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


Update (August 17, 2018) - This post originally stated that you could embed a G+ search results page in Sites. This was incorrect, so we’ve updated the post to reflect that embedding a search results page isn’t supported yet.We’re working to expand the page types supported, so keep an eye on the G Suite Updates blog to hear when we add new functionality. 

We’re making it easier to embed Google+ streams in the new Google Sites. This feature is a top request from users who want to create more interactive and engaging sites. The launch will help you:

  • Increase the social aspect of sites. Users can see all the posts, photos, comments, and other content that they’d see with the full G+ experience. 
  • Enable free-flowing communication. Users can add comments, +1s, and more to the G+ content directly from the site. 
  • Keep content fresh. Users can avoid duplicate content management by having G+ updates appear automatically in sites. 


How embedded G+ streams work 

You can embed many types of G+ post streams in your Google Sites pages. Specifically, you can embed a top-level community page, a community category page, a collection page, or a G+ profile. Formatting of the G+ embed will automatically adjust to the width you set. Once it’s embedded, users can interact with posts just as they can on the full G+ experience. 

Permissions to see and interact with the stream are determined by whether users can see the content in G+. So if you embed from a private G+ community, only members of that community will be able to see the content on the site.

See our Help Center for more details on how to embed G+ streams in Google Sites.

Launch Details 
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions: 
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI 

More Information 
Help Center: Add Google files, video & more

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Rescheduling in Google Calendar just got easier. We’re introducing a new feature that enables more efficient meeting scheduling. Now, each guest invited to a meeting can propose a new time and the organizer can easily review and accept time proposals. This allows for richer communication between attendees, reduces time spent on meeting practicalities, and makes meetings more productive with key stakeholders in attendance.

When a user is invited to a Calendar event, they can respond “Yes,” “No,” Maybe,” and now, “Propose a new time.” If calendar access permissions have been granted, guests can see the other attendees' availability side by side, so they can suggest a time that works for everyone.



Guests can then send their time proposal along with an optional message to the organizer, who can accept the proposed time with just one click.



This functionality works across domains and with Microsoft Exchange. Guests can send proposals to organizers using Exchange, and organizers can receive proposals from guests using Exchange. Available on the web now, this is coming to mobile on August 13th, so your users can act while on the go.

For more information, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming on August 13th

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Respond to event invitations

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We’re improving how search works in Google Drive. When you click in the search box, you’ll now see a range of options. Click on an option to quickly perform a search with a relevant filter applied. You may see:


  • Your top collaborators. Click on a person to search for files that you’ve collaborated with them on. 
  • Suggested search queries. Click on a term to search for it. 
  • File types, edit history, priority items, and more. Click to show files that match the highlighted criteria. 


Quicker searches powered by machine learning 

These filters can help you find files more quickly without having to remember a specific title or keyword. Each category of suggested filter uses multi-variant machine learning to predict what you’re most likely to use, and the filters will improve over time. We hope that these suggestions help you find and filter content more efficiently in Drive.

Launch Details 
Release track:
Launching to Rapid Release, with Scheduled Release coming on August 8, 2018

Editions: 
Available to G Suite Enterprise edition only

Rollout pace: 
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI


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Update (July 27, 2018) - While we previewed this feature as part of our Google Cloud Next 2018 conference agenda, it's not quite ready to launch yet. Keep an eye on the G Suite Updates blog and G Suite release calendar to know when it will be available to G Suite customers.




We’re adding a new feature to Google Drive that lets you see when other people are editing files in Microsoft Office products. This will help you collaborate better and avoid version conflicts. This feature uses the Drive File Stream cloud sync solution. Make sure you’re using Drive File Stream to take advantage.

Avoid version conflicts 

When you open a Microsoft Word, Powerpoint or Excel document in Drive, we’ll check if anyone else is currently editing the document. We’ll then let you know if it’s safe to edit or if you should wait. Drive may tell you:


  • Safe to edit: No one else is editing. 
  • Wait to edit: Other people are editing, so your edits will create multiple, conflicting versions. 
  • New version created: Another editor saved a newer version of the file. 
  • New version created (conflict): While you were editing the file, another editor also edited it. Click for a side-by-side comparison to help you create one version.
See when it's safe to edit a file


If conflicts do happen, compare and resolve side by side

If version conflicts do occur, Drive will show the two document versions and their changes side by side. This unique feature will help you quickly merge the multiple versions into a single, up-to-date document.

Compare conflicting versions to create one up to date document 

We believe this feature will go a long way to eliminating “document collisions,” and reduce the frustration and duplicative work caused when they do occur. We also hope that this makes it easier to collaborate on more file types in Drive.

Use Drive File Stream to see this feature 

This features is a part of Drive File Stream. Drive File Stream is a cloud file sync solution that we believe is best for most G Suite organizations. It lets you stream My Drive and Team Drive files directly from the cloud, which:


  • Makes Drive files available for offline access 
  • Frees up disk space and network bandwidth 
  • Minimizes the amount of company data stored on users’ hard drives 
  • Enables new features such as version conflict alerts for Microsoft files 


See the Help Center for how to choose and deploy a sync solution for Google Drive.

Launch Details 
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions: 
Available to all G Suite editions 

Rollout pace: 
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI



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(Cross-posted from The Keyword)

In 1958, U.S. corporations remained on the S&P 500 index for an average of 61 years, according to the American Enterprise Foundation. Fast forward to today and companies are being replaced approximately every two weeks. In this rapidly changing market, traditional companies are looking for ways to stay competitive and more and more enterprises, including Nielsen, Colgate and Airbus, are turning to G Suite to help them reimagine how they work to keep pace.

