Google Workspace Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - July 23, 2021

Friday, July 23, 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.Gmail now displays the latest emojis
Now you can see all the latest emojis in Gmail, with emojis now rendered in the latest Unicode standard 13.1.

Improved Tabular Data Handling for Gmail DLP
We are improving the way we handle Tabular data files like .csv or .xlsx to best account for the structure of these files. This will result in more accurate content scans. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise, Education Fundamentals, Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Plus customers. | Learn more.
Previous announcementsThe announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.Updates to Google Workspace Public Status Dashboard and service status alerts
We're introducing a new Public Status Dashboard experience for Google Workspace. As part of this update, we’re enhancing the functionality of the existing Apps outage alert system-defined rule, which provides email notifications regarding service disruptions or outages via the Public Status Dashboard. | Learn more.
Hangouts to Google Chat upgrade beginning August 16th, with option to opt-out
Beginning August 16, 2021, we will start upgrading users who have the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected to “Chat preferred,” unless you explicitly opt out. Additionally, the “Chat and classic Hangouts'' setting will also be removed for all users in your domain unless you opt out of the upgrade. | Learn more.
Fundamental data regions now available to more Google Workspace customers
Data regions give you the ability to choose where covered data for select Google Workspace apps is stored at rest. We’re introducing a more limited version of data regions, known as Fundamental data regions, which will be available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Business Plus, Business Standard and Frontline customers. | Learn more.
Bulk convert Classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager
Beginning today, you can now bulk convert Classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager. | Learn more.

Block shares from another user in Google Drive

We’re adding the ability to block another user in Google Drive. If blocked, the user will not be able to share any Drive items with you, and items owned by the user will not be able to be shared with you or be shown when you’re browsing Google Drive. In addition, your files will not be available to the user you’ve blocked, even if you’ve previously shared items with them. | Learn more.

Select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection

Now you can select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection (such as moving the tabs together, deleting, duplicating, copying, coloring, or hiding). | Learn more.

Image placeholders make it easy to work as a team with images in Slides themes and layouts

Now when you create a theme in Slides, you can add image placeholders to your layouts. | Learn more.

Easily collaborate and share Slide presentations with side-by-side viewing in Google Chat

In Google Chat, you can now open and edit a Slide presentation in a side-by-side view. | Learn more.

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

Easily collaborate and share Slide presentations with side-by-side viewing in Google Chat

Friday, July 23, 2021

Quick launch summaryIn Google Chat, you can now open and edit a Slide presentation in a side-by-side view. By enabling you and your collaborators to directly edit presentations without leaving Chat, we hope to make it easier to transform your ideas into impact.

Image of how Chat users can open a Slide presentation by clicking on the preview thumbnail image in the chat stream.

Chat users can open a Slide presentation by clicking on the preview thumbnail image in the chat stream.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

End users: Use this feature by clicking on the document preview thumbnail image in the chat stream. To open the presentation directly in Google Slides, click on the blue link in the chat conversation. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to Manage your files in Gmail rooms.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 21, 2021

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Google Help: Manage your files in Gmail rooms

Image placeholders make it easy to work as a team with images in Slides themes and layouts

Friday, July 23, 2021

Quick launch summaryNow when you create a theme in Slides, you can add image placeholders to your layouts. Slides editors can then easily replace these image placeholders with the desired images. This new feature should improve your team’s workflow efficiency, design quality, and ease of formatting.

Gif if how a user creates a slide from a layout that uses image placeholders, they can click directly on the placeholder, select a source for the upload, select the file, and the image is inserted.

When a user creates a slide from a layout that uses image placeholders, they can click directly on the placeholder, select a source for the upload, select the file, and the image is inserted.

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 how to insert or delete images & videos.

Image placeholders can be inserted from the Theme Builder View through the Insert menu.
Rollout pace

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

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Update
[July 23, 2021]: This feature is also available to users with personal Google Accounts. This was not noted in the original post.
Quick launch summaryNow you can select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection (such as moving the tabs together, deleting, duplicating, copying, coloring, or hiding). Work in Google Sheets with confidence and make workflows faster as you perform basic actions on more than one sheet at a time.

GIF show how multiple tabs are selected in Sheets to be deleted together.

To select multiple tabs, press Shift then click on the tabs you want to select

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to protect, hide, and edit sheets.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 21, 2021

Availability

Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Frontline, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Nonprofits, Cloud Identity Free, Cloud Identity Premium. Also available to users with personal Google Accounts.

