Google Workspace Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 15, 2021

Friday, January 15, 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.
Smart Compose in Google Docs available in French and PortugueseSmart Compose helps you write high-quality content in Google Docs faster and more easily—helping you cut back on spelling and grammatical errors and repetitive writing. It's rolling out now in French and Portuguese. | 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.
Deploy and manage Google Credential Provider for Windows via the Admin consoleYou can now deploy and manage Google Credential Provider for Windows (GCPW) in the Admin console. | Learn more.
Expanding the Gmail delegate limitWe’re expanding the number of allowed Gmail delegates from 25. In addition, to help with delegate management, delegation for Contacts is now available via the Contacts API. | Learn more.
New tools to troubleshoot network and performance issues in Google MeetWe’ve added tools in Google Meet that make it easier for end users to understand how their local desktop and network environments affect meeting quality. | Learn more.
New option to block devices with basic management from accessing your organization’s dataWe’re adding the ability for admins to manually block or unblock mobile apps from accessing their organization’s Google Workspace data on Android and iOS devices with basic mobile management. | Learn more.
Improved mobile device management rules experience in the Admin consoleWe’re making improvements to how you manage rules related to mobile device management (MDM) in the Admin console. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Enterprise for Education and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Learn more.

New option to block devices with basic management from accessing your organization’s data

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

What’s changing We’re adding the ability for admins to manually block or unblock mobile apps from accessing their organization’s Google Workspace data on Android and iOS devices with basic mobile management. These actions can be automated using device management rules (for supported editions).

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important Previously, admins had a limited set of actions they could perform with basic management—they could wipe an account or delete the device from inventory. However, they couldn’t block apps on those devices from accessing organizational data in the way that they could for devices with advanced mobile management. This launch makes that possible, helping to keep your organization’s data secure.
While the blocking action is the same for devices with basic and advanced management, advanced management allows you to proactively block devices based on the Require Admin Approval setting. With basic management, you can only do this on a per-device basis.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be available by default. To use it, navigate to a device page in the Admin console and click block device. Visit the Help Center to learn more about blocking and unblocking devices.
End users: If a user’s device is blocked by an admin, the user will be signed out of all Google Workspace mobile apps. If they try to sign in again, they will see a message indicating that they do not have access to the app, and that they should contact their administrator for help.

New option to block a device available for devices with basic management

Once a device is manually blocked, admins can unblock the device

Those trying to access Google Workspace apps on a blocked device will see a message to contact the administrator for help

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 13, 2021.

Availability

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

Resources

Improved mobile device management rules experience in the Admin console

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Quick launch summary

A new location for MDM rules: You can now manage rules at Devices > Security rules. Previously, MDM rules were managed at Admin console > Rules.
New rule options and creation workflow: You’ll see a new flow to create MDM rules, including new conditions which can trigger rules, and new device management and notification actions to take as a result.

Use our Help Center to learn more about managing MDM rules for your organization. Note that any previously created rules will continue to function as before. However, you’ll be able to use the new flow and options if you update the rules.

Getting started

Admins: The new interface and rule creation workflow will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing MDM rules for your organization.
End users: No end user impact.

Device management rules are now in the Security rules section of the Admin console

A sample screen from the new rule creation flow
Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 13, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Automate mobile management tasks with rules

New tools to troubleshoot network and performance issues in Google Meet

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

What’s changing We’ve added tools in Google Meet that make it easier for end users to understand how their local desktop and network environments affect meeting quality. During a call, you can now go to the three-dot menu and select “Troubleshooting and Help” to see:

CPU load and network stability over time
Time segments highlighted when the local environment likely affects the call quality
Suggested actions to help improve call performance
Real-time feedback on the effect of any action taken on network and processing load
Tips for performing common tasks, like presenting content and recording meetings

Who’s impacted
End users

Why it’s important Meet shares processing power and network connections with all other applications and browser tabs running on a computer. When the system is overusing its processing power or suffering from a bad network connection, Meet will try to adjust and maintain performance while consuming less resources. Some of those adjustments are less visible, but if resource shortages are severe or persistent, users may notice blurry video, stuttering audio, or other issues.
With this launch, we’re providing more visibility into how the system is performing. We hope this will help diagnose and alleviate any noticeable performance issues if they occur.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature, but you can use our Help Center to learn how to prepare your network for Meet video calls.
End users: This feature will be available by default, To find it, go to the three-dot menu and select “Troubleshooting and Help” during a call. Visit the Help Center to learn more about troubleshooting performance in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 12, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Expanding the Gmail delegate limit

