Google Workspace Updates

Manage conversations by muting notifications in Google Chat

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

What’s changingWe’re introducing a new mute/unmute option in Google Chat to assist you in prioritizing and managing your messages. This is the latest feature within the recently announced enhanced Chat experience that helps you increase concentration, eliminate distractions and ultimately focus on the most important conversations.
Muted conversations will not send push notifications, will not appear in home, and will also be visually deprioritized by being moved to the bottom of each conversation section. Notification badges will still apply to muted conversations when there are new @ mentions for you or everyone in the conversation.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it This update is particularly useful for those who feel overwhelmed by numerous, highly active conversations as they now have an option to tune out the extra noise, protect their time for heads-down individual work and focus on the most important communication.

Additional details Unmuting a conversation undoes the visual deprioritization applied to the conversation and the notification settings prior to muting will re-apply to the communication.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users:

To mute a notification:

Click on the three dot menu in the left hand panel of any conversation
Select mute option
Alternatively open the notification setting of any conversation and check the mute option

To unmute a conversation:

Click on the three dot menu in the left hand panel of any conversation
Select unmute option
Alternatively open the notification setting of any conversation and uncheck the mute option

Visit the Help Center to learn more about muting conversations in Google Chat.

Rollout pace Web:

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 6, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 18, 2023

Mobile:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 28, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Mute conversations in Google Chat

Turn on snippets for additional context surrounding data loss prevention rule violations

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

What’s changing Admins can now view “Sensitive Content Snippets” for data loss prevention (DLP) rules. This applies to DLP events for Drive, Chat, and Chrome. When turned on, snippets will log the matched content that triggered a DLP violation in the security investigation tool. Admins can use the information captured in the snippet to better identify actual security risks, determine whether a false positive was returned, and decide on an appropriate course of action.

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.
This feature will be OFF by default and can be turned on 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.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing content snippets that trigger DLP rules, using Workspace DLP to prevent data loss, and the security investigation tool.

End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 6, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Frontline Standard, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus, and Enterprise Essentials Plus customers
Also available to Cloud Identity Premium and BeyondCorp Enterprise customers

Resources

New beta to add granular control options for who can respond to Google Forms

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

What’s changingWe’re introducing a beta that gives Google Forms creators more granular control over who can respond to their forms via sharing settings.
Previously, forms creators had two sharing options: restrict responses to users within their domain (and trusted domains) or make forms public (i.e. anyone with the URL can respond). With this new option, form creators can limit response access to specific users, groups, or target audiences—similar to how file owners can restrict the sharing of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides or Sites in Drive.

New beta to add granular control options for who can respond to Google Forms

Who’s impacted Admins, end users and developers

Why you’d use it This feature is useful in any scenario where you’d like to control who can respond to a form. For example, teachers can use this to ensure a quiz is only accessible to select students who receive the link. Similarly, business leaders can better collect feedback from specific organizational units and prevent the form from collecting email addresses or from being forwarded.

Getting started

Admins: For a limited time, you can sign your organization up for the beta using this form. Upon signing up, users within the Google group signed up for the beta should see the new feature within 2-3 weeks.
End users: All new forms created by users who are allowlisted will be enabled into this feature. Form creators must publish their form to enable responders to view the form or submit a response. Form creators can see who has access to the form and share response access to specific users, groups, or target audiences. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating a form in Google Forms.

Users with personal Google Accounts or Workspace Individual subscribers can sign up using this form.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Note: The target audiences feature mentioned above is only available for the Google Drive and Docs and Google Chat services. Supported editions for this feature on Drive, Docs & Chat include: Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus. Supported editions for this feature on Drive & Docs only include: Business Standard, Nonprofits and G Suite Business.

Resources

Set client-side encryption as the default mode for new emails, events, and files

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

What’s changingAdmins can now set client-side encryption (CSE) to be on by default for:

Newly created Gmail messages, Google Calendar events.

Newly created Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files.

Newly uploaded Google Drive files.

Admins can set client-side encryption as default on for users in Organizational Units (OUs) that regularly handle sensitive data requiring additional encryption. This allows organizations the flexibility to meet their compliance and regulatory requirements and reduce the burden on change management programs. Users are prompted to create a CSE object natively in each app meaning their emails, events and files are encrypted by default with customer-managed keys and are private from Google. For organizations with strict regulatory or sovereignty needs, this can help them close compliance gaps by defaulting users to the preferred mode for handling sensitive data. Drive:

Gmail:

This is available on the web initially, with support coming for mobile apps in the future. Who’s impactedAdmins and end users
Why it mattersThis feature is important for Google Workspace admins as it improves users compliance behavior without sacrificing productivity and increases control for admins implementing data control policies. It also includes improved audit logs, providing more detail for admins compiling regulatory compliance reports.

Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt data by default, at rest and in transit between our facilities. Client-side encryption goes beyond this, giving organizations authoritative control and privacy as the sole owner of private encryption keys and the identity provider of the encryption keys. It gives organizations higher confidence that any third party, including Google and foreign governments, cannot access their confidential data. Users can continue to collaborate across their preferred apps in Workspace while IT and compliance teams can ensure that sensitive data stays compliant with regulations.
Getting started

Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be configured at the group or OU level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about client-side encryption.

End users: Use our Help Center to learn more about working with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & Slides.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 5, 2023

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.

Resources

Admins in Google Vault can now export hyperlinked Google Drive content from Gmail messages

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

What’s changing Starting December 8, 2023, admins can export Drive files hyperlinked in Gmail messages directly in Google Vault. When admins select “export linked Drive files”, Vault will look for Drive hyperlinks in the body of the emails being exported from Gmail. If Drive hyperlinks are found, a separate export of Drive files will also be created.

Toggle “Export linked Drive files” on or off

In the “Exports” tab, Drive exports will be grouped with their corresponding Gmail export — you can select the arrow icon to open the collapsible menu.

Admins will be able to find their exported hyperlinked Drive content nested under the corresponding Gmail export in the “Export” tab. Vault admins can find the association between the Gmail export and Drive link export in the export file names and metadata.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it matters Vault is critical for retaining, holding, searching, and exporting users’ Google Workspace data. This update reduces the need for admins to manually find and extract Drive files hyperlinked in Gmail messages.
Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about supported services and data types in Vault.

Rollout pace Vault user interface updates

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 4, 2023

API updates

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting December 4, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license

Resources

Google Vault Help: Supported services and data types

Introducing a redesigned search results page in Google Chat

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

What’s changingBuilding upon the recently announced improved search results in Google Chat, we’re also upgrading the search results page to help you find the right message, file, or space in Chat.
Specifically, Chat will now highlight matching keywords in search results and show clear demarcation between results for easier browsing. The highlighted keywords could be an exact match to your search query or terms that are related to your search query.

Introducing a redesigned search results page in Google Chat

Who’s impacted End users

Why it matters This update improves content discoverability by making it easier for you to browse and locate search results quickly in Chat.

Additional details Search results are based on the exact query, as well as any additional queries that might have been triggered (secondary query, synonyms, spell corrections, etc).

Getting started

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users on web and mobile

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Solve math equations easily with Smart Compose

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

What’s changingFor years, users have written content and replied to comments faster and more easily using Smart Compose in Google Docs, Slides, Sheets and Drawings. Today, we’re excited to announce a new feature that extends the power of Smart Compose to help you solve simple math equations.
Upon typing a math equation that ends with “=” into your document, presentation, spreadsheet comments, or drawing, solutions will appear as grey text suggestions. This new seamless mathematical experience will increase productivity and accuracy when solving math equations across Workspace. $Solve math equations easily with Smart Compose$
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled by opening a file, clicking Tools > Preferences > deselect “Show Smart Compose suggestions”. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Smart Compose and Smart Reply.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits

Resources

Google Help: Use Smart Compose and Smart Reply

Access Google Vault audit logs alongside other Workspace audit logs

Monday, December 4, 2023

What’s changingWe’re excited to announce the general availability of an improved Google Vault audit log experience. As a result of this change, you can now find Vault audit logs in the Admin console alongside other Google Workspace apps like Gmail, Google Drive, and more. Beginning in January, Vault audit logs can be accessed by the Reports API, which you can use to actively monitor your domain’s Vault usage. We’ll share more information here on the Workspace Updates blog when this functionality becomes available.Aligning the location and functionality of Vault audit logs with other Workspace apps creates a consistent experience for admins and reduces the need to search for information in various locations. It also enables audit logs in the admin console to be compliant with our new regionalized data processing capabilities.Additional detailsThe duration, access and visibility of Vault audit logs will remain the same and will continue to require the “manage audits” permission. The Vault audit logs can be accessed through the Vault reports and matter audits links as well as from the Admin Console. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up Vault privileges.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Vault log events.
End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 4, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 1, 2023

Friday, December 1, 2023

3 New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if 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.
New ways to use the Google Sheets app on iOS devices You can now copy charts from the Google Sheets app on all iOS devices and paste them externally as images or within the same spreadsheet as a duplicate chart. In addition, you can modify text formatting using the contextual toolbar in Sheets when a keyboard is attached to iOS tablets. | Rolling out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains now. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more about adding & editing a chart or graph and editing & formatting a spreadsheet.

