Installing Google Chat
If you have not yet installed Google Chat on your computer or mobile device, follow the instructions here: Google Chat Setup Instructions
Via Best Practices and How to use Google Chat:
General Communication Guidelines
Which tool do I use for what?
Email – External communication (outside of Via)
Google Chat – General internal communication, team collaboration, project collaboration, general follow-up or inquiry on tasks, etc
Wrike - Add task-specific updates as comments in Wrike tasks, create new tasks in Wrike if you have an issue that needs to be fixed or you have a task that needs to be completed
Scenarios
You submitted a request to [email protected] that needs to be addressed urgently or it’s been a few days and you haven’t received an update - how should you follow up?
Start a thread in the “Ask Tech” space in Google Chat using a meaningful subject including the ticket number if possible and ask for follow-up within that thread.
You are managing a smaller event and need advice on how to advertise on social media
Start a thread in the “Ask MarComm” space in Google Chat using a meaningful subject such as “HTL Event Marketing” and ask your question in that thread.
E.g. “Is there an existing template for social media announcements for a How To Lead event?”
You are working on a large project involving several teams and you need to brainstorm with creative and tech about how to structure the content on the website landing page
Search for the associated project space in Google Chat. If one doesn’t exist, create one or ask the project lead to create it and invite the appropriate teams to the space
Start a thread in the project space using a meaningful subject such as “SRLC26 Landing Page Content” and start the conversation within that thread
You are starting a weekly pickleball game after work on Thursdays and want to invite others to join you
Start a thread in the “Via Party” space in Google Chat using a meaningful subject such as “Pickleball Thursdays” and make the announcement there within that thread
You need to get a quote from a vendor to get pricing for new banners for an upcoming event
Send an email or make a phone call requesting the quote
The Tech team requested additional information from you on a help desk request you submitted and you need to follow up to provide additional details.
You can add a comment to the ticket in Wrike providing the requested information
You can start a thread in the “Ask Tech” space in Google Chat using a meaningful subject including the ticket number if possible and provide your follow-up within that thread.
Spaces
What is a Space and how to Use it
Use Spaces wisely to avoid clutter and keep your conversations organized
Spaces are a place where collaboration can happen on a common set of topics. Some examples are provided below.
If you only need to have a conversation on one specific topic, consider using a thread within an existing space if a relevant space already exists.
Browse existing spaces
On the left side of your screen, scroll to the bottom of the list of spaces and click on “Browse spaces”.
Click “Join” for any Spaces that you would like to participate in or have visibility to. Any spaces that you join will now show up on the left side of your screen.
NOTE: Everyone should join “Via Announcements” and “Via Party” to keep up with what is happening across Via.
Public spaces
These will be visible to all of Via
Should be used if the majority of the organization needs access or visibility to the conversation. We want to encourage wide collaboration where possible.
Examples might include:
Cross-functional project spaces where several teams are collaborating
“Ask a Team” spaces where anyone can reach out to or ask questions of a specific team within the organization.
Social spaces where everyone can talk about general social topics, not necessarily related to work
Private spaces
These will only be visible to those invited to the space
Should be used when only a smaller subset of people need access or visibility to the conversation.
Examples might include:
Team spaces for collaboration within a team but not across teams
Small project spaces for smaller projects that have limited scope or impact across the organization
Creating new spaces
Hover over the Spaces title drop down and click the 3 dots on the right
Click “Create a space”
Give your new space a meaningful but concise name
For example:
Explore Online Project
SRLC 2026
Ask Tech
Select “Collaboration” for the space type
Using the guidelines above, select either “Private” or “Public” from the drop down list.
Adding People to Spaces
To add someone new to a space or conversation, simply mention them in a message.
Sections
Organize your Spaces into Sections
To create new sections, follow the steps below:
Hover over an existing section title
Click on the 3 dots on the right side of the title
Select “+ Create new section”
Give your new Section a meaningful name.
Drag and drop each Space into the appropriate Section.
Here are some recommended Sections as a starting point. Creating and organizing sections only affects your personal view in Chat, so make it work for you.
Community & News
For community-oriented social spaces or announcements.
My Teams
For any spaces that are specific to your individual working team(s)
Projects & Events
Spaces for planning and collaborating on projects or events.
Projects and Events typically have a defined start and end date so these spaces will likely be finite in nature and will be archived once the project is completed.
Ongoing Initiatives
Spaces for planning and collaborating on ongoing initiatives
Ongoing initiatives typically do not have a defined start and end date so these spaces will likely be perpetual in nature.
Ask a Team
Public spaces where anyone in the organization can ask a question to and interact with a specific team
Threads
Use Threads to organize conversations within your spaces
“Main is lean, thread’s the scene.”
In the main space, post only a brief subject line similar to what you would use as a subject line on an email.
Put your message details and follow-up replies within the thread.
Why this matters
Keeps the main space tidy and easy to scan.
Makes it easier to find and follow specific topics.
Prevents long message chains from cluttering the main feed.
Helps new members quickly catch up without scrolling through unrelated content.
Helps reduce the likelihood of having the same conversation in multiple places
Start a New Thread
To start a new thread, send a message in the main chat area of the space that is a short title for the topic. Here’s an example:
Hover your mouse over the subject message you created and click on the spool icon to “Reply in thread”:
Within the thread you can type your full message. Others will interact on the topic within the thread to keep the main chat space tidy.
Managing Notifications
There are 3 levels of notifications.
All - You will receive all notifications for all messages and threads in the space.
Main Conversations - You will receive notifications for all messages in the main conversation and only for replies in threads which you follow.
For You - You will only receive notifications when someone @ Mentions you or for replies in threads which you follow.
None - You will not receive any notification for the space
Mute - Muted conversations will appear italicized at the bottom of the Section and will not appear in your Home unless you are @ Mentioned.
NOTE: You will not receive notifications in the mobile app for muted conversations.
The default setting for a space is “Main Conversation”.
For “Ask a Team” spaces or for any that are too noisy for you, it is recommended that you set it to “For You”.
To set up notifications for a space, follow the steps below:
Hover over the space name
Click on the 3 dots on the right
Click “Notifications”
Select the desired notification level and click “Save”:
Navigating and Finding Conversations
There are multiple ways to find conversations:
Starred
Star the threads that you want quick access to and then quickly access them in the Starred list in your Shortcuts menu:
@ Mentions
A quick way to find all conversations where you have been @ Mentioned.
Home
A complete list of all conversations where you have been @ Mentioned and all threads and conversations you are following. You can also filter this list to only show unread messages which makes it easy to stay on top of new conversations.
This screenshot shows all messages in Home:
This screenshot shows only Unread messages in Home:
Other options:
Navigate to the relevant space and scroll to find the conversation of interest.
Use the search bar at the top of the screen to search for words or phrases. This will provide a list of all conversations containing the words from all of your spaces.