Getting Started With Google Meet

Overview

For several years, classic Google Hangouts had been a part of Google at U-M and integrated with Google Mail. Google Meet is an updated videoconferencing experience that has replaced the video and voice calling features of classic Hangouts. This document outlines how to access and use Google Meet for the web, Google Calendar, and Gmail.

Important: Google Meet is a Google Workspace for Education Core service. It is free, covered under U-M’s agreement with Google, and can be used for certain kinds of sensitive data. U-M Google and Google Meet are not HIPAA-compliant. If you are affiliated with Michigan Medicine, refer to the U-M HITS site for approved communications software.

Create, Schedule, or Join a Meet Session

On the web (via meet.google.com)

To create a Meet session:

1. Click New meeting.
2. Select Start an instant meeting.
3. Click Add others or the copy icon () to add participants to the meeting / copy the meeting join information.
   • If you choose to add others directly:
     1. Enter an email address or select from the list of suggestions under the Invite tab. (There is a limit of 10 participants you can invite at once via meet.google.com. This can be bypassed by using a Google Calendar event to invite users to the Meet session.)
     2. Click Send email. A pre-defined email from Google is then sent to the invitees with instructions to join the video meeting.
     3. You can also invite someone using their phone to dial in under the Call tab. Enter a valid phone number and click the blue circle with a phone icon to call the number.

To schedule a Meet session:

1. Click New meeting.
2. Select Create a meeting for later or Schedule in Google Calendar.
   • Creating a meeting for later will generate meeting join information for you to copy, save, and share with others when it's time for the meeting.
   • Scheduling in Calendar will open a new event draft in your Google Calendar, where you can fill out the event details and attendees and click Add video conferencing > Google Meet to schedule.

To join a Meet session:

• Select the meeting from your list of scheduled events and click Join now. Only meetings scheduled through Google Calendar appear here.
• Enter a meeting code or nickname in the field provided and click Join.

In Google Calendar

Create a new event with a Google Meet session

1. Go to Google Calendar and create an event.
2. Click Add guests under the Guests tab and enter the attendees' email addresses.
3. Click Add video conferencing under Event Details and select Google Meet.
   • Click the Video call options icon () to adjust meeting access, moderation, and role settings.
4. Click Save.
5. Click Send to send the invites.

Guests will receive an email with the event information and a link to the video meeting. Guests can forward the meeting link to other people. If someone tries to join who was not invited to the Calendar event, the host must accept their request.

Copy an existing Google Meet session from one event to another

You can use the same Meet session details to schedule different Calendar events. Copy the meeting ID at the end of the meeting URL (e.g., wpn-jorm-dos) and paste it into the new or existing Calendar event.

To paste an existing meeting ID into an existing Calendar event:

1. Open an event that has a Meet session scheduled in Google Calendar.
2. Click the View conference details drop-down arrow () beside Join with Google Meet.
3. Hover over Meeting ID and click the Edit icon () that appears. Paste the meeting ID you copied of the existing session you want to add to this event.​
4. Click Save.

In Gmail

To create a Meet session:

1. Click Meet from the left side panel.
2. Click New meeting.
3. Google will open a new window with your meeting join information.
   • Click the copy icon () to copy the meeting join information.
   • Click Send invite to Copy meeting invite or Share via email.
   • Click Join now to join the meeting.

To join a Meet session:

1. Click Meet from the left side panel.
2. Hover over the meeting from your list of scheduled ones under My Meetings and click Join. Only meetings scheduled in Google Calendar will show up here.
   • You can click on any of your upcoming meetings to view the call details or make changes.
   • If your upcoming meeting isn't on your calendar, click Join a meeting, enter the meeting code or nickname in the field, and click Join.

How to Secure a Google Meet Session

Securing your Google Meet session ensures that your meetings stay private and free of uninvited attendees.

Note: The previous “Quick access” meeting settings were replaced in July 2023.

From a Google Calendar invite or Google Meet itself, meeting organizers can pick from the following three levels of access:

• Open
  • Anyone with a meeting link can join your meetings.
  • No one has to ask to join.
  • Anyone can dial in.
• Trusted
  • The following individuals can join without having to ask to join:
    • Anyone at the University of Michigan using their @umich.edu Google account.
    • Anyone outside U-M but invited via a Google Calendar event.
    • Anyone invited from within the meeting.
  • Anyone can dial in.
  • Everyone else must ask to join.
• Restricted
  • Only someone who is invited via a Google Calendar event or invited from within the meeting by a host can join.
  • Everyone else must ask to join, including participants at the University of Michigan who aren’t included on the calendar invite and those dialing in.
  • Additionally, meeting hosts can configure whether guests can join the meeting before the hosts.

By default, all new meetings will be set to TRUSTED, and your guests will be able to join before you. You can change this access level at any time before or during the meeting via the meeting access/host controls settings.

Tip: Settings are at the meeting level, so different meetings can have different meeting access options. Recurring meetings keep the same settings as the first meeting.

Securing Shared Google Calendars

Google Meet session details in shared Google Calendars are viewable if calendar sharing permissions are set to anything other than "See only free/busy (hide details)."

Securing Individual Google Calendar Events

When scheduling a Google Meet session via Google Calendar, ensure your event details are private. This allows only calendar event guests to view the meeting details, including the Google Meet session link.

Note: If your calendar isn't shared with anyone, you may not see these settings.

To change your event to private:

1. Open an event that has a Meet session scheduled in Google Calendar that you wish to update.
2. Click Default visibility and select Private from the drop-down menu.
3. Click Save.

Once you change your event from Public to Private, the event's details cannot be seen by others unless they have at least "Make changes to events" permission for this specific calendar. For more information on Google Calendar event privacy, refer to Google's Help Center.