Google Workspace Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - March 21, 2025

Friday, March 21, 2025

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.

Upcoming changes to how retention policies are applied to 1:1 direct messages in Google Chat

To provide a more consistent product experience across conversation types, we are changing how retention policies are applied to 1:1 direct messages with external participants. | Learn more about retention policies for Chat.

Available in beta: Convert your client-side encrypted documents after a Vault or Takeout export

After a Vault or Data export (takeout), admins can now convert their exported client-side encrypted documents to Word files. | Learn more about this new beta.

Introducing a new building block that summarizes content with Gemini in Google Docs

An additional building block that adds an AI-generated summary to your content using Gemini in Docs is now available. By going to Insert > Building Blocks > AI Summary or typing “@” followed by “AI summary,” Gemini will provide a summary that you can instantly insert or edit alongside other document collaborators. | Learn more about building block summaries in Docs.

Admins can now deploy Context-Aware Access for NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus

Admins can now specify Context-Aware Access (CAA) policies when their users access NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus. | Learn more about Context-Aware Access support for NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus.

Beta update: Data loss prevention rules based on classification labels are now applied instantly in Gmail on the web

Auto-classification labeling with data loss prevention (DLP) rules and actions triggered by classification labels detected in the message will now be applied instantly when using Gmail on the web. | Learn more about Data loss prevention rules based on classification labels.

Use Gemini in the side panel of Google Slides in even more languages

You can now use Gemini in the side panel of Google Slides, which includes the ability to generate images, in many new languages. | Learn more about using the side panel of Google Slides in even more languages.

Gmail data loss prevention now supports “sensitive content snippets”

We recently launched data loss prevention for Gmail and, beginning today, Admins can see “Sensitive content snippets” for Gmail messages that trigger data loss prevention rules. | Learn more about “sensitive content snippets”.

See summaries of shared Google Docs, Slides, or Sheets files directly in Google Chat

Users can now easily summarize Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets files shared within a Chat conversation. | Learn more about file summaries in Chat.

Try Canvas, a new way to collaborate with the Gemini app

You can now create, format, and refine your documents or code in Canvas, a new collaborative space in Gemini. | Learn more about Canvas.

Use Gemini in the side panel of Google Chat in additional languages

We’ve expanded the availability of Gemini in the side panel of Chat to the following languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Japanese, French, Korean. | Learn more about using the side panel of Google Chat in additional languages.

New features available in NotebookLM and NotebookLM PlusIn addition to NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus becoming available as a Google Workspace core service for business customers and the recent announcement of Context-Aware Access support for NotebookLM and Notebook LM Plus, we’ve introduced new features that improve upon the NotebookLM user experience. | Learn more about new features in NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus.

Contextual Smart Replies now available for Google Workspace Business and Enterprise editionsEarlier this year, we announced that we’re including the best of Google AI directly into Workspace Business and Enterprise plans without the need to purchase a separate Gemini add-on. In addition, we recently introduced Google Meet and Google Chat AI-powered features to Business and Enterprise editions, and today were excited to add contextual Smart Replies to the list of available features. | Learn more about Contextual Smart Replies.

Adding new capabilities to Google Vids’ ‘Help me create’We're introducing a new ‘Help me create’ feature that automatically generates AI voiceovers for each scene of your Vid from the AI suggested scripts. | Learn more about Google Vids’ ‘Help me create’ capabilities.

Completed rollouts

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

Rapid Release Domains:

Use Gemini in the side panel of Workspace apps in four more languages

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

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

Adding new capabilities to Google Vids’ ‘Help me create’

Thursday, March 20, 2025

What’s changing When constructing a vid, you can easily get started by using a set of generative AI capabilities. Gemini’s ‘Help me create’ can generate a fully editable first draft of your video using a prompt and content from your Google Drive. After choosing a style, Gemini pieces together your vid with suggested scenes, including recommended stock media, text, scripts per scene, and even a background music track.

Today, we’re introducing updates to the existing ‘Help me create’ feature. Now, Vids will automatically generate AI voiceovers for each scene of your Vid from the AI suggested scripts.

