Google Chat is a powerful tool for workplace collaboration, but joining multiple “Spaces” (Google’s version of chat rooms or channels) can quickly lead to an overwhelming barrage of notifications. If you are part of a company-wide announcement space or a casual “water cooler” chat that constantly pings your phone and desktop, you might find it difficult to focus on actual work.
Fortunately, Google Chat allows you to customize your notification settings on a per-space basis. You can completely mute a busy Space while ensuring you still receive alerts if someone specifically tags you or sends you a direct message.
How to Mute a Space in Google Chat on Desktop
If you are using Google Chat through your web browser or within the Gmail sidebar on your computer, follow these steps:
- Open Google Chat or Gmail.
- In the left-hand navigation pane, locate the Spaces section and click on the specific Space you want to mute.
- At the top of the chat window, click the name of the Space to open a dropdown menu.
- Select Notifications from the menu.
- You will be presented with three primary options:
- Notify always: You receive an alert for every single message.
- Notify less: You only receive notifications when you are directly @mentioned, when someone replies to a thread you are participating in, or if there is an @all announcement.
- Notifications off: You will receive no notifications at all, though you will still see a red badge if you are @mentioned.
- Select Notifications off (or Notify less, depending on your preference).
- Click Save.
To further reduce visual clutter, you can also select the Mute space option from the main dropdown menu. Muting a space automatically turns off notifications and prevents the Space from bumping to the top of your list when new, unread messages arrive, essentially hiding it until you actively choose to check it.
How to Mute a Space on the Google Chat Mobile App
If you primarily use the Google Chat app on your iPhone or Android device, the process is very similar.
- Open the Google Chat app or the Chat tab inside the Gmail app.
- Tap on the specific Space you wish to mute.
- Tap the name of the Space at the top of the screen to open the Space settings.
- Tap on Notifications.
- Select Off or Notify less from the list of options.
Just like on the desktop, changing this setting will only affect this specific Space; your direct messages and other active Spaces will continue to notify you according to your global settings.