What to be Aware of When Chatting in Google Files

The chat history in a file is not kept. When you close the file, you’ll no longer be able to view the chat history. If you need to keep chat records, we recommend using Google Hangouts and making sure your chat history is enabled; this is a default setting in Hangouts and should be enabled unless you’ve changed it previously.

You can only see chats taking place while you have a document open. If you close the file and others continue to chat in the document, others will see you’ve left the group chat and you’ll miss anything discussed after closing the file. If you’re discussing something all collaborators need to see, we recommend using the comments feature or chatting on Hangouts to make sure all collaborators eventually see your message.

Anyone viewing a file will be included in a document chat, and can participate regardless of their permission setting as a viewer, commenter or editor. If you have link sharing turned on, you may see anonymous people (external link)  chatting in the document. This is different  from using comments as only those with permission to edit or comment on a file will see the comments and have access to respond.

If you have a file open but have the chat window closed, you’ll be notified of a new message with a red dot in the upper right-hand corner of the document. Click the chat icon to open the chat window and participate in the chat.