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You know the drill: Reviewing a deliverable means one person presents it on Meet, others talk (or yawn). What if you could edit a document while talking through your edits, solving questions and tasks and delegating on the spot?
Meet and Docs, Sheets and Slides are now integrated to make that possible. Let's make collaborative editing 100% more effective.
Editing as a team fulfils Google Workspace's core promise
How to bring your call into a document
How to bring your call into a document
Meet and Docs, Sheets, Slides have joined forces so you can see the people you are meeting in a side panel. You can launch this experience in several ways - let's start by launching a Meet call from within a document. Click on the new Meet button next to the share button, and select the call you would like to join.
You will see all Meet calls on your calendar for today. The "Join using a Meet code" allows you to paste a Meet URL someone spontaneously sent you, and "Start a new collaboration call" creates a new call. Those options match what you see when you visit meet.google.com.
meet.google.com's home screen
What do others see when you join this way?
What do others see when you join this way?
Other participants will not see any difference - you will appear normally to them. Although you are looking at your big document, participants will see only your (slightly distracted) self. This is not screen sharing.
What if I want to share my screen?
What if I want to share my screen?
Screen sharing is not available in this mode. Click "pop out" to move your Meet into a separate, normal Chrome tab which will allow you to share your screen.
Can I only view documents related to the meeting?
Can I only view documents related to the meeting?
No! You can join any call from any document.
How can others join the same way?
How can others join the same way?
While presenting takes over everyone's screen, joining a call from within Docs/Sheets/Slides is a personal choice. If others on your call want the same experience you are having, they need to take action. Since people are already on a call, they can bring the call to any document - keep reading!
Tip: When you launch your side panel experience, you see a pop-up, like below. That link will launch the same experience for others.
Alternatively: Bringing a call into a document
Alternatively: Bringing a call into a document
If you are already on a call, you can display your colleagues in a side panel of any document you are working on. Remember, others will not see what you are doing.
This is what I usually do - I join from Calendar or meet.google.com, and when we start collaborating, I merge the call with the document we're looking at.
Ideas when to use
Ideas when to use
This new Meet view has limitations - it displays less people, and doesn't support fancy things like breakout rooms, polls etc. It is meant for small review sessions. That said - there is plenty you use it for!
Editing together (duh!)
Editing together (duh!)
Speed up creating documents, reviewing deliverables, meeting minutes - teamwork just flows better on a single screen. Instead of one person presenting, everybody is engaged.
Multi-tasking
Multi-tasking
If you are on a call and have spare brain capacity, you can work on something else while it's not your turn to report.
Jumping from meeting to meeting
Jumping from meeting to meeting
If you are working on something, you can start your next call from the side panel (maybe you join a few minutes early). No need to open a new browser tab.
Maybe this will turn into multi-tasking...
While I would not want to have 1:1 meetings this way, many calls involve documents (and every meeting should have meeting minutes!). My challenge to you: Start one of your low-risk calls from Docs, or bring the call there and see how much your focus on the meeting improves. Thank you for reading!
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