With this update, you can:

Eliminate the manual effort of recording “the perfect take”
Gain easy access to a variety of voiceovers that provide you with professional-sounding video narration
Save time matching voiceovers to scenes in your video with automatic audio to scene alignment

new ‘Help me create’ feature that automatically generates AI voiceovers for each scene of your Vid from the AI suggested scripts

AI voiceovers are intended to save you time so you can get to a first draft faster, but you are still able to easily edit your suggested scripts and update your voiceovers in one click, or select from a variety of different AI voices with different pitches and tones to best suit your video’s purpose.

Getting started

Admins: Vids will be ON by default and can be disabled at the organizational level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Vids on or off for users.
End users:

To start, open Google Vids and choose an option to create a new video. You can create a new video or make a copy of an existing video for editing. Visit the Help Center to learn more about getting started with Google Vids. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating scripts & voiceovers in Google Vids.
You can use Vids on your computer with the two most recent versions of these browsers:

Chrome
Firefox
Windows only: Microsoft Edge
Other browsers may work, but you might not be able to use all of the features.

You can access our always-on resources in the Google Workspace Learning Center to learn what you can do with Google Vids.
Currently, Vids is available in the user’s local language, but the AI features (e.g. Help me create, read-along teleprompter) are only available in English at this time.
Note: View and collaborate access is available to anyone with a Google Workspace account, while create and copy access is available for select editions of Google Workspace customers.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 20, 2025

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Business Standard and Plus
Enterprise Standard and Plus
Essentials, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus
Education Plus
Customers with a Gemini Business*, Enterprise*, Education or Education Premium add-on

*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.
Resources

Contextual Smart Replies now available for Google Workspace Business and Enterprise editions

Thursday, March 20, 2025

What’s changingEarlier this year, we announced that we’re including the best of Google AI directly into Workspace Business and Enterprise plans without the need to purchase a separate Gemini add-on. In addition, we recently introduced Google Meet and Google Chat AI-powered features to Business and Enterprise editions, and today were excited to add contextual Smart Replies to the list of available features.
If you’re short on time or need help finding the right words, Gemini can analyze the context of an email and offer more detailed responses to fully capture the intent of your message. After initiating an email reply, users will see a few response options at the bottom of their screen that take the full content of the email thread into consideration. Hover over each response to get a quick preview of the text, select the one that feels right for the situation, and edit it as you see fit or send the response immediately.

Contextual Smart Replies now available for Google Workspace Business and Enterprise editions

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it The contextual Smart Reply feature saves time and makes replying to emails more efficient.
Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini feature settings.
End users: Make sure “Smart features and personalization” is enabled in Gmail to access this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about smart features & controls and contextual Smart Reply in Gmail.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 20, 2025

Availability Available for Google Workspace:

Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus

These features are already available to Gemini for Workspace add-on customers. Note that as of January 15, 2025, Gemini Business, Gemini Enterprise, AI Meetings & Messaging, and AI Security add-ons are no longer available for purchase. Please refer to this announcement for more details.
Resources

New features available in NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus

Wednesday, March 19, 2025

What’s changing In addition to NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus becoming available as a Google Workspace core service for business customers and the recent announcement of Context-Aware Access support for NotebookLM and Notebook LM Plus, we’re excited to introduce new features that improve upon the NotebookLM user experience:

A new interactive Mind Map lets users navigate complex topics in their notebooks, explore new connections and gain a deeper understanding of their materials. For example, a biology student working on their thesis about Coral Reef Ecosystem Decline might upload research papers and see a mind map of "Ocean Acidification," "Rising Sea Temperatures," "Pollution," and "Overfishing."
A new output language selector allows users to choose the output language for generated text within NotebookLM. This means study guides, briefing documents, and chat responses will be generated in any selected language, making it easier than ever to understand and share work.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users (18+)

Additional details NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus are available in 180+ regions where Gemini API is available and currently supports 35+ languages. For Audio Overviews, while you can upload sources from all supported languages, the spoken audio is currently only available in English.

