced. The same can be said of Google Chat’s new four-colored Workspace-oriented logo and revamped homepage. Luckily, today is the day I can officially announce they’re going live. Let’s take a look at everything the company discussed on its Workspace Updates blog today.
Welcome ‘Home’
First up is the revamped navigation panel. I can’t tell you how hard it is to onboard a group of people to Chat without something like this, so I’m glad it’s finally being introduced. It has a few shortcuts, namely for ‘Home’, ‘Mentions’, and ‘Starred’. This will make it easier to jump to specific types of content. Additionally, your Direct messages are right below that, and of course, these can be starred to. Below even that are your ‘Spaces’ as usual. The whole thing just looks and feels much more streamlined now.
Speaking directly of the new ‘Home’ shortcut, it brings everything together across all of your chats and spaces, so you can see any unread conversations or threads, see tasks assigned to you and more. This alone will help me onboard my organization to Spaces without them constantly asking “I have no idea where you pinged me and with what”.
Did we ‘Mention’ the new icon?
In addition to functional upgrades, Google Chat is getting a visual makeover. The new icon, aligning with the aesthetic of other Workspace products, adopts that hideously indistinguishable four color look you all hate. I think it’s universally agreed that this style makes it virtually impossible to find any of Google’s app in a sea of experiences in your app drawer. Gone is the “iconic” green chat bubble – oh well.
When you can expect these updates
These enhancements are tailor-made for you to stop hating Spaces – at least it feels that way. Whether you’re a Google Workspace customer or a user with a personal Google account, you’re getting everything discussed here!
The rollout begins on November 9, 2023, for Rapid Release domains, extending over 15 days for complete feature visibility. For those on Scheduled Release domains, expect to see these changes starting December 4, 2023. Let me know in the comments if you’re excited or irritated with the new icon update. I think everyone will agree the new ‘Home’ tab is well worth it.
