Google announced it has added support for a highly requested feature to its messaging app Google Chat. Users can now hyperlink text on Android and the web version of Google Chat while composing or editing messages.
To add a hyperlink, you can select the desired text in your message and then click on the link icon in the formatting toolbar at the bottom. You can also use the Ctrl+K shortcut on Windows/ChromeOS and Command+K on macOS to insert a URL in your message.
For reference, the same insert link icon is available in the Gmail compose window that allows you to hyperlink website URLs as well as email addresses. In addition, the Google Chat update also allows users to copy hyperlinks from other apps such as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
One of the benefits of having hyperlinks is the messages look cleaner and easy to read. Once added, the Google Chat app also displays a preview of the URL in the conversation thread to both the sender and receiver.
Google Chat is primarily a business-focused messaging app but a version of the app for general users is also available. The said update is available to all Google Workspace users and personal accounts. Google said its 15-day rollout for Rapid Release domains has already started and for Stable Release domains, a 3-day rollout will begin on August 1.
So, it might take a while before the feature shows up on your Google Chat app. Google recently released some other workspace features including the ability to add Calendar time slots in Gmail and pick working locations for specific portions of the day.