Resources

Google Help: Protect, hide, and edit sheets

Block shares from another user in Google Drive

Thursday, July 22, 2021

What’s changing As we recently announced on the Cloud Blog, we’re adding the ability to block another user in Google Drive. If blocked, the user will not be able to share any Drive items with you, and items owned by the user will not be able to be shared with you or be shown when you’re browsing Google Drive. In addition, your files will not be available to the user you’ve blocked, even if you’ve previously shared items with them.

Note that you can’t block users within your domain, and blocking a user on Drive will also block them from interacting with you on other apps and services.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it Google Drive enables both individuals and organizations to store, share, and collaborate from anywhere. Drive’s sharing capabilities fuel productivity and collaboration, but bad actors can abuse tools that are meant to facilitate helpful sharing. That's why we are creating a way to block other users. By using this feature, you can: Block another user from sharing any content with you in the future. This can be a useful control if, for example, another user has a history of sending spam or abusive content. Remove all existing files and folders shared by another user. This is an easy way to get rid of all spam or abusive content shared from a specific user at one time. Remove another person’s access to your content, even if you’ve previously shared it with them.

User blocking will not only preserve Drive sharing’s helpfulness, but most importantly preserve the safety of Drive users.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about blocking and unblocking users in Google Drive.

Blocking an individual from future sharing in Google Drive

Block another user from the shared with me screen in Google Drive

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 22, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Bulk convert Classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager

Thursday, July 22, 2021

Quick summary In 2017, we announced that we would replace classic Sites with new Sites, and in 2019 we announced that domains will have until the end of 2021 to complete the transition.

To help manage the transition, Admins and end users can use the Classic Sites Manager to:

Beginning today, you can now bulk convert Classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager. We hope this highly-requested feature will make it easier to prepare your organization for the migration completion.

Using the classic sites manager, you can bulk convert classic sites to new sites.

Additional details

The user who initiates the bulk conversion will become the owner of all converted sites—they can reassign site ownership using the Classic Sites Manager once the conversion is complete.

If sites cannot be converted, they will be skipped and the converter will be notified via email.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 22, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Transition from classic Sites to new Sites
Google Sites Migration Guide
Google Workspace Updates Blog: Timelines and tools for transition from classic to new Google Sites
Google Workspace Updates Blog: Additional tools for managing the transition from classic to new
Google SitesGoogle Workspace Updates Blog: Use the Classic Sites Manager to download archived backups and control editing of sites in bulk

Fundamental data regions now available to more Google Workspace customers

Wednesday, July 21, 2021

What’s changingData regions gives you the ability to choose where covered data for select Google Workspace apps is stored at rest. The existing data regions feature, now known as Enterprise data regions, offer a full range of features to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus and Education Plus customers.
Now, we’re introducing a more limited version of data regions, known as Fundamental data regions, which will be available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Business Plus, Business Standard and Frontline customers.
Who’s impactedAdmins
Why you’d use itGoogle Workspace’s globally distributed cloud infrastructure reduces latency and protects data with geo redundancy, so most organizations choose not to geo-restrict their data. If, however, your organization has preference to control where its data is stored at rest, data regions can help you meet those needs.
Additional detailsFundamental data regions is a more limited version of data regions compared to Enterprise data regions, which is available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus and Education Plus customers. Some key differences include:

Single vs multiple regions: Enterprise data regions enables you to set multiple region policies, whereas the Fundamental data regions only offers one region of your choosing.
Root OU vs full OU and group controls: Enterprise data regions allows for customizing data regions for different groups and organizational units (OUs) within your organization. Fundamental data regions only allows you to set a single policy at the root OU level.
Report availability: Enterprise data regions includes detailed reports on the move progress of your covered data. These reports will not be available to Fundamental data regions users.

Admins that need the full functionality of Enterprise data regions can get access by visiting their Subscriptions page in the Admin console to upgrade licenses to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus or Education Plus.
Getting started

Admins: This feature will be turned off by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about choosing a geographic location for your data.

End users: No end user impact.

Settings available for Fundamental data regions in the Admin console

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 21, 2021

Availability

Fundamental data regions newly available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, and Frontline customers
Enterprise data regions already available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus and Education Plus customers.
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.

Resources

Hangouts to Google Chat upgrade beginning August 16th, with option to opt-out

Monday, July 19, 2021

What’s changing Beginning August 16, 2021, we will start upgrading users who have the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected to “Chat preferred,” unless you explicitly opt out. Users who already have “Chat only”, “Chat preferred”, or “Classic Hangouts Only” selected, or users with both services turned off will not be affected.

