Google Workspace Updates

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.”

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.

Check availability across multiple calendars when using appointment schedules on Google Calendar

We’ve introduced the ability to check and see a visual preview of multiple calendars when setting up your appointment schedules. Your booking page will show you as unavailable when you’re busy based on the calendars you choose. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.

Easily share access to presented content in Google Meet with all attendees

We’ve made two improvements which will make file sharing in Google Meet even easier. First, you can now share access to the content you’re presenting in a meeting with attendees, including everyone on the Calendar guest list, directly from Meet. Second, whenever you paste a link into the meeting chat, you’ll be prompted with the file access dialog — from here you can adjust access as needed and choose to attach the file to the calendar event. | Learn more.

Improved membership management for spaces

We’ve introduced a new fullscreen experience for managing members in a space that replaces the current "View members" and “Add people and apps” options in Google Chat. | 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, and Frontline customers 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 and Scheduled Release Domains:

New in-meeting reactions for Google Meet (Web)
New beta to move folders from My Drive to shared drives now available (Update to user roles)
New built-in interoperability between Google Meet and Zoom (Admin setting & Meet interop on Zoom Rooms)
[Weekly Recap] Set and share personal pronouns across Google Workspace products
For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Improved membership management for spaces

Thursday, January 26, 2023

What’s changingWe’re introducing a new fullscreen experience for managing members in a space that replaces the current "View members" and “Add people and apps” options in Google Chat.

Upon clicking the new “Manage members” option, you can view a list of those added and invited to the space, in addition to space settings. From there you can add or remove members and update settings. In addition, you can manage Chat apps or integrations by using a newly added “Apps & integrations” option in the space menu.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

This simplification makes the process of viewing and organizing space membership much easier.

Additional details

This update is currently available on web only and will become available on mobile later this quarter.

Getting started

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

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 26, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 13, 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, and Frontline customers
Not available to Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Easily share access to presented content in Google Meet with all attendees

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

What’s changingWe’ve made two improvements which will make file sharing in Google Meet even easier:First, you can now share access to the content you’re presenting in a meeting with attendees, including everyone on the Calendar guest list, directly from Meet. While presenting, you can share the file from the floating action menu or via the suggestion in the Meet Chat.

Meeting attendees will see a notification when you’ve shared a file, and a link to the file will be automatically shared in the meeting chat.

Second, whenever you paste a link into the meeting chat, you’ll be prompted with the file access dialog — from here you can adjust access as needed and choose to attach the file to the calendar event.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why it’s important

By allowing sharing directly from Meet, you can seamlessly share presented content without having to switch into another window to grant access, which can be disruptive. This makes it easier for meeting attendees to follow along with your presentation, find and reference your material later on, and continue working on action items from the meeting.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: These updates will be available by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about presenting during a video meeting.

Rollout pace

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 Admin Help: Present during a video meeting

Check availability across multiple calendars when using appointment schedules on Google Calendar

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

What’s changingThe appointment scheduling tool is a feature that allows people to share their availability via a booking page that can be used by colleagues, external stakeholders, clients, and partners to schedule a meeting. With the current appointment scheduling experience, you are unable to review multiple calendars for conflicts when exposing appointment times to others.
As a result, we’re introducing the ability to check and see a visual preview of multiple calendars when setting up your appointment schedules. Your booking page will show you as unavailable when you’re busy based on the calendars you choose.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it This update will prevent scheduling conflicts by checking your availability across multiple calendars, enabling others to set up meeting times that best fit your schedule.

Additional details In addition to your primary calendar, you can check availability from all of your calendars added to Google Calendar on the web, such as calendars you own, calendars you have edit and manage rights to, and subscribed calendars.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn how to set up an appointment schedule and how to customize your appointment availability.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 24, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 7, 2023

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 20, 2023

Friday, January 20, 2023

Google Vault support for client-side encrypted emails

Vault now supports retention, search, and export of client-side encrypted emails. Note that admins can't preview the email body and attachments, including inline images — they’ll only be able to see the subject line, sender, and receiver.

Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between our customers and Google facilities. Client-side encryption helps strengthen the confidentiality of your data while helping to address a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs. Visit the Help Center for more information on client-side encryption and our original announcement regarding client-side encryption for Gmail.

