Google Workspace Updates: July 2024

Admins can now centrally set default grading settings for teachers in their district

Wednesday 31 July 2024

What’s changingClassroom admins can now centrally set default grading settings for teachers in their district using the Admin console. When a teacher creates a new class in Classroom, these default settings are automatically populated for the class.
Starting today, admins can set default settings for grading periods and later this month, they will be able to set default settings for grading categories and grading scales.
With this new capability, admins can make it easier for teachers to set up and maintain their classrooms, saving them time since they won’t have to input grading settings for new classes they create. This will also ensure more consistency in grading settings for classes in a district.
Getting started

Admins:

This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the OU level by going to the Admin console > Apps > Google Workspace > Classroom > Default grade settings.

Note: If any of the central settings need to be changed or deleted, you can do so in the Admin console as outlined above. However, any changes made to default settings will only apply to new classes going forward and not existing ones.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting default grading settings for teachers in your districts.

End users:

When a teacher creates a new class in Google Classroom, the settings defined by admins are automatically populated for the class. Teachers can still edit or delete these settings for their classes if they choose.

Note: Any changes made by teachers will be specific to that class only and will not propagate back to the Admin console.

Rollout pace Grading Periods

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 31, 2024

Grading Categories

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 7, 2024

Grading Scales

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 15, 2024

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus

Resources

Google Help: Set default grading settings for teachers in your districts

Prevent downloading, printing, or copying files by combining Data Loss Prevention rules with Context-Aware Access conditions

Wednesday 31 July 2024

What's changingdata loss prevention (DLP) rulesInformation Rights Management (IRM)

Today, we’re expanding these protections by enabling admins to combine DLP rules with Context-Aware Access conditions. When combined, admins can configure if IRM should be enforced based on context conditions, such as a user’s location or IP address. This gives admins the ability to configure context-aware-access conditions in a more granular way and is an important step forward in applying administrator controls at the document level. Prior to this release, Context-Aware-Access can only be used to restrict full access to an entire application.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled per-file by creating DLP rules with a CAA access level attached. See this help center article for more information on how to configure these rules.
End users: Depending on your admin configuration, you may be restricted from taking certain actions on Drive files.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) beginning on July 31, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Enterprise Standard and Plus
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching and Learning upgrade
Frontline Standard
Essentials: Enterprise, Enterprise Plus

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Combine DLP rules with Context-Aware Access conditions
Google Workspace Admin Help: Prevent commenters and viewers from downloading, printing, or copying files FAQ
Google Workspace Admin Help: Control access to apps based on user & device context

Allowlist and Audit Logs for URLs accessed from Google Apps Script and Google Sheets

Wednesday 31 July 2024

What’s changingWe’re introducing a feature that will allow admins to restrict which URLs Apps Scripts and Sheets can source external content from. More specifically, admins can now monitor which URLs are being accessed by referencing new logs that we’re adding to the audit and investigation page. Admins can then create an allowlist that controls which of those URLs they’d like to enable/disable.

When such an allowlist is specified, users in the organization will only be able to use those allowlisted URLs for both their Apps Scripts and their Sheets IMPORT functions. This allows organizations to more granularly control access in a way that better aligns with a Zero Trust security posture.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important Data exfiltration is an important security concern for admins, especially when it comes to Apps Scripts and Sheets because certain functions are capable of accessing external data. With this update, admins have more granular control over URLs accessed by users in their organization.

Getting started

Admins:

Logs can be found under Reporting > Audit and investigation > Drive Log Events OR Security > Security Center > Investigation Tool.
The URL allowlists can be found in the Admin console under Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Features and Applications > Importing and fetching from URLs.

