Google Workspace Updates

Check when your Google Meet meeting codes expire to ensure smooth future meeting experiences

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Quick launch summaryGoogle Meet meetings can be scheduled across Google Workspace products, such as Calendar, Gmail, Google Chat, and more. This means your unique meeting code and its expiration are based on the product that your meeting is created from.

Most meeting codes will expire 365 days after the last use, but there are instances where the meeting code will expire instantly once the meeting ends. See below for a complete breakdown of meeting code expirations according to the product they were generated by. These meeting code expirations will take effect beginning May 19, 2021.

We strongly recommend you use the table below to ensure your meeting codes are valid, especially for meetings you plan far in advance.

Where the meeting is Generated

How long the meeting code is valid

Google Calendar

Meeting codes expire when the following two conditions are met:

1) The meeting code has not been used for 365 days, and

2) The meeting code isn’t associated with any future calendar events.

Note: If a code is created in another product and pasted in a Calendar invite, the code will expire according to the product it was generated from.

Gmail and the Google Meet homepage

Meeting codes expire 365 days after last use.

Google Chat and Google Hangouts

Meeting codes expire 365 days after last use.

Breakout Rooms

Breakout rooms expire instantly once the parent meeting ends.

Jamboard and Meeting room hardware

Meeting code expires instantly once all users leave the meeting.

Nicknamed meetings

Note: Available to Google Workspace subscribers only.

Meeting code expires instantly once all users leave the meeting.

Google Classroom

Meeting code expires instantly once all users leave the meeting.

Other Third Party Applications

Meeting codes expire 365 days after last use. If someone uses the code within the 365 day window, then it will add another 365 days to the shelf life.

Google Nest

Meeting code generated by speaking into your Nest device and saying “Hey, Google start a meeting” expires 365 days after last use.

For users in the Google Workspace with Google Assistant Beta: Meeting generated by usage of meeting nicknames, expire instantly after the last user leaves.

Getting started

Admins and end users: We recommend reviewing the meeting code expiry limits to ensure your meeting codes are valid, especially for meetings planned far in advance.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 19, 2021.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Additional tools for managing the transition from classic to new Google Sites

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

What’s changing In 2017, we announced that we would replace classic Sites with new Sites, and in 2019 we announced that domains will have until the end of 2021 to complete the transition. Important note: Starting May 15, 2021, website creation in classic Google Sites will no longer be available. Visit the Help Center for more details on the Classic Sites migration.

To help Admins and end users manage the transition to new Sites, we introduced the Classic Sites Manager in 2020. Recently, we’ve added several new options to the Classic Sites Manager to help you and your users manage the transition from classic Sites:

Super Admins can now delegate admin-level Classic Sites Manager access to other users in their organization via a new assignable privilege, allowing them to do things like assign site owners or convert websites to the new Google Sites experience on behalf of their end users
Admins and site owners can now bulk delete and restore sites within the Classic Sites Manager
Admins can now bulk update ownership of sites from within the Classic Sites Manager

See below for more information.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important We hope these new options help admins and their end users navigate the transition from classic Sites to new Sites.

Admins can delegate admin-level access to the Classic Sites Manager to the right people within their organization, allowing them to view all classic Sites and determine which migration actions need to be taken (convert, delete, assign site owners, etc.).

With the addition of the delete bulk action in the Classic Sites Manager, admins (or delegated admins) can quickly remove any sites that are no longer relevant within their domain. End users will be able to remove any sites they own. Once a site is deleted, a user or admin has 30 days to restore it before it is permanently deleted.

For sites that have no owners, admins (or delegated admins) can now use the update owners action to assign ownership of sites to a point of contact in your organization who can best advise on whether the site should be deleted or converted to new Sites.

Additionally, sites can be converted to the new Sites experience using the Classic Sites Manager, with the option to export a filtered view from the Classic Sites Manager to Google Sheets for record keeping or further analysis.

The Classic Sites Manager can be used to convert, delete, restore, and assign ownership of sites within your domain.

Getting started

Super Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about designating a different OU or Group as Admins for the Classic Sites Manager.
Admins: Use our Help Center to learn more about the Classic Sites Manager and and using the bulk delete and restoration tool in the Classic Sites Manager. Use our migration guide to plan for the transition from classic Sites to new Sites.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to Google Workspace Frontline customers

Resources

Google Device Policy app ending support for iOS 11 soon

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Quick launch summary The Google Device Policy app won’t support mobile devices running iOS version 11 or lower after August 2021. If your organization has advanced mobile device management (MDM) enabled, users must upgrade to iOS version 12 or higher to access new MDM features or to download the Device Policy app for the first time.

We will remove support for iOS 11 in the first release of the Device Policy app beginning September 2021. Therefore please ensure your users upgrade their devices by the end of August 2021 to avoid any disruption to their work.

Use our Help Center to find more information on minimum device requirements for Google mobile management.

