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.

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.

Generate vocabulary lists using Gemini in Google Classroom
In continuing our efforts to ensure AI helps educators save time, create captivating learning experiences, and inspire creativity, we’re introducing a new way to generate vocabulary lists with the help of Gemini. | Learn more about Gemini vocab lists in Classoom. 

Introducing the ability to ‘grade all’ in Google Classroom
To further improve upon grading options for teachers and give them the ability to perform bulk grading, we’re introducing ‘grade all’. With this new feature, teachers can quickly and efficiently grade all students' work on the Gradebook page by selecting ‘grade all’. | Learn more about grade all in Classroom. 

New Chrome Browser Profile Reporting for Workspace users available in the Admin console
For Google Workspace customers with Chrome Enterprise Core, we’re pleased to introduce a new Chrome browser profile list and reporting features for signed-in Google Workspace users. | Learn more about Chrome Browser Profile Reporting. 

The best of Google AI, now included in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans
This week, we announced that we’re including the best of Google AI in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans without the need to purchase an add-on. | Learn more about Google AI in Workspace. 

Configure Google Meet hardware devices to trust private certificates 
You can now use private CAs to securely connect your Google Meet hardware with a third-party room control system's UCI. | Learn more about configuring Google Meet hardware devices. 

See phonics-based performance insights for decodable books in Google Classroom 
To improve upon the current analytics dashboard experience and provide teachers with phonics-based performance insights for decodable books, we’re adding a new analysis section. | Learn more about phonics-based performance insights in Classroom.

Use tokens as placeholders for user specific information when configuring managed iOS applications
Admins can now use tokens in the app configurations for managed iOS apps. Tokens act as placeholders for information specific to a user or device that uses the app, such as a user's email address or their device serial number. | Learn more about tokens when configuring managed iOS applications.


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: 
Scheduled Release Domains: 
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).

What’s changing

In May 2024, we launched the ability for admins to remotely configure managed iOS apps on end-user devices via Google Mobile Device Management. 

Beginning today, admins can use tokens in the app configurations for managed iOS apps. Tokens act as placeholders for information specific to a user or device that uses the app, such as a user's email address or their device serial number. Previously, configuration data was static, but this update gives admins the flexibility to configure devices dynamically according to various users and devices.

What’s changing

In May 2024, we launched the ability for admins to remotely configure managed iOS apps on end-user devices via Google Mobile Device Management. 

Beginning today, admins can use tokens in the app configurations for managed iOS apps. Tokens act as placeholders for information specific to a user or device that uses the app, such as a user's email address or their device serial number. Previously, configuration data was static, but this update gives admins the flexibility to configure devices dynamically according to various users and devices.

Creating the app configuration using XML information using a token placeholder


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

Available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Essentials and Essentials Plus
  • Education Standard and Plus
  • Nonprofits
  • Frontline Starter and Standard
  • Cloud Identity Premium 

Resources


What’s changing


Getting started

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Resources

What’s changing

Last year, we introduced Read Along in Google Classroom, a new feature that helps students build their independent reading skills by enabling teachers to assign differentiated reading content, based on Lexile® measure, grade level, or phonics skills. 


Read Along in Classroom includes access to a growing library of decodable books from Heggerty that educators can assign to practice specific decoding skills. To improve upon the current analytics dashboard experience and provide teachers with phonics-based performance insights for decodable books, we’re adding a new analysis section. 


With this update, teachers will see details about how a student or class is performing on the individual phonics skills listed in a decodable book and words that need practice. 

phonics analysis in Classroom


Getting started

  • Admins: 
  • End users: The phonics analysis dashboard will only appear for newly created decodable book assignments. This can be accessed by clicking on the assignment name in the “Grades” section of Google Classroom. Existing assignments will keep on showing the data as earlier. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Read Along in Google Classroom. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning add-on 

Resources

What’s changing

Google Meet hardware devices can now trust HTTPS certificates signed by a private certificate authority (CA). This simplifies the process of setting up and managing third-party user control interfaces (UCIs), especially in high impact meeting spaces with systems like Q-SYS.

What’s changing

Google Meet hardware devices can now trust HTTPS certificates signed by a private certificate authority (CA). This simplifies the process of setting up and managing third-party user control interfaces (UCIs), especially in high impact meeting spaces with systems like Q-SYS.

Previously, you had to get certificates signed by a public CA to enable Google Meet hardware touch controllers to load third-party UCIs. This process was often time-consuming and expensive, and required frequent renewals.

Now, Google Meet hardware devices can trust certificates signed by a private certificate authority, enabling them to securely load a third-party room control system's UCI. This gives you more control over your network security and eliminates the costs and complexities associated with public certificate signing.


Getting started

Admin console >Menu > Devices > Networks > Certificates


  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices
  • Please note that Android devices aren’t supported yet.

