This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.
rss_feed

What’s changing

We’re making it possible to quickly preview how you’ll appear to others before entering a Google Meet video call. You can use this new functionality to confirm that peripheral devices are properly configured and correctly connected, to check that your network connectivity is good, and to understand the impact of noise cancellation on your audio (if it's available to your account).

When a problem is detected, you’ll see a warning and tips for troubleshooting common issues, like granting your browser permission to use the microphone or camera.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why it’s important

With this new feature, you can enter meetings confident that your technology is working and that you’ll appear the way you want to to others.

For example, you can catch issues like:
  • An unintentionally muted microphone
  • A secondary display monitor with a missing headphone or speaker connection
  • Other audio issues, such as poor sound quality, audio that’s too loud, or your microphone amplifying background noises

In addition, you can make adjustments to lighting and positioning, helping you avoid dark or grainy video quality.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. On the screen before joining a meeting, click the "Check your audio and video" button. 


This will open the “green room,” where you can preview your audio and video. Visit the Help Center to learn more about previewing how you look and sound before a video call and troubleshooting performance in Google Meet.



Rollout pace


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 



Read More

New updates

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


Previous announcements

Oops! You may have noticed we missed publishing last week’s recap. To make up for it, below we’re including announcements published on the Workspace Updates blog in the past two weeks. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


Resize the Chat and Rooms sections in Gmail on the web
You can now resize the Chat and Rooms sections in the left-side navigation of Gmail on the web. | Learn more.


Quickly navigate to active cells and ranges with the new range name box in Google Sheets
We’re adding a range name box, located to the left of the formula bar, to improve navigation in Google Sheets. | Learn more.


Enable offline support for Google Calendar on web from your computer
You can now enable offline support for Google Calendar on Google Chrome from your computer. | Learn more.


Better privacy when screen sharing with muted web notifications
Now when you’re sharing your screen, Chrome will automatically hide the content of web pop-up notifications. This includes notifications from Google Chat, email notifications, and other third party websites. | Learn more.


Out of office information will now display when replying to or mentioning a user in a Google Docs comment
In Google Docs, you’ll now see out of office information when replying to or mentioning other users in a comment. | Learn more.


Control background replacement in Google Meet with a new admin setting
We’re adding the ability for admins to enable or disable the use of custom or preset backgrounds in Google Meet for meetings organized by an organizational unit (OU) level. | Learn more.


Indirect membership visibility and membership hierarchy APIs now generally available
We’re making it easier to identify, audit, and understand indirect group membership via the Cloud Identity Groups API. Specifically, we’re making the membership visibility and membership hierarchy APIs generally available. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Enterprise for Education and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.
Read More

Quick launch summary 

We’re making it easier to identify, audit, and understand indirect group membership via the Cloud Identity Groups API. Specifically, we’re making the membership visibility and membership hierarchy APIs generally available. These were previously available in beta. 

Using “nested” groups to manage access to content and resources can help decrease duplication, simplify administration, and centralize access management. However, nested groups can create a complex hierarchy that can make it hard to understand who ultimately has access and why. These APIs help provide all of the information you need to understand complex group structures and hierarchies, and can help you make decisions about who to add to or remove from your groups. 

See our beta announcement for more information and use cases for the APIs. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Enterprise for Education and Cloud Identity Premium customers. 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, and Enterprise Essentials, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Read More

Update:
February 1, 2021: We’ve updated this blog to better explain how this setting impacts meeting organizers and participants.

What’s changing

We’re adding the ability for admins to enable or disable the use of custom or preset backgrounds in Google Meet for meetings organized by an organizational unit (OU) level.

Important Note: the meeting organizer’s setting will determine whether or not meeting participants can change their background or use custom background images.

For example: if this feature is OFF for students, but ON for teachers, students will be able to use custom or preset backgrounds when joining a meeting organized by their teacher.

For Education and Enterprise for Education customers, the “let users select custom images” option will be disabled by default. We recommend admins leave this option disabled, as well as turning off the use of preset backgrounds, to help prevent students from changing their background to distracting or inappropriate images.

Getting started 

  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at the OU or group level. Note: the “Let users select custom images” option will be disabled by default for Education and Enterprise for Education domains. Visit the Help Center to learn more about controlling whether users can change their backgrounds in Meet. 
In the Google Meet section of the Admin console, within the Meet video settings, you can control whether users can change their backgrounds in Meet.

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Read More

Quick launch summary

In Google Docs, you’ll now see out of office information when replying to or mentioning other users in a comment.

When mentioning a single user in a new comment or thread, you’ll see the OOO banner and information on when they plan to return.




For multi-person threads, you’ll see condensed out of office information. You can select the info icon to view more information on each specific person. 


Getting started

Rollout pace


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 





Read More

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

In the Google Cloud Community, discuss the latest features with Googlers and other Google Workspace admins like you. Learn tips and tricks that will make your work and life easier. Be the first to know what's happening with Google Workspace.

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.

Learn about our customers

Discover how a diverse range of organizations, from small businesses and nimble startups to globally recognized Fortune 500 corporations, leverage the collaborative power of Google Workspace. Explore examples of how teams of are streamlining workflows and driving productivity by utilizing Google-Workspace.