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Full Google Talk entry
How-to guide

Remove the dead Google Talk presence widget

The widget cannot be repaired; the underlying Google Talk service is gone. The right action is uninstall and replace with a modern presence option if needed.

By Dipojjal Chakrabarti · Founder & Editor, Salesforce DictionaryLast updated May 21, 2026

The widget cannot be repaired; the underlying Google Talk service is gone. The right action is uninstall and replace with a modern presence option if needed.

  1. Audit Installed Packages

    Setup, Installed Packages. Search for Chatter Plus for Google Apps. If installed, note any custom Visualforce or Apex referenced.

  2. Remove widget references from page layouts

    Open the affected page layouts (User record, sidebar, Chatter group pages) and remove any Visualforce or component reference the package added.

  3. Uninstall the package

    From Installed Packages, click Uninstall next to Chatter Plus for Google Apps. Confirm and wait for the uninstall to complete.

  4. Verify nothing else broke

    Check related custom code (Apex tests, Visualforce pages, dashboards) for references to package classes. Fix any broken references before deployment.

  5. Consider modern presence alternatives

    Evaluate Salesforce Chat (Live Agent) for service, Slack-Salesforce integration for internal collaboration, or Microsoft Teams plug-ins for Teams orgs. Pick based on the org''s primary messaging tool.

Gotchas
  • Uninstalling the package removes any custom code or layouts that reference it. Audit before pulling the trigger; broken layouts after uninstall are the most common surprise.
  • The Google Talk service is gone for good. No amount of configuration in Salesforce will restore presence; the upstream API does not respond.
  • Hangouts integration (the post-2013 Google product) was never officially integrated by Salesforce. Any references to Hangouts presence in old documentation are speculative, not productized.
  • Modern presence integrations require their own licenses. Slack requires the Salesforce-Slack integration setup; Teams requires a third-party AppExchange package or a custom build.

See the full Google Talk entry

Google Talk includes the definition, worked example, deep dive, related terms, and a quiz.