Resources

 What’s changing

Today we announced that we’re including the best of Google AI in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans without the need to purchase an add-on. Many Workspace customers have been using generative AI to boost productivity, creativity, and innovation, transforming how they work. Gemini is helping reduce the burden of mundane tasks, like taking notes during meetings and synthesizing long documents, and stepping in as a strategic thought partner to bring ideas to life and find ways to problem solve. Expanding the latest generative AI capabilities to more of our customers ensures they have the tools they need to stay on the cutting and competitive edge.

 What’s changing

Today we announced that we’re including the best of Google AI in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans without the need to purchase an add-on. Many Workspace customers have been using generative AI to boost productivity, creativity, and innovation, transforming how they work. Gemini is helping reduce the burden of mundane tasks, like taking notes during meetings and synthesizing long documents, and stepping in as a strategic thought partner to bring ideas to life and find ways to problem solve. Expanding the latest generative AI capabilities to more of our customers ensures they have the tools they need to stay on the cutting and competitive edge.

The following features* will begin rolling out for Business editions today, and for Enterprise editions from January 29, 2025:

Gmail

Help me write

Effortlessly write and improve your new emails and replies – from polishing your tone with a single click to generating new drafts from scratch.

Summarize emails

Generate a summary directly from an email message or email thread, highlighting key takeaways.

Gemini in the Gmail side panel

Draft email responses, query your emails (“Catch me up on Project Clover emails”), summarize emails and email threads.

Docs

Gemini in the Docs side panel

Summarize the main points of a lengthy document or create an outline for a sales pitch, brainstorm a list of ideas for a new marketing campaign. Easily polish your documents with writing, grammar, and formatting suggestions from Gemini.

Cover images

Create unique inline images and full bleed cover images for a variety of needs, like a promotional flier, marketing campaign brief, restaurant menu, and more.

Help me write

Simply add a prompt, like “Create a project outline, including research, design, testing, and production phases”, and a draft will instantly be generated.

Help me create

Create a variety of formatted documents from scratch, like blog posts, press releases, campaign briefs and more.

Summarize documents

Generate an in-line summary of a document so readers and collaborators can quickly get up to speed.

Meet

Take notes for me in Meet

Automatically capture meeting notes, organize them in Google Docs, and share them with your team. Those joining late can catch up during the meeting with “Summary so far”.

Adaptive audio

Adaptive audio lets teams join meetings from multiple nearby laptops without echo or feedback, which is useful when conference rooms or meeting equipment is scarce.

Additional languages for translated captions in Meet

Translated captions provide real-time translations of the speaker's language, helping to make meetings more inclusive and collaborative.

Drive

Gemini in the Drive side panel

Summarize multiple documents, generate insights on a specific topic, help you find files, and more.

Work with PDFs in Drive

Gemini can summarize long PDFs files, generate insights, or use the PDF to make something new, like a study plan or an email draft.

AI classification in Drive

IT teams can automatically and continuously identify, classify, and label sensitive files according to the specific needs of your organization. Classified files can then be protected with existing data loss prevention (DLP) controls. 

Sheets

Gemini in the Sheets side panel

Quickly create tables, such as an expense tracker, generate insights based on spreadsheet data, and more.

Enhanced smartfill

Enhanced smartfill can detect if there are relationships between cell contents and make contextual suggestions.

Slides

Help me create an image

With a simple prompt, you can easily create original images for your presentations - like digital marketing campaign concepts or images to enhance your annual planning proposal.

Remove image backgrounds

Easily remove the background from images added to your Google Slides presentations for a more cohesive design.

Gemini in the Slides side panel

Quickly generate new slides, like a meeting agenda, generate custom images for your presentations, rewrite content, and more.

Chat

Summarize conversations


Get up to speed with quick summaries for unread conversations in group messages, spaces and threads.

Gemini in the Chat side panel

Summarize a space or conversation (“What are the key takeaways in this conversation?”), generate a list of action items (“Are there any action items for me in this conversation?”), or ask specific questions (“What is the decision on the project discussed in this conversation?”).

As well as:

Gemini Advanced

Chat with Google’s next-gen AI, Gemini Advanced, to research information, brainstorm ideas, and tackle your most demanding projects. Use Gems to build a team of AI experts to help with repeatable or specialized tasks.

NotebookLM Plus

Available as an additional service, coming soon as a core service.

Accelerate team knowledge sharing by uploading your sources to get instant insights and podcast-like Audio Overviews with NotebookLM Plus. This enhanced version offers notebook customization, advanced sharing and 5x more Audio Overviews, queries, notebooks, and sources.

*Visit the Help Center to learn more about specific feature availability.



In the coming months, we plan to roll out even more AI features previously available in Gemini add-ons only. We’ll keep you updated here on the Workspace Updates blog and in our Help Center.

