This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.
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Provide more clear, contextual feedback with timestamped comments in Google Drive videos

We are introducing timestamped comments for videos in Google Drive on the web. Users can now anchor comments to a specific time mark in a video, making video collaboration more direct, precise, and contextual. | Learn more.

Visual screenshots now included in Google Meet meeting notes

We’re improving the ‘Take notes for me’ feature in Google Meet by giving you the ability to automatically capture and include screenshots of presented content directly in the meeting notes document. | Learn more.

Gemini in Google Classroom is expanding to users of all ages, with contextualized Gemini starter prompts for students

Last year, we launched Gemini in Google Classroom to help educators save time on planning and create more engaging lessons, and later expanded Gemini in Classroom to higher education students 18 years of age and older to help them study and learn. Starting August 10, 2026, Gemini in Classroom will also be made available to K-12 and higher education students of all ages who have already been granted access to Gemini in Classroom, Gemini and Gemini Notebook by their admin, offering a guided space to interact with these tools.  | Learn more.

Streamlining rubric generation in Google Classroom with Gemini

To make it easier to create rubrics and grade in Google Classroom, educators can now instantly generate a new Classroom-ready rubric during their assignment creation workflow, using context from their assignment.  | Learn more.

Automatically add sources to your Gemini Notebooks in Workspace Studio

Historically, keeping Gemini Notebooks up to date would require you to manually add sources one by one. Now, this new integration lets you automate adding sources to your Gemini Notebooks as part of a recurring workflow. You can use the new Add a source to Gemini Notebook step to add text, links to Drive files, or generic Youtube or web URLs as sources to your notebooks to ensure your notebooks are always up to date on the latest content. | 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.

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Historically, keeping Gemini Notebooks up to date would require you to manually add sources one by one. Now, this new integration lets you automate adding sources to your Gemini Notebooks as part of a recurring workflow. You can use the new Add a source to Gemini Notebook step to add text, links to Drive files, or generic Youtube or web URLs as sources to your notebooks to ensure your notebooks are always up to date on the latest content.



Use Add a source to Gemini Notebook to automatically keep your notebooks up to date

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Business: Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise: Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education: Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus
  • Education Add-ons: Google AI Pro for Education; Teaching and Learning
  • Other Add-ons: AI Expanded Access

Resources

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To make it easier to create rubrics and grade in Google Classroom, educators can now instantly generate a new Classroom-ready rubric during their assignment creation workflow, using context from their assignment.

With this update, there will now be multiple ways to create and use rubrics in Classroom:

  • [New] Draft relevant Classroom rubrics from the assignment creation page: Within the “Rubrics” section, generate a new Classroom-ready rubric with help from Gemini based on their assignment. Educators can review and edit the proposed rubric criteria before adding it to the assignment, saving valuable prep time. 
  • Convert existing rubrics files from the assignment creation page: Within the “Rubrics” section, educators can select an existing rubric they have and instantly convert it to a Classroom-ready rubric.
  • Create rubric files from the Gemini tab: When planning their lessons, educators can collaborate with Gemini to draft a rubric based on information that they provide. They can then export the rubric to Sheets or Docs before attaching it to their class.

Note: This feature is only available for users over age 18.

Streamline grading setup by instantly generating custom rubrics directly within the assignment creation workflow.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Education: Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus

Resources

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Last year, we launched Gemini in Google Classroom to help educators save time on planning and create more engaging lessons, and later expanded Gemini in Classroom to higher education students 18 years of age and older to help them study and learn. Starting August 10, 2026, Gemini in Classroom will also be made available to K-12 and higher education students of all ages who have already been granted access to Gemini in Classroom, Gemini and Gemini Notebook by their admin, offering a guided space to interact with these tools.

In Classroom, students can access the Gemini tab to transform their class materials into interactive experiences that help them study and learn. For example, students who have access to Gemini can select course materials to create flashcards or practice quizzes with Gemini that are tailored to their class. Students with Gemini Notebook access can also sync the materials provided by their teacher to Gemini Notebook, enabling them to create interactive study guides, audio overviews, infographics, and more.



Additionally, starter prompts on the student Gemini tab can now use context from Classroom to tailor Gemini interactions specifically to students’ schoolwork. This update transforms the existing starter prompts into highly contextualized experiences, eliminating the need to go back and forth between Classroom and Gemini to get support relevant to what they’re learning in the classroom.

When a student clicks on one of these starter prompts, a new box now appears that allows them to select a specific class and assignment. The Gemini prompt will then incorporate the relevant title, assignment instructions, and curriculum materials as context directly from Google Classroom, ensuring that the resulting interaction is grounded in the student’s academic context.



If Gemini in Classroom and the Gemini app are enabled, students will also be able to access “Learn with Gemini” when they hover over any assignment in “Due Soon” on the redesigned Classroom homepage. “Learn with Gemini” helps students get guided help or create study guides, practice quizzes, and flashcards – all based on their class curriculum.



Access to the Gemini tab in Classroom is currently available globally in all Classroom-supported languages in which Gemini is also available.

Getting started

Admins:

  • Access to the Gemini tab in Classroom is On by default for teachers and students of all ages, and is controlled using the Gemini in Classroom control. If Gemini in Classroom is currently turned off for students, access will remain off for all students, including students younger than 18.
  • As an administrator of your organization's Google Accounts, you can control who is allowed to use Gemini in Google Classroom. The student capabilities are only available to users:
    • Whose role is defined as “Student” in Classroom
    • Who are in a group or OU with Gemini in Classroom set to On
    • Who are in a group or OU with Gemini Notebook set to On and/or Gemini set to On
Note: Users do not need to have both the Gemini app and Gemini Notebook set to On in order to see the Gemini tab. For example, if Gemini is set to Off, Gemini features will not be visible.


  • If you would like to disable Gemini in Google Classroom for users who are under 18 years old, you can create an OU with only those users and turn off access for that OU only. Visit the Help Center to learn about managing access to Gemini in Classroom, Gemini app, Gemini Notebook, and the option to turn these services on or off for users in your Admin console.
  • Ensure roles in Classroom are appropriately assigned to users. Learn more about teacher and student roles.

End users:

  • Navigate to the Gemini tab in the navigation bar in Google Classroom.
  • When using generated content, you should always review the outputs as AI can make mistakes and refine the output so that it fits your context and local policies.
  • Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini in Classroom and learn more about how to use generative AI for students.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Education: Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus

Resources

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We’re improving the ‘Take notes for me’ feature in Google Meet by giving you the ability to automatically capture and include screenshots of presented content directly in the meeting notes document.

While meeting transcripts capture what is said, they often miss critical visual context, like content that was presented. Without these visuals, notes can lack necessary detail or even be confusing if a speaker refers to a chart or diagram without describing it out loud.


Getting started

  • Admins: You can configure this feature in the Admin console to either always allow screenshots of presented content or only allow them when a recording is enabled. Visit the Help Center to learn more.
  • End users: When you begin presenting in a meeting where notes are being taken, you will see a notification alerting you that Gemini may capture screenshots of your presentation to add to the notes. This feature can be disabled from the notes panel.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Business: Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise: Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education: Google AI Pro for Education

Resources

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