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NOTE

What constitutes a copyright violation? Google doesn’t want you to use hangouts to share clips from professionally produced TV shows or movies—no matter how easy it is to find clips from the Star Wars online. It’s a fine line that Google+ and other social-networking sites are walking, but the point is Google doesn’t want you to use the video bandwidth they’re giving you and your friends to host film screenings, for example.

When you’re done hanging out, click the Exit button in the lower right corner of the hangout window (the X icon), and then close the browser window itself.

One thing worth noting about hangouts is that people you’ve blocked (see Blocking, Muting, and Reporting Posts) can’t join your hangouts, even if they see that you’re hosting one—which they might, if a mutual contact joins your hangout. In that way, hangouts are just like most everything else on Google+: you control who can access your stuff.

Hangouts with Extras

You might have noticed that, on the “Check your hair” screen you see before you start a hangout, there’s a “Hangouts with extras” link in the midst of the other buttons and options:

“Hangout with extras” is a good name for what Google+ is offering: the same kind of video chatroom you get in a regular hangout, but with a few interesting doodads to try out. As of this writing, hangouts with extras are just an alternate, still-in-testing version of hangouts, but based on how Google typically rolls out new features, the extras will probably become part of regular hangouts in the near future.

You might choose a hangout with extras if you’re organizing a more work-oriented, presentation-type meeting. One of the extras is that you can give such hangouts a name, both so you can make the topic clear (as opposed to the more freewheeling nature of standard hangouts) and so that any documents you create during the hangout can be saved and indexed (more on that in a sec).

To start a hangout with extras, click the standard “Start a hangout” button on the right side of any stream’s page. Next, in the window that appears, click the “Hangouts with extras” link shown above, and then click “Try Hangouts with extras.” You’ll then see a slightly modified “Check your hair” screen where you can name the hangout and choose who to invite. (If you don’t name your hangout, Google+ names it after the date and time you started the hangout.) Once you’re all set, click “Start hangout.”

As you can see in the figure on Notes, Sketchpad, and Google Docs Collaboration, the layout of a hangout with extras is a little bit more squared-off and business-like than a standard hangout, but it shouldn’t take you long to get the lay of the land.

TIP

If you’re not sure what one of the buttons at the top of a hangout with extras does, point your cursor at the button to see a little tooltip pop up with the button’s name.

Here’s a brief overview of the bonus features you can use when you choose to go “with extras.”

Notes, Sketchpad, and Google Docs Collaboration

In the panel on the left side of the hangout window, the Documents section offers three handy tools. Click Notes to display a blank document for, well, note taking. If it’d be easier to explain something by drawing a diagram, click Sketchpad to bring up some simple drawing tools. And if you want to give people in the hangout access to one of your Google Docs documents, click “+Add document.” (Google Docs is a site that lets you create word-processing documents, spreadsheets, and more right in your web browser. All you need to use it is a Google account. Check it out at www.google.com/docs.)

When you click any of these tools, the document appears in the center of the hangout window, replacing the video of whoever is speaking. Clicking Notes or Sketchpad brings up a blank document or blank drawing pad that everyone in the hangout can see, and which everybody has permission to edit. Whatever people or type or draw is instantly saved to your Google Docs account.