With this change, we are no longer offering the Gemini Business, Gemini Enterprise, AI Meetings & Messaging, and AI Security add-ons for purchase — see the “Additional details” section below for more information.


Who’s impacted

Admins and end users


Why it’s important

Google Workspace has always been more than just a suite of tools; it's a place where teams create, build, and grow together. As we embrace an era of work powered by AI, we believe this transformative technology should be accessible to every business, empowering them to innovate and thrive. That's why we’re including the best of Google AI in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans.


Additional details

Safeguarding your interactions with AI
We know that data security, confidentiality, and compliance are top priorities for business leaders when adopting AI, and we are committed to helping you keep your data safe. 
  • Your data is your data: We don’t use your data, prompts, or generated responses to train Gemini models outside of your domain without permission. We don’t sell your data or use it for ads targeting.
  • You are in control: We built Gemini with enterprise-grade controls to help you roll out Gemini while protecting your sensitive data. Gemini only retrieves relevant data that the user has permission to access, and your existing Workspace data security and sovereignty controls are automatically applied.
  • You can stay compliant: Gemini for Workspace and the Gemini app are one of the first generative AI productivity solutions to attain a comprehensive set of safety, privacy, and security certifications, including SOC 1/2/3, ISO 27001/17/18, and ISO 42001, and can help you meet HIPAA compliance.

Learn more about the available admin controls and our commitment to you in the Privacy Hub.


Gemini for Workspace add-ons and Google Workspace pricing updates
With the increased investment and measurable business value now included in Workspace Business and Enterprise plans, we’re no longer offering the Gemini for Workspace add-ons for sale, and we’re making pricing adjustments to Google Workspace Business and Enterprise plans. Updating pricing will take effect for new customers on January 16, 2025. Existing customers with impacted Google Workspace Enterprise and Business plans or a Gemini for Workspace add-on subscription will receive an email with more information about price and subscription updates. 


If you previously purchased Gemini for Google Workspace, you won't be charged for the add-on after January 31, 2025. However, you can continue to use it uninterrupted through the transition period. We’ll be in touch in the coming months with more details about the transition. Visit our Help Center for more information.


Workspace for Education, Workspace for Nonprofits, and other subscription types
At this time, the following subscriptions are not impacted:
  • Workspace for Education subscriptions, including the Gemini Education and Gemini Education Premium add-ons
  • Workspace for Nonprofits subscriptions (nonprofits with a paid Workspace Business or Enterprise subscription will get access to AI features according to their plans)
  • Frontline, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Workspace Individual subscriptions
  • Personal Google accounts, including accounts with Google One AI Premium subscriptions

Getting started

Availability

This change impacts Google Workspace:
  • Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus

This change also impacts existing Gemini for Workspace add-on subscriptions:
  • Gemini Business
  • Gemini Enterprise
  • AI Meetings & Messaging
  • AI Security

Rollout

  • Business Starter, Standard, and Plus: Rollout of the AI features outlined in this post will begin on January 15, 2025, and is expected to complete over several days.
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus: Rollout of the initial AI features outlined in this post on or soon after January 29, 2025, and is expected to complete over several days.

  • The majority of remaining AI features previously available in Gemini for Workspace add-ons will start rolling out to eligible Google Workspace Business and Enterprise plans in the coming months. We’ll share feature roll out updates here on the Workspace Updates blog and in our Help Center.

Resources


What’s changing

For Google Workspace customers with Chrome Enterprise Core, we’re pleased to introduce a new Chrome browser profile list and reporting features for signed-in Google Workspace users. These new capabilities give IT administrators more insight into Chrome user profiles in their organization. The report includes a new managed profiles list and detail pages where IT administrators can find information such as profile details, browser versions, policies applied, extensions installed and more. The list of extensions installed allows you to identify versions of extensions that can potentially be a risk factor for your users.

What’s changing

For Google Workspace customers with Chrome Enterprise Core, we’re pleased to introduce a new Chrome browser profile list and reporting features for signed-in Google Workspace users. These new capabilities give IT administrators more insight into Chrome user profiles in their organization. The report includes a new managed profiles list and detail pages where IT administrators can find information such as profile details, browser versions, policies applied, extensions installed and more. The list of extensions installed allows you to identify versions of extensions that can potentially be a risk factor for your users.

Overall, this update significantly improves how admins analyze how their users are interacting with Chrome and allows them to take action to keep their users and data secure in Chrome.

Once enabled, you can view reports by going to Admin console > Chrome browser > Managed profiles



Getting started

  • Admins: Admins can simply log in to the Google Admin console and enable the Managed profile reporting policy. Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing Chrome browser profile details.

To enable reporting, go to Menu > Devices > Chrome > Settings > User & browser settings > Chrome Browser > Browser Reporting > Managed Browser Reporting

  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.