Google Workspace Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 8, 2023

Friday, December 8, 2023

1 New updateUnless 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.
Report sharing and comment push notifications for abuse on Android devicesRapid Release and Scheduled Release domainsreporting a violation

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.

Access Google Vault audit logs alongside other Workspace audit logs

We’re excited to announce the general availability of an improved Google Vault audit log experience. As a result of this change, you can now find Vault audit logs in the Admin console alongside other Google Workspace apps like Gmail, Google Drive, and more. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license only. | Learn more about accessing Vault audit logs.

Solve math equations easily with Smart Compose

We're introducing a new feature that extends the power of Smart Compose to help you solve simple math equations. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits only. | Learn more about smart compose for math.

Introducing a redesigned search results page in Google Chat

Chat will now highlight matching keywords in search results and show clear demarcation between results for easier browsing. The highlighted keywords could be an exact match to your search query or terms that are related to your search query. | Learn more about highlighting in Chat.

Admins in Google Vault can now export hyperlinked Google Drive content from Gmail messages

Starting December 8, 2023, admins can export Drive files hyperlinked in Gmail messages directly in Google Vault. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license only. | Learn more about exporting hyperlinked Drive content.

Set client-side encryption as the default mode for new emails, events, and files

Admins can now set client-side encryption (CSE) to be on by default for: newly created Gmail messages, Google Calendar events, newly created Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files, and newly uploaded Google Drive files. | Google Workspace Assured Controls is available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. | Learn more about client-side encryption as the default mode.

New beta to add granular control options for who can respond to Google Forms

With this new option, form creators can limit response access to specific users, groups, or target audiences—similar to how file owners can restrict the sharing of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides or Sites in Drive. | Learn more about Forms controls.

Turn on snippets for additional context surrounding data loss prevention rule violations

Admins can now view “Sensitive Content Snippets” for data loss prevention (DLP) rules. This applies to DLP events for Drive, Chat, and Chrome. When turned on, snippets will log the matched content that triggered a DLP violation in the security investigation tool. | Available to Google Workspace Frontline Standard, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Cloud Identity Premium and BeyondCorp Enterprise customers only. | Learn more about snippets.

Manage conversations by muting notifications in Google Chat

We’re introducing a new mute/unmute option in Google Chat to assist you in prioritizing and managing your messages. | Learn more about muting notifications in Chat.

Updated grace periods for resolving policy violations in managed iOS devices

We’re adjusting a few components to how this grace period operates to boost compliance and prevent inadvertent circumvention. | Available to Google Workspace Frontline Starter and Frontline Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Learn more about policy violations in managed iOS devices.

Additional enhancements to the search results page in Google ChatWe’re introducing condensed versions of your search results to only show the relevant parts of a message that match closest to your search query. By selecting “Show more”, you can view the entire message without the need to open the conversation. | Learn more about search in Chat.

Easily fill in smart chips in Google Docs using placeholder chipsWhen crafting content in Docs, a replaceable chip for people, dates, files, events, and places can be inserted and quickly filled in by collaborators. | Learn more about placeholder chips.

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.

Scheduled Release Domains:

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

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

Easily fill in smart chips in Google Docs using placeholder chips

Friday, December 8, 2023

What’s changingTo build on our innovations in smart canvas that help you simplify workflows and complete common tasks with easy-to-use prompts in Google Docs, we’re introducing placeholder chips.
When crafting content in Docs, a replaceable chip for people, dates, files, events, and places can be inserted and quickly filled in by collaborators. Upon hovering or clicking on a chip, a search menu opens and includes results filtered to the chip type. Placeholder chips are particularly useful in building blocks, custom building blocks, tables, and more.

Easily fill in smart chips in Google Docs using placeholder chips

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Placeholder chips are only editable on the web, but can be viewed on web and mobile. Visit the Help Center to learn more about inserting smart chips & building blocks in your Google Doc.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 8, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Insert smart chips & building blocks in your Google Doc

Additional enhancements to the search results page in Google Chat

Friday, December 8, 2023

What’s changingWe recently announced a redesigned search results page in Google Chat that highlights matching keywords in search results and shows clear demarcation between results for easier browsing.
Today, we’re introducing condensed versions of your search results to only show the relevant parts of a message that match closest to your search query. By selecting “Show more”, you can view the entire message without the need to open the conversation.

Who’s impactedEnd users

Why it matters This update enables you to quickly identify the right search result in Chat.

Additional details Search results are based on the exact query, as well as any additional queries that might have been triggered (secondary query, synonyms, spell corrections, etc).

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about searching for Google Chat messages.

Rollout pace

Web:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on December 8, 2023

Mobile:

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

eSignature is now generally available for Google Workspace Individual subscribers

Thursday, December 7, 2023

What’s changing Earlier this year, we introduced eSignature for Docs and Drive in beta. Today, eSignature for Docs and Drive is rolling out in general availability for all Workspace Individual customers.

