Here's a checklists of tasks we recommend for your first day with Google Workspace
- Set up Chrome browser
- Set up your Gmail inbox
- Get up to speed using Gmail
- Set up your Google Calendar
- Schedule your first meeting
These instructions are for desktop only.
Set up Chrome browser
To access your Google Workspace services like email and calendar, you'll use a web browser instead of a desktop app.
Why this is important
A web browser automatically and securely saves your work to the web. When you’re signed in, you’ll be able to see the updates you make on any device and any browser.
And if you use Chrome browser, you’ll get access to more advanced Gmail and Calendar features, too.
Before using this checklist
- Open a browser and go to the Google Workspace User Hub.
- Enter your Google Workspace email address (such as [email protected]) and password.
Migrate your bookmarks, browsing history, and saved passwords from any other browsers to Chrome browser.
Import bookmarks
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- At the top right, select More
Bookmarks and lists
- Select Choose file.
- Choose a file and select Open
Bookmarks and lists You can set which page or pages appear when you start Chrome browser (your startup page). You have 3 options.
Option 1: Start Chrome browser on a new tab
You can set Chrome to open a New Tab page whenever you start Chrome.
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- At the top right, select More
Settings.
- On the left, select On startup
Option 2: Continue where you left off
Or you can tell Chrome to reopen the same pages you were looking at when you last quit Chrome.
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- At the top right, select More
- On the left, select On startup
Your cookies and data are saved, so any websites that you signed in to before, such as Gmail, will open again. If you don't want to be automatically signed in to these pages, follow the steps below:
- On your computer, open Chrome Browser.
- At the top right, click More
Settings.
- At the bottom, click Advanced.
- Under Privacy and security, click Site settings.
- Click Cookies.
- Turn on Keep local data only until you quit your browser.
Option 3: Open one or more specific pages
Or you can have Chrome open a set of pages you specify:
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- At the top right, select More
- Under "On startup," select Open a specific page or set of pages.
- You can either:
- Select Add a new page.
- Enter the web address.
- Select Add.
- Select Use current pages.
- Select Add a new page.
Tip: To update your pages, on the right, select More 
Learn more at the Google Chrome Help Center
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- At the top right, select Profile
- If you choose to sync to your Google Account, your profile name will automatically be your Account name.
- Choose a name, photo, and color scheme.
If you choose to turn sync on in Chrome with a Google Account for the new profile, your bookmarks, history, passwords and other settings will sync automatically.
Tip: If you’re unsure which account you’re currently using, click your name and see which profile is at the top.
- In Chrome Browser, go to the site you want to visit again in the future. For example:
- mail.google.com for Gmail
- calendar.google.com for Google Calendar
- To the right of the address bar, click Star
.
- Choose an option:
- To exit, click Close
.
- To rename your bookmark or access it from a different folder, choose an option and click Done.
- To exit, click Close
- Go to your desktop and right-click.
- Choose New
- Type the web address as the location. For example:
- (Optional) Name your shortcut.
Want more Chrome browser basics? Get started with Chrome browser
Set up your Gmail inbox
- Open Gmail.
- At the top right, click Settings
- In the General tab, scroll to Signature and click Create new.
- Name your signature, then click Create.
This name is not your actual signature, but is a name for the signature template. - In the text box at the right, add your signature text.
- (Optional) To add text colors, links, and images, use the format bar.
- At the bottom, click Save Changes.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- In the top right, click Settings
- Next to "Undo Send," select a Send cancellation period of 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
- At the bottom, click Save changes.
You can add Chat to your Gmail inbox and get all the features of Chat directly in Gmail, so you can collaborate and stay connected from a central location.
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- At the top right, click Settings
- At the top, click Chat and Meet.
- Next to “Chat,” to turn Chat on or off in Gmail, select Google Chat or Off.
- Click Save Changes.
You can also mute Chat notifications so you can work uninterrupted.
You can get notifications for new emails you receive, or for messages marked important.
- At the top right, click Settings
- Scroll down to the Desktop notifications section.
- Click Click here to enable desktop notifications for <your organization>.
- Select New mail notifications on or Important mail notifications on.
- At the bottom of the page, click Save Changes.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- On the left, scroll down, then click More.
- Click Create new label.
