Google Chat redesigns sidebar with customization & ‘custom sections’

6 hours ago 4

The latest update to Google Chat lets you create “custom sections” in the sidebar to organize conversations as part of a “complete revamp of the left navigation experience” on the web.

Today, that sidebar is grouped by Shortcuts (Home, Mentions, and Starred), Direct messages, and Spaces. A dropdown menu lets you hide the contents of each.

With custom sections, users can create their own. To do so: go to the direct messages or spaces section in Chat > hover over the three dot menu > select Create new section > name the custom section > hit enter.

Both 1:1 and group direct messages, as well as Spaces, can be moved into a custom section. There are two ways to do this:

Dragging and dropping it in from another section
Hovering over a conversation > clicking the three dot menu > selecting Move conversation > Move to [Name of the custom section]

Google Chat has also gained a new default section called “Apps.”

Meanwhile, Google has updated the existing Direct Messages and Spaces sections so they are no longer “independent, individually-scrollable lists.” Rather:

…users can navigate specific sections of their conversations by scrolling across all of their sections as one unified conversation list, view top conversations across each section, and find older conversations within each section by expanding via “Show all.”

This Google Chat sidebar redesign also lets you:

Modify the size (height) of each section
Reorder a section in the left-hand menu based on preference by moving it up or down
Toggle an unread button ON (or OFF) to instantly find new messages within each section that need their attention
Start a new direct message or space message from the three dot menu next to the unread toggle

These custom sections and other changes will be reflected on Google Chat for Android and iOS (in the “Sections” tab), but creation and management is only available on the web.

This Chat sidebar redesign is rolling out over the coming weeks to “all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.”