Google Workspace is the productivity suite behind thousands of small businesses worldwide – but most owners only scratch the surface of what it can do. In this guide, we break down everything you need to know to get started with Google Workspace, from core apps to admin setup, so you can run your business more efficiently from day one.
Watch the full walkthrough from Pete Moriarty, a certified Google Workspace expert who has helped implement Workspace into thousands of businesses across the globe.
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Google Workspace Beginners Guide – Quick Answers
What is Google Workspace and how is it different from Gmail?
Google Workspace is Google’s business version of their productivity suite – formerly known as G Suite. While it includes all the familiar tools you already know from your personal Gmail (email, calendar, drive), the key difference is that Workspace lets you bring your own business domain name. That means professional email addresses like [email protected], an Admin Console to manage users and security policies, and business-grade features like Shared Drives where your company retains ownership of the data – even when staff leave.
What apps are included in Google Workspace?
Every Google Workspace subscription includes Gmail (business email), Google Drive (cloud storage with Shared Drives), Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides (real-time document collaboration), Google Meet (video conferencing with recording on Business Standard and above), Google Chat (team messaging), Google Calendar (scheduling and resource booking), and the Admin Console for managing users, security, and Chrome browser policies. Business plans also include access to Google Vault for compliance archiving and Gemini AI features across apps.
Which Google Workspace plan should my business choose?
For most small businesses, the Business Standard plan is the recommended starting point. It includes Shared Drives (company-owned file storage), Google Meet recording with automatic transcription, 2 TB of pooled storage per user, and Gemini AI features. If you are a solo operator who does not need to collaborate or share files with a team, the Business Starter plan can work. For businesses over 300 users or those needing advanced security and compliance, Google offers Enterprise plans.
Do I need technical skills to set up Google Workspace?
The initial setup involves registering your domain with Google, following the setup wizard, and making DNS record changes – specifically MX records for email delivery and SPF records for email authentication. If you are comfortable following step-by-step technical instructions, you can handle it yourself. If DNS records feel daunting, it is worth engaging a certified Google Workspace partner to handle the setup correctly from the start. Incorrect DNS configuration is the number one reason business emails end up in spam.
What is Google Workspace?
If you are running a business on a personal Gmail account, you are already familiar with Google’s tools – Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs. Google Workspace takes those same tools and wraps them in a business layer. You get your own domain name, professional email addresses, centralised user management, and data ownership across your entire team.
Formerly known as G Suite, Google Workspace is the business suite of collaboration tools that lets you bring your own domain name and email addresses into the Google ecosystem. As Pete explains in the video, Google has made things a bit confusing by calling some consumer Gmail accounts “Workspace” – but the business version is a completely different product with features designed specifically for teams and companies.
Once your domain is connected to Workspace, you can use that business email address across the entire Google ecosystem. Managing your Google Business Profile, running a YouTube channel, signing into third-party services via Google authentication – it all works with your business account. And to anyone receiving your emails, there is no visible difference. They just see your professional email address.
Core Google Workspace Apps Every Business Needs
Google Workspace is not just email. It is a complete business operating system. Here are the core apps and how they work together for your business.
Gmail – Your business email with a professional domain. In Workspace, Gmail comes with AI-powered smart compose and reply suggestions, email scheduling, delegation for assistants, and integration with Chat and Meet directly in your inbox. Set up filters, labels, and signatures to match your workflow.
Google Drive – Cloud storage that syncs seamlessly between your computer and the web. The desktop app works intelligently – it stores frequently used files locally and keeps everything else in the cloud, downloading on demand. On Business Standard and above, you get Shared Drives where the company owns the files, not individual users. This is critical for protecting your data when contractors or staff leave.
Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides – Real-time collaborative documents that multiple people can edit simultaneously. Every document keeps a full revision history showing every change, so you can always roll back if something goes wrong. The “Suggesting” mode lets collaborators propose changes without overwriting the original, giving you the authority to approve or deny each edit.
Google Meet – Video conferencing built into Calendar. Every meeting automatically gets a Meet link. On Business Standard, you can record meetings and Google will both transcribe and save the video to your Drive automatically. Features include live polls, Q&A, emoji reactions, live captions, and even translated captions across languages.
Google Chat – Team messaging with threaded conversations. Organise Spaces by department, project, or topic. Unlike consumer messaging apps, Chat integrates with Drive, Docs, and Meet – so you can share files, start calls, and assign tasks without leaving the conversation.
Google Calendar – Scheduling with resource booking, working hours, and automatic meeting links. Share calendars across your team so everyone can see availability without back-and-forth emails.
Admin Console – The management hub that makes Workspace a business tool rather than a consumer product. From here you control users, set security policies, manage Chrome browser policies for anyone connecting to your business resources, configure mobile device management, and enforce two-factor authentication across your entire organisation.