If an allowlist is not established, no URLs will be restricted.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about Drive log events.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 31, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Business Plus
Enterprise Standard, Plus
Enterprise Essentials Plus
Education Standard, Plus

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Drive log events

Gemini in the side panel of Google Drive introduces a new PDF viewing experience

Tuesday 30 July 2024

What’s changingYou can now interact with the Gemini side panel while viewing PDFs. This new viewing experience works with all kinds of PDFs, such as:

Scanned PDFs: Pictures of paper documents turned into PDFs.
Native PDFs: PDFs created on a computer, not from a scan.
Text-heavy PDFs: Long PDFs with lots of writing.
Table-heavy PDFs: PDFs with complicated tables.

With this update, you can use Gemini in Drive to help you with PDF files in the following ways:

Summarize: Get a quick overview of long, complicated PDFs.
Ask questions: Find specific information or insights from the PDF.
Create new content: Use PDF contents to make something new, like a study guide or an email draft.
Bring in more information: Combine the PDF with other files you have in Google Drive by typing @.

Getting started

Admins: To access Gemini in the side panel of Workspace apps, users need to have smart features and personalization turned on. Admins can turn on default personalization setting for their users in the Admin console.
End users:

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 30, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 12, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers with:

Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, and Education Premium add-ons
Google One AI Premium

Resources

Google Help: Use Gemini in Drive to work with PDFs

Catch up on followed threads from the home shortcut in Google Chat

Monday 29 July 2024

Update

[October 31, 2024] We have updated the mobile rollout information for this feature. See the Rollout section below for more details.[October 16, 2024] We have updated the rollout information for this feature. See the Rollout section below for more details.

What’s changingMany users follow threads within spaces in Google Chat to ensure they don’t miss any updates. To build upon this experience and help you keep track of important discussions occurring in threads, we’re introducing the ability to follow and review threads within the home shortcut.
Threads you’ve chosen to follow will now appear directly within home, enabling you to quickly catch up. Rather than searching for the space and finding the thread, clicking on the thread via home takes you directly to the threaded conversation. You can also use the “Threads” button in home to filter your view to show threads only. This option is next to the “Unread” toggle, which filters your unread messages across DMs, spaces, and threads. You have the ability to filter for unread threads specifically when this is toggled on and the “Threads” button is selected.

Catch up on followed threads from the home shortcut in Google Chat

Who’s impacted End users

Why it matters Through this update, the home view has become even more useful with the ability to easily stay on top of followed threads.

Additional details As a reminder, threads are followed in the scenarios below:

You are the author of the main message that a thread was initiated from.
You are explicitly following (via the “Follow” button).
You have replied via thread or were mentioned.
You have set the notification setting of the corresponding space to notify for “All”.

If a thread is no longer relevant to you, you can “Unfollow” it via the button in Home.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn how to use Google Chat.

Rollout pace Web:

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 29, 2024, with expected completion by October 15, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 16, 2024, with expected completion by October 23, 2024

Android:

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 29, 2024, with expected completion by October 31, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 30, 2024, with expected completion by November 15, 2024

iOS:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 31, 2024, with expected completion by November 15, 2024

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual Subscribers

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - July 26, 2024

Friday 26 July 2024

1 New updateUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.Allow dropdown chips to have multiple selections in Google SheetsPreviously, dropdowns could only have one value selected in Google Sheets. Starting this week, we’re introducing the ability to allow for multiple selections within a dropdown. This functionality is useful in scenarios when multiple project milestones, statuses, or teams are applicable for one item. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains starting August 19, 2024; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for September 5, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about creating an in-cell dropdown list.

Allow dropdown chips to have multiple selections in Google Sheets

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.

Google Drive inventory reporting is now available in open beta

Google Drive inventory reporting is now available in open beta, providing admins with enhanced visibility into the state of their data assets. | Learn more about Drive inventory reporting.

Reduce live-stream bandwidth consumption to a fraction of the traffic volume with eCDN for Google Meet

In September 2023, we introduced ultra-low latency livestreaming and since then we’ve introduced several improvements for the overall experience. This week, we’re excited to introduce the latest enhancement for ultra-low latency live streaming: Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN) support for Google Meet. | Learn more about reducing live-stream bandwidth.

