Google Sheets now supports custom sorting and manual reordering in pivot tables. Users can now drag and drop rows and columns on a pivot table to match specific presentation needs and custom business hierarchies, rather than being restricted to standard ascending or descending alphanumeric order. This launch includes the following capabilities:

• On-grid drag-and-drop: Directly grab and move individual row or column headers with clear drop-zone indicators
• Multi-item reordering: Select and reposition multiple rows or columns simultaneously
• Hierarchical preservation: Automatically move nested child items alongside parent fields, maintaining structure across expand and collapse actions
• Persistent sort states: Preserve custom arrangements across browser sessions, data refreshes, filtering, and layout adjustments

This update also delivers significant improvements for Microsoft Excel file interoperability. Previously, when importing Microsoft Excel workbooks containing pivot tables with manual or custom sort orders, Google Sheets defaulted back to ascending or descending order. Now, imported spreadsheets retain their pivot tables with the exact custom sort order preserved. Furthermore, exporting workbooks back to Microsoft Excel retains these sorted orders for seamless roundtrip compatibility.

User dragging and dropping row labels to manually reorder a pivot table in Google Sheets

Getting started

• Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about customizing pivot tables in Google Sheets or creating and using pivot tables in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 22, 2026 
• Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 5, 2026 

Availability

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

Resources

• Google Docs Editors Help: Create & use pivot tables
• Google Docs Editors Help: Customize pivot tables

Earlier this year we introduced study notebooks, a dedicated space that turns Gemini into an interactive, adaptive learning platform. They offer personalized lessons based on your learning goal, whether that’s tackling a school course or learning a new skill. Now, we’re excited to share that users of all ages who are signed into a school or work-issued Google account will also have access to study notebooks if the Gemini app and Gemini Notebook are enabled by their admin.

Here’s how study notebooks work:

1. Create your study notebook: From the left sidebar in the Gemini app, select “New notebook”, and then the “Study and learn” tile. Tell Gemini what you are studying, and upload your class materials or other sources. 
2. Assess your knowledge gaps: You can request progress check quizzes, helping pinpoint your strengths and weaknesses to create a tailored learning baseline.
3. Study with personalized bite-sized lessons: Follow short, custom lessons with built-in practice quizzes. You can ask in-line questions at any point as you learn.
4. Track your progress: Monitor real-time mastery via a dynamic dashboard that breaks your goals into objectives, categorizing topics into "Strengths" and "Focus areas," to recommend top-priority lessons.

With study notebooks, students’ learning is grounded in trusted class materials, ensuring that lessons from Gemini are consistent with their curriculum.

This expansion gives educational institutions and organizations a secure way to support more personal learning, reinforcing classroom instruction while keeping study material relevant and accurate.

Getting started

• Admins: Study notebooks in Gemini are available if the Gemini app and Gemini Notebook are enabled. As an administrator of your organization's Google Accounts, you can control who can use study notebooks. Study notebooks are available to users who are in a group or organizational unit (OU) with both Gemini Notebook and Gemini set to On. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Gemini and Gemini Notebook on or off for users.
• End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) started on September 17, 2026.

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual subscribers outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), as well as users with personal Google accounts globally. Study notebooks will roll out to users in the EEA in the coming weeks.

Resources

• Google Gemini Help: Create and use notebooks in Gemini Apps
• News from Google: Supporting students with connected AI tools for more personalized learning
• News from Google: 5 ways to learn with study notebooks in the Gemini app

We’re introducing a new manual calculation setting in Google Sheets to give you precise control over when formulas and other references update. The new manual calculation setting allows editors of complex or data-dense spreadsheets to pause automatic recalculation, batch their edits, and trigger a sheet-wide update at the exact moment they are ready to review the results.

Manual calculation offers users of especially complex Sheets a more streamlined, uninterrupted workspace for advanced analytical workflows. This feature is particularly useful for things like:

• Uninterrupted high-volume updates: When pasting or modifying large blocks of data in spreadsheets  containing extensive formula networks (such as multi-sheet lookups and aggregations), you can enter all updates smoothly without intermediate recalculations running after every action.
• Structured scenario modeling: When adjusting multiple assumption drivers in financial or forecasting models, you can input your variables sequentially and recalculate once. This ensures you only view the complete, final state of the scenario rather than partial, intermediate calculations.
• Stabilizing volatile simulations: For spreadsheets utilizing volatile functions (such as random generators or live timestamps), manual calculation lets you freeze the data state so your numbers remain stable while you analyze results or present insights to key stakeholders.