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How to Get Started with Google Workspace
Setting up Google Workspace involves a few key steps. Some are straightforward, and some require a bit of technical know-how – particularly around DNS records.
Step 1: Sign up and choose your plan. Head to the Google Workspace website and register. Google offers a trial so you can test things before committing. The Business Standard plan is recommended for most small businesses because it includes Shared Drives and Meet recording.
Step 2: Verify your domain. Google needs to confirm you own the domain you want to use. This typically involves adding a TXT record to your DNS settings – your domain registrar (GoDaddy, Cloudflare, Namecheap, etc.) will have instructions.
Step 3: Set up DNS records. This is the most technical step. You need to configure MX records (so email routes to Google), SPF records (so your emails do not land in spam), and ideally DKIM and DMARC records for full email authentication. Getting SPF wrong is the number one reason business emails end up in recipients’ spam folders.
Step 4: Create your users. Add team members in the Admin Console. Each user gets their own business email address, Drive storage, and access to all Workspace apps. Set strong passwords and enforce two-factor authentication from day one.
Step 5: Set up Shared Drives and permissions. Create company-owned Shared Drives for different teams or departments. Use group-based access (Google Groups in Admin Console) rather than adding individuals directly. Set contractors as Contributors so they can add and edit files but cannot delete them.
Step 6: Install the Drive desktop app. Download and install Google Drive for Desktop on every team member’s computer. It creates a seamless sync between local files and cloud storage without filling up hard drives.
If DNS records feel overwhelming, that is completely normal. Our team has set up thousands of Workspace accounts and can get you running correctly from the start. Book a free consultation to talk through your setup.
Why Businesses Choose Google Workspace
There are plenty of productivity suites on the market, but Google Workspace stands out for small and medium businesses for several reasons.
Real-time collaboration. Multiple people can edit the same document, spreadsheet, or presentation at the same time. No more emailing file versions back and forth, no more “Final_v3_FINAL.docx” confusion. Changes save automatically, and the full revision history means nothing is ever lost.
One login, one ecosystem. Email, files, video calls, messaging, calendar, task management – it all lives under one account. Sign into your Google Workspace account and you have access to everything. This extends to third-party apps too – anything that supports “Sign in with Google” works with your business account.
Data ownership and control. With Shared Drives on Business Standard and above, your company owns the files – not individual users. When a contractor finishes a project or an employee leaves, the data stays with you. This solves one of the biggest data risks for small businesses: losing files when someone cleans up their personal drive.
Built-in AI with Gemini. Google Workspace now includes Gemini AI features across apps – smart compose in Gmail, content generation in Docs, formula suggestions in Sheets, meeting summaries in Meet, and image generation in Slides. Your business data stays private and is not used to train public AI models.
Scales with your business. Whether you are a solo operator or growing toward 300+ users, Workspace has a plan that fits. Start with Business Starter and upgrade as your team and needs grow. The Admin Console grows with you – from simple user management to advanced security policies, device management, and compliance tools on higher plans.
Google Workspace Security Essentials
One of the biggest advantages of Google Workspace over consumer Gmail is centralised security management. Here are the essentials every business should configure from day one.
Two-factor authentication (2FA). Enforce this across your entire organisation. Use authenticator apps or security keys – avoid SMS verification, which is vulnerable to SIM-swapping attacks. Set a grace period of one to two weeks so staff can set it up before enforcement kicks in.
Shared Drives, not personal drives. All business files should live in company-owned Shared Drives, not individual My Drives. When someone leaves your business, files in their My Drive could be lost. Files in Shared Drives remain with the company regardless of who created them.
Email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC). These DNS records verify that emails from your domain are legitimate. Without them, your emails risk landing in spam or being spoofed by bad actors. Start with DMARC set to “none” (reporting only), monitor the reports, then gradually tighten to “quarantine” and eventually “reject.”
Cloud-to-cloud backup. Google is sync, not backup. If someone deletes a file, the deletion syncs everywhere. A third-party backup solution takes daily snapshots of your Gmail, Drive, and Calendar data so you can restore to any point in time – critical protection against accidental deletion or ransomware.
Key Takeaways
- Google Workspace is Google’s business productivity suite – it takes the familiar Gmail, Drive, Docs, and Meet tools and adds professional email, an Admin Console, Shared Drives, and centralised security management.
- The Business Standard plan is the recommended starting point for most small businesses, giving you Shared Drives, Meet recording, 2 TB pooled storage per user, and Gemini AI features.
- Setting up Workspace requires DNS configuration (MX, SPF, DKIM, DMARC records) – getting this right is critical to ensure your emails are delivered and not flagged as spam.