Adding Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to form content in Google Forms

We’re continually investing in data protection capabilities for Google Forms. We’ve already enabled data loss prevention (DLP) for Google Drive policies that apply to files submitted in external Forms, including Forms from external organizations. To expand on this, we’re announcing that DLP policies for form content in Google Forms is now generally available. | Learn more about DLP with Forms.

Enable Classification labels on specific Google Workspace applications

To improve granularity in enabling & governing labels, we are replacing and improving the existing “Labels” setting within Apps > Google Workspace > Drive & Docs and adding label-level application toggles to the Label Manager tool. | Learn more about classification labels on Workspace apps.

Introducing Google Meet LTI™

To help improve remote and hybrid learning, we’re introducing Google Meet LTI™ for Canvas by Instructure and PowerSchool Schoology Learning. This builds on the existing Google Workspace Learning Interoperability Tools including Assignments LTI™ and Google Drive LTI™. | Learn more about Meet LTI™

Improved collaboration with Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning

In order to bring the collaborative power of Google Workspace for Education to even more partners, we’re excited to announce updated Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in Schoology. | Learn more about Workspace LTI™ integration in PowerSchool Schoology.

Automatically generated captions for videos in Google Drive

Starting this week, when you upload a video to Google Drive, captions for the video can be automatically generated. | Learn more about generated captions for Drive videos.

Label administration is becoming more discoverable and flexible in the Admin console

We’re introducing several changes to make labels more discoverable and flexible for organizations. | Learn more about labels in the Admin console.

AI Classification in Google Drive is now available for the Gemini Education Premium add-onWe’re expanding the availability of AI Classification in Google Drive to Google Workspace for Education customers with the Gemini Education Premium add-on. | Learn more about AI Classification in Drive.
Enhancing your productivity on Android devices with new features in Gmail and Google Chat appsWe’re introducing numerous improvements across the Gmail and Google Chat apps on Android foldables and tablets in order to enhance your productivity when using these devices. | Learn more about Android features in Gmail and Google Chat apps.

Completed rollouts

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

Rapid Release Domains:

Import and export Markdown in Google Docs
All new appointments need to be booked through appointment schedules in Google Calendar (Disabling the creation of appointment slots)

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

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

Enhancing your productivity on Android devices with new features in Gmail and Google Chat apps

Thursday 25 July 2024

Update[September 12, 2024] The rollout is completed.
[July 31, 2024] We have temporarily paused the rollout for the ability to view a list of keyboard shortcuts in the Gmail & Chat app when pressing “?” on an external keyboard plugged into an Android device. We expect this feature to be fully rolled out by the end of August. We will share another update to confirm when rollout has completed.

What’s changing

We’re introducing numerous improvements across the Gmail and Google Chat apps on Android foldables and tablets in order to enhance your productivity when using these devices.

In the Gmail app, you’ll notice a new formatting bar located on the email compose screen. This now includes additional formatting options like the ability to change the font type and make a bulleted list.

Next, you’ll be able to view a list of helpful keyboard shortcuts in the Gmail app and in the Chat app by pressing “?” when you plug an external keyboard into your Android device.

Lastly, we’re enabling Smart Compose on Android tablets and foldables, a feature originally introduced on Gmail web that intelligently autocompletes your emails. Similar to the mobile experience, Smart Compose suggests text as you type that can be accepted by swiping across the gray text or pressing tab on a physical keyboard.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

AI Classification in Google Drive is now available for the Gemini Education Premium add-on

Thursday 25 July 2024

What’s changingWe’re expanding the availability of AI Classification in Google Drive to Google Workspace for Education customers with the Gemini Education Premium add-on.
Even though data security is paramount in today’s digital world, organizations struggle to label their data at scale, rendering label-based data protections less useful. This problem is solved by AI classification, automatically applying labels to both new and existing files in Google Drive.
Powered by privacy-preserving AI models that can be uniquely trained on specific customer needs, AI classification automatically identifies, classifies, and labels files in Google Drive.. This helps organizations standardize data classification and achieve labeling consistency at scale. Labels can then be used to trigger rules on files that can and cannot be shared through data loss prevention (DLP) controls, lifecycle management policies, as well as audit and reporting use cases.

