Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - May 5, 2023

New updates 

There are no new updates to share this week. Please see below for a recap of published announcements. 

Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.

Providing greater visibility with additional Google Calendar statuses in Google Chat

Chat statuses now include even more information, such as: how much longer someone is in a meeting or focus time, if someone has an upcoming commitment within the next 10 minutes, and if someone has an upcoming out of office event within the next business day. Learn more about additional Google Calendar statuses in Google Chat.

Expanding upon Gmail security with BIMI

Users will now see a checkmark icon for senders who adopted Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) in Gmail. This will help users identify messages from legitimate senders versus impersonators. | Learn more about Gmail security with BIMI.

Manage all spaces in your organization through the Admin console

We've introduced a new section in the Admin console dedicated to managing spaces in Google Chat. Here, admins can see a list of all spaces in their domain, the members of those spaces, and take actions, such as adding members or changing a member role. | Learn more about managing all spaces in your organization through the Admin console.

Quote a previous message in Google Chat

We've introduced a new feature that allows you to quote a previous message when sending a reply in a direct message, group message, or space (if configured with in-line threading). | Learn more about quoting a previous message in Google Chat.

Turn access to Bard on or off for your users

Earlier this year, we announced Bard, an early experiment by Google that lets you collaborate with generative AI. In the coming days, Google Workspace admins will be able to turn access to Bard on for their users, in the Admin console under Apps > Additional Google services > Early Access Apps. | Learn more about turning access to Bard on or off for your users.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog post for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains:

• [Weekly Recap] Improving multi-instance support for the Google Drive Android app
• Enabling organizational communication with announcements in Google Chat (Web)
• Introducing new collaboration and flexibility features for Google Sites (Page frame and customizable site width)
• Better location context for events and RSVPs in Gmail
• Co-present Google Slides in Google Meet
• Full HD in Google Meet video calls
• [Weekly Recap] Replace images quicker in Google Slides with new drag and drop feature
• [Weekly Recap] Add emoji reactions to existing comments in Google Docs

Scheduled Release Domains:

• Introducing new collaboration and flexibility features for Google Sites (Collaborators’ cursors & Button alignment)
• Streamlined file organization with the new Google Drive location picker

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

• Google Calendar and Assistant Reminders will migrate to Google Tasks soon (Voluntary migration)
• Fine tune access to data with additional options for Access Approvals
• Turn off the video feed for select tiles in Meet
• Full HD in Google Meet live streams
• New Alert Center notifications for Apple push certificates
• Set a custom time period for messages to automatically be deleted in Google Chat
• [Weekly Recap] Updates to image insertion in Google Sheets on Android

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).