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Hangouts Video Chat (Basics)


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 Hangouts: Video call basics

One of the best things about Hangouts is your ability to start video calls from anywhere with up to 15 participants.


This document goes over how to hold spontaneous video calls. For more information about scheduled video calls, check out Calendar: Events with video calls. If you’d like to learn about joining and scheduling video calls with Chromebox for meetings, check out this guide.


Note:  If your organization has Google+ premium features enabled, you will be able to name your video calls. If your organization does not have Google+ premium features enabled, you won't be able to name your video calls and external participants can join your meetings just by knowing the URL.


Check your requirements

Before you can start having video calls with your coworkers and clients, make sure that your computer is ready to make video calls.

Start a video call with one person

Starting a spontaneous video call with one person is easy—just find them in your chat list and start a video call!


From Gmail

  1. Open Gmail.

  2. Make sure that you have turned on Hangouts.

  3. Click the person you’d like to start a video call with.

  4. Click the video call button. Their computer will ring and they can accept the call.


From Google+

  1. Open Google+.

  2. Click Hangouts in the top right corner.

  3. Pick a person from the list to start a video call with.

  4. Click the video call button.

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From your browser

  1. Open a Chrome browser.

  2. Go to g.co/hangout.

  3. Enter a video call name.

  4. Add a guest in the video call.

Note: This will only work if your team has turned on Google+ premium features.

From Chrome extension

  1. Open your Hangouts chrome extension.

  2. Search for the person you’d like to have a video call with.

  3. Check the box next to their name.

  4. Click Video call.

  5. A new browser window will open with your video call.

Add people to an existing video call

Once you’re in a video call, you can easily add people! You can add people to an unscheduled video call or invite them to a scheduled video call in Google Calendar.


  1. Start your video call.

  2. Click the icon at the top of the screen or click .

  3. Enter email addresses or open up your video call to a circle or organization.



Join a video call

Joining a video call is easy, but there are many ways to join!


Sometimes people have trouble joining video calls because they are signed in to a different account in that browser. Make sure the browser is using the account that was invited to the video call.  Here’s a little help for Chrome users.



Answer a video call

If someone starts a 1:1 video call with you through Hangouts chat, your computer will “ring”.

  1. Open Hangouts in Gmail or Google+.

  2. Click Answer to answer the video call.

  3. A new browser window will open up with your Hangouts video call.

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Join from your browser

If you’re attending a video call with someone else in your domain you can join just by knowing the name.

  1. Open a Chrome browser.

  2. Go to g.co/hangout.

  3. Enter a video call name.


Note: This will only work if your team has turned on Google+ premium features.

Share your screen

  1. Join or start a video call.

  2. Click the Screenshare button on the left side of the screen.

  3. Select to share your whole screen or just a browser window, then click Start screenshare.


Note: If you have the Hangouts Chrome extension installed so that your chats pop up on your desktop, you might want to disable it or snooze your notifications before you present your whole screen.


There are other cool Hangouts apps that you can use to make your experience even better, like collaborating on Drive documents together or using the lower-third to introduce yourself in a Hangouts on Air broadcast.

Best practices for video calls


Video calls are awesome because you can join in from anywhere, but there are some things you might want to consider before picking a location.


  • Lighting: The joy of a video call is that your coworkers can see you when they talk to you. Make sure that there is enough light so that other participants can see your face.  

  • Noise: Ambient noise, like traffic or loud conversations, can muddy the quality of your audio. Use a headset with a microphone or move to a quiet space for the best audio quality.

  • Privacy: Working from your favorite coffee shop can be nice: you have access to the best lattes around. But just make sure that the person behind you can’t see your screen or hear your call, especially if you’re discussing that top-secret project.

  • Setting: Pick somewhere professional. You don’t want people to be distracted by the paintings on the wall behind you when you’re trying to pitch an idea.

  • Mute your mic: If you’re not talking, mute your mic. It will make it easier for everyone on the call to hear the person who is talking because micro-noises like typing or pen tapping won’t accidentally disrupt the speaker.


Send a quick email or chat to guests 10 minutes before the meeting with the video call URL. This is especially helpful if you have external guests. That way, they don’t have to go searching for the URL at the last minute.


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