Admins can use the Help Center to learn more about client-side encryption and encrypted emails in Vault. End users can use the Help Center to learn more about setting up client-side encryption for Gmail.

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers only.

Set and share personal pronouns across Google Workspace products

Google Workspace admins can now give their users the option to set their pronouns and choose who can see them from their Google Account at aboutme.google.com.

This is opt-in only and can be enabled for all users or a subset of them (such as for a specific location or department). Admins can use this Help Center article to learn more about enabling this feature for their users.

User-defined pronouns will appear in personal information cards displayed when hovering over or clicking someone’s profile photo across Workspace apps like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, and Drive. Support for pronouns in Google Meet will roll out in the coming months. Pronouns will also appear in Google Contacts, accessed by clicking “Open detailed view” from the personal information cards. If enabled by their admin, end users can use this Help Center article to learn more about changing their pronouns in their Google Account settings.

If enabled by the admin, users can set pronouns from aboutme.google.com and specify who they are visible to.

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers only.

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.

New beta to move folders from My Drive to shared drives now available Following the announcement of an improved admin experience for moving folders from My Drive to shared drives, we’ve introduced a beta that will allow end users to move folders from My Drive into shared drives. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Business customers only. | Learn more.

New built-in interoperability between Google Meet and Zoom As previously announced in October, we’re introducing video conferencing device interoperability for Google Meet with Zoom, which will allow you to join Zoom Meetings from Google Meet hardware devices and join Google Meet meetings from Zoom Rooms. | Zoom interop on Google Meet hardware is available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers with Google Meet hardware. | 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:

[Weekly Recap] Easily share files in Google Meet chat on web
View speaker notes while presenting Google Slides in Google Meet

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

Updated experience for exporting your organization’s data (Google Workspace Enterprise Plus only)
Increasing efficiency through better meeting room management with room release (Admin setting)
[Weekly Recap] Find apps and app commands in Chat with a new Integration Menu
Beta Application for New beta to move folders from My Drive to shared drives now available
For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

New built-in interoperability between Google Meet and Zoom

Thursday, January 19, 2023

What’s changingAs previously announced in October, we’re introducing video conferencing device interoperability for Google Meet with Zoom, which will allow you to:

Join Zoom Meetings from Google Meet hardware devices

Join Google Meet meetings from Zoom Rooms

Please note that Zoom interoperability supports core video conferencing features. Some advanced features, such as polls, wired present, and dual-screen support may not be available when using Meet hardware to join Zoom Meetings and vice versa.

Left: Zoom Meetings on Google Meet hardware. Right: Google Meet on Zoom Rooms

We hope this latest update makes it even easier for our customers and their users to connect and collaborate with people outside of the Google Meet ecosystem.

Additional details

There is no additional cost associated with using this new built-in interoperability feature on supported devices.

Scheduled join and join via meeting code will be supported, as will the ability to configure no-knock joining (lobby bypass) in either direction.

Similar built-in interoperability is already available between Google Meet and Cisco Webex on each platform’s respective devices. And Pexip continues to enable joining Meet meetings from the widest range of third-party video conferencing hardware, including older devices that may not support built-in interoperability. Use this Help Center article to learn more about Pexip.

Getting started

Zoom interop on Google Meet hardware

Admins:

Zoom interop on Google Meet hardware will be available on devices by default and can be disabled in the Workspace Admin console at the OU level at Devices > Google Meet hardware > Settings > Device Settings > Built-in interoperability.
Note: This admin setting can be configured before the feature begins rolling out, therefore you will be able to toggle this off before January 25, 2023.

To configure no-knock join for Zoom Meetings from Meet hardware, generate a token in the Zoom Admin at Account Management > Account Settings > Meeting > Allow my organization's 3rd party conference room systems to join my Zoom meetings as an authorized user and paste it in the Google Workspace Admin at Devices > Google Meet hardware > Settings > Service settings > Built-in interoperability direct access.

End users: When enabled by your admin, you can join a Zoom meeting from a Google Meet hardware device by:

Joining an ad-hoc meeting by tapping "Join or start a meeting" on your touch controller and selecting Zoom from the dropdown options.
Joining a scheduled meeting by adding a room to an event with Zoom meeting details.