We know that enterprises want to move to cloud-first collaboration to transform how they work, but, understandably, they have questions about how to make it work in a business of their size. What happens with email security? How can they manage their data? How does G Suite work with the tools and systems they already have in place?

Yesterday we announced new products to help businesses reimagine how they work, and today we’re sharing additional solutions we’ve built to address these concerns.

Here’s a snapshot of what we’re announcing today. Read on for more detail.
  • New Gmail (redesigned security warnings, snooze, offline access and more generally available for G Suite users)
  • Cloud Search (being deployed by an initial set of customers)
  • Google Voice for G Suite (available in our Early Adopter Program*)
  • Drive Enterprise SKU (available for purchase)

Keeping businesses (and emails) secure

Keeping your data secure is our top priority, which is why we use machine learning to analyze threat indicators across billions of messages in Gmail to help quickly identify potential security attacks in the making. Machine learning helps protect more than 1.4 billion active Gmail user accounts from nearly 10 million spam and malicious emails every minute.

Today, we’re making the new Gmail generally available to G Suite customers so that, in addition to these baked-in security features, more companies can take advantage of features like redesigned security warnings, snooze, offline access and more. You can learn more in this post.

Bringing the best of Google Search to enterprise data

Searching through your company’s data should be as easy as doing a web search. But the reality is most companies’ information is spread across different silos and systems that don’t talk to each other, which makes finding things a lengthy chore. We introduced Cloud Search last year to make it easy to find information across G Suite in a way that’s intuitive and assistive. Today, we are announcing new Cloud Search functionality to help companies intelligently and securely index their third-party data beyond G Suite, whether that data is stored in the cloud, or on-prem.

Companies, like Whirlpool Corporation, have started deploying Cloud Search’s new capabilities to unify search across multiple data sources. Using Cloud Search’s new SDKs, APIs and connectors for third-party connectivity, Whirlpool created a custom app called Whirlpool SearchPro that indexes more than 12 million documents across different on-prem and cloud systems and returns results in 100s of milliseconds on average. Moreover, search results reflect the specific permissions and access controls from each of the source systems to ensure that individuals only see the information they should.

Index third-party data with Google Cloud Search
New Cloud Search functionality helps companies intelligently and securely index their third-party data.

Cloud Search’s new functionality will be available to G Suite Enterprise customers as well as any company looking to power their enterprise search needs as a new standalone offering. We’re also pleased to offer qualifying Google Search Appliance customers an upgrade path to Cloud Search. Cloud Search is currently being deployed by an initial set of customers, and we’re excited to have 15 launch partners on board, including SADA, Onix and Accenture. Learn more.

Enabling smarter and easier collaboration

We first introduced Hangouts Chat, Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Meet hardware last year to make it easier for employees to collaborate with colleagues across the globe, be it face-to-face or via chat. Aside from bringing the best of video conferencing to businesses, we also want to create better telephony solutions so that employees can be more productive over the phone. For close to a decade, millions of consumers have used Google Voice to connect with folks across the globe. Now we’re bringing an enterprise version of Voice to G Suite.

On top of the existing features that users love, Google Voice is tightly integrated with G Suite apps, like Hangouts Meet and Google Calendar, and provides administrator capabilities best suited for the enterprise. Admins can manage users, provision and port phone numbers, access detailed reports and set up call routing functionality. Voice also lets you deploy phone numbers to employees, or even entire departments, at once, and assigns a number that’s not tied to a specific device. AI-powered features in Voice also help facilitate voicemail transcription and spam filtering, which helps eliminate disruptions for employees so they can focus on what’s important.

We’ve been testing this enterprise version with key customers since last October. As a part of the Trusted Tester* program, Nielsen noticed major improvements in reliability and call quality compared to previous phone solutions. “Google Voice quickly emerged as our preferred telephony solution for remote teams and frequent travelers,” says Kim Anstett, Chief Information Officer at Nielsen. “In fact, we’re excited to announce plans to leverage Voice as the standard for remote work telephony at Nielsen.”

To try out Google Voice within your organization, you can sign up for the Early Adopter Program.

Making transitioning to the cloud simple

Lastly, we want to make it simpler for businesses to adopt and use G Suite, and a large part of this is ensuring a smooth transition off legacy enterprise content management (ECM) systems. To help, our customers will now be able to purchase Drive Enterprise as a standalone offering with usage-based pricing.

With Drive Enterprise, businesses can move their content to the cloud in Google Drive, and employees can create and collaborate securely with tools like Docs, Sheets and Slides without disrupting other legacy office productivity tools. More than 2 trillion files are stored in Google Drive to date, and most recently, Google was named a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Content Collaboration Platforms (CCP) for the second year in a row. Learn more about the new Drive Enterprise.

Purchase Drive Enterprise as a standalone offering
Customers can now purchase Drive Enterprise as a standalone offering with usage-based pricing.

We’ve also made a concerted effort to make it easier to use G Suite with existing legacy tools so that you can avoid interruptions at work. Whether it’s making sure your calendar details stay intact between Microsoft Exchange and Google Calendar, providing new ways to integrate Hangout Meet with existing hardware, making it easier to collaborate with teams outside of your domain and more, we’re focused on building solutions to make your work day easier. Read more about our latest interoperability capabilities in this post.

Try today

Visit the G Suite website to see how you can transform how your enterprise operates, and stay tuned to the G Suite Updates blog today for more details on these and other features launching at Next.

*The G Suite Trusted Tester and Early Adopter Programs will soon be renamed as Alpha and Beta, respectively. More details to come.



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