- Shared Drives are essential for data protection. They ensure your company owns business files, not individual users – so nothing disappears when people leave.
- Enforce two-factor authentication and set up cloud-to-cloud backup from day one to protect your business data against compromised accounts and accidental deletion.
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Full Video Transcript
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from Gmail to Google Docs to Google meet to drive Google is packed with productivity features but most small business owners are only scratching the surface of what’s possible I want to share with you some of my best tips to help you get the most out of Google workspace so you can stay productive and get more done now what is workspace Google’s made things a little bit confusing if you’re right now using a Gmail account you’re probably already used to using these tools Gmail Google Calendar Google drive all work the same way in a Gmail account as they do in a workspace account the only difference is with Google workspace you can bring a business domain name now Google have made it even more confusing by calling some of their consumer Gmail accounts workspace but we’ll leave that story for another dat we’re talking about the business version of Google formerly called G Suite now called Google workspace which is a business Suite of tools that lets you bring your own domain name your own email addresses into the Google ecosystem for a professional business Suite of collaboration Tools in this video we’ll first cover an overview then how to get set up and finally once you’ve got the keys and the ignition how you can get on the road so what’s Google workspace well as I said earlier it’s Google’s business version of their Gmail Suite of tools you get all the basics you’re familiar with Gmail Google Calendar Google drive with all the apps right docs slides sheets it also gives you access to Google meet and Google Chat which you can use in the consumer Edition but Google workspace is more business focused you see there’s some features like the administration panel which lets you manage users it lets you manage Chrome policies so anyone connecting to your business resources via a Chrome browser you can set individual policies for those staff members it lets you have business features inside Google Drive like the ability to set up business shared drives where you own the data inside those files you see these business tools are designed for businesses whereas the consumer version of Gmail is just designed for consumers who maybe want to share some family photos and back up their computer to an online space Google workspace is a serious business tool and we’ve implemented into literally thousands of businesses all over the world now once you’ve registered your domain name with Google workspace what it means is you can use that business email address across the Google ecosystem if you want to manage your business profile in Google my business now moved into the management of Google Maps well you can do that with your business account if you’re running a YouTube channel to upload your business video well you can use your business account for that as well and signing into most Google services via the Google authentication button will let you use your business account so if you want to log into to canva a little bit faster you’ll be using your Google workspace account from now on email sending in receiving to your workspace account won’t look any different to any other email system if someone’s on a Mac or a PC or even a Chrome device they’re just going to see your business email address and once you configure things correctly they’ll have no idea that your emails are actually coming from the Google Google workspace ecosystem so if you’re ready to take the plunge let’s get you set up on Google workspace now some of this is a little bit Technical and I will say if you’re not comfortable modifying DNS records or following technical instructions it might be better to have someone help you with this if you’re interested in engaging our professional Google Certified team well click the link down below we’ve got very reasonable setup fees including for so operators so if you’re just starting out and you’d like some help I recommend you do that we also have guides on our channel on how to set up your DNS correctly so if you’re looking for an in-depth tutorial to check every single setting check out one of those videos on our channel to get started you want to head to the Google workspace website and get signed up now Google will give you a trial and you can use that to test out how everything works but keep in mind that if you switch your DNS records so your domain name starts sending emails into Google well you’re going to have to find a way to back those up if you decide to cancel the trial and not proceed there are different plans available for workspace and the minimum plan that I would recommend for business owners is the business stand standard plan the basic plan is may be useful if you’re just a sole operator and don’t need to interact with anyone else but the business standard plan gives you some really cool features one of those is the ability to set up shared drives which means you can have company-owned drives that you share with any contractors outside the business or any staff inside the business that you control meaning that if someone else wants to delete a file you have to give them permission to delete files and that’s very useful when you’re working with a contractor or someone outside your business who may be creating files for you but may not be as diligent as you at keeping tabs on which files need to be kept and which files need to be deleted second great feature that business standard has is the ability to record your meetings if you’re using Google meet you can hit the record button and not only will Google transcribe those meetings for you but it will keep a video recording of the whole meeting and it will place that video automatically into your Google Drive now I love that feature because having manually used Zoom a long time ago I had to manually render the recordings after each meeting or I had to pay for additional cloud storage as I was recording each one of my calls now nowadays it’s more and more important to record our calls because of what’s set on a meeting may come back to bite us at some point in the future being that we’re in a very litigious Society right now and so my preference is to record everything and having that recorded and automatically placed in my Google Drive means that I’ve automatically got as much data as possible saved as my Google account can handle now the Tex side of the setup is pretty straightforward you’re following the wizard and you’re making small changes to your DNS records there’s one thing I want to make sure that you remember because the Google wizard doesn’t always tell you about it and that’s SPF now this is a setting that you