AI Classification in the Admin console

AI Classification in Google Docs

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about labeling Google Drive files automatically using AI classification. You may also use this link to learn more about Gemini for Google Workspace.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 25, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace for Education customers with the Gemini Education Premium add-on.

This feature is already available to customers with the Gemini Enterprise add-on, and via the AI Security add-on for select Google workspace customers.

Resources

Label administration is becoming more discoverable and flexible in the Admin console

Thursday 25 July 2024

What’s changingWe’re introducing several changes to make labels more discoverable and flexible for organizations:
1. Label Manager’s New Location: The Label Manager interface is moving from a standalone UI into the Workspace Admin console. Prior to this change, Label admins had to navigate to https://drive.google.com/labels to manage labels in their organization. Going forward, admins can access the Label Manager tool by going to Security > Access and data control in the Admin console.

2. Combined Label Types: Currently, there are two label types: Badged and Standard. Badged labels are single-field option lists with prominent visual display and coloring. Standard labels support complex metadata structures with up to ten fields of various formats. To make labels more adaptable, we’re combining these label types together, and going forward, every label will support up to 10 fields, one of which can be set as a “Badged list”.

3. Label Ordinality: With the combination of label types, organizations will now be able to create many labels with badge fields. As a result, there will be scenarios in which multiple badges are applied to a single file. Some UI surfaces only support the display of a single badge, so to address this, admins will now be able to configure label ordinality in the Label Manager list view. The ranking of label ordinality will govern which label is prominently displayed when there are multiple badged labels on the same file.

Getting started

Admins: To access the Label Manager in the Admin console, go to https://admin.google.com/ac/dc/labels or Security > Access and data control > Label manager).
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 25, 2024

AvailabilityAvailable for Google Workspace:

Business Standard, Plus
Enterprise Standard, Plus
Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus
Education Standard, Plus
Frontline Starter, Standard
Nonprofits

Resources

Automatically generated captions for videos in Google Drive

Thursday 25 July 2024

What’s changing Today, we’re excited to announce that when you upload a video to Google Drive, captions for the video can be automatically generated. These captions are automatically generated using speech recognition technology to transcribe the audio. Automatically generated captions will be supported in English, with plans to expand to other languages in the future.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it matters Automatic caption generation can improve the accessibility of media stored in Drive and can save you the effort of manually creating captions. It also allows you to easily search for videos based on their content, making it much simpler to find the exact file you need.

Additional details You can manually request automatic captions for any video that was uploaded prior to this new update. See end user instructions below for more information.

Getting started

Admins:

This feature will be ON by default and as a result captions will generate automatically when a user uploads a video to Drive. Or, admins can choose between two options:

Option 1: Disable this feature
Option 2: Set it so captions only generate when a user requests them for a specific video by going to the Admin console > Drive and Docs > Features and Applications > Automatically-Generated captions.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning on automatically-generated captions for videos in Drive.

End users:

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

Note: Users with personal Google accounts must request automatic captions after uploading a video to Drive.

Resources

Improved collaboration with Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning

Thursday 25 July 2024

What’s changingWe recently announced that our Learning Interoperability Tools, including Assignments LTI™, Google Drive LTI™, and Meet LTI™ will be consolidated under a new brand: Google Workspace LTI™.

In order to bring the collaborative power of Google Workspace for Education to even more partners, we’re excited to announce updated Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in Schoology, a K-12 learning management system that makes it easy to implement hybrid learning and integrate your favorite teaching and learning tools.