Your uploads, queries and the model's responses are not used to train models and are not reviewed by human reviewers or otherwise used for product improvement without permission. Your data remains your data and any files uploaded, queries and responses are not shared outside your organization’s trust boundary.

Users can only upload sources from Workspace that they have permission to access. Furthermore, they can control who has access to their notebooks and set more granular permissions within each.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about NotebookLM’s qualifying Google Workspace editions and how to turn this service on or off.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 19, 2025

Availability These features are available to NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus users.
NotebookLM is available as a core service for Google Workspace:

Business Starter
Frontline Starter and Standard
Essentials Starter, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus
Nonprofits

NotebookLM is available as an additional service for Google Workspace:

Education Fundamentals, Standard and Plus

NotebookLM Plus is available as a core service for Google Workspace:

Business Standard and Plus
Enterprise Standard and Plus

NotebookLM Plus is available as an additional service for Google Workspace for Education customers with these add-ons:

Gemini Education
Gemini Education Premium

Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive NotebookLM Plus as a core service:

Gemini Business*
Gemini Enterprise*

*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.
Resources

Use Gemini in the side panel of Google Chat in additional languages

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

What’s changing Over the last few months, we’ve released the use of Gemini in the side panel of Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drive, Google Slides and Gmail in additional languages and today we’re excited to expand the availability of Gemini in the side panel of Chat to the following languages:

Spanish
Portuguese
Italian
German
Japanese
French
Korean

Gemini in Chat helps users collaborate more effectively in their spaces, group messages and direct messages by providing conversation summaries, identifying action items, and searching the web. For additional information on Gemini in Chat, check out our original announcement of Gemini in the side panel of Chat.

Additional detailsUsers may see the “Alpha” badge as we bring more features into Gemini in the side panel of Google Workspace.

Getting started

Admins: To access Gemini in the side panel of Workspace apps, users need to have smart features and personalization turned on. Admins can turn on default personalization setting for their users in the Admin console.
End users:

On web from chat.google.com, click on a space, thread, or message, then click the "Ask Gemini” icon at the top of the page to open Gemini in the side panel of Chat. From there, you can select from suggested prompts or type in your own query. Visit the Help Center to learn more about collaborating with Gemini in Google Chat and ensuring your smart feature settings are turned on.
Note that for accessing other Gemini for Google Workspace features that are supported in English only, you will need to set your Google Account language to English.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 18, 2025

Availability
Available for Google Workspace:

Business Standard and Plus
Enterprise Standard and Plus
Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on

Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature:

Gemini Business*
Gemini Enterprise*
AI Meetings and Messages*

*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.
Resources

Try Canvas, a new way to collaborate with the Gemini app

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

What’s changingStarting today, you can create, format, and refine your documents or code in Canvas, a new collaborative space in Gemini.

Generate and iterate on first drafts: after generating a first draft in Canvas, you can rapidly refine and ask Gemini for feedback to suggest edits. Update specific sections or the whole draft, and use the quick editor tools to change the tone, length, or formatting. From essays to blog posts to reports, up-level your documents in Canvas. If you want to collaborate with others on the content you just made, you can export it to Google Docs with a click.

Generate & iterate on code: Easily convert your ideas into working prototypes for web apps, code snippets and scripts, and more. Ask Gemini to generate & preview React or HTML code directly in Canvas in a familiar code editor, and review Gemini's changes on each turn.

Canvas is available globally across all Gemini-supported languages.

Additional details

Currently, Canvas is available on web (gemini.google.com) for Google Workspace business and education users. We’re planning to support Canvas in the Gemini mobile app for these users at a later date.
Canvas is available to Google Workspace for Education users 13+ or the applicable age in your country.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: From the Gemini app (gemini.google.com), select “Canvas” from the input bar or jump directly into Canvas by going to gemini.google.com/canvas. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating docs & code with Canvas in Gemini Apps.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on March 18, 2025

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Business Starter, Standard, Plus
Enterprise Starter, Standard, Plus
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus
Frontline Starter and Standard
Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus
Nonprofits

Available for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons:

Gemini Business*
Gemini Enterprise*
Gemini Education
Gemini Education Premium

*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources

See summaries of shared Google Docs, Slides, or Sheets files directly in Google Chat

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

What’s changingSimilar to how Google Chat’s summaries in the home view provide users with a bulleted synopsis of message content, we’re excited to introduce a new way to preview files shared in Chat.
Starting today, users can easily summarize Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets files shared within a Chat conversation. Simply click the new “Summarize this file” button that appears within the respective file preview card in the conversation, and Gemini will summarize the file so you can get a quick overview without having to leave Chat.

