Get started with Google Meet

Google Meet may be accessed on your computer, mobile phone, or tablet. You can also have Google Meet run in a separate window, see Google Meet in a separate application on your computer for more details.

Google Meet is a video conferencing tool available for impromptu video calls as well as scheduled calls using Google Calendar.

Here is a Google Meet cheat sheet to help guide you through Google Meet.

Start a Google Meet meeting

Schedule a Meet for a future time in Google Calendar
  1. Navigate to calendar.google.com, login with your UIndy credentials.
  2. Click the Create button.
  3. Select Event from the drop-down menu.
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  1. A box will appear, select More options.
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  1. Title your meeting.
  2. Select the appropriate day and time.
  3. Click the Add Google Meet video conferencing button. A meeting URL will automatically be generated.
  4. Add guests.
  5. Click Save button.
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Guests will receive an email with the event information and a link to the video meeting. They also will see the event details, including the link the the Meet in their Google Calendar.

Start a Meet right now from a web browser
  1. In a web browser, navigate to meet.google.com, login with your UIndy credentials.
  2. Click new meeting.
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  1. Select start an instant meeting.
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A Google Meet will begin with just you in it. Your meeting's ready message will appear.

  1. To add guests, click on the Add others button.
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  1. Enter name or email of guests you would like to include. Suggestions are auto-populated at the bottom.
  2. To accept suggestions, click on the box to the right of the names.
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  1. After a guest has been added, a button will appear asking you to confirm. Click on send email button.
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Once complete, invite sent message will appear and disappear on its own.

Meeting access type (how attendees/guests can join)

When creating a new Google Meet, there are three meeting access types:

  • Open no one one has to ask to join. Anyone can dial in.
  • Trusted (default) people can join without asking if they have a UIndy account or are invited using their personal Google account. Everyone else must ask to join. Anyone can Dial in by phone.
  • Restricted anyone who hasn't been invited must ask to join, including people who dial in

By default with your UIndy account, meetings are set to Trusted. If you would like to change the access type:

  1. Open your UIndy Google Calendar.
  2. Create a new Event.
  3. Click Video Call Options (settings gear icon).
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  1. Under Host Controls, scroll down to Meeting Access, click the radio button next to Open, Trusted, or Restricted.
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Caution: Open meetings are open to the public and could mean disruptive attendees in your meeting.

For existing meetings with Quick Access Off, meetings are set to Restricted.

For existing meetings with Quick Access On, meetings are set to Trusted.

Join a Google Meet meeting

Join from a Google Calendar event
  1. In Google Calendar, click the event you wish to join.
  2. Click Join with Google Meet.
  3. To view phone options, click on the down arrow.  
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  1. Make note of the phone numbers and PIN.
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Join from a browser
  1. In a web browser, navigate to meet.google.com, login with your UIndy credentials.
  2. Select the meeting from your list of scheduled events or click New meeting.  
  1. Click Join Meeting.
Join a video meeting without a Google Account

Host Management & Add co-hosts

As the meeting organizer or host, you can turn on Host management to moderate the meeting and control participation. You can also make other participants co-hosts to share moderation privileges. Note that turning on Host management removes certain privileges from other participants.

Host controls can be found in the Google Calendar appointment if you want to modify them before a meeting (or at the bottom of the window of an active meeting). If you are going to cooperate with someone on hosting the meeting, you can add co-hosts in Google Meet if they are invited to the event on Google Calendar.

A co-host can't remove the original host.

To turn on Host Management within a meeting:
  1. Join a meeting.
  2. At the bottom right, click Host controls.
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  1. From the side panel that appears, switch on Host Management to turn off or on.
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Scheduling on behalf of someone:

  • If you manage someone else’s calendar as a delegated user and schedule a meeting on that person’s primary calendar, they are the meeting host.
  • If you don't have permission to make changes to events on this person's calendar, you can still create the event from your calendar and add this person to the event. You will then need to make that person a co-host. See directions below for how to do so.

Additional Information

Present during a video meeting

You can present your entire screen or a specific window in a meeting.

  1. Join a video meeting.
  2. At the bottom, select Present now.
  3. You will then have the option to choose to present Your entire screen, A window, or A tab.
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  1. On the next screen, Chrome will ask if want to share the contents of your screen with Meet. Choose what you'd like. Click Share.
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  1. To stop sharing, click Stop presenting.
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Record a Google Meet

You can record your Google Meet for people to view later. Note that the recording will include the main window, participant filmstrip, and presented documents. The recording will be saved in the meeting owner's Google My Drive in a Meet Recordings folder and a link to the file will be added to the calendar event if the meeting was part of a calendar invitation.