To simplify this experience and enable users to operate on a newer, more secure and feature-rich version, Google Workspace LTI™ in PowerSchool Schoology Learning will now use the LTI 1.3. As a result, teachers and students have access to enhanced assignment capabilities and a secure classroom-centric Google Meet experience, directly in PowerSchool Schoology Learning:

With Assignments LTI™, you can:

Distribute, analyze, and grade student work with Google Workspace for Education.
Analyze student work submissions originality reports to save time and ensure authenticity.

With Google Drive LTI™, you can securely embed and upload Google Drive files directly in PowerSchool Schoology Learning.
With Google Meet LTI™, you can seamlessly schedule and host secure Google Meet sessions directly within PowerSchool Schoology Learning.

Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Introducing Google Meet LTI™

Thursday 25 July 2024

What’s changingTo help improve remote and hybrid learning, we’re introducing Google Meet LTI™ for Canvas by Instructure and PowerSchool Schoology Learning. This builds on the existing Google Workspace Learning Interoperability Tools including Assignments LTI™ and Google Drive LTI™.

You can use Google Meet LTI™ to easily enable secure remote and hybrid learning - via video conferencing - directly within Canvas by Instructure and PowerSchool Schoology Learning. Educators can schedule video meetings with pre-configured host controls, including recordings, transcripts, and breakout rooms*. Students can view meeting recordings and artifacts from past class sessions directly within Meet. Google Meet LTI™ is also deeply integrated with your learning management system so that only educators can start the meeting and only students in the course can join.

*Support for pre-configured breakout rooms is coming soon — we’ll provide more details on the Workspace Updates blog once that becomes available.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center for an overview of Google Workspace LTI™.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Meet LTI™.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade

Resources

Enable Classification labels on specific Google Workspace applications

Wednesday 24 July 2024

What’s changingAdmins can create classification labels for users to apply to files in Google Drive. These classification labels are useful for many common workplace scenarios, including records management, classification, structured finding, reporting, auditing, and more.
To improve granularity in enabling & governing labels, we are replacing and improving the existing “Labels” setting within Apps > Google Workspace > Drive & Docs and adding label-level application toggles to the Label Manager tool.
Classification labels can be applied to a Workspace application once it's selected during the setup process. A lock icon will be displayed in line with the application toggle when the label is referenced by a policy, such as a DLP rule. To remove all rules that reference a specific label, go to the Data protection section of the Admin console > Security > Access and data control.
The active labels in your Workspace domain will continue to function and will be auto-enabled for Drive & Doc as a result of this update.

Getting started

Admins: To begin, turn on Drive labels for your organization. To create a label, go to the Label Manager at https://drive.google.com/labels > select “New Label” or edit an existing label by selecting it within Label Manager. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating Drive labels for your organization.

Note: Labels can be viewed by any admin in your organization with the Manage Labels privilege. They could also be visible to everyone in your organization if the label's permissions are set that way.

End users: Visit this Help Center article to learn about how to apply labels that have been set up for your domain.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Business Standard, Plus
Enterprise Standard, Plus
Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus
Education Standard, Plus
Frontline Starter, Standard

Resources

Adding Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to form content in Google Forms

Wednesday 24 July 2024

What’s changingWe’re continually investing in data protection capabilities for Google Forms. We’ve already enabled data loss prevention (DLP) for Google Drive policies that apply to files submitted in external Forms, including Forms from external organizations. To expand on this, today we’re announcing that DLP policies for form content in Google Forms is now generally available.

With DLP, Forms with sensitive content can be blocked from being viewed or responded to by external individuals. Based on DLP rules configured by the admin, this feature checks form content including questions, form title and description and answer options provided in the form, and prevents sensitive content from being shared externally; it does not check form responses provided by end users that are submitted to external forms.

This screenshot of a Google Form includes mentions of “Project X”. DLP rules are configured to detect and prevent sharing of Forms with responders outside the organization with any mentions of “Project X”, the sensitive content in this form.

