Google Workspace Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - February 3, 2023

Friday, February 3, 2023

3 New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), 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), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.

In-line replies for email notifications in Google Classroom

We’re making Classroom email notifications more functional and easier to use. With in-line replies for comments, teachers and students will be able to easily stay up to date and respond to communication within Classroom. Public and private comment notifications will have the freshest information, like the latest comment threads, and you can now easily respond to comments within the email itself. This will enable teachers to quickly reply to their students without having to switch back and forth between their email and Classroom. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains began January 30, 2023 and is expected to be completed by February 20, 2023. | Available to Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers, and users with personal Google Accounts only. | Learn more.

Expanding color options in Google Slides, Docs, Sheets and Drawings

In Google Slides, Docs, Sheets and Drawings, you can now select colors in the color palette tool by using RGBA values. In addition, you can also customize colors by using an eyedropper tool and selecting any color on your screen within the color palette. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for February 15, 2023. | Learn more.

More ways to work with BigQuery data in Google Sheets

We’re expanding your ability to access, analyze, visualize, and share billions of rows of BigQuery data from Google Sheets:

Connected Sheets users will now be able to include JSON columns from a BigQuery connection in their formulas, pivot tables, charts, extracts, and filters.
We are introducing support for 4 new Sheets functions that allow you to have a single source of truth of your data within BigQuery:

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts only. Not available to legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers.

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 Sheets adds powerful new functions for advanced analysis

We announced 11 additional functions that will introduce new concepts, provide you with more efficient functions, and help with more advanced analysis | Learn more.

Explore Looker data using Connected Sheets

We added the ability to interactively explore modeled data from Looker, Google Cloud’s modern business intelligence platform, using Connected Sheets. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as users with personal Google Accounts only. | Learn more.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog post for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains:

Introducing simpler conversation creation in Google Chat
Easily share access to presented content in Google Meet with all attendees
Check availability across multiple calendars when using appointment schedules on Google Calendar

Scheduled Release Domains:

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

[Weekly Recap] Display space names when granting access to files

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

Explore Looker data using Connected Sheets

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

What’s changingWe’re adding the ability to interactively explore modeled data from Looker, Google Cloud’s modern business intelligence platform, using Connected Sheets. This brings connectivity between the familiar interface of Google Sheets and the 50+ data sources available within Looker’s open ecosystem, including BigQuery, Cloud SQL, Snowflake, and Redshift.
From a single source of truth, you can analyze data using pivot tables, charts, formulas, and other integrated data sources. Additionally, with this live connection, access is secured and your data will stay up to date.

Getting started

Admins:

In order for users to take advantage of this feature, make sure Connected Sheets for Looker is enabled in Looker's Admin menu.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Connected Sheets.

End users:

If enabled by your admin, follow these steps to explore Looker data using Connected Sheets:

In a Google Sheet navigate to “Data” > “Data connectors” > “Connect to Looker” > enter in the URL of a Looker instance, for example: https://example.looker.com. You will then need to authorize Sheets to access your Looker data. After you connect to an Explore, you can see the available data and continue your analysis in Google Sheets.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about Connected Sheets for Looker.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 1, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Frontline, and Nonprofits
Not available legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Sheets adds powerful new functions for advanced analysis

Wednesday, February 1, 2023

What’s changingLast year, we launched Named functions, along with several powerful functions in Google Sheets, including LAMBDA and XLOOKUP.
Today, we’re excited to announce 11 additional functions that will introduce new concepts, provide you with more efficient functions, and help with more advanced analysis:

EPOCHTODATE: Converts a Unix epoch timestamp in seconds, milliseconds, or microseconds to a datetime in UTC.
MARGINOFERROR: Calculates the amount of random sampling error given a range of values and a confidence level.
TOROW: Transforms an array or range of cells into a single row.
TOCOL: Transforms an array or range of cells into a single column.
CHOOSEROWS: Creates a new array from the selected rows in the existing range.
CHOOSECOLS: Creates a new array from the selected columns in the existing range.
WRAPROWS: Wraps the provided row or column of cells by rows after a specified number of elements to form a new array.
WRAPCOLS: Wraps the provided row or column of cells by columns after a specified number of elements to form a new array.
VSTACK: Appends ranges vertically and in sequence to return a larger array.
HSTACK: Appends ranges horizontally and in sequence to return a larger array.
LET: Assigns name with the value_expression results and returns the result of the formula_expression. The formula_expression can use the names defined in the scope of the LET function. The value_expressions are evaluated only once in the LET function even if the following value_expressions or the formula_expression use them multiple times.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it In addition to providing advanced statistical calculations like margin of error, these functions provide new functionality in the form of:

Powerful new ways to manipulate and work with arrays using TOROW, TOCOL, WRAPROWS, WRAPCOLS, CHOOSEROWS, CHOOSECOLS, VSTACK, and HSTACK.
Converting Unix EPOCH dates to readable formats without the need for manual calculations using EPOCHTODATE.
More efficient and simpler to read complex formulas that use LET to assign names to calculation results.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: In Google Sheets, all functions can be inserted using the function autocomplete after pressing the equal symbol, using the insert menu, or the function dropdown in the toolbar.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 1, 2023

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Blog: Adding more flexibility to functions in Sheets

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 27, 2023

Friday, January 27, 2023

2 New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), 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), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.

Rollout update for the new Gmail user interface

Beginning today, the new Gmail user interface is rolling out for scheduled release domains, with anticipated completion by February 3, 2023. This will become the standard experience for Gmail, with no option to revert to the original UI. For more information, see our previous announcement.

Display space names when granting access to files

When sharing a Google Drive file to a space in Google Chat, you will now see the space name and associated image if you are a member of the space. If you are not a member of the space, but would still like to share a file to that space, the space name will show as “Private Space.”