This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.


We’re introducing more granular admin controls for Workspace Studio steps and starters. With these new controls, admins can define which steps and starters people in their organization can use to create flows, including by Workspace service or individually. They provide admins more granular control of Studio functionality, and are particularly useful for gradual rollout of Studio in their organizations.


Getting started

  • Admins: Workspace Studio starters and steps will be ON by default and can be disabled at the domain, organizational unit, or group level. Visit the Help Center to learn more.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. The steps turned off by admins will show up as disabled (greyed out) in Studio. Existing flows with these steps won’t run, and the user will see an error.

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*
*Starting June 1, 2026, users with AI Expanded Access licenses will have higher limits on usage of Workspace Studio.

Resources

When creating a notebook in Powerschool Schoology, Gemini LTI users can now add content directly from their course as sources. This integration allows educators and students to seamlessly bridge their course materials with AI-powered research and analysis, and generate Studio artifacts like Audio and Video Overviews, infographics, slide decks, and more based on their Schoology resources. By automating the import of Schoology course materials, users can quickly ground their notebooks in specific curriculum content without the need for manual file uploads.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Education: Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus

Resources

We’re making it easier to keep your sources and insights current in NotebookLM by enabling automatic syncing with Google Drive. Previously, if you uploaded a file in Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides, you’d have to manually update it in NotebookLM to see the changes. With this update, as the content in your Drive files evolves, the information within the notebook updates automatically to match. This update ensures that you're always working with the most accurate and up-to-date information without the manual effort of re-syncing files.
NotebookLM will also strictly respect file deletions and permissions. If a user’s access to a Drive file is revoked, they will no longer be able to use that file as a source in their notebook. The source will appear in the sources list with a link to the source for the user to request access. Additionally, if a file is deleted from Drive, it will be removed from the notebook as well, ensuring your research environment stays organized and secure.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts with access to NotebookLM

Resources

Today, we’re announcing improvements to our Out-of-Domain file-level warnings. First launched in April 2025, these badges alert users to documents and users outside of their Workspace organization, helping to prevent accidental data exfiltration and potential phishing attacks that spoof internal content. We’ve expanded support across devices and sharing types in the following ways:

  • Files in the Android and iOS apps for Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides now include external indicators
  • Chat Spaces and Google Groups can be configured to allow external users; if they’re given access to a document, that document now shows the external badge
  • If a service account has access to a document, and that service account is owned by an external Google Cloud organization, it now triggers the external badge in documents
  • Comment email notifications now include badges for external documents and users
  • File sharing email notifications now include badges for external documents and users

How Out-of-Domain warnings work

This feature helps users identify potentially risky files and avoid phishing scams when working with files shared from outside your organization.

Notification in comments

Notification in file sharing email

An image showing a Google Doc with the word "External" displayed in a small yellow badge next to the document title. The badge has been clicked, and a pop-up window appears with more information stating that “This document is owned by someone outside your organization. Be cautious about sharing sensitive information.
Image of "External" badge displayed in Google Docs

Getting started

Screenshot of the Google Workspace Admin console, navigated to Sharing settings. At the bottom of the page, a new section labeled "Highlight external files" is highlighted. The checkbox is checked, and the description reads: "Mark external files shared or owned externally as “external” to flag that content may be viewable outside your organization.
Image of the Google Workspace Admin console, Sharing settings, showing the "Highlight external files" option enabled

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Making decisions in a fast-paced environment often leads to long, messy threads and lost consensus. Polly helps teams solve this by enabling the creation of interactive polls within existing Chat conversations. By keeping the feedback loop inside the "flow of work," Polly helps eliminate the friction of switching between apps, leading to faster responses and clearer team alignment.

Effortless authoring and participation
Creating a poll is as simple as mentioning @Polly in any Google Chat space. Whether you need a quick pulse on a project direction or a simple vote on a meeting time, you can author a poll in seconds. For end users, participation is just as easy: team members can cast their votes with a single click directly within the chat stream.

Real-time results
Results are updated as votes come in, providing immediate visual feedback to the entire space. This transparency ensures that everyone is on the same page and can move forward with confidence as soon as a decision is reached.

Use cases for Polly in Google Chat:

  • Driving consensus: Rapidly narrow down options for project names, design directions, or strategy shifts. 
  • Meeting logistics: Quickly vote on the best time for a sync or gather topics for an upcoming agenda.
  • Team preferences: Streamline simple office or team logistics, from lunch orders to preferred collaboration hours.

Admins can easily enable the Polly integration to empower their teams with a more structured way to collaborate without leaving the Google Workspace ecosystem.

Getting started

  • Admins: Admins can install the Polly Chat app on their users’ behalf. Visit the Help Center to learn more about installing Marketplace apps for your organization. If you’ve already deployed Polly for Google Meet, then the Polly Chat app will automatically be available as well.
  • End users: End users can search for the Polly add-on in Google Chat under Apps > Find apps. Visit the Google Workspace Marketplace to learn more and install Polly. If you’ve already installed Polly for Google Meet, then the Polly Chat app will automatically be available as well.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

Resources