How to Use Google Talk

Google Talk is easy to use. You can start using Google Talk right away. This page will help you get started. For more detailed information, please visit our Help Center.

To start chatting immediately, use the Google Talk Gadget on your Google Personalized Homepage. It's web-based, so you don't need to download anything.

To make high quality PC-to-PC voice calls and unlimited file transfers, download the Google Talk Client.

Get started with the Google Talk Gadget

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There are several ways to use the Google Talk Gadget:

1. Start using Google Talk immediately. Just click the button below to pop out the Google Talk Gadget into its own window and sign in. If you don't have a Google Account, you can sign up here.
   

   Launch Google Talk

   
   
2. Add Google Talk to your Google Personalized Homepage. The Google Personalized Homepage lets you gather content that's important to you from around the web, like news headlines or video clips, and put it all on your homepage, so you can access it from one place. You can add Google Talk to your homepage by clicking on this button:
   
   
   
   To see what the Google Talk Gadget will look like on your Google Homepage, check out this video:
   
   
   
   
3. Add Google Talk to your own webpage or blog. You can add Google Talk to your own webpage or blog by pasting a single like of code into your site's HTML, which can be found here. Google Talk also offers the option to add a button to your webpage or blog that will pop out Google Talk into a separate, small window. To put the button on your site, just copy the script below into your page.
   
   

   <script src="'http://talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/button'"></script>

Inviting your friends

To add Friends, simply click on the +Add button in the lower left hand corner of the gadget, and type in the email address or Google Talk username of your friend in the search bar.

If your friends already use Google Talk, they will receive an invitation to chat in Talk. If they are new to Google Talk, they will receive an email that will help them sign up.

Fun features

Once you're up and chatting, check out the video preview feature. Just cut and paste a video URL from YouTube or Google Video into your chat, and send to your friend. You'll be able to watch the video right in the Gadget, and if your friends are using the Talk Gadget, they will too. You can share photos the same way by pasting a URL from Picasa Web Albums or Flickr.

Just like the Google Talk Client, and Gmail Chat, if you're a Gmail user, your chats will be archived in Gmail for you to search and browse anytime.

You can also add the Google Talk Gadget to your own webpage or blog by pasting a single line of code into your site's HTML. You can find the code here.

Getting Started with the Google Talk Client

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1. Download the 1.5MB application. It will take a few seconds over a broadband connection or about three minutes over a typical modem. Google Talk requires Windows Vista/XP/2000 with a minimum 56k connection speed (broadband is recommended).

2. Sign in with your Gmail or Google Account username and password. If you don't have a Google Account or have not enabled your Google Account for Google Talk, sign up here.

3. If you're signing into Google Talk with a Gmail account, your Gmail contacts are pre-loaded into Google Talk. Your most frequently-emailed contacts are at the top of your Friends list.

4. If some people from your Friends list already have Google Talk, they will have an icon that looks like a colored ball next to their name, and you can call or IM them immediately.

5. If another Google Talk user wants to add you to their Friends list, you will see an alert at the top of your screen.

6. You can also invite any of your other friends to download Google Talk so you can talk to each other for free.

Inviting your friends

1. Mouse over a name and click on the Invite button or click Add friend to invite multiple people at once.

2. Pick from your Gmail Contacts list, or enter an email address directly. To add more than one person at a time, separate the addresses with a comma. When you've added all the names you want, click Next.

3. After you've invited your friends, (invited) will appear next to your names. Once they accept your invitation, download Google Talk and sign in, they'll have a colored ball icon next to their name. And if they're online, you'll be able to talk or IM with them instantly.

Using Google Talk

When Google Talk is installed, it automatically starts when you turn on your computer (you can turn this off in Settings).

Once you sign in, Google Talk automatically displays the people you communicate with most often, sorted by availability status and then alphabetically. Ball icons in different colors and with different symbols indicate the availability of your friends. Available to talk or chat Idle Busy Offline If you're signing into Google Talk with a Gmail account, friends without a ball by their names are your Gmail contacts who have not yet installed Google Talk.

How do I set my availability status? You can set your availability status or customize a message that appears when others mouse over your name in their Google Talk window. If you are listening to music with one of the supported players, you can even display the song by selecting Show current music track in the status message menu-the message will change when the song does!

How do I send an IM or email? Click on a name to open a chat window. You may have as many chat windows open as you like at one time. Type directly into the box to send an IM. If you're signing into Google Talk with a Gmail account, you can send an email using your Gmail account by clicking on the Email button, or by clicking on the icon next to a name directly from your Friends list.

How do I make a call? To call a friend, click on the Call button from an open chat window. You can also make a call by clicking on the icon next to a name directly from your Friends list. You can have multiple calls underway at once–but only one can be active at a time. The other calls must be on hold. To talk with your friends, you must have a computer microphone and speakers. Many PC laptops today have these built-in. Google Talk also works with USB phones and wired and wireless headsets. We recommend using a headset for the best voice quality.

How do I transfer a file? To transfer a file, simply click on the Send Files button in your chat window. If this button does not appear at the top, try resizing the window, or find this feature in the drop-down menu on the right, marked with the arrow. Once you click the button you will be able to select any file from your computer to send. Once the person you are chatting with agrees to accept the transfer, the file will be sent with Google Talk's fast peer-to-peer sharing.

How do I send a voicemail? If your friends aren't around to answer your call, you can leave them a voicemail message instead. Through the profile card, you can select Send Voicemail from the dropdown menu. You will hear a voice prompt. Record your voice after the "Meep" and your friends will get an email to their Talk contact address with the voicemail attached as an audio file. They can play your message when they check their email and save it for as long as they want. Learn more. Note: This feature is only available to Google Talk users signing in with a Gmail account.

How do I go off the record?

When you go off the record while chatting, nothing that's said from that point forward gets saved in either person's Gmail account.

To go off the record, click the Options button and select "Go off the record" from the dropdown menu. You can stop chatting off the record by clicking the "Cancel" link in the chat window, or by selecting that choice from the Options dropdown.

Both people in a chat can go off the record or stop chatting off the record at any time. Whenever a change is made, we will always notify both people. Learn more