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 

“Take notes for me,” an AI-powered feature in Google Meet that automatically takes notes during your meetings, will be rolling out soon. Prior to end user availability, admins can now configure whether their users can use this Google AI note-taking feature with a new Admin console setting. This setting can be configured in the Admin console by going to Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Gemini Settings. 


Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Gemini Settings > Google AI note-taking


Similar to Meet transcripts Admin settings, this control gives admins more flexibility to test the feature within specific Organizational units (OUs) or Groups before deploying the feature more broadly within their organization.


“Take notes for me” is available for customers who have a Gemini Enterprise, Gemini Education Premium, or AI Meetings and Messaging add-on. Only users who are assigned one of these licenses will be able to use the note-taking feature. 


We’ll provide more information and timing on end user availability about “Take notes for me” in the coming weeks here on the Workspace Updates blog.


Additional details

Notes documents will be stored in the meeting owner’s drive folder and will follow the Meet retention policy that your organization has configured. If you are currently testing this feature in Workspace Labs and Alpha, your experience will change from respecting the Drive retention policy to respecting the Meet retention policy. 


Getting started

  • Admins: Take notes for me will be ON by default and can be configured at the OU and Group level in the Admin console by going to Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Gemini Settings > Google AI note-taking. If you want all of your users to receive the feature at once, you may want to consider turning this setting OFF and then after rollout switching it to ON.


Rollout pace

  • Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout of the admin setting (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 13, 2024 with expected completion on August 21, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers with the:
  • Gemini Enterprise add-on
  • Gemini Education Premium add-on
  • AI Meetings & Messaging Add-on

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What’s changing

We’re introducing a new feature that surfaces richer student engagement data on assignments with Google Drive attachments in Google Classroom. 

With this update, teachers will have easily accessible visibility into whether students have made progress on assignments with Drive attachments through pre-existing workflows in Classroom. This can help to identify students who may need additional support and make more informed decisions about how to assist their students. 

Specifically, teachers can see: 
  • From the Classwork page: The number of students who haven’t edited attachments for assignments. 
  • From the student work page on individual assignments: When the attachments were last edited by each student. 

With this information, teachers can: 
  • Quickly see whether students have started on their assigned work 
  • Provide timely interventions like sending reminders to the class or individual students 
  • Adjust instruction based on class progress Metrics for Drive attachments in Classroom

Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

This feature gives teachers visibility into student progress on academic work and helps them provide effective interventions to best support students. 


Additional details

The feature is currently only available on assignments with Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings attachments. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Resources 

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What’s changing 

When your users sign in to third-party apps using the "Sign in with Google" option (single sign-on) or use OAuth to share their data with those apps, you can control what access those apps have to your organization’s Google data using app access controls. 


Admins currently can configure the third-party apps as “Trusted”, giving them access to all OAuth scopes or as “Limited”, giving them access to scopes only from Google services which are not restricted. Beginning today, we’re giving admins another layer of granular control for third-party apps. Specifically, you can now configure apps to be limited by selected OAuth 2.0 Scopes for Google APIs, such as Drive or Gmail scopes. This helps ensure that these apps do not gain additional access without admin consent based on new API scopes that they might request in the future, keeping data access limited to only what is deemed absolutely necessary by admins.




Getting started

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as Cloud Identity Free and Premium customers


Resources


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3 New updates

Unless 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.


More granular control for Google Apps Script
We’re introducing a new toggle in the Admin console that adds controls for who can access and execute Google Apps Script scripts.
  • Users who have Apps Script turned on can use it to create, edit, and execute Apps Script scripts.
  • When disabled, end users can’t create or edit scripts and script and trigger executions are blocked. 
By default, Apps Script is turned on for all users in an organization. To change this setting, navigate to the Admin console > Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Google Apps Script. This setting will not take effect if the entire Drive and Docs Service is turned OFF.  | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to Google Workspace customers. | Learn more about turning Apps Script on or off for users.