Additional details If you do not want DLP rules applied to users in your domain, you can exclude certain groups or organizational units from DLP checks. You can also exclude specific Forms by using nested condition operators in DLP for Drive rules. To do so, add a ‘AND NOT’ conditional operator and specify a relevant secondary condition, such as the presence of a custom-defined “isForm” label that you have applied to the Forms you want excluded.Visit this Help Center to learn more about using Workspace DLP to prevent data loss.

Getting started

Admins:

Data loss prevention rules scoped to Drive files defined for your domain will be applied automatically to Forms.
If you are not using DLP for Google Drive, you can create DLP rules at the domain, OU, or group level in the Admin console under Security > Data protection. You can apply block, warn or audit actions, consistent with DLP for Drive. If you apply the block action, users external to the domain will not be able to view or respond to forms with sensitive content.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning data loss prevention in Google Forms on for your organization.

End users: End users can respond to forms as usual to forms that do not violate DLP rules, but if a form violates Drive DLP rules for their domain, form editors may see warnings and form responders external to the domain may be blocked from viewing or responding to the form.

Rollout pace

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Enterprise Standard, Plus
Enterprise Essentials Plus
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
Frontline Standard
Cloud Identity Premium

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Use DLP for Drive to prevent data loss

Reduce live-stream bandwidth consumption to a fraction of the traffic volume with eCDN for Google Meet

Tuesday 23 July 2024

What’s changing In September 2023, we introduced ultra-low latency livestreaming and since then we’ve introduced several improvements for the overall experience. Today, we’re excited to introduce the latest enhancement for ultra-low latency live streaming: Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN) support for Google Meet.

When configured by admins, eCDN has the potential to reduce bandwidth consumption to a fraction of the traffic volume. This applies to all live streams, including those originating from outside of your own domain. This is achieved through peer-assisted media delivery — whereby live streamed content is automatically shared between nearby peers, reducing the need to retrieve content from Google servers and minimizing bottleneck. There is no additional software, hardware, or end user action required to use eCDN — it works automatically in the background.

With eCDN turned on, live streamed content is shared between peers (as seen on the right), reducing the need to retrieve content from Google servers (as seen on the left).

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

Live streaming is a key tool for presenting information to large audiences such as town-hall meetings, weekly broadcasts or other kinds of events with large audiences. As such, video quality of live streamed content is critical. Using eCDN can significantly reduce the strain on internet gateways while delivering a high-quality viewing experience with consistently low latency. Without eCDN, each viewer is sent their own individual feed. With eCDN turned on for a private network, the backend will send media to a significantly lower number of clients in that network. Those clients will then use the eCDN technology to take over and redistribute media to ensure that all viewers in that network receive the media they need, with high quality and preserved ultra-low latency.

Getting started

Admins:

This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the group level in the Admin console under Apps > Workspace > Meet > eCDN settings. The peering behavior of eCDN clients can be configured at granular levels if needed, including down to the subnet level.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning live streaming on or off for Meet, as well as turning eCDN for Meet on for your organization. eCDN can also provide traffic savings for live streams originating from outside your domain. Visit the Help Center to learn more about trusted domains for live streaming.
You can monitor eCDN analytics using the Meet Quality Tool.

End users: There is no end user action required — make sure you’re using Chrome 121 or later on a laptop or desktop computer to ensure the highest quality ultra-low latency live streaming experience.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on July 23, 2024

Note: eCDN is available for those customers who have received the ultra-low latency live streaming experience. For some customers, that update is rolling out at a slower rate and they may not receive these updates for several months.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace customers

Resources

Google Drive inventory reporting is now available in open beta

Monday 22 July 2024

What’s changing Google Drive inventory reporting is now available in open beta, providing admins with enhanced visibility into the state of their data assets. By exporting this data into BigQuery, admins can gain a holistic view of how their data is classified, who can access it, and how it’s being used. Analyzing this data at scale helps admins address the challenge of understanding the full scope of their data assets, especially as it pertains to sensitive information and compliance with data policies.

