Google Workspace Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - March 5, 2021

Friday, March 5, 2021

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.

Admin control for AppSheet now fully availableIn December 2020, we announced the availability of an admin control for AppSheet in the Additional services section of the Admin console. The rollout of this control is now complete. | Learn more.

Anchor image backgrounds in Google SitesYou'll now see an anchor icon in Google Sites when editing a section that includes a background image. When selected, you can choose what point to anchor the image on or if the image should be centered. | Rolling out to Rapid Release now; launch to Scheduled Release planned for March 17, 2021.

Previous announcementsThe announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.

Adding Google Chat, Google Calendar, and Jamboard to Google Workspace EssentialsWe’re giving teams and organizations more ways to connect and collaborate by adding Google Chat, Google Calendar, and Jamboard to Google Workspace Essentials, all included at no additional cost. | Learn more.

Access to Google Workspace core services from Google AssistantOver the next few weeks, we’ll begin making access to Google Workspace services from Google Assistant generally available to any customers with the “Search and Assistant” additional service enabled. This was previously available in beta. | Learn more.

Expanding data regions coverage to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides user indicesData regions for Google Workspace allows customers to choose a specific geographic location—in the U.S., in Europe, or globally distributed—for their covered data at rest to help meet organizational or compliance needs. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.

New Assured Controls help support your information governance goalsAssured Controls for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus is an add-on that helps customers control cloud service provider access and attain their information governance goals. | Available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. | Learn more.

Join Google Meet calls from third-party video conferencing systems more easilyWe’re making it easier to join Google Meet calls from third-party video conferencing systems. | Learn more.

Enhanced admin controls for Gmail IMAPYou can now enable Gmail IMAP and Gmail POP separately and enable access via IMAP on a per-app basis in the Admin console. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Nonprofits, Education, and Enterprise for Education customers only. | Learn more.

New Google Vault interface will become the only experience starting on May 24, 2021While the new interface is the primary interface at vault.google.com, it is still possible to access the classic interface at ediscovery.google.com. Starting on May 24, 2021, the classic interface will redirect to the new interface, with no option to revert back. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Business customers and customers with the Vault add-on license only. | Learn more.

Add files owned by suspended accounts to shared drivesUntil now, it was often not possible to move files originally created by users whose accounts are suspended, as suspended accounts can’t be added as members of a shared drive. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Business and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.

Sign in to RSVP via hyperlinks in Google Calendar email invitationsIn order to prevent unauthorized users from responding on your behalf to Google Calendar event invitations, you’ll now be required to be logged in to use any of the RSVP hyperlinks in invite emails. | Learn more.

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

Sign in to RSVP via hyperlinks in Google Calendar email invitations

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Quick launch summaryIn order to prevent unauthorized users from responding on your behalf to Google Calendar event invitations, you’ll now be required to be logged in to use any of the RSVP hyperlinks in invite emails. Previously, organizers or anyone with a specific invitee's invitation copy could respond on behalf of that invitee.

Responding to invitations via email will now require you to be signed in

If a user is not logged in, they will be asked to sign in to their Google Account. Note that this only applies to users with a Google account.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about responding to event invitations.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 4, 2021

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Google Help: Respond to event invitations

Add files owned by suspended accounts to shared drives

Thursday, March 4, 2021

Quick launch summary Shared drives can be used to store, search, and access files with a team. Admins can choose whether to let file editors in their organization move content from My Drive to shared drives, as long as the file owner is a member of the shared drive.
However, until now it was often not possible to move files originally created by users whose accounts are suspended, as suspended accounts can’t be added as members of a shared drive. Admins can suspend an account to temporarily block a user's access to your organization's Google services (for example, you may suspend the account of a former employee).
With this launch, file editors can now add these files to shared drives. As long as admins choose to allow users to migrate files to shared drives, content created by a user whose account is suspended by their organization’s administrator will be eligible to be added to a shared drive.

Getting started

Admins: This feature is controlled by the more general setting at Admin console > Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Migration settings > Allow users to migrate files to shared drives. If this is turned on already, the feature will automatically become available to users when it rolls out. Use our Help Center to learn more about moving content to a shared drive.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on March 4, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Move content to a shared drive

New Google Vault interface will become the only experience starting on May 24, 2021

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Quick launch summary Last year, we announced a new interface for Google Vault. The new interface makes it easier to navigate Vault and includes new productivity features for faster task completion. See our beta blog post for more information on the improvements in the new interface.