Improving tables in Google Sheets
Following our announcement of tables in Google Sheets, we’re excited to introduce improvements to the experience. More specifically, you can now: 

1. Add table rows (anywhere in a table) and columns (to the right of a table) from an easy button at the edge of a table. 
Add table rows and columns from an easy button at the edge of a table.

2. Automatically set column types when converting a range to a table.
Automatically set column types when converting a range to a table

3. Drag values down or across to auto-fill cells, which expands the table automatically.

Drag values down or across to auto-fill cells, which expands the table automatically.

4. Use spaces in table names, meaning you can name something “Project tracker” instead of “Project_tracker”.

Use spaces in table names
Rollout to Rapid Release domains for #2 is complete; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for August 5, 2024. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now for #1, #3 and #4; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for August 14, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using tables in Google Sheets. 

Google Meet annotation updates for mobile devices 
Earlier this year, we announced annotations for Google Meet, which made it possible for presenters and their appointed co-annotators to highlight content or make other notations over presented content. Beginning today, Android users can appoint co-annotators. Previously on Android devices, it was only possible for presenters to use annotations. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Standard, and Plus; Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus; Frontline Starter and Standard; Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus; Education Standard, Plus, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade; Workspace Individual subscribers. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using annotations in Google Meet.


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.


Catch up on followed threads from the home shortcut in Google Chat 
We’re introducing the ability to follow and review threads within the home shortcut in Chat. | Learn more about threads in home. 

Gemini in the side panel of Google Drive introduces a new PDF viewing experience 
You can now interact with the Gemini side panel while viewing PDFs. | Learn more about PDF viewing with Gemini. 

Allowlist and Audit Logs for URLs accessed from Google Apps Script and Google Sheets 
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. | Learn more about accessed URLs. 

Prevent downloading, printing, or copying files by combining Data Loss Prevention rules with Context-Aware Access conditions 
Today, we’re expanding protections by enabling admins to combine DLP rules with Context-Aware Access conditions. | Learn more about combining rules and conditions.

Admins can now centrally set default grading settings for teachers in their district
Classroom admins can now centrally set default grading settings for teachers in their district using the Admin console. | Learn more about default grading settings.

Educators can now create new classes in Google Classroom using SIS data and import grading periods from the SIS
Teachers can now create new classes by importing information such as student rosters, co-teachers, grading categories, and grading periods from their SIS. Also, teachers can now import their grading periods from their student information systems (SIS) into Classroom. | Learn more about new SIS capabilities. 


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: 

Paused rollouts

We have paused the rollout for this feature while we evaluate performance and quality. We will provide an update with new rollout information as soon as possible. 

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


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What’s changing 

In 2023, we introduced the ability for Google Classroom teachers to export grading periods to their Student Information System (SIS) gradebook. This helps education teams simplify student data management and complete administrative tasks faster. 


Today, we’re excited to announce the ability for teachers to create new classes by importing information such as student rosters, co-teachers, grading categories, and grading periods from their SIS. Teachers can also pull this information into newly created classes in Classroom. Along with this, we’re launching the ability for teachers to import their grading periods from their student information systems (SIS) into Classroom. Please note this feature is only available for customers using one of our current SIS partners, which will expand over time. 


Once an admin establishes a connection between their district SIS and Google Classroom, teachers can manually link new or existing Google Classroom classes to their SIS, then use the connection to import grading categories, import students rosters, import co-teachers, and starting today, import grading periods and create new classes using SIS data.

Getting started

    • If a SIS is connected by your admin:
      • Teachers can import grading periods by going to classroom.google.com > select the class > Settings > next to “Grading Periods,” click “Import from SIS.”
      • Teachers can import “full class” information by going to classroom.google.com > click “Create or join a class” > select “Create class” > in the pop-up window, click the down arrow and select your SIS class > check the items you want to import to the new class (e.g. students, co-teachers, grading periods, grade categories).
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Classroom with your SIS and importing data from your SIS.

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