- Name your label.
- Click Create.
Learn more: Switch to labels from folders
- Open Gmail.
- In the search box at the top, click Show search options
.
- Enter your search criteria. If you want to check that your search worked correctly, see what emails show up by clicking Search.
- At the bottom of the search window, click Create filter.
- Choose what you’d like the filter to do.
- Click Create filter.
.Note: When you create a filter to forward messages, only new messages will be affected. Additionally, when someone replies to a message you've filtered, the reply will only be filtered if it meets the same search criteria.
Tip: Try these Gmail filters for work or school.
Switching from Microsoft Outlook? Learn how Gmail is different
Get up to speed using Gmail
Tip: To open the Compose window with a keyboard shortcut, just type c.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- On the left, click Compose.
- (Optional) Choose a window size with the buttons in the top right:
- Full screen
- Exit full screen
- Open in a new window Shift +
- Full screen
- Add a subject and recipients (To, Cc, or Bcc).
Learn more: Start sending mail
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- Open the message you want to archive.
- At the top, click Archive
.
Tips:
- To archive multiple messages, click the box next to each message
- To archive a message with keyboard shortcuts, press E. Learn more about keyboard shortcuts.
When you receive a file in Gmail, you can download it to your computer or save a copy of it to Google Drive.
Download an attachment to your computer
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- Open a message.
- At the bottom of the message, hover over the attachment.
- Click Download
.
Tips:
- If you use Google Chrome, learn how to download a file on Chrome.
- Your browser saves attachments to a download folder. Check your browser’s settings to find your downloads.
- If your computer supports it, you can also drag photos and attachments to your desktop.
Save a copy of Gmail attachments to Drive
Important: You can’t add certain attachments to Google Drive. Learn about files you can store in Drive.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- Open a message.
- At the bottom of the message, hover over the attachment.
- Click Add to Drive
.
Learn more: Tips working with attachments
At the top of your inbox, search for one or more keywords that appear anywhere in the email—in the subject, body, or sender name.
If you’re looking for something specific, click Show search options to use advanced search.
Example: Search for:
- Senders—Example: From:([email protected])
- Date ranges—Example: after:2019/3/29 before:2019/4/5
- Keywords—Example: Company confidential
- Message attributes, such as attachments—Example: has:attachment
Star an email
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- From your inbox, go to the left of the message, then click Star
. If the message is open, click More
- If you have multiple stars, keep clicking the star icon until you see the one you want to use.
. If the message is open, click More See your starred messages
- On your computer, open Gmail.
- On the left side of the page, click Starred. You may need to click More first.
Tip: To find starred messages, you can also use search operators in Gmail.
- To find all starred messages, enter
is:starred. - To find messages with a specific star, enter
has:followed by the star's name. The names are based on your current star options in use:has:yellow-starhas:orange-starhas:red-starhas:purple-starhas:blue-starhas:green-starhas:red-banghas:orange-guillemethas:yellow-banghas:green-checkhas:blue-infohas:purple-question
Learn more at the Gmail Help Center
Use importance markers
You can also click a message's importance marker to mark the message as important yourself.
Next to emails that Gmail thinks is important, you'll see a yellow Importance marker . If an email hasn't been marked as important, the marker will be empty.
To see all your emails that are marked as important, search Gmail for is:important.
Print a single email
If there are multiple emails within the same conversation, you can print just one of those emails.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- Open the email you want to print.
- At the top right of the email, click More
.
- Click Print.
You can use this feature only if your organization supports it. For help, contact your administrator.
Gemini for Google Workspace is available when your Google account language is set to an English dialect. Additionally, some features are available in Spanish and Portuguese. Learn more about language availability.
Get started with Gemini in Gmail
- On your iPhone or iPad, open the Gmail app
.
- At the top right, next to the search bar, tap Gemini
.
- At the bottom, in the panel:
- Tap a suggested prompt.
- At the bottom, in the prompt box, enter a prompt.
- Optional: To remove your history, at the top right, tap Clear history
.
.Tip: To avoid the loss of your history, copy a suggestion into your email. When you close and reopen the Gmail app, you lose your conversation history.