You can record a meeting if: 

  • You’re the meeting host
  • Host Management is turned off
  • You have been given co-host privileges (including people who do not have UIndy accounts)
  • When meetings are recorded the chat conversation log is also saved.
  • You cannot setup a meeting to record ahead of time, a host or co-host has to start the recording after entering the meeting.

Because recordings are saved to Drive, you will still need to manage the amount of space they take up.  It is recommended that you continue to review and clean up unneeded recordings at least once per semester.

  1. Join a video meeting.
  2. Click on the three vertical dots at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Click Manage recording.
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  1. A recording box will appear. You can also check a box if you would like to start a transcript.
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  1. After you select Start recording a box will appear asking you to make sure everyone is ready. Click on the Start button.
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  1. The recording will start and other participants will be notified that the recording has begun.
  2. To stop the recording, click on the three vertical dots at the bottom of the screen.
  3. Click Manage recording.
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  1. The recording box will appear to the right, click on the Stop recording button.
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  1. You will be asked to verify that you want the recording to stop. Click Stop recording.
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The file of the recording will appear in the meeting organizer's Google My Drive in a Meet Recordings folder about 10 minutes after the meeting ends. An email with the recording link will be sent to the meeting organizer and the person who started the recording. The URL will also be added to the calendar entry if the meeting was part of a calendar invitation.

Use companion mode

If you are in a hybrid meeting and need to present to both the people in the room and those online, you can use companion mode. In Companion mode, your mic and video are turned off to avoid any audio feedback. See Google's documentation on Companion Mode with Google Meet for hybrid learning or hybrid collaboration.

Use a phone for audio

You can use a phone for audio in a video or voice call in Google Meet. Instructions for different situations can be found on Google's use a phone for audio in a video meeting documentation. If you are having issues with your audio, please see Google's Fix audio or video call problems.

Share documents and files

If you are using Google Calendar to create your Google Meet meeting, you can also link or attach files to the calendar invite that will be available to all invitees.

  1. Click the appropriate day/time in Google Calendar and set up the details of the event.
  2. Click More options in the bottom right corner.
  3. The next window will allow you to add a description as well as attach files (either Google files such as Docs or Slides or files external to Google Drive).
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Use the Chat feature in Google Meet

The in meeting chat is used for communicating with meeting attendees without interrupting anyone speaking.  It can be used to send links to all participants or provide quick information for attendees to reference. The chat icon is in the lower-right corner of the screen once the meeting has begun.

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Chat Notes:

  • Messages are visible to everyone in the call.
  • You can only view the chat messages exchanged when you're on the video meeting. 
    • Messages sent before you joined are not displayed.
    • All messages disappear when you leave the video meeting.
  • When meetings are recorded the chat conversation log is also saved.
  • You can prevent participants from sending chat messages by turning on Host Management and turning off Send Chat Messages
Use captions

Captions are viewable subtitles of whoever is speaking in the meeting. Captions are now included in meeting recordings. The recording includes the video, audio, and captions, all in one file. See Google's documentation on captions.

If transcription is desired for a recorded meeting, you will need to turn on transcripts.

Use transcripts

You can get an automated transcript of your meeting. Transcripts are a separate document of all the words spoken. No video is included.   

Transcript Tips:

  • Transcripts is separate from the meeting recording. To set up a Transcripts recording, please use Google's instructions.
  • When all participants leave the meeting, Transcripts stops automatically.
  • You can't pause Transcripts, but you can stop one meeting transcript and start a new one in the same meeting.
    • You get a separate transcript file each time you start Transcripts.
  • After your meeting ends, an automated email with a link to the meeting transcript is sent to:
    • The host
    • Any co-hosts
    • The person who turned on Transcripts
  • Transcripts of longer meetings take longer to process. Please allow time for your automated email to arrive.
  • The transcript is also attached to the meeting’s Google Calendar event.
  • Transcripts are only saved for 3 months unless you move them to another folder.
Invite students from class to a Google Meet

To add students to a scheduled Meet session via Google Calendar or to add them to an impromptu meeting, you will need a list of their email addresses.  Once you have a list of emails, you can copy and paste the entire list directly into the Add Guests section of a scheduled Meet or the Add People sections of an impromptu Meet session.

Change your background

You can obscure your background by blurring or replacing it with a picture.

