Google Meet rolling out ability to temporarily unmute yourself with the spacebar

A new Google Workspace update is rolling out that will allow you to unmute yourself using your keyboard’s spacebar during a Google Meet. Having this capability will make it a lot easier for users to quickly unmute themselves without fumbling around for the mute button on the screen. Of course, users will still be required to mute using the mute button, but unmuting temporarily will be as easy as just holding down the spacebar.

The feature works by temporarily holding down the spacebar during a meeting to be unmuted, then releasing the spacebar to go back to being muted. This ensures that you remain muted throughout the meeting, except during the times that you wish to participate, even if you forget to mute yourself again. This is considered an accessibility setting and joins the rest of the keyboard shortcuts available to control features within Google Meet.

Initially, this feature will be off by default but can be enabled in the Google Meet settings. It will begin to roll out to Rapid and Scheduled Release domains on September 9, 2022, and will take about two weeks to reach everyone. All Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts will be able to take advantage of it on all web browsers, which is great news.