This article is written for G Suite for Education Administrators.

Update 10/02/2020: The case 1 of blocking all chats is deprecated in favor of Google Meet’s built-in Host Controls > Let Everyone Send Chat Messages = OFF option from the recent update of Google Meet in Sep 2020. However, the Host Control is on the session basis. If you prefer a permanent solution for all meeting sessions, please use Safe Doc case 1.

Do you find an issue of students posting chat messages in Google Meet that interrupted online classes?

Yes, teachers wanted to disable Google Meet's Chat feature since it seems more harmful than good in remote learning.

This article demonstrates how Safe Doc chrome extension disable the Chat feature to keep the class quiet. If you have yet to install Safe Doc, apply a 30 days trial.

What's changed by Safe Doc

Before

The chat feature resides in the right panel of Google Meet. Every participants in the room are free to chat without restrictions. Messages sent are visible to all.

The Chat feature in Google Meet
The Chat feature in Google Meet

After

Safe Doc turns off the Chat feature by taking the message posting privileges from students. Students can see messages posted by the teacher, but they cannot post to it.

Chat feature turned off in Google Meet
Chat feature turned off in Google Meet

How to get started

First of all, make sure you have deployed Safe Doc and read how to Configure Safe Doc.

Case 1: Block all chats

If your ultimate goal is to completely ban the chat feature in Google Meet, add and set the policy BlockMeetChat to true in the Safe Doc extension policy configuration. Save and verify if it works. The chat feature is not blocked if the policy is not set or false.

"BlockMeetChat": {
  "Value": true
}

Case 2: Block single student's chat with the magic /chatoff command

It's also possible for your teachers to temporarily ban a few students from flooding chat messages disturbing the lectures.

Ask your teachers to use the magic /chatoff <student email> command in the chat window to disable the given student's chat feature for the lecture session. Take a look at the following example.

  1. (The chatty student Pat Paul): types tons of chat messages disrupting the classroom.
  2. (The teacher): finds the email of annoying student.
  3. (The teacher): opens the chat window and types
    /chatoff pat.paul@example.org
  4. (The student Pat Paul): my chat bar is confiscated!
  5. The classroom returns to silence and focus.
Safe Doc's /chatoff command allows teachers to block individual student's chatting in Google Meet

The /chatoff command is managed by the Safe Doc policy EnableMeetChatOffCommand. If the policy is not set or false, the /chatoff command is not enabled. If the policy is set to true, the /chatoff command is enabled. Here is the policy setup.

"EnableMeetChatOffCommand": {
  "Value": true
}

Caveat: students are also able to initiate the /chatoff command which disables the chat feature of other students.

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