While the new interface is the primary interface at vault.google.com, it is still possible to access the classic interface at ediscovery.google.com. Starting on May 24, 2021, the classic interface will redirect to the new interface, with no option to revert back. The new interface includes all the core functionality from the classic interface, and there will be no impact on your existing Google Vault setup.

Getting started

Admins: The new interface is available at vault.google.com. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Google Vault for your organization.
End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on May 24, 2021

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Business customers and customers with the Vault add-on license
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, and Business Standard customers, or G Suite Basic customers

Resources

Enhanced admin controls for Gmail IMAP

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Quick launch summaryYou can now enable Gmail IMAP and Gmail POP separately and enable access via IMAP on a per-app basis in the Admin console.

In addition to granularly allowing mail clients to sync via IMAP and/or POP, there’s also a new option to specify a list of OAuth IDs, which are the approved IMAP clients that your users are allowed to use. For example, you may choose to allow your users to use the default mail app on mobile devices and desktop computers. By default, all IMAP clients will be allowed unless this feature is explicitly enabled. Note that IMAP clients can only be restricted if they support OAuth.
Getting started

Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain or organizational unit (OU) level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning IMAP options on or off for your organization.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. End users will only be able to use the allowlisted IMAP clients approved by admin.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 2, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn POP and IMAP on and off for users

Join Google Meet calls from third-party video conferencing systems more easily

Monday, March 1, 2021

What’s changingWe’re making it easier to join Google Meet calls from third-party video conferencing systems. Specifically,

If you’re using third-party video conferencing hardware with a third-party calendar service, you can now enable your users to join Meet video calls with just one click from the device.
If you’re using third-party video conferencing hardware with Google Calendar, you can now choose to have SIP meeting codes automatically added to new Calendar events.

Who’s impactedAdmins and end usersWhy it’s importantMeet supports SIP URI—a common way to let video conferencing systems know how to join calls—but to date, many customers have found it difficult to use. With this launch, we’re giving admins the option to automatically add SIP join information to new third-party calendar events—thus making it easier for third-party hardware solutions to find and join Meet calls. If the hardware you use doesn’t have a calendar integration, we’ll automatically add SIP join information to new Calendar events. This should make it easier for users to join Meet calls on third-party video conferencing hardware.
Getting started

Admins: These features will be off by default. To take advantage of them, you need to download and install Pexip Infinity gateway and turn on Meet interoperability in the Admin console. You must then choose to use long meeting IDs. Visit the Help Center for instructions on how to use Meet with third-party video conferencing systems.
End users: There is no end user setting for these features. They will only work for users with interop enabled.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all domains.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers. A gateway license from Pexip or a Pexip partner is required for Meet interoperability.

Resources

New Assured Controls help support your information governance goals

Monday, March 1, 2021

What’s changing Today we’re introducing Assured Controls for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, an add-on that helps customers control cloud service provider access and attain their information governance goals.

As part of the Assured Controls feature set, we’ll first roll out Access Management. Access Management enables customers to geographically limit Google staff support actions to U.S. Persons within our Support teams. At launch, Access Management will be limited to accesses that are covered by Access Transparency in Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google Drive, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, and will only be supported in the U.S. region. To learn more, contact Google Support or your account representative.

Note that we do not access customer data for any reason other than those necessary to provide support services and fulfill our contractual and legal obligations. When Support access is warranted, Access Management helps customers geographically limit that access.

For more information on this and other Google Workspace Security launches, see our Cloud Blog post and register for our upcoming Google Cloud Security Talk.

Who’s impacted Admins only

Why you’d use it Some customers in regulated industries, particularly the public sector, have specific requirements related to cloud service provider access to data in the course of customer support interactions. Access Management provides customers with the ability to geographically limit those Google staff support actions.
As Assured Controls is available on Google Workspace’s native platform, you don’t need to move to a separate environment for access to these restriction capabilities. This can help reduce costs and complexity, while allowing your organization to benefit from the full set of advanced features that Google Workspace offers.

Getting started

Admins: Once you’ve purchased the Assured Controls add-on, you can assign licenses and manage the feature at Admin Console > Access Management. Users assigned the policy will have any data owned by them restricted to designated U.S. Persons within our support teams. Access Management is surfaced for logging in the Access Transparency logs. To learn more contact Google Support or your account representative
End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace

Contact your Google account representative to learn more about availability and timing.

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

Resources

Cloud Blog post: Announcing Assured Controls and expanded Data Regions coverage for Google Workspace
Google Cloud Security Talks: The future of work and expanding data governance for Google Workspace

Useful Links

Updates