Built directly into Google Docs, eSignature makes it easier for solopreneurs and small businesses to request signatures, keep track of and manage contracts like customer agreements, vendor contracts, stakeholder sign-offs and more. eSignature can be used to:

Request signatures, see the status of pending signatures, and find completed contracts.
Sign official contracts directly within Google Drive, eliminating the need to switch apps or tabs.
Create a copy of any given contract so it can be used as a template to initiate multiple eSignatures requests.

Since the last announcement, we’ve expanded functionality to include the following features:

Audit trail: all completed contracts will automatically contain an audit trail report.
Multi-signer: the ability to request a signature from more than one user.
Non-Gmail users: the ability to request an eSignature from non-Gmail users.
Initiating eSignature on PDF (beta): the ability to initiate an eSignature on PDF files stored in Drive.

We’ll also be introducing more features for eSignature in the next few months, including:

PDF templates: the ability to easily reuse a PDF file as contract templates.
Custom text fields: the ability to ask signers to add relevant information (e.g. job titles, email address) to the contract.

Additional details

Select Google Workspace editions (see the “Availability” section below) can apply to beta test eSignature using this form. We will be accepting beta applications until December 18, 2023.

This feature will be available as part of a larger beta, which includes access to new custom email layouts in Gmail. These new email layouts allow users to customize existing templates, reuse a custom layout in multiple email campaigns, or create a brand new layout from scratch. Once you sign up for the beta you will see the eSignature and new Gmail features in the coming weeks.

Getting started

End users: Workspace Individual subscribers: Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending signature requests & sign documents with eSignature.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 7, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Individual Subscribers
Eligible for beta: Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Custom notifications for Google Chat data loss prevention rules are now generally available

Thursday, December 7, 2023

What’s changing Earlier this year, we announced the beta availability for admins to display custom notifications when a Google Chat message is blocked or intercepted based on data loss prevention rules. Beginning today, this feature will become generally available on web and mobile.

Custom notifications give admins the opportunity to provide their users with more context about why they were blocked from sending a specific message, what they can do to unblock themselves, and include links to additional resources, such as organization guidelines for sensitive data with actionable recommendations. For more information, please reference our original announcement.

Getting started

Admins:

Custom notifications can be set per each data protection rule at the domain, Organizational Unit (OU), or group level.
When creating a rule, in Step 4: Actions, under “User Message”, select “customize message”. Custom notifications can also be applied to existing DLP rules. If admins do not customize the notification, the generic notification will be shown to users.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about preventing data leaks from Chat messages & attachments.

End users: There is no end user action required. Depending on your admin settings, you’ll see more detailed information if you’re trying to send a Google Chat message that meets conditions defined in a data loss prevention rule.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on December 7, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Plus, and Frontline Standard customers
DLP for Chat is also available to Cloud Identity Premium users who are also licensed for Workspace editions that include Google Chat and Audit and investigation. Visit the Help Center for more information.

Resources

Updated grace periods for resolving policy violations in managed iOS devices

Thursday, December 7, 2023

What’s changing Ensuring only managed applications can access sensitive information is vital to security. Currently, when admins make a policy change that results in an app going from unmanaged to managed, if a policy violation is detected, a 24-hour grace period is given to users to comply with the change. After this grace period, users will lose the ability to access their Google Workspace account.

Moving forward, we’re adjusting a few components to how this grace period operates to boost compliance and prevent inadvertent circumvention. Specifically:

Grace Period

Situation

Next Steps

None

-The managed apps policy violation is detected during the device enrollment.

-The managed apps policy violation by an app is detected after 24 hrs from the moment the admin changes the policy.

Users will be prompted to install the app from the Google Device Policy app for IOS or they will lose access to Google Workspace.

Visit the Help Center to learn more.

24 hours

The managed apps policy violation by an app is detected within the 24hrs from the moment the admin changes the policy.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

Improving these safeguards helps ensure that only managed applications can access sensitive organization information. If the managed applications do not meet the requirements of the access policies set by admins, managed application access to Workspace data is deactivated until users take the proper steps.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Frontline Starter and Frontline Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus and Cloud Identity Premium customers

Resources

Manage conversations by muting notifications in Google Chat

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

What’s changingWe’re introducing a new mute/unmute option in Google Chat to assist you in prioritizing and managing your messages. This is the latest feature within the recently announced enhanced Chat experience that helps you increase concentration, eliminate distractions and ultimately focus on the most important conversations.
Muted conversations will not send push notifications, will not appear in home, and will also be visually deprioritized by being moved to the bottom of each conversation section. Notification badges will still apply to muted conversations when there are new @ mentions for you or everyone in the conversation.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it This update is particularly useful for those who feel overwhelmed by numerous, highly active conversations as they now have an option to tune out the extra noise, protect their time for heads-down individual work and focus on the most important communication.

Additional details Unmuting a conversation undoes the visual deprioritization applied to the conversation and the notification settings prior to muting will re-apply to the communication.

Getting started

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

To mute a notification:

Click on the three dot menu in the left hand panel of any conversation
Select mute option
Alternatively open the notification setting of any conversation and check the mute option

To unmute a conversation:

Click on the three dot menu in the left hand panel of any conversation
Select unmute option
Alternatively open the notification setting of any conversation and uncheck the mute option

Visit the Help Center to learn more about muting conversations in Google Chat.