Additionally, the “Chat and classic Hangouts'' setting will also be removed for all users in your domain unless you opt out of the upgrade.

If there are affected users in your domain, you will receive an email notification that contains more information and any necessary action that needs to be taken.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

Unless you opt-out, Google Chat will replace classic Hangouts as the default chat application for your affected users.

Beginning late 2021, classic Hangouts will no longer be supported and all remaining users will be migrated to Google Chat. Learn more about the Google Chat upgrade timeline.

Getting started

Admins: Before August 16, 2021, you have the option to:

Opt-out of the migration to preserve your current settings.
Upgrade all of your users to “Chat preferred”.

If you don’t take any action, all users in your organization who have the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected will be automatically upgraded to “Chat preferred” and the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting will no longer be accessible. We anticipate this migration to take around two weeks.

No action is required if there are no users in your domain with the “Chat and classic Hangouts” service setting selected.

Additional details

The “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting will be removed from the Admin Console regardless of your selected setting, unless you opt out.

Conversation History: With the exception of a few special cases, messages sent in classic Hangouts 1:1 and group conversations will be available in Chat. Learn more about Chat and classic Hangouts interoperability.

Direct calling: Chat doesn’t yet support direct calling in the same way as classic Hangouts. We anticipate direct calling to become available for Google Chat later this year — we will provide an update here when that feature becomes available.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 16, 2021

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Enterprise customers.

Resources

Updates to Google Workspace Public Status Dashboard and service status alerts

Monday, July 19, 2021

What’s changing We're introducing a new Public Status Dashboard experience for Google Workspace. As part of this update, we’re enhancing the functionality of the existing Apps outage alert system-defined rule, which provides email notifications regarding service disruptions or outages via the Public Status Dashboard. Specifically, you can now configure the rule to also deliver Apps outage alerts to the Alert Center, and you can retrieve the alerts using the Alert Center API.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important New Public Status Dashboard Experience Following the Google Maps Platform, the Google Workspace Status Dashboard will soon have a refreshed user interface, which will allow you to find and view important service status information faster. The location of the Public Status Dashboard will not change with this update, and it will continue to support RSS feed subscribers.

The Google Workspace Status Dashboard will receive a new UI refresh, making it easier to view important information and updates.

Enhanced Apps outage alerts By bringing Apps outage alerts to the Alert Center, we are aligning with other Google Workspace alert types. The Apps outage alerts will share a familiar format to other alerts your organization may receive in the Alert Center.

In addition to the Google Workspace Status Dashboard, you will be able to find Apps outage alerts in the Alert Center.

Additionally, we’ve updated the email notification format to contain structured information such as key issue details, the status of the affected services, and a link to the Google Workspace Status Dashboard.

We've enhanced email notification for Apps outages to include richer information, a status of the outage, and quicklinks to more information.

Finally, the Apps outage alerts are now available via the Alert Center API and can be identified with the "AppsOutage" alert type. This will allow integration with your existing alerting or ticketing systems within your organization.

Email Notification Sender Changes To align with other email notifications from the Alert Center, the sender email address used for Apps outage alert email notifications is changing from workspace-noreply@google.com to google-workspace-alerts-noreply@google.com.

The subject of these emails will not change (it will still be "Google Workspace status alert"). Any email routing or filtering based on the old sender address should be updated accordingly.

Getting started

Admins:

Visit the Help Center to learn more about receiving Apps outage alerts in the Alert Center, by email, or both. Note: You will have to take action to view alerts in the Alert Center even if you have configured your settings to receive alerts via email.
Email Notification Sender Changes: As noted above, please update any email routing or filtering to account for the workspace-noreply@google.com to google-workspace-alerts-noreply@google.com change.

End users: There is no end user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on July 19, 2021.
We anticipate the updated Google Workspace Status Dashboard to become available by July 21, 2021.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.

Resources

Use Google Assistant on more devices

Thursday, July 15, 2021

Quick launch summary You can now use Google Assistant with smart displays and speakers, such as the Nest Hub Max. We previously announced that access to Google Workspace services from Google Assistant is generally available on users’ personal devices.

You can access Google Workspace services, such as Google Meet or Calendar, using the Google Assistant on more devices, such as the Nest Hub Max.

Admins will need to enable Search and Assistant for these devices in order to ensure users can access Google Workspace data through Assistant. If Admins allow for the home devices, they can also specify if the device will require Voice Match or Face Match to authenticate.
Getting started

Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain, OU, or group level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Search and Assistant on across different devices for your organization.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up Google Assistant for your device.

Rollout pace

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

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Useful Links

Updates