Google Chat Pin Board for Spaces
Create a virtual bulletin board within Google Chat so that your team can always find critical resources. Improve collaboration by pinning documents at the front of a Google Space.
What is the Google Chat board tab?
Google Chat Boards are a side panel dedicated to pinned items. You can pin the following resources to a conversation or space:
messages and announcements
files from Google Drive including docs, sheets, PDFs, slides and Google Sites
images
links
videos, including Google Vids
Board tabs were released for Google Chat starting on February 13, 2025 for all Google Workspace customers and free personal Google accounts (Gmail). The purpose of Boards is to bring the most important information to the forefront of a team.
Make a pin so crucial info doesn't get lost in the mix
Although pinning announcements has been an available feature in Google Spaces for quite some time, the chat board organizes your pins nicely. Users can open the chat board panel with one click and still have access to the viewable chat stream. Space managers can curate boards for team members as a supplement to tasks and shared files tabs. Pin boards are more flexible and allow a variety of mediums to be sticky.
Pinned messages retain their time stamps and original poster. Several pinned messages may be visible before collapsing with the option to "View all."
Pinned resources will begin with the ability for managers and moderators to "Add resources" before showing any currently pinned files. Using Gemini 2.0 for Google Chat contextual AI, there are also "Resource Suggestions" which can be easily added.
Close your board by using the X icon in the top right or disabling from the pin board icon beside the Google Chat title name.
How Google Gemini AI interacts with your chat boards
If you have enabled Gemini for your Google Workspace organization, you will receive intelligent recommendations for relevant resources to pin. Suggested resources come from Google Drive files that you have access to, either in My Drive or Shared with you. The Gemini app will help you find the best matches based on content relevance and recency. At this point, this is the only AI integration for chat boards.
Save time and encourage research among team members
When project team members all have easy access to the same documents they can get up to speed and start contributing quickly. Collaboration will start with the baseline knowledge they received via pinned resources. Besides the ease of use that comes from adding smart suggestion files, staff can begin formulating notebooks in NotebookLM and reach conclusions faster.
Board help teams collaborate and Workspace users communicate more effectively
Whether your Chat Space is dedicated to a team, project, department or committee group, key items are at your fingertips with smart boards.
Pin Google Sites
When you pin a Google Sites team wiki to a board you provide a brilliant link to a single source of truth for employees. Connect chats to the company intranet or other team sites which enable endless website real estate for a particular initiative. Google Sites might also be a suggest file type from Google Drive. You can always add a standard web link URL to be pinned though. When you add a link, give it a descriptive title and set sharing permissions for your team.
Create reciprocal access between your intranet and Google Spaces so that everyone stays up to date. All Google Spaces are able to generate a sharable link which can be added to the navigation bar of your Google Site as an external link.
Take control as a project manager to curate pins
As a Space manager you have the beautiful ability to direct members to appropriate resources. Maintain a hub for all project-related files to the benefit of everyone in your group.
You can very easily help your workgroup by pinning quicklinks to the chat. And if you find that too restrictive, launch a team site using sites.new.
Help new employees and team members with onboarding to a project in progress. You don't want to make them scroll through weeks of back and forth messages and threads. Give a smart summary with your pins.
Boards are nice intermediate step to a full Google Site or it might suffice in small projects with a short turnaround.
How boards impacts project management and internal communications
Managing a repository of essential information for a team or workgroup is valuable, but it can also be time-consuming and complex. The board in Chat simplifies this process by offering a dynamic, customizable, and visually engaging solution for consolidating key information. With file suggestions from Gemini, it ensures that all relevant assets are included seamlessly.
Google Spaces widget for Google Sites intranets
FAQ
How do I unpin a message or item?
Use the three dot menu to access pin properties and click to upon from within your pin board.
Are boards available for Android and iOS versions of Google Chat?
Yes. This feature has been developed responsively for all device sizes and apps.
I can't find the board
Chat Boards are either shown or hidden using a toggle which remains prominent by the Space title badge.
How do I control who can pin/unpin?
Check your chat settings for space management and moderation controls. Announcement spaces by default will only allow manager to handle pins. Otherwise you can determine settings for allowing anyone to pin important messages and files.
Space managers can restrict who can update a board by going to space settings > Modify space board and details.