Note: Calendar events that originate outside of Google Calendar must be duplicated and populated with room details manually, or have their Zoom join details copy and pasted into the description field of a new Calendar event.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Meet interoperability.

Meet interop on Zoom Rooms

Admins: Meet interop on Zoom Rooms will be off by default and can be enabled from the Zoom Admin at Room Management > Zoom Rooms > Meeting > Support Google Meet web client meeting on Zoom Rooms. For more information, visit the Zoom Support page.

To configure no-knock join for Meet meetings from Zoom Rooms, generate a token in the Workspace Admin console at Apps > Google Workspace > Settings for Google Meet > Interoperability tokens and paste it in the Zoom Admin in the Google Meet Interop Token field located at Room Management > Zoom Rooms > Support Google Meet web client meeting on Zoom Rooms.

End users: When enabled by your admin, you can join a Meet meeting from a Zoom Room by:

Joining an ad-hoc meeting from your Zoom Room Controller by entering a Google Meet meeting code
Joining a scheduled meeting by adding a room to an event with Google Meet details
Visit the Zoom Support page for more information.

Rollout pace

Zoom interop on Meet hardware

Admin Setting

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to one week for feature visibility) beginning on January 19, 2023

End User Availability (on Devices)

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) beginning on January 26, 2023

Meet interop on Zoom Rooms

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Available immediately on January 26, 2023

Availability

Zoom interop on Google Meet hardware is available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers with Google Meet hardware. All currently supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date will receive the feature.
Meet interop on Zoom Rooms is available to all Zoom Rooms customers on a supported Zoom Rooms device or appliance. Note that your device may not fully support the feature until its manufacturer has pushed the latest Zoom Rooms software update to its devices.
Please refer to the Zoom Support page to see the most up-to-date list on supported devices and platforms.

Resources

New beta to move folders from My Drive to shared drives now available

Wednesday, January 18, 2023

What’s changingFollowing the announcement of an improved admin experience for moving folders from My Drive to shared drives, we’re introducing a beta that will allow end users to move folders from My Drive into shared drives.

Eligible Workspace editions can apply for the beta here.

Who’s impactedAdmins and end users

Why it matters Extending the capability for end users to move folders from My Drive into shared drives increases the flexibility of sharing and helps to avoid permission escalations.

Additional details We’re also updating My Drive and shared drive roles to create a more seamless experience when it comes to members and access levels. Currently, when an admin moves a folder from My Drive into a shared drive, all folder Editors are converted to Contributors by default. Starting today, when an admin or an end-user (opted into this beta), moves a folder from My Drive into a shared drive, Editors will be converted into Content managers. This update will lead to the retention of users' ability to organize content and share folders.

Getting started

Admins:

To apply for the beta, sign up here. If accepted into the beta, visit the Help Center to learn more about moving files & folders into shared drives.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing permissions or user roles.

End users: Once the beta is enabled by your admin, move a folder by selecting a folder in your My Drive and clicking on "Move to" in the folder menu (toolbar). Visit the Help Center to learn more about moving files & folders into shared drives.

[WSU Blog] Folder Move-In: End-user support

Rollout pace Beta:

We will begin accepting new domains into this program in the coming weeks. Sign up for the beta here.

Update to user roles:

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

Availability

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

Resources

Google Vault support for client-side encrypted emails

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

What’s changing Vault now supports retention, search, and export of client-side encrypted emails. Note that admins can't preview the email body and attachments, including inline images — they’ll only be able to see the subject line, sender, and receiver.

Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between our customers and Google facilities. Client-side encryption helps strengthen the confidentiality of your data while helping to address a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs. Visit the Help Center for more information on client-side encryption and our original announcement regarding client-side encryption for Gmail.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about client-side encryption and encrypted emails in Vault.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up client-side encryption for Gmail.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 17, 2023

Availability

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

Resources

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

Explore Looker data using Connected Sheets

Google Sheets adds powerful new functions for advanced analysis

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 27, 2023

Improved membership management for spaces

Easily share access to presented content in Google Meet with all attendees

Check availability across multiple calendars when using appointment schedules on Google Calendar

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 20, 2023

New built-in interoperability between Google Meet and Zoom

New beta to move folders from My Drive to shared drives now available

Google Vault support for client-side encrypted emails

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Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

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