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

What’s changing We’re expanding the number of allowed Gmail delegates from 25. In addition, to help with delegate management, delegation for Contacts is now available via the Contacts API.
Who’s impacted Admins, end users, and developers
Why you’d use it We’ve heard from you that allowing more than 25 users to access a single mailbox can sometimes help manage the messages. For example, in certain cases, the volume and variety of inquiries necessitated having a larger group of individual users be able to read and respond to them. To address this need, we‘ve enabled higher limits.
Additionally, we’re now offering programmatic access to managing Contacts delegation, similar to how Gmail delegation can be managed via the API. Note that delegation limits for Contacts delegation are not changing.
Additional details Where previously we advised that a technical limit of 25 delegates applied for email delegation, our updated guidance is as follows:

With typical usage, up to 40 of those configured users may concurrently access the account. However, please note that

All other Gmail limits and policies continue to apply.
Heavy usage by any user will reduce the overall concurrency limit. This will most commonly occur if automation or scripting (e.g. via Chrome extension or API) is used to engage with the mailbox via high frequency actions.

Up to 1000 delegates may be configured as delegates for the purposes of setting up access control.
For high-volume operations such as sales or support teams, we continue to recommend the use of a dedicated ticketing system. Gmail is not intended to replace a ticketing system for scaled operations.
Contacts delegation is still limited to 25 delegates per user.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 12, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Deploy and manage Google Credential Provider for Windows via the Admin console

Monday, January 11, 2021

What’s changing You can now deploy and manage Google Credential Provider for Windows (GCPW) in the Admin console. Previously, you had to edit registry entries to manage GCPW. The new, organization-specific installation file and setting management in the Admin console makes it easier to deploy and manage GCPW in your organization.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why you’d use it GCPW is an aspect of Enhanced desktop security for Windows that makes using Windows 10 devices with Google Workspace easier and more secure. Once set up, users can:

Sign in to a Microsoft Windows 10 device using their Google Workspace Account.
Take advantage of security protections on Windows 10 devices, including 2-step verification (2SV) and login challenges.
Access Google Workspace and other single sign-on (SSO) apps without the need to re-enter their credentials.

With this launch, you can configure and manage GCPW in the Admin console instead of in each device’s registry settings. This can make setting up and updating GCPW deployments less manual and time-consuming for if you don’t have standard software deployment tools.

Additional details Device setup and management: To set up GCPW on a new device, download a GCPW installation file customized for your company from the Admin console. After GCPW is installed, you can manage GCPW settings in the Admin console. When a user signs in to a device managed with GCPW, GCPW fetches and applies the settings from in the Admin console. GCPW settings in the Admin console may take up to one hour to be implemented on the device. If you already installed GCPW on a device, you can set a token to manage GCPW from the Admin console.
Settings available in the Admin console: You can manage most of the settings in the Admin console that you can in registry settings, including offline access, multiple account management, and more.
Working with existing registry settings: Admin console settings supersede registry settings. To continue to use registry settings instead of Admin console settings, leave GCPW settings in the Admin console as “not configured.”

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 11, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 8, 2021

Friday, January 8, 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.

Google Voice now generally available in Germany and Italy

Google Workspace customers based in Germany and Italy can now sign up for Google Voice. These customers, as well as international customers with Google Voice Premier edition, can assign and port numbers with Germany country codes (+49) and Italy country codes (+39) to users. | Learn more.

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.

Smart compose and spelling autocorrect available when adding comments in Google Docs

Smart compose and spelling autocorrect are now available when adding comments in Google Docs. | Learn more.

Join a meeting with new options on the Google Meet landing page

We’re changing the options for a more tailored experience when Google Workspace users join or start a meeting from meet.google.com. | Learn more.

Useful Links

Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 15, 2021

New option to block devices with basic management from accessing your organization’s data

Improved mobile device management rules experience in the Admin console

New tools to troubleshoot network and performance issues in Google Meet

Expanding the Gmail delegate limit

Deploy and manage Google Credential Provider for Windows via the Admin console

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 8, 2021

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