How to add external users to a Google Group / Space Chat ?

[Galaad]

Hello. 

We have been working through gmail for years now and we recently up graded to google workspace. 
Other than emails and phone calls, we mainly use Google Chat to work and exchange on a daily basis. 

To do so, we use the very useful space chats to talk by topics / subjects. 

To day I recreated our external google chats through my google workspace account to ensure our conversations are more secure. 

However I'm unable to add external users to them for no apparent reasons. There all have Gmail accounts btw. 

When I go to the options of a group chat, I see the following : Authorize external members from your organization. You can only select this options when you create the space. Etc. 

However when I create a new google space chat, there are no such options to activate.. 

Could someone give us a hand please ? 

These group / space chats are essential in our daily activities but we need to keep some external collaborators in the loop.. 

Found this but it's not helpful at all and I don't see why it wouldn't be possible..  https://knowledge.workspace.google.com/kb/unable-to-add-external-users-to-a-google-chat-space-000008...

Thank you very much. 

Best, 

[mohssin365]

To add external users to Google Chat spaces in Google Workspace, you need to ensure that external sharing is enabled in your Google Workspace admin console. Here's how you can check and configure this setting:

First, access the Google Admin Console by going to [Google Admin Console](https://admin.google.com/) and signing in with your admin account. Once logged in, navigate to the Google Chat settings by going to **Apps**, then clicking on **Google Workspace**, and selecting **Google Chat and Classic Hangouts**. In the service settings, ensure that the "Chat externally" option is enabled. This setting allows users in your organization to communicate with external users who have Google accounts.

Next, when creating a new space in Google Chat, make sure to select the option to allow external members if this option appears. If you do not see this option, it might be because the admin settings need to be adjusted as described above. Check the permissions for adding external users in the Google Chat service settings in the Admin console to ensure they are correctly set.

Finally, you might need to recreate the spaces for the changes to take effect. When creating a new space, ensure the external members option is selected. By following these steps, you should be able to add external users to your Google Chat spaces in Google Workspace, ensuring secure and seamless communication with your external collaborators.

[Galaad]

Hello and thank you. Sadly your informations aren't up to date and didn't help : 

Classic Hangouts doesn't exist anymore so in the google admin console, in applications, google workspace, you will only find "Google Chat". 

There all the options are properly setup, including chat externally being enabled. But this seems to allow to chat on external google chat spaces but not to invite external google / gmail users to our spaces.. 

I tried to create again a new google chat space to see if anything new appeared in the options. Still no options to invite external users. 

[mohssin365]

Check Admin Console Settings:

• Access the Google Admin Console.
• Go to Apps > Google Workspace > Google Chat.
• Under External Chat Settings, make sure the option "Allow users to create and join spaces with people outside their organization" is enabled.

Creating a New Space:

• When creating a new Google Chat space, make sure to select the option to allow external members. This option should be visible during the creation of the space, but not afterwards.

Propagation of Changes:

Sometimes, changes in admin settings can take some time to propagate. Check again after a few hours to see if the options have updated.

[Galaad]

Hello and thank you for the follow up ! 

However there is a slight difference in between your instructions and my Google workspace dashboard that make a whole difference.. "Allow users to send messages outside".

No options about creating a space as you can see on the screenshot. What can I do ? What is the reason for that option missing on our google workspace ?  

And of course I've checked everywhere and many times but no similar options exist on my side. The only mention I can find of this is when you go through the option of an already existing space. However the option is in gray and it says this options has to be defined when you create a space. Of course, this options is no where to be found when you create a new space. 

[Galaad]

Hello, can anyone help us please ? We are in a pickle..

We really need to be able to invite external gmail users to our google workspace spaces for better collaborations. 

[KAM]

@Galaad turn on the external options (see https://support.google.com/a/answer/9269229?hl=en) and then create a new space and you should be good to go.  From my experience, the setting will not affect existing spaces nor is there a way to retrofit existing spaces. HTH, KAM

[AW_78]

@KAM @mohssin365 Hello. I have the same problem, but in the Admin console my "Chat externally" is on, "Create external chats" is on, "Manage spaces" - "External members" - "People outside of your organization can join" field is still not active. Respectively, when I'm trying to create a new space it says "external users are not allowed". What am I missing? Thanks!