Explore Gemini in Gmail
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
|
Ask Gemini |
Open Gemini. |
|
Close |
Close Gemini. |
|
Clear history |
Remove all generated text. |
|
Copy |
Copy a suggestion. |
|
Good suggestion |
Give positive feedback about a response from Gemini. |
|
Bad suggestion |
Report an issue with a response from Gemini. |
Things to ask Gemini in Gmail
Summarize an email thread- At the top of the email, or when Gemini is open, tap Summarize this email.
- You can also enter a prompt. For example:
- “Create a list of action items for me based on this email.”
- “Explain this email to me like I’m 5 years old.”
You can get information on reservations, flights, packages, and other emails sent to your inbox through Gemini. For example:
- “When is my package arriving?”
- “What time is my next flight?”
You can search for unread emails from a specific date range and from specific people with Gemini. It loads the results in a Gmail search. For example:
- “Show my unread emails.”
- “Emails from [person] sent last week.”
- “Show unread emails from this week.”
- “Where can I edit my email filters?”
- "How can I create a label?”
Important: To get answers from the web, make sure to include phrases like “Use Google Search” or “Using web search” in your prompt.
- “Write a paragraph describing the weather today in Mountain View, California using web search.”
- “Help me write a paragraph explaining if lightning can strike the same place twice using only information from the web.”
Want more email basics? Get started with Gmail for Google Workspace
Set up your Google Calendar
Set preferences for all your calendars
- In Calendar, click Settings
- On the left under General, click Notification settings.
- Click Notifications and select an option:
- Off
- Desktop notifications
- Alerts
- (Optional) To set up a sound for your incoming notifications, check the Play notification sounds box.
- (Optional) To manage your notifications, on the left, click your calendar
- Next to each option, click the Down arrow
and select None or Email.
If you’d prefer not to be invited to events outside of your working hours, you can adjust your Google Calendar settings so organizers know to reschedule an event to a better time.
- On your computer, open Google Calendar.
- At the top right, click Settings
- On the left, under "General," click Working hours.
- Tip: If your admin has turned on working location, click Working hours & location. Learn more about your administrator.
- In the "Working hours" section, click Enable working hours.
- Select the days you work
- You can split the hours you work based on when you're available.
- To add more than one time period to your workday, next to a day of the week, click Add
.
- To remove a time period, click Remove
.
- To add more than one time period to your workday, next to a day of the week, click Add
.Tip: When you add work hours, the start time must be before the end time.
Calendar may suggest working hours based on your time zone, the work patterns in your country, and your schedule. You can accept, decline, or edit these suggestions. Learn more about Calendar in different time zones.
- On your computer, open Google Calendar.
- On the left, next to “Other calendars,” click Add other calendars
- In the “Add calendar” box:
- Enter the person's email address.
- Select a calendar from the list
- After you request access:
- If the calendar isn't shared with you: The owner of the calendar gets an email that requests to give you access.
- If the calendar is already shared with you: In your primary calendar, on the left, it shows under "Other calendars."
Schedule your first meeting
- On your computer, open Google Calendar.
- Optional: If you want to add guests to your event, on the left click Search for people and start typing the names of your guests.
- Click any time on the calendar that doesn't already have an event scheduled.
- Add a title to the event, and any event details.
- Click Save.
Tip: To create a longer event, drag your mouse down the page while you're selecting the time.
If someone has shared their calendar with you, or is part of your work, school, or other organization, you can check if they're free or busy when adding them to an event.
- On your computer, open Google Calendar.
- On the left, click Search for people.
- Start typing someone’s name and choose the person you want to meet with.
- At the top left, click Create
.
- Click Suggested times. If the guest you invited has shared their calendar with you, you'll see when they can attend.
.Note: If you don’t see resources, room details, or automatic room suggestions, your administrator might not have set them up for your organization.
- On your computer, open Google Calendar.
- Create a new event or open an existing one.
- If you are editing an existing event, click Edit event
.
- If your account is part of an organization with Rooms, click Rooms. Based on who you invite, you can choose from suggested rooms or search for a new one. Click the rooms or resources you want to add.
- Important: If you can't add a room to an event, Google Calendar may suggest a shortcut to create a duplicate event where you can book a room. This shortcut creates a single event, without any guests.
- Click Save.
.
Want more calendar basics? Get started with Google Calendar
Next steps
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