Gemini summaries for linked Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it By providing quick, on-demand summaries of files shared in Chat, Gemini helps you save time and get the gist of shared files instantly, eliminating the need to open each document.

Getting started

Admins: To access summaries in home, users need to have smart features and personalization turned on. Admins can turn on default personalization setting for their users in the Admin console.
End users: You can turn this feature ON/OFF by turning Smart features & controls in Google products ON/OFF.

On web, to see summaries of files shared in Chat, click the “Summarize this file” button. Visit the Help Center to learn more about summarizing a file in Chat.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 18, 2025, with expected completion by early April 2025

AvailabilityAvailable for Google Workspace:

Business Standard and Plus
Enterprise Standard and Plus
Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on

Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature:

Gemini Business*
Gemini Enterprise*
AI Meetings and Messages*

*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.
Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn on or off Gmail, Chat, and Meet smart features and personalization (Region specific)
Google Help: Collaborate with Gemini in Google Chat
Google Help: Get started with Gemini for Google Workspace

Gmail data loss prevention now supports “sensitive content snippets”

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

What’s changingWe recently launched data loss prevention for Gmail and, beginning today, Admins can see “Sensitive content snippets” for Gmail messages that trigger data loss prevention rules. This content is logged in the security investigation tool and admins can use the information to better identify security risks, determine whether a false positive was returned, and decide on an appropriate course of action.Snippets are already available for DLP events for Drive, Chat, and Chrome. Visit our Help Center and our previous announcement for more information.

Matched content and information about the data detector type is displayed in the side panel under ‘Log Details’ in the Security Investigation Tool
Getting started

Admins:

Make sure any admins who need to review the snippets have the "view sensitive content" privilege. Only super admins have the ability to hide or unhide sensitive data from the log details.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about preventing data leaks in email and attachments, viewing content snippets that trigger DLP rules, using Workspace DLP to prevent data loss, and the security investigation tool.
DLP Snippets can be configured in the Admin console by going to Security > Data Protection > Data Protection Settings > Sensitive Content Storage. To view snippets in the security investigation tool, select any row from the “Description column” and scroll down to “Sensitive Content Snippets”. Here you’ll see the matched detector ID, the matched content starting character, and the matched content length.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on March 18, 2025

Availability

Available to Google Workspace

Frontline Standard
Enterprise Standard and Plus
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching and Learning add-on
Enterprise Essentials Plus
Also available for Chrome Enterprise Premium

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Prevent data leaks in email & attachments

Google Workspace Admin Help: View content that triggers DLP rules (beta)

Google Workspace Admin Help: Use Workspace DLP to prevent data loss

Google Workspace Admin Help: About the security investigation tool

Google Workspace Updates Blog: Workspace data loss protection (DLP) for Gmail is now generally available

Use Gemini in the side panel of Google Slides in even more languages

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

What’s changingrecent language availability announcement,

Arabic
Catalan
Chinese
Czech
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
Greek
Hebrew
Hungarian
Indonesian
Malay
Norwegian
Polish
Romanian
Russian
Swedish
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Vietnamese

With Gemini in the side panel of your Workspace apps, you can get help summarizing, brainstorming, and generating content by utilizing insights gathered from your emails, documents, and more—all without switching applications or tabs. Check out our original announcements for Gemini in the side panel of Slides, Docs, Sheets, and Drive, and Gmail for even more information.

Additional details

Users may see the “Alpha” badge as we bring more features into Gemini in the side panel of Google Workspace.
Image generation of people is not supported in these additional languages at this time.

