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 email and calendar, you'll use a web browser instead of a desktop app.
Why this is important
This 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. These are described in later weeks.
If you don’t already have Chrome browser, download and install itbefore 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.
- Open Chrome browser.
- In the top-right corner next to the address bar, click your profile image.
- Click Manage People.
- Click Add Person.
- Enter a name, choose an image, and click Add.
- Sign in with the Google Account you're adding.
All settings and bookmarks automatically sync. - Click your profile image and choose a different profile to switch between accounts.
Note: 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
Add Bookmark
.
- 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
Add Bookmark - Go to your desktop and right-click.
- Choose New
Shortcut.
- Type the web address as the location. For example:
- https://mail.google.com for Gmail
- https://calendar.google.com for Calendar
- (Optional) Name your shortcut.
- Ctrl/⌘ + T: Opens a new tab
- Ctrl/⌘ + W: Closes the current tab
- Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + T: Re-opens the last closed tab
In most other Google Workspace apps (like Gmail and Calendar), you can see a list of available keyboard shortcuts when you press Shift + ?.
You can tell Chrome browser to re-open the same pages you were looking at when you quit.
- In Chrome Browser, at the top right, click More
- Under On startup, select Continue where you left off.
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.
- Use the format bar to add text colors, links, and images.
- At the bottom, click Save Changes.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- In the top right, click Settings
See all settings.
- Next to "Undo Send," select a Send cancellation period of 5, 10, 20, or 30 seconds.
- At the bottom, click Save changes.
See all settings.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, go to Gmail.
- Point to the message.
- On the right, click Archive
.
.Tip: If keyboard shortcuts are turned on, you can also press e to archive an email you're looking at.
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 an email message.
- Hover your mouse over the thumbnail, then click Download
.
.Your browser saves attachments you've downloaded in a download folder. Check your browser’s settings to see where to find your downloads. If you use Google Chrome, learn about downloading a file on Chrome.
You can also drag pictures and attachments from your email to your desktop to download them.
Save a copy of Gmail attachments to Drive
Important: Some attachments can be seen or shared, but not saved to Google Drive.
- On your computer, go to Gmail.
- Open an email message.
- Hover your mouse over the thumbnail, then click Add to Drive
.
You can see any files you've downloaded in Google 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.
You can also use shortcuts to find starred messages by searching is:starred or has: with the star's name, like has:yellow-star.
Learn more at the Gmail Help Center
Use importance markers
Click Important next to an email in your inbox to mark an important message.
To find all your important email, in the left sidebar, click 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.
- In the top right of the email, click More
.
- Click Print.
.
Want more email basics? Get started with Gmail for Google Workspace
Set up your Google Calendar
- In Calendar, click Settings
- On the left under General, click Event 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.
- In Calendar, go to Settings
- On the left under General, click Working Hours.
- Check the Enable working hours box.
- For each day, click the time when you’re available. Suggestions might already appear, but you can click the time to change them.
- (Optional) To set the same times for every day, click Copy time to all.
- On the left, click Add calendar.
- Enter your co-worker’s email address. Their calendar appears under Other calendars on the left, and their events appear on your calendar page.
- (Optional) To temporarily hide the events from another calendar, uncheck the box next to the calendar.
Schedule your first meeting
- In Calendar, choose an option:
- Click an empty time slot in the calendar grid.
- Click
Create.
- Add an event title, date, and time.
- (Optional) To create the event on another calendar you have edit access to, at the bottom click your calendar name and select another calendar.
- Click Find A Time. You’ll see the local time for guests in other time zones just below their name.
- Scroll across the time slots or click the arrows at the top to view different days and available times.
- Click a time slot and click Save. The time will be updated in the meeting details.
Note: If the event organizer has given you access to modify an event, you can reschedule it directly without proposing a new time.
- In Calendar, single-click the event in your calendar grid.
- Go to the Going? section and click the Up arrow
- In the Your proposal section, select a different time or day and add a message.
- Click Send proposal.
Note: If you don’t see resources, room details, or automatic room suggestions, your administrator might not have set them up for your organization.
- Click the Add rooms, location, or conferencing field.
Note: If you don't see this option, contact your administrator.
- Click Add rooms.
Based on your work location, number of attendees, and previous room bookings, suggestions automatically appear.
- (Optional) If you need to adjust the criteria for your meeting room, you can click:
- People
to specify the required room size.
- Video
to specify the need for video-conferencing equipment.
- Phone
to specify the need for audio conferencing
- People
- Point to the room that meets your criteria and check the box to select the room.
- If you don’t see a suitable room:
- In the search box, enter another resource or building name, floor, or conferencing equipment (such as Chromebox for meetings). As you enter text, you’ll see results below the search box.
- Point to a room to see details, such as room capacity, location, equipment and features.
- When you find the room you need, point to it and check the box to select it.
to specify the required room size.
Want more calendar basics? Get started with Google Calendar
Next steps
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