Enabling Manual Calculation Mode

Controlling when Sheets calculates

Getting started

• Admins:  There is no admin control for this feature.
• End users: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled by the user by navigating to File > Settings > Calculation Settings in their Sheet. Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 21, 2026

Availability

• Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual subscribers

Resources

• Google Help: Set a spreadsheet’s location & calculation settings

Workday for Google Sheets is a new add-on available in the Google Workspace Marketplace that connects Workday Adaptive Planning directly to Google Sheets and Slides. Deeply integrated with the AI-powered “Ask Workday” feature in Adaptive Planning, this add-on eliminates the need for manual CSV downloads. Financial analysts and business leaders can build dynamic reports, perform ad-hoc variance analysis, and maintain complete data integrity without leaving Google Sheets. Shorten planning cycles and surface strategic insights faster with key AI-driven features including:

• Natural language summaries and variance analysis: Ask questions or use suggested prompts to get instant summaries, compare plan versions against actuals, and break down performance drivers across time periods and custom dimensions.
• Automated anomaly detection: Automatically identify unexpected data points, outliers, and trend shifts across account hierarchies to quickly focus attention on critical variances.
• Smart visualizations: View AI-generated charts and tables based on custom queries, switch visualization formats on the fly, copy findings into new spreadsheet tabs for further ad-hoc work, or export directly into Google Slides.
• Dynamic ad-hoc reporting: Pull live Adaptive Planning accounts, dimensions, and time periods into Google Sheets, with the flexibility to rearrange elements and refresh reports at any time to reflect the latest model updates.

  Workday for Google Sheets: Dynamic Ad-hoc Reporting

Ask Workday: Summarize this report

Ask Workday: Detect anomalies

Getting started

• Admins: Workday admins need to enable Workday for Google Sheets and Ask Workday for Adaptive Planning access in Adaptive Planning under Administration > Permission Sets, then confirm SSO and Tenant settings. Once complete, Google Workspace admins will go to the Google Workspace Marketplace and click on install for the appropriate users, groups, or organizational units. Visit the Help Center to learn more about installing marketplace apps for your organization.
• End users: Once installed by their administrators, users can open any Google Sheet and click on Extensions > Workday for Google Sheets > Workday to sign in. Read any onboarding instructions from your Workday and Google administrators before building your first Adaptive Planning Report in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

• Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now

Availability

Set up sharing boundaries for Google Drive with unified data protection rules

We’re introducing a new capability that allows Google Workspace administrators to configure audience sharing and sensitivity-based data conditions in a single, unified rule. This unified rule flow helps organizations elevate their security posture to proactively mitigate insider risks, prevent data exfiltration, and safely unblock collaboration for high-sensitivity environments. | Learn more.

Gmail Search’s AI Overviews now available globally

Starting today, we are expanding access to AI Overviews in Gmail search to global users (with paid plans) who have their Gmail language set as English. Previously, this was only available to users in the US with their language set as English. | Learn more.

Connect to more tools with Gemini in Google Workspace

Users will now be able to use Gemini in Workspace to directly interact with Asana, Atlassian Rovo, HubSpot, Intuit Mailchimp, Intuit QuickBooks, Monday, and Salesforce through Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations. This will enable them to access information directly without needing to switch tabs, download files, or interrupt workflows across our Google Workspace apps including Sheets, Gmail, Drive, Docs, Chat, and more. | Learn more.

Connect to Google Meet hardware with room codes now generally available

Google Meet users can now connect to nearby conference room hardware by entering a 5-character room code on their personal device. Building on the recent Connect Room launch that uses proximity-based detection to identify nearby hardware, this update provides a reliable manual fallback when ultrasound is unavailable or disabled. | Learn more.

Data regions support for Google Apps Script now generally available

Data regions are critical for helping organizations meet internal compliance, legal, regulatory, and data sovereignty obligations by controlling the geographic location of covered data at rest and through data processing. Expanding these controls to Apps Script allows organizations—including those in highly regulated industries and the public sector—to build, deploy, and automate enterprise workflows with confidence that their script data and executions remain within designated geographic boundaries. | Learn more.

View conference room and meeting location details directly on the Google Meet homepage

Starting today, we’re enhancing the Meet homepage experience by displaying conference room and physical meeting locations directly on upcoming meeting cards. For in-office users this update allows them to see where they need to go directly on their Meet landing page, streamlining their workflow before and between meetings. | Learn more.

Introducing Expert Intelligence in Gemini Notebook

We’re introducing Expert Intelligence, a cross Google initiative that helps users engage with trusted sources through Google AI products, starting with Gemini Notebook. Featuring more than 100,000 books from major publishers, employees and students can now incorporate insights from leading authors, publications, and domain experts directly into Gemini Notebook. | Learn more.

Automate workflows with custom starters and steps, third-party integrations, and webhooks in Workspace Studio

To expand the capabilities of Workspace Studio and help teams build powerful, custom automations, we are introducing four new features for flows in Workspace Studio: custom starters, custom steps, third-party (3P) integrations, and webhooks. These new capabilities empower users to seamlessly connect custom Google Apps Script functions, integrate third-party services, and trigger external webhooks directly within flows in Workspace Studio. | Learn more.

Notebooks in Gemini: a dedicated workspace for focused, organized work, now for schools and organizations

In April, we announced notebooks in Gemini as a dedicated, focused space for individual users to organize their projects and conversations. Now, students of all ages, educators, and professionals can access notebooks to keep conversations about a topic organized in one place. | Learn more.

New back-to-school features and learning tools available in Gemini Notebook

We’re introducing several updates to Gemini Notebook that give users a more personalized and powerful learning experience. | Learn more.

The announcements above were published on the Workspace Updates blog over the last week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.