New ways to use the Google Sheets app on iOS devices

Adding ‘Admin managed apps’ category to Google Workspace MarketplaceWe’re excited to announce a new featured app category in the Marketplace: Admin managed. These Enterprise apps can be installed only by a Google Workspace administrator for their organization. | Available now to all Google Workspace customers. | Learn more about Featured app categories.

Bulk select in Gmail on Android and iOS devices We’re introducing a feature that enables you to bulk select a batch of messages in the email threadlist with one tap using the Gmail app on Android and iOS devices. After clicking the select all icon, a batch of messages will be selected, enabling you to easily perform email actions such as deleting multiple messages or marking them as “read”. | This feature is available now on Android devices and is rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains on iOS devices. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts.

Bulk select in Gmail on Android and iOS devices

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.

Create shareable video presentations in Google Slides We’re introducing slides recordings, a new Google Slides feature that lets you easily record yourself presenting, and then share the presentation with others to view when it works for them. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus and Education Plus only. | Learn more about slides recordings.
The next evolution of automated data entry in Google Sheets Enhanced Smart Fill in Google Sheets is available for customers with the Duet AI for Google Workspace Enterprise add-on. | Learn more about enhanced smart fill.
Expanding message bubbles in Google Chat to iOS devices In September, we introduced message bubbles in Google Chat on web and Android, enabling users to more easily differentiate incoming versus outgoing messages in the Chat message stream. This week, we’re excited to announce the expansion of message bubbles to iOS devices. | Learn more about message bubbles.
Updates to the Google Drive scanner on Android & iOS devices We’re introducing additional enhancements to the Drive scanner on Android devices, which now powers the Google Pixel camera and includes improvements to the scanner experience when capturing content. We’re also expanding the Google Drive scanner and title suggestion feature to iOS devices. | Learn more about Drive scanner.
Introducing a new homepage view in Google Drive We’ve added a new streamlined homepage for Drive called Home that makes it easier and faster for you to find files that matter most. | Learn more about Drive home.
Introducing a new mobile experience for Google Chat We recently announced a streamlined user experience in Google Chat to help you find what you need much faster, including new features like home and mentions. Starting today, we’re excited to introduce a new bottom navigation bar within the Chat app on Android & iOS devices to help you easily access these features on mobile. | Learn more about the Chat mobile experience.
Google Vault now supports Google Calendar Google Vault now supports Calendar, which means customers can take new actions around Calendar data. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license only. | Learn more about Vault supporting Calendar.
More insights to help admins troubleshoot Google Meet hardware issues In 2022, we introduced several improvements for managing Google Meet hardware devices. These improvements included surfacing additional information about device issues, such as a description of the issue, when the issue was detected, and more. Now, we’re taking these improvements one step further by providing admins with even more data points. | Learn more about Google Meet hardware issues.
Monitor insider risk of Google Workspace data with Chronicle Admins can now more seamlessly integrate their Google Workspace data with Chronicle (Google’s cloud-native Security Operations platform), to quickly detect, investigate and take action on risky activity and threats. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus customers only. | Learn more about Chronicle.
Google Classroom now supports roster import from SIS partnersEducators can now easily import students from their student information system (SIS) to Google Classroom using OneRoster. This integration saves educators time and helps make class setup much quicker. | Available to Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade only. | Learn more about roster import.

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:

Scheduled Release Domains:

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

Google Meet Series One Desk 27 and Acer Chromebase for meeting devices will automatically adjust your lighting
Introducing a new homepage in the Google Drive app (Android & iOS)
More languages available for Google Meet captions
View full screen tasks lists on Google Calendar
Enhancing Google Drive usability on large screen Android devices
Expanding Google Drive log events to additional Google Workspace editions
Updates for managing iOS devices: user enrollment is now supported; purchase and distribute apps using the Apple Volume Purchase program
The next evolution of automated data entry in Google Sheets
Updates to the Google Drive scanner on Android & iOS devices
Monitor insider risk of Google Workspace data with Chronicle

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

Google Classroom now supports roster import from SIS partners

Thursday, November 30, 2023

What’s changingEducators can now easily import students from their student information system (SIS) to Google Classroom using OneRoster. This integration saves educators time and helps make class setup much quicker.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 28, 2023 (with expected completion in January 2024)

Availability

Available to Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade

Resources

Useful Links

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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

Manage conversations by muting notifications in Google Chat

Turn on snippets for additional context surrounding data loss prevention rule violations

New beta to add granular control options for who can respond to Google Forms

Set client-side encryption as the default mode for new emails, events, and files

Admins in Google Vault can now export hyperlinked Google Drive content from Gmail messages

Introducing a redesigned search results page in Google Chat

Solve math equations easily with Smart Compose

Access Google Vault audit logs alongside other Workspace audit logs

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 1, 2023

Google Classroom now supports roster import from SIS partners

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