I overlooked these Google Meet features; now I won't join a call without them

Whenever I joined a Google Meet call, I rarely thought about the settings. As long as I could hear everyone and share my screen, I assumed I was getting everything I needed from the app.

I never spent time exploring its settings because I assumed I'd already seen everything it had to offer. But I couldn't have been more wrong.

Over the last year, Google has added several features that changed how I use Meet. Some save me time, others make meetings less distracting, and a few solved problems I didn't even realize had solutions.

These are the Google Meet features I check before almost every meeting.

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By  Parth Shah

Live captions helped me stop missing important details

I could follow every conversation much more easily

There have been plenty of meetings where someone's microphone wasn't great, they spoke quickly, or they had an unfamiliar accent.

I usually caught most of what was said, but I'd occasionally miss an important detail and hesitate to ask them to repeat it.

That's why I started turning on Live captions in Google Meet.

As people speak, Meet automatically displays real-time captions at the bottom of the screen, making it much easier to follow the conversation.

I find them helpful during fast-paced meetings, when someone has a weak connection, or when I'm joining from a noisy environment.

Google Meet also lets you scroll back through recent captions if you miss something.

To turn them on, join a meeting and click the CC (Turn on captions) button at the bottom of the screen. You can also customize the caption font, size, and colors by going to More options (three dots) > Settings > Captions.

Picture-in-picture completely changed how I multitask

I no longer lose track of meetings when switching tabs

Whenever I switched tabs to check a document or reply to an email, my meeting used to disappear behind everything else. I'd constantly bounce back and forth to see who was speaking.

Picture-in-picture solved that problem. It shrinks the meeting into a small, movable window that stays on top of other tabs and apps, so I can keep an eye on who's speaking while working on something else.

I use it to take notes, review documents, or reference emails without constantly jumping back to the Meet tab.

It even lets me access basic meeting controls like muting my microphone, raising my hand, and reading chat messages from the floating window.

If you're using Google Meet in Chrome on a computer, you can enable Automatic picture-in-picture in Meet's Settings > General, so the floating window appears automatically when you switch tabs or start sharing your screen.

Companion mode made hybrid meetings much less awkward

I could participate without creating echoes

One feature I overlooked for a long time was Companion mode.

It's designed for situations where I'm sitting in a conference room that's already using Google Meet hardware, but I still want access to my own meeting controls.

Instead of joining the meeting normally on my laptop and creating an echo with a second microphone, I join in Companion mode.

My microphone and camera stay off, while I can still use the meeting chat, raise my hand, turn on captions, answer polls, react with emojis, and present my laptop screen.

It gives me the best of both worlds without disrupting the meeting.

To use it, open the meeting invitation and, instead of clicking Join now, select Use Companion mode under Other joining options.

Gemini became my meeting note taker

I could focus on the conversation instead of typing

I used to spend meetings trying to keep up with both the discussion and my notes.

More often than not, I'd either miss an important point while typing or end up with pages of messy notes that were difficult to review later.

That's why I started using Take notes with Gemini in Google Meet. When enabled, Gemini automatically creates a structured Google Docs file with a meeting summary, key discussion points, and action items.

To use it, join a meeting on a computer and click Take notes with Gemini in the upper-right corner.

After the meeting ends, the notes are saved to Google Docs and shared with participants based on the sharing settings chosen by the organizer.

This feature requires an eligible Google Workspace edition or Google AI plan, so it isn't available with every Google account.

I finally explored Google Meet's audio settings

A few quick tweaks made every call sound better

For the longest time, I joined Google Meet calls without giving the audio settings a second thought.

Now, I almost always open Settings > Audio before an important meeting. I confirm whether Google Meet is using the correct microphone, speaker, and camera, which is useful if I've recently plugged in a headset or switched between devices.

Taking a few seconds to check these settings has saved me from the classic "You're on the wrong microphone" moment more than once.

If I'm joining from a noisy environment, I also turn on Noise cancellation. It filters out sounds like keyboard typing, fans, doors closing, and construction noise so my voice comes through more clearly.

You can enable it before joining a meeting or by going to More options (three dots) > Settings > Audio > Noise cancellation during a call.

Cloud-based noise cancellation is only available with eligible Google Workspace or Google One plans.

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A few small changes made Google Meet much easier to use

You don't need to use every Google Meet feature to improve your meetings. But exploring the tools you've been ignoring might save you time, reduce distractions, and make every call a little less stressful.

Just keep in mind that some features, such as Gemini note-taking and advanced audio enhancements, require an eligible Google Workspace or Google AI plan.