Google are know for their ship early, ship often, which in many ways is “ship something that is buggy and not very user friendly, and then iterate like crazy, learning from how your users fail with your product to make it better”. The best known example of this was Gmail (famously in beta for over 5 years), but I think the clearest example of “launching shit and unusable and push it hard anyway” is Google Hangouts.
Unfortunately, Google’s efforts to push Hangouts before they’re ready is now going beyond just pitch meetings with Google Ventures or merging flaky Hangouts with SMS functionality on Android – now they’re getting in the way of business, and that just isn’t good enough.
Last week Google introduced a new default feature for Google Apps Calendar – when you create a new event, it will automatically add a link to the Google Hangout for the meeting “to save time and reduce last minute confusion and delays”. This is bullshit.
I’ve been using Google Calendar for almost a decade, and I’ve never forgotten to add a link to a service I’ve never wanted to use, but now Google is pushing Hangouts down our throats in Calendar we’re seeing real confusion – our users are now clicking on links to Hangouts in Calendar entries rather than the GoToWebinar or Join.me links we actually use.
Not to mention the prospective confusion of meeting for a coffee and them seeing the Hangout link. Yeah, time saving my arse.
Unfortunately, your users can’t disable this feature themselves – only the admin can turn it off (or back on again) for everyone in your account. They didn’t make it easy to find or do though – so after some Monday morning frustration, I decided to get some screenshots and post the instructions here. Enjoy.
Turning it off via the Google Apps Admin Console
Of course, with Google Apps’ new “Look, it is like Windows 8 – everything is easier to use because you can’t find it” Admin panel, turning off this feature isn’t as easy as it should be. So, here’s how.
1. Head to the “Advanced settings” for Calendar in Google Apps
Simply substitute YOURDOMAIN with your actual Google Apps domain:
Once you’re there, you can disable this annoying “feature” and save your preferences.
2. Reload your Google Calendar for the change to take effect
Just saving the change won’t apply until you refresh the browser window that Google Calendar is in. You DO NOT need to log off or do any special cache clearing. Win.
geoffmcqueen.com 
Thanks Geoff. Disabled on our domain too.
In my view Hangouts is a thin end of the wedge for G+, so daft stuff like default hangouts in calendar events represent desperate measures to drive people towards G+. I think that’s why they killed off GReader: internal product competition.
Thanks Geoff! That was driving my users and their recipients nuts. I love the Google ecosystem but am sometimes disappointed by changes they force on us.
This feature was hidden under the label “Sharing settings” rather than “Advanced settings.” I had to go from the main Admin Console home page: Google Apps –> Calendar –> Sharing settings. Then I see the page in the screenshot you posted.
Thanks Geoff for sharing this – it was annoying to have this as a default setting. I found it under ‘Sharing settings’ in the Apps admin.
Thanks. Interesting that the advanced tab is hidden – I had to use the direct link to get to it. We’re getting pretty close to the point of abandoning Google Apps altogether. Problem is finding an alternative with longevity..
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Appreciate this. Highly annoying feature that has caused confusion. But it appears that individual users of a calendar can’t change it? If it’s a company-wide account the admin has to do that?
Correct Gerri – super frustrating!
Thank you for the easy-to-follow instructions!
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Thanks. I thought I must have fat fingered the setting until I set an appointment from my desktop.
Thank you! (What the heck are they thinking? Bully tactics are not making me feel warm and fuzzy towards Google…)
thanks so much! this was driving me crazy as well.
*phew* thanks!
Just going to toss my “thanks” in here as well. Such a frustrating feature that Google would force as a default across the domain, especially for people that actually do schedule video meetings alongside face to face meetings; I was quite confused for a few weeks, and finally was frustrated enough to go searching on how to turn this default feature off.
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Thank you.
Thank you Geoff. One more unwanted “feature” eliminated….
Thanks for this… I get google methods. It is in Spirit of how all the gr8 minds developed ideas If it is FREE then I get it. For paid services, no wayyy. Been seeing this google hangouts and we have a specific integration to handle meetings.
Yet another thanks! This has been driving us nuts for weeks and I finally found some time to dig into it. Geoff’s instructions were good though I, too, had to look under the Sharing options to find the control. Google still has too much to offer for us to bounce, but we are definitely more likely to with each thing they do like this…
Thanks Geoff – that solved a lot of confusion!
Cooeee and thanks a million
Thank you Geoff!! This is a life saver!
Thank you! This was killing me!
Bravo. Thank you, also a small recommendation – move the Leave a Reply above the other posts on your blog 🙂
You are the greatest! Thank you!
Thank you so much! 4th Google result in my search, “gmail stop creating video call.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you. This has been driving me nuts.
Thank you, Geoff. Just disabled for our domain. You’d think that since we all pay for this service, Google would at least ask us before making our users help them test out a new feature.
Thank you Aussie in San Francisco, from Aussie in Melbourne.
Thanks a lot from Pakistan.
Just discovered this post and wanted to say thanks. Got me what I needed and actually had a client today spend about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to “join my video call” when it was not my intent. Nice job, thanks.
Thanks for the info, it was driving me nuts.
Thanks for the tip, this was driving me nuts.
Thanks for the Help! Very useful instructions. I don’t know if anyone else might have had this issue, but when I got to the admin panel under “Settings for Calendar”, I could not find the “Advance Settings” button anywhere. I had to type in your exact url to get to it. Do anyone know where the “Advance Settings” button is located?
Thanks for the instructions! Very helpful! However, when I got to the admin panel under “Settings for Calendar” I could not find the “Advance Settings” button. Not sure if anyone else might have had this problem, but I had to go directly to the url you provided. Anyone know where the “Advance Settings” button is located? Thanks!
Adding my thanks – if it weren’t for people like you who take the time to help the rest of us, my job as Help Desk Support would be impossible!
Thanks Geoff! Saved me a good bit of time.
Thank you! Just fixed on our domain. It was driving me CRAZY.
Adding my thanks too!
Thanks for figuring this out and sharing how to get it done so thoroughly!
Thanks from me too.
I haven’t even seen a link to the Calendar Advanced Settings anywhere in the admin panel. And I don’t want to think how long it might have taken to plod through Google help.
Thanks for the post! This is exactly what i was looking for. Getting complaints about it. It is dumb to add it automatically.
Thank you. Have been trying to take care of this for a while. Much appreciated.
Hey there,
Thanks a lot for this advice, very helpful, have been trying to disable on my own for quite some time now!
“Everything is easier to use because you can’t find it” is the most accurate and concisely written evaluation I’ve ever read of Microsoft’s user interfaces for Windows 8 and Microsoft Office 2010 and later. Bravo!
And thank you for the very help tip on turning off the video call option.
Many Thanks, Geoff! This was really pissing us off, and you made it simple where Google obviously had an interest in making it hard to turn it off.
Pete
Thanks, Geoff. A quick fix for a **very** annoying problem.
Score one for the users… Thank you
Wonderful. succinct. I couldn’t even find a way to navigate to the Advanced Settings, but your handy URL got me there anyway.
Thank you