Google Docs will now use canvas based rendering: this may impact some Chrome extensions

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

What’s changing We’re updating the way Google Docs renders documents. Over the course of the next several months, we’ll be migrating the underlying technical implementation of Docs from the current HTML-based rendering approach to a canvas-based approach to improve performance and improve consistency in how content appears across different platforms.

We don’t expect this change to impact the functionality of the features in Docs. However, this may impact some Chrome extensions, where they may no longer work as intended.

Who’s impacted Admins and developers

Why it’s important Some Chrome extensions rely on the way the backend of a Google Doc is structured or specific bits of HTML to function properly. By moving away from HTML-based rendering to a canvas-based rendering, some Chrome extensions may not function as intended on docs.google.com and may need to be updated.

Admins should review the current extensions deployed in their organization. See this file for an example of a Google Doc using canvas-based rendering and to test out your extensions.

If you are building your own integrations with Google Docs, we recommend using Google Workspace Add-ons framework, which uses the supported Workspace APIs and integration points. This will help ensure there will be less work in the future to support periodic UI implementation changes to Docs.

If your company has developed a private Chrome Extension that you believe will be impacted and you are unable to migrate to the Google Workspace Add-ons framework, you can submit this form to provide feedback and notify our team.

Getting started

Admins and developers:

To see an example of a Google Doc using canvas-based rendering, please see this example file. We strongly recommend reviewing the current extensions used in Google Docs that are deployed within your organization.
To ensure any Chrome extensions you build in-house continue to work as intended, we recommend migrating them to the Google Workspace Add-ons framework.

End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Google Docs will be migrating slowly from HTML to canvas based rendering over the course of the next several months.

Resources

Google Workspace for Developers: Add-on types

New options to control chat history in unthreaded Google Chat rooms

Monday, May 10, 2021

What’s changingWe’re introducing a new admin control for Google Chat history in unthreaded rooms. With this new control, admins have the option to:

Set unthreaded room history behavior separately from 1:1 and group conversations: Admins can set the default history state to be either on or off. They can also prevent users from changing the default history setting for unthreaded rooms. Note: this setting does not impact threaded rooms. Threaded room history is always on.

Note that this will only affect organizations that use Chat; it will not impact organizations that still use classic Hangouts. Use our Help Center to learn more about these changes and how they might impact your organization.

Who’s impactedAdmins
Why you’d use itThese new options give you as an Admin more control and flexibility in setting Chat history options for unthreaded rooms.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be ON. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting the default room history for your users.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout paceRapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout starting on May 10, 2021. You can set the new Admin console controls when you see them, but it may take a few days before they take effect. This is a one-time delay during the rollout. The settings should work by late May.

AvailabilityAvailable to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.
Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Set default room history for users
Google Workspace Admin Help: Set chat history options for your organization

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - May 7, 2021

Friday, May 7, 2021

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

Google for Education transformation reports window open, available worldwide The next reporting window for Google for Education transformation reports is now available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide. | Learn more.

“Show Editors” provides more context on changes made in Google Docs You can now view richer information on the edit history of a particular range of content in Google Docs. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more.

Improve Google Cloud Search results with Contextual Boost We’re adding the ability to boost Google Cloud Search results using the Cloud Search Query API for third party data sources. Contextual boost is one of the key ways used to enable search personalization.| Available to Google Cloud Search customers. | Learn more.

Additional admin controls for Google Voice ring groups Admins can now configure a “fixed order” pattern for their ring groups and change the maximum duration a call should ring before proceeding to the “unanswered call” behavior. | Available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers with Google Voice standard and premier licenses. | Learn more.

Specify which attributes are available for the Secure LDAP client Admins can now specify which attributes they’d like to make available for the LDAP Client, such as system, public and private attributes. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, G Suite Enterprise, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.

More options for customizing a charts line and fill styling in Google Sheets We’ve added more for line and fill customization options for series and series items. | Learn more.

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

More options for customizing a charts line and fill styling in Google Sheets

Friday, May 7, 2021

Quick Summary We’ve added more for line and fill customization options for series and series items. You can now modify:

Color
Opacity
Line dash styles
Line thickness

For column-shaped series, we’ve added the ability to add and style borders, a highly requested feature.

Note: these new options are not available for pie charts, however the ability to change pie slice colors and add borders is already available.
We hope these new options help you best display important data and create more impactful reports with Sheets.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding and editing a chart in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 7, 2021

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Google Help: Add & edit a chart or graph

Useful Links

Updates

Check when your Google Meet meeting codes expire to ensure smooth future meeting experiences

Additional tools for managing the transition from classic to new Google Sites

Google Device Policy app ending support for iOS 11 soon

Google Docs will now use canvas based rendering: this may impact some Chrome extensions

New options to control chat history in unthreaded Google Chat rooms

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - May 7, 2021

More options for customizing a charts line and fill styling in Google Sheets

Filter by product

Filter by date

Subscribe by email

Subscribe by feed

Localized Google Workspace Updates

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

Learn about more Google Workspace launches

View active Google Workspace Beta Programs