Rollout pace Web:

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 6, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 18, 2023

Mobile:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 28, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Mute conversations in Google Chat

Turn on snippets for additional context surrounding data loss prevention rule violations

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

What’s changing Admins can now view “Sensitive Content Snippets” for data loss prevention (DLP) rules. This applies to DLP events for Drive, Chat, and Chrome. When turned on, snippets will log the matched content that triggered a DLP violation in the security investigation tool. Admins can use the information captured in the snippet to better identify actual security risks, determine whether a false positive was returned, and decide on an appropriate course of action.

Getting started

Admins:

Make sure any admins who need to review the snippets have the "view sensitive content" privilege. Only super admins have the ability to hide or unhide sensitive data.
This feature will be OFF by default and can be turned on in the Admin console by going to Security > Data Protection > Data Protection Settings > Sensitive Content Storage.

To view snippets in the security investigation tool, select any row from the “Description column” and scroll down to “Sensitive Content Snippets”. Here you’ll see the matched detector ID, the matched content starting character, and the matched content length.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing content snippets that trigger DLP rules, using Workspace DLP to prevent data loss, and the security investigation tool.

End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 6, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Frontline Standard, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus, and Enterprise Essentials Plus customers
Also available to Cloud Identity Premium and BeyondCorp Enterprise customers

Resources

New beta to add granular control options for who can respond to Google Forms

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

What’s changingWe’re introducing a beta that gives Google Forms creators more granular control over who can respond to their forms via sharing settings.
Previously, forms creators had two sharing options: restrict responses to users within their domain (and trusted domains) or make forms public (i.e. anyone with the URL can respond). With this new option, form creators can limit response access to specific users, groups, or target audiences—similar to how file owners can restrict the sharing of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides or Sites in Drive.

New beta to add granular control options for who can respond to Google Forms

Who’s impacted Admins, end users and developers

Why you’d use it This feature is useful in any scenario where you’d like to control who can respond to a form. For example, teachers can use this to ensure a quiz is only accessible to select students who receive the link. Similarly, business leaders can better collect feedback from specific organizational units and prevent the form from collecting email addresses or from being forwarded.

Getting started

Admins: For a limited time, you can sign your organization up for the beta using this form. Upon signing up, users within the Google group signed up for the beta should see the new feature within 2-3 weeks.
End users: All new forms created by users who are allowlisted will be enabled into this feature. Form creators must publish their form to enable responders to view the form or submit a response. Form creators can see who has access to the form and share response access to specific users, groups, or target audiences. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating a form in Google Forms.

Users with personal Google Accounts or Workspace Individual subscribers can sign up using this form.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Note: The target audiences feature mentioned above is only available for the Google Drive and Docs and Google Chat services. Supported editions for this feature on Drive, Docs & Chat include: Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus. Supported editions for this feature on Drive & Docs only include: Business Standard, Nonprofits and G Suite Business.

Resources

Set client-side encryption as the default mode for new emails, events, and files

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

What’s changingAdmins can now set client-side encryption (CSE) to be on by default for:

Newly created Gmail messages, Google Calendar events.

Newly created Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files.

Newly uploaded Google Drive files.

Admins can set client-side encryption as default on for users in Organizational Units (OUs) that regularly handle sensitive data requiring additional encryption. This allows organizations the flexibility to meet their compliance and regulatory requirements and reduce the burden on change management programs. Users are prompted to create a CSE object natively in each app meaning their emails, events and files are encrypted by default with customer-managed keys and are private from Google. For organizations with strict regulatory or sovereignty needs, this can help them close compliance gaps by defaulting users to the preferred mode for handling sensitive data. Drive:

Gmail:

This is available on the web initially, with support coming for mobile apps in the future. Who’s impactedAdmins and end users
Why it mattersThis feature is important for Google Workspace admins as it improves users compliance behavior without sacrificing productivity and increases control for admins implementing data control policies. It also includes improved audit logs, providing more detail for admins compiling regulatory compliance reports.

Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt data by default, at rest and in transit between our facilities. Client-side encryption goes beyond this, giving organizations authoritative control and privacy as the sole owner of private encryption keys and the identity provider of the encryption keys. It gives organizations higher confidence that any third party, including Google and foreign governments, cannot access their confidential data. Users can continue to collaborate across their preferred apps in Workspace while IT and compliance teams can ensure that sensitive data stays compliant with regulations.
Getting started

Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be configured at the group or OU level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about client-side encryption.

End users: Use our Help Center to learn more about working with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 5, 2023

Availability

Google Workspace Assured Controls is available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative.

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: About client-side encryption
Google Help: Get started with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides
Cloud Blog post: Announcing Assured Controls and expanded Data Regions coverage for Google Workspace
Google Workspace Blog: Google Workspace expands data privacy controls to Gmail and Calendar with client-side encryption

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

In the Google Cloud Community, connect with Googlers and other Google Workspace admins like yourself. Participate in product discussions, check out the Community Articles, and learn tips and tricks that will make your work and life easier. Be the first to know what's happening with Google Workspace.

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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.

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Updates