[KAM]

@AW_78 I'm afraid I don't know.  Recommend you open a support ticket with Google. -KAM

[AW_78]

Thank you, I probably should

[Galaad]

@KAM Hello and thank you. Have you tried this solution ? It doesn't work on my side and all my chat options are set as recommanded.

When I create a new space I have no such option. And if I try to add someone external to the organisation it doesn't work.

Once the space is already created, when I go into its options, there is a line about letting external users access this space but it's grayed and it says this option must be set when creating the chat space... 

[Jan-Carlos]

Hello!

It's not possible to add external users to group messages on Google Chat:

As docummented here: https://support.google.com/a/answer/9296706

You can allow external users on spaces, but just on the space creation and just in private mode:



After you create a space, you can't change the external configuration, you will have to create another space to allow externals.

Hope it helps!

[Galaad]

@Jan-Carlos Hello, it is very helpfull but very frustrating as the option shown on your screenshot doesn't exist on my side.. Even when the group is set-up as Private !

Is it maybe because of the google workspace package we choose, "Google Workspace Business Starter" ? 

And as mentionned previously, this option only appears when editing an already existing Space but it's in gray and it's clearly stated that you can only choose this when you create a Space. 

Sorry for french, I got lazy to switch the google workspace language again. 

[Jan-Carlos]

You're absolutely right! 

[Jan-Carlos]

@Galaad and @AW_78 

[EnoOnmai]

Hello,

I'm late to the discution but I had the same problem, and thanks to you I now have a reason why I can't do it but I have to say it's completly stupid to lock this basic feature behind a pay wall and it's even worse by the fact that the option is still visible when you open the space options when it's not visible when you create the space... I will have to do without, even if it's a problem,, I can't justify the price increase for the business standard version to my client just for this option .

[MelissaK]

Yeah, this has been really frustrating. I agree with all of your irritations about it. After some playing around, here's what I did as a workaround:

1. Created a new space from my personal account
2. Invited my work email address
3. Changed ownership of the space to my work email address
4. Removed my personal email address
5. Was able to invite people outside my organization

Seems to be working so far!

[farzal]

thank you, this solved the issue for us as well. 

[LGWAustinSnider]

Hello @Jan-Carlos; we are also experiencing this issue on Google Workspace Business Standard plan. Our Allow External Chat and External Spaces settings allow outside messages, but just like OP, when we go to create a space* the checkbox to "Allow external members to join" is not visible. Since this setting cannot be changed after space creation, we're stuck unable to create spaces accessible to external users  nor invite external users to chats.

*This, by the way, doesn't appear to be doable from the admin console, but instead has to be done from the Google Chat app, which is frustrating since we cannot fully manage Google Chat from one location.

[Jan-Carlos]

Did you changed the space to private mode when creating?

[LGWAustinSnider]

I actually had an exchange with support yesterday evening to resolve this. It appears that (at least if you're using chrome) changes to the External Chat and External Spaces settings  aren't effective due to the prior settings being cached.

Logging out of the Workspace Google account and logging back in after clearing browser cache/ opening an incognito window allowed me to see the "Allow external members to join" checkbox inside the Create Space dialog. Hope that information proves useful to anyone else having this issue.

[KAM]

Thanks @LGWAustinSnider really awesome when people follow-up with a fix plus I had never heard about this as a fix.  Thanks for sharing. KAM

[LGWAustinSnider]

You're welcome. Glad it was helpful to someone.

For the record and for what it's worth, cache issues like this occur all the time in a lot of different web software. A few solutions when those occur:
Shift+clicking refresh (in Chrome) will force a refresh of a page without consulting cookies or web cache, getting rid of some problems. Alternatively accessing web apps via incognito (or private browsing, etc. depending on your web browser) or clearing your browsing data (including cached images and files) can also fix these (unfortunately not uncommon) issues in a variety of different web applications, so the knowledge is useful even outside of Google Workspace.

[Alexavier]

Hi ya'll,

I've done all that was suggested above.

Google Admin Console settings was on for allowing external members to join chat.

Cleared cache and logged out of workspace, logged back in.

When creating a space there is no option to allow external memebrship.

Settings box still isn't available to allow external members.

Any other solutions other than the ones suggested above?

[AW_78]

I have the same issue. Tried everything.

[farzal]

I chatted with google support ( a real person I think ) and she confirmed feature is not available in starter package, and the checkbox that appears but does not work in mobile app is a bug. 

The suggestion to create the space via personal account, and transfer ownership to work email, is a good workaround for this problem in those cases where external chat is a must.