  1. Within a Google Meet, click on More options by selecting the three vertical dots in the bottom right corner and select Change background.
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From here, you can:

  1. Slightly blur your background or completely blur your background,
  2. Choose one of the photos shown, or
  3. Return to your natural background (the default).
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Ask participants questions in Google Meet

While questions can be asked using the chat feature, the Q&A feature might be more appropriate.  The Q&A feature is specifically designed to manage questions submitted by attendees.  This feature must be turned on by the host, in the Activities section.

Once turned on, the Q&A tool allows the host or co-host to track questions that have been addressed.  This can be very handy in cases where a speaker needs to be allowed to present all materials prior to answering questions.

Q&A notes:

  • Anyone in a meeting can ask questions. The questions show until they are deleted or hidden.
  • After a meeting, the moderator gets a detailed report of all the questions.
  • Other attendees can “like” a question if they also have a similar question.
  • Questions can be asked anonymously unless explicitly turned off by the host or co-host

To turn off anonymous questions:

  1. Navigate to the Host Controls in the lower right after the meeting has started.
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  1. Scroll to the bottom of the list, under Meeting Activities. Turn on Allow questions in Q&A.
  2. Turn off Allow anonymous questions (Q&A).
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Collaborate with Jamboard

A Jamboard is a virtual dry erase board where you can brainstorm ideas live with others. See Google's documentation on Jamboard in Google Meet. Jamboard is only available on a computer, not a mobile device or tablet.

Use breakout rooms

Meeting hosts can use breakout rooms to divide participants into smaller groups during meetings. Creating breakout rooms can be done:

  • Prior to a meeting, using the meeting settings in Google Calendar.
  • During a meeting, using the Activities menu.
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See Google's documentation on breakout rooms for how to:

  • Create and edit a breakout room in advance on Google Calendar
  • Create a breakout room during a meeting
  • Join or leave breakout rooms

Hosts have the ability to move between breakout rooms to monitor activity as well as bring all participants back to the main meeting. Participants have the ability to ask for help to get the host's attention while breakout rooms are active.

In addition to the traditional use of breakout rooms for facilitating small group collaboration, breakout rooms can also be useful in other ways. For example, in the Doctor of Health Science Program, they conduct all dissertation proposal defenses virtually. Previously, when using Zoom, they would place the defending student in a waiting room while the committee conferred after their presentation. Now, when using Google Meet, they will place the defending student in a breakout room during that time.

Recordings do not capture activities inside breakout rooms. Please pause your recording while the breakout rooms are active.

Conduct polls

See Google's documentation on polls. Polls can be helpful to take a quick survey of your group or to provide a quick icebreaker.  Be aware that Polls in Google Meet work very differently than Polls in Zoom.

See video on how to start a poll. Hosts or co-hosts can set up polls.  After the meeting, the host is automatically emailed a report of the poll results.  

In Google Meet, each poll is its own question, so to add more questions you add more polls. Polls (questions) cannot be set up prior to a meeting or saved and pulled into a meeting.  We recommend typing up questions and answers in a Doc so that they can be copied and pasted into the meeting once you enter.  Entering early to set up polls is also recommended.  

You do not have to publish the questions right away.  After you build a poll you will have the option to Save or Launch.  

  • Save the poll to launch later in the meeting.  
  • Launch the poll if you want it to appear immediately.  

There are a couple of settings you will want to pay particular attention to:  

Make poll responses appear without names

By default, the poll will record named responses. To change to anonymous responses, you will need to:

  1. Change the slider next to Responses appear without names
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Please be aware if you change your poll to anonymous, you will not see names on poll responses when you are sent the report.

Show everyone's poll response

Once you have saved your poll, you will need to decide if you want to show the results.  By default this is off.

  1. To turn it on, change the slider next to Show everyone the results.
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Attendance tracking

Google Meet automatically provides an attendance tracking report to the host at the conclusion of every meeting. This handy report includes the participant’s name, email address, and the length of time the participant was on Meet. Attendance reports are turned on for everyone at UIndy. If you want this email filtered out of your inbox, you can create a new rule to filter your “meeting data” emails into a specific folder to review at your convenience.

Meeting etiquette

Participants should be encouraged to use the Reaction and Raise Hand features located at the bottom of the screen. 

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Raise Hand
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Raise Hand should be used by participants to indicate they would like to speak.  The host will be notified and will be able to see a queue of participants who have raised their hand. 

Reactions
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Reactions can be used by participants to express themselves without coming off mute.  Additionally, by using the circle on the right, skin color of some emojis can be changed.  If desired, hosts and co-hosts can turn off reactions using host controls.

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Visit Google's Meet training and help for more details.