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why it’s important

Compared to using APIs, Drive inventory reporting is a more efficient alternative to piecing together a full representation of Drive items from audit events and various other surfaces. The comprehensive view of the file corpus—including classifications, sizes, and locations—allows administrators to identify security risks, such as unauthorized access or oversharing. It also aids in ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements, like those for data retention and destruction.

Getting started

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all eligible users.

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Enterprise Standard and Plus
Education Standard and Plus
Enterprise Essentials Plus
Frontline Standard

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Export your organization’s Drive inventory (Beta)

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - July 19, 2024

Friday 19 July 2024

2 New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.
All new appointments need to be booked through appointment schedules in Google Calendar Earlier this year, we announced that the appointment slots feature will be replaced by appointment schedules in Google Calendar. Starting this week, only appointment schedules can be created. In a couple of weeks, the appointment slots booking pages will no longer be available. At that time, all new appointments will need to be booked through appointment schedules. | Appointment schedules are available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, Google Workspace Individual customers and Google One Premium users. | Visit the Help Center for detailed information about appointment schedules.
Available in beta: migrate sensitive files to Google Drive with client-side encryption We are making it easier to programmatically import sensitive files to Google Drive with client-side encryption by providing code samples on Github. Eligible admins can apply for beta access to this Drive API feature using this form. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus; Education Standard and Education Plus.

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.

Google Classroom now supports exporting grades and importing rosters and grade settings with PowerSchool SIS

Google Classroom teachers can now export and import select information via the new integration with PowerSchool SIS. | Learn more about the integration with Classroom and PowerSchool SIS.

Teachers will soon be able to create a new class in Google Classroom using Student Information System (SIS) data

In the coming weeks, we will be introducing a new feature that allows teachers to set up a Google Classroom class using information directly imported from an SIS, including co-teachers, student rosters and class lists, grading categories and grading periods. Please note this feature is only available with our current SIS partners. | Learn more about creating new classes in Classroom using SIS data.

Google Workspace extensions for Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs are now available in open beta for Gemini (gemini.google.com)

We’re pleased to announce Google Workspace extensions for Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs are available for Gemini (gemini.google.com). When enabled, Gemini will be able to cross reference these apps as data sources to better inform its responses. | Learn more about the beta for Gemini (gemini.google.com).

Import and export Markdown in Google Docs

We’re introducing highly-requested features that enhance Docs' interoperability with other Markdown supporting tools. | Learn more about markdown in Docs.

Clearer re-enrollment for Google Meet hardware devices

We're updating the way Google Meet hardware devices are re-enrolled to provide a more intuitive experience for administrators. | Learn more about re-enrollment for Meet hardware devices.

Available in beta: Policy Visualization across Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive

Users who are interacting with policy-protected content, such as those with data loss prevention (DLP) rules or trust rules, will now be proactively informed about what actions are prevented by those policies. | Learn more about policy visualization.

Enable guardians to preview assigned classwork within Google Classroom

Guardian email summaries will now include links that let guardians preview their student's Classwork pages, including assigned work and attachments provided by the teacher. | Learn more about guardians and Classroom.

Completed rollouts

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

Rapid Release Domains:

Request to join spaces in Google Chat (web)
Enhancing the Google Calendar appointment scheduling experience with additional features

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

Insert images into practice sets in Google Classroom
Adding a 'missing' grade state to Gradebook in Google Classroom
Pre-configure meeting notes, recordings, and transcripts from the Calendar invite (web only)
Shared drives can now have up to 100 levels of nested folders and 500,000 items
Google Classroom now supports exporting grades and importing rosters and grade settings with PowerSchool SIS