Getting started

Gemini in the side panel will work according to the language you set in your Google account (myaccount.google.com/language). If you’re accessing other Gemini for Google Workspace features that are supported in English only, you will need to set your Google Account language to English.
You can access the side panel by clicking on “Ask Gemini” (spark button) in the top right corner of Slides on the web. Visit the Help Center to learn more about collaborating with Gemini in the side panel of Slides.

Rollout pace

Availability Available to Google Workspace:

Business Standard and Plus
Enterprise Standard and Plus
Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on
Customers with the Gemini Business or Gemini Enterprise add-on*

*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.
Resources

Supported languages for Gemini for Google Workspace
Google Help: Use the side panel to collaborate with Gemini

Beta update: Data loss prevention rules based on classification labels are now applied instantly in Gmail on the web

Tuesday, March 18, 2025

What’s changingIn November 2024, we announced an open beta for data classification labels in Gmail. To further enhance the experience, we’re pleased to announce that auto-classification labeling with data loss prevention (DLP) rules and actions triggered by classification labels detected in the message will now be applied instantly when using Gmail on the web. Previously, users were informed of any implications after messages left the inbox. With this update, the feedback is instant, providing the opportunity to educate users on why their message is classified, blocked or quarantined, and how to remedy the issue to keep their email communications flowing. With this new functionality, and with this feature still in an open beta period, we strongly encourage you to continue providing feedback so we can optimize the feature for general availability. You can also use the form to sign-up for feedback sessions with the Google user research team to provide more detailed feedback.

Who’s impactedAdmins and end usersWhy it matters
Google Workspace's expansion of data classification labels to Gmail gives admins the ability to mitigate data exfiltration and gain a deeper understanding of shared data based on information type and sensitivity level to apply data protection policies appropriately. Some ways you can use Data Protection Rules with Classification Labels are:

Prevent messages based on a specific classification (e.g. Confidential, Internal, NTK) from being accidentally shared with unauthorized users.

You can create a rule with specific label(s) as a condition and choose an action to trigger when a message is sent:

Warn: users will see a notification that their message may contain sensitive information, helping to prevent accidental sharing. Note that this action does not block the message from being sent.
Block: users will be notified that their message will not be sent unless the label is changed or removed (if data organization policy allows).
You can also create a rule in a way that allows for sharing labeled messages only if confidential mode is enabled for the message.

Enforce classification on every message or specific messages

You can create a rule that warns users or blocks the message if a specific classification label is not found in the message. This can help educate users and drive adoption of your organization’s data classification policy among users.

Automatically apply classification labels messages if specific information types are found in the message

You can create a rule to automatically apply a specific classification label if certain criteria is met. For example, credit card information or medical information are contained within the email.
You can also configure the rule to allow users to modify the label to a more appropriate one based on the situation and data classification policy of your organization.

For more detailed information, please refer to our beta announcement as well as our Help Center.

Additional details

At this time, this update is only supported when using Gmail on the web. Stay tuned for further updates about instantaneous support in Gmail iOS and Android clients.

Getting started

Admins:

End users:

Depending on the data loss prevention rules configured by your admin, you may see a dialog letting you know that your message cannot be shared and how to fix your message so it can safely be shared. Visit the Help Center to learn more about classification labels in Gmail.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 18, 2025

Availability

The Label Manager and manual classification is available to Google Workspace:

Frontline Starter and Standard
Business Standard and Plus
Enterprise Standard and Plus
Education Standard and Education Plus
Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus

Data loss prevention rules with labels as a condition or labels as an action are available to:

Enterprise Standard and Plus
Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
Frontline Standard
Cloud Identity Premium (with a Workspace Edition that includes Gmail)

Resources

Feedback Survey
Google Workspace Admin Help: Gmail DLP & automatic classification labels (beta)
Google Workspace Admin Help: Get started as a classification labels admin
Google Workspace Admin Help: Prevent data leaks in email & attachments (beta)
Google Help: Add classification labels in Gmail

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