This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.
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What’s changing 

Lucidchart, an app that helps users collaborate on diagrams, such as flowcharts, wireframes, entity relationship diagrams, and more, and Lucidspark, a virtual whiteboard tool, are two third-party add-ons already available across Workspace apps, such as Docs and Meet. Today, we’re excited to announce support for both of these apps in Google Chat.

Lucidchart and Lucidspark’s integrations with Google Chat will enable users to: 
  • Get an immediate preview of Lucidspark and Lucidchart links shared in Chat conversations. 
  • Type “/lucidsearch” in Chat to find and share Lucid documents instantly.
  • Keep teams aligned by bringing visual context into conversations. 
Searching for Lucid documents in Chat spaces
                            Searching for Lucid documents in Chat spaces

Additional details 

Lucid built this Chat integration using the new capability to build Chat apps as Workspace add-ons.

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

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What’s changing

The Information Rights Management (IRM) feature for Drive prevents the downloading, copying and printing of documents for viewers and commenters. Currently, individual file owners can use IRM to limit viewers and commenters from printing, copying, or downloading a file. Earlier this year, we launched the ability for admins to restrict these actions for users with edit permissions.

Now, individual file owners and shared drive managers can apply printing, copying, and downloading restrictions to users with edit permissions as well. Editors and owners can still edit the document itself, however they can only copy and paste document content within the document itself. 

As a whole, IRM controls give both admins and end users the ability to help prevent sensitive content from being leaked.


Getting started

  • End users: Once this feature is enabled, all entry points for downloading, printing, and copying will be removed from Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides on all platforms. Note: If a file has both an administrator-applied IRM setting and a file owner setting on it, the administrator setting takes priority. Visit the Help Center to learn more about stopping, limiting, or changing how your files are shared.

Rollout pace


Availability

  • IRM controls are available for all Google Workspace customers
  • Data Loss Prevention Rules and Context-Aware Access conditions are available for Google Workspace:
    • Enterprise Standard and Plus
    • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching and Learning add-on
    • Frontline Standard
    • Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus

Resources

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What’s changing

Starting today, we're making it easier to find information within a Google Site. Previously, searching in a site only showed results from the text directly on the pages. Now, when you perform a search, the results will also include content from within embedded files, such as Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and PDFs. 

This highly-requested update expands the search capabilities beyond just the content on the page, providing a more comprehensive and efficient experience. This feature helps you find exactly what you're looking for, whether it's on a page or within an embedded file. 
Search for embedded content in Google Sites

Additional details 

  • For existing sites, the fastest way to enable this feature is to re-publish your site. 
  • If you choose not to republish, embedded search will still become available on your Site in the coming months. 
  • No action is required for new sites as the feature will be enabled by default. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

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What’s changing 

Last year, we introduced web and mobile updates that enable you to unsubscribe from individual emails in Gmail more easily. Today, we’re building upon this with Gmail's new "Manage subscriptions" feature. 

With the “Manage subscriptions” view, you can organize your subscription emails and easily unsubscribe from the ones you no longer want – all from a single place. 

To find this view, click the navigation bar in the top-left corner of your inbox and select “Manage subscriptions.” Your active subscriptions are sorted by the most frequent senders alongside the number of emails they’ve sent you in the past few weeks. If there’s a sender you no longer wish to receive emails from, you can easily unsubscribe in one click, and Gmail will send an unsubscribe request to the sender on your behalf. 

Manage email subscriptions from a single location in Gmail

Additional details 

If you are a bulk sender wanting to know more about unsubscribe requirements, please see additional details here. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace

Web: 
Android: 
iOS: 

Availability 

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

Resources 

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What’s changing 

We’re improving the email notification that includes the notes doc when you use “Take notes for me” in Google Meet. The email will now include a summary of the meeting as well as “suggested next steps” in addition to the link to the notes document. Including this information gives meeting invitees a quick, helpful overview of the meeting in one place.
[Suggested next steps are now included in the notes email]
Suggested next steps are now included in the notes email


Also part of this update, meeting hosts and co-hosts for meetings taken on a web browser can now choose who the meeting notes should be sent to: all invited guests, invited guests in your organization, or hosts and co-hosts only. Note that the default setting is “Invited guests in your organization”.

Once you change the sharing setting, it will persist for that meeting and recurring meetings in that series. You can always change the setting as needed. Sharing is based on the Calendar invitees. 

Before you turn on “Take notes for me”, you can choose who the meeting notes should be sent to.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to Google Workspace
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Also available with the Gemini Education Premium add-on
Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature:
  • Gemini Enterprise*
  • AI Meetings & Messaging*
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources



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