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

Enable guardians to preview assigned classwork within Google Classroom

Friday 19 July 2024

What’s changing Currently, a teacher or school administrator can invite a guardian, typically a parent, to receive email summaries about their student’s work in class. These email summaries include a rundown of missing work, upcoming work and class activities, such as recently posted announcements or assignments in Google Classroom.
Going forward, guardian email summaries will now include links that let guardians preview their student's Classwork pages, including assigned work and attachments provided by the teacher. With this update, guardians can stay up-to-date with what their students are learning. Guardians will not be able to see their student’s grades or submissions, class communication, or other students’ work. Guardians can easily access this page directly from the Classroom email summaries or from the link shared by teachers.

Enable guardians to preview assigned classwork within Google Classroom

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it matters This feature keeps guardians informed about their student’s assignments in class.

Additional details Teachers with the Google Workspace Education Plus edition who already send guardian email summaries will notice those emails automatically start including guardian previewing links. No action is needed to get started.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 19, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Education Plus

Resources

Available in beta: Policy Visualization across Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive

Thursday 18 July 2024

What’s changing Currently, when there are security policies applied to documents, spreadsheets, presentations or files, users are given no central explanation of which actions, like downloading, making a copy, or external sharing are restricted.
To improve upon this experience, users who are interacting with policy-protected content, such as those with data loss prevention (DLP) rules or trust rules, will now be proactively informed about what actions are prevented by those policies.
For example, if a user is interacting with a document affected by DLP-enforced information rights management (IRM) and a Trust Rule, they will see a shield icon and side panel that informs them of the restricted actions.

Policy Visualization across Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive

Who’s impacted End users

Why it matters With this update, users will be made aware of which actions they are taking that are disabled on a document, spreadsheet, slide or file due to data protection controls.
Getting started

Any user will be able to see policy visualization if it's active on a document, but the owner of the document is used to determine if it's turned ON.
A shield icon and side panel will automatically appear when security controls are present.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about the policies that enable Policy Visualization:

Rollout pace

AvailabilityPolicy visualization is enabled when the document, spreadsheet, slides or file owner belongs to the following Google Workspace editions:

Business Starter, Standard, Plus
Enterprise Starter, Standard, Plus
Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Essentials Enterprise Plus
Frontline Starter, Standard
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
Workspace Individual Subscribers

Resources

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

In the Google Cloud Community, connect with Googlers and other Google Workspace admins like yourself. Participate in product discussions, check out the Community Articles, and learn tips and tricks that will make your work and life easier. Be the first to know what's happening with Google Workspace.

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Learn about more Google Workspace launches

On the “What’s new in Google Workspace?” Help Center page, learn about new products and features launching in Google Workspace, including smaller changes that haven’t been announced on the Google Workspace Updates blog.

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Updates

Admins can now centrally set default grading settings for teachers in their district

Prevent downloading, printing, or copying files by combining Data Loss Prevention rules with Context-Aware Access conditions

Allowlist and Audit Logs for URLs accessed from Google Apps Script and Google Sheets

Gemini in the side panel of Google Drive introduces a new PDF viewing experience

Catch up on followed threads from the home shortcut in Google Chat

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - July 26, 2024

Enhancing your productivity on Android devices with new features in Gmail and Google Chat apps

AI Classification in Google Drive is now available for the Gemini Education Premium add-on

Label administration is becoming more discoverable and flexible in the Admin console

Automatically generated captions for videos in Google Drive

Improved collaboration with Google Workspace LTI™ integrations in PowerSchool Schoology Learning

Introducing Google Meet LTI™

Enable Classification labels on specific Google Workspace applications

Adding Data Loss Prevention (DLP) to form content in Google Forms

Reduce live-stream bandwidth consumption to a fraction of the traffic volume with eCDN for Google Meet

Google Drive inventory reporting is now available in open beta

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - July 19, 2024

Enable guardians to preview assigned classwork within Google Classroom

Available in beta: Policy Visualization across Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drive

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