need to set in your DNS and you want to make sure you get it correctly because if you don’t get this right well then your emails might end up in people’s spam mailboxes and we don’t want that click the link down below for a guide on how to get that done once you signed up let’s talk about using some of my favorite apps now jumping into Gmail it’s going to look pretty pretty familiar to using your existing Gmail address you want to set your signature and set up your mailbox in your folders how you like it but some of the great features of Gmail really come to life in a Google workspace account you see you can switch on Google’s Ai and suggestion tools which will use all the data in your account to suggest replies to emails to remind you if you send an email and need to follow up to someone and it also gives you the ability to automatically have composition support added to that email as well you can quickly reply or even have Google help write your emails for you which is a feature that I love we’ve got lots of videos on the Channel with tips for Gmail make sure you check those out next up let’s talk about drive and when you first get started with drive it runs in the browser but you want to make sure you download the Google Drive app to your computer once you’ve done that it’ll synchronize a folder between your computer and Google Drive now in the past it used to work like Dropbox meaning that every file on the cloud had to live on your computer as well and you had to tick or untick the folders that you wanted to synchronize well Google Drive now works a lot smarter than that and it will automatically store files locally on your computer that you need but files that you haven’t used in a while it’ll remove them from your computer and just store them on the cloud now if you go to open a file that’s not currently downloaded it’ll automatically download it in the background and then you’ll be able to easily watch it when it’s finished downloading now what that means is that you have a seamless experience between your cloudbased files and your local files that are living on your computer it means that if you don’t have much hard drive space you’re probably not going to fill it up with all of your files and it means that you can safely back up all of your archival data into your Google Drive online for safekeeping or retrieval at some point in the future if you haven’t yet made use of Google docs will get ready to be impressed Google Documents spreadsheets and even their slide presentations will allow you to edit in real time with your colleagues or with people outside your business as well all you need to do is send them an invitation via a link or via an email address and someone can collaborate with you on a document now one of the things that I love about Google Drive is the ability to set up shared folders ERS that a company owned it means that if someone’s outside my business and they want to share a file with me if they place the file into the Shar Drive they’ll receive a prompt to change the ownership to my business you see there’s a big problem that happens with Gmail when someone is working for you and they create a file in their Gmail account and share that file with you well they Remain the owner of that file and what happens is quite often a contractor who’s done work for you in years past will be cleaning up their Google drive because they’ve run out of storage space they’ll delete some files from their drive and then poof they disappear from your access and what that means is you may have a risk of losing business data so making sure that you set up shared drives inside your Google Drive and you have to be on a business plan for this it’ll protect your data making sure that you are the sole owner and the sole person who has the permission to delete those files check out some of our other videos on how to set up your Google Drive permissions now I already mentioned Google Docs but I want to highlight a few more cool features in every document there is a full revision history which shows you every single change that’s happened to each document now what that means is at any point you can go back in time and find every single keystroke that changed on that document if you’ve ever worked on a document for a couple of hours and then had your computer crash and lost the file or lost the changes to a save or you’ve been working on a file with someone else and they’ve overwritten your changes well this is an absolute godsend Google is automatically saving every single change to every one of your documents and there is an unlimited history on the number of revisions that Google will save to your Google Documents the other feature that I’d really love inside of Google docs is the ability to suggest changes it means that if you’re working on a document with someone and you don’t necessarily want them to change it but you’re open to their suggestions on what could be different well you can give them commenting access and the ability to switch to suggested changes mode that lets them make some changes that you have the authority to approve or deny and that’s a great way of working with different people who need to collaborate on one document finally we come to Google meet and this has become the standard for everything we do inside our Google account anytime we set a calendar event and we schedule a meeting with our colleagues it automatically is going to populate a Google meet link that we can click with one button and be straight into the meeting I love that you can Auto record and have that save into your Google drive folder it’s one of my favorite features but Google meet also has a bunch of other features included like the ability to run a poll run a Q&A session and even Emoji react to whoever’s talking on the screen the ability to have live transcriptions even to different languages just blows my mind that it’s even an option in 2023 but the other cool feature is being able to just transcribe every meeting and that means that you’ve got everything recorded from the history of everything that you’ve had in an online meeting Google workspace is a seriously powerful ecosystem and you can see that for the most part you don’t really need an IT person to manage it you can add and remove users yourself you can set up your shared drives and you can even share resources inside and outside your company with without having to think too hard or rely on someone else to do things for you but if you’re looking for more support with your workspace account make sure you look around the channel and check out some of the other videos that we have in store because we’ve been helping customers for a number of decades now with Google workspace and we’re the top Google partner across Australia and New Zealand for small business if you’re looking for technology advice and support on how to make sure you get your Google workspace running as well as possible you’ve come to the right place hit the like And subscribe and I’ll see you in the next one
