Google Workspace Updates

Offline syncing available for opened Microsoft Office documents

Monday, June 27, 2022

What’s changingIn 2019, we announced Office editing to make it easier to work with Microsoft Office files in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides and launched better features allowing you to work anywhere with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in offline mode. Starting today, you can work offline with Microsoft Office files on your desktop.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it This feature brings the collaboration benefits of Google Workspace to Microsoft Office files. At times when your device is offline, you’re now able to edit, comment, and collaborate on Office files using Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Any changes made to files while offline will then sync to Drive once you are connected again.

Additional detailsThis change only applies to files that have already been opened in Office editing mode.

Getting started

Admins: Offline access is allowed by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up offline access to Docs editors.
End users: Offline access must be enabled by the user. Visit the Help Center to learn more about enabling offline access and working on Google Docs, Sheets, & Slides offline.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 27, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 24, 2022

Friday, June 24, 2022

New updates

Unless 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 legacy Google Workspace and G Suite customers.

Frictionless sharing across Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides In the effort to make collaboration simpler for users, we've introduced a new sharing experience in Workspace. Now, when you click the "Share" button in the top-right corner of your file, you'll see a streamlined design that makes it easier to share files with others and/or specific groups of people in your organizations, control whether your file is searchable to groups with access, and to copy the file link. | 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.

Data Loss Prevention for Drive helps protect sensitive data when users upload files to external Google Forms, now generally available Users can now respond to external forms that contain file upload questions, while also helping to prevent the leak of sensitive and confidential information. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more.

New options for styling fonts in Google Forms We’ve added additional font style and sizing options, and the ability to customize header, subheader, and body text separately in Google Forms. | Learn more.

Adjust spacing between content in Sites using new density theme setting Site editors can now adjust the spacing between the content on their site with a custom theme setting that offers Compact, Cozy, or Comfortable spacing options. | Learn more.

Easily print your Tasks List You can now print personal and Chat spaces Task lists on web, making it easier for you to track assigned items offline or plan with pen and paper if that’s your preference. | Learn more.

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

Easily print your Tasks List

Thursday, June 23, 2022

Quick summaryYou can now print personal and Chat spaces Task lists on web. We hope this makes it easier for you to track assigned items offline or plan with pen and paper if that’s your preference.

Getting started

Admins: Google Tasks must be turned ON for people in your domain to access and print Tasks lists. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Tasks on or off for users.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about printing your Google Tasks.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 23, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Adjust spacing between content in Sites using new density theme setting

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Quick summarySite editors using new Google Sites can now adjust the spacing between the content on their site with a custom theme setting that offers Compact, Cozy, or Comfortable spacing options. By default, all newly created sites will start with the Comfortable setting.
We hope this highly requested feature provides you with more visual control over your site, especially for complex sites with a lot of content.

Adjust the visual density setting in Sites

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: In a new Site, navigate to Themes > Custom > Edit > Spacing > Density. Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating a custom theme.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 22, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on July 13, 2022

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to users with personal Google accounts

Resources

Google Help: Change how your site looks

New options for styling fonts in Google Forms

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

What’s changing We’re adding additional font style and sizing options, and the ability to customize header, subheader, and body text separately in Google Forms.

Who’s impacted End users

Why it matters This highly requested feature allows you to easily change the look and feel of your forms. You can use different typefaces and sizes for different parts of your form.

Getting started

Admins: No action required.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about changing the theme or font of your form.

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Help: Change the theme or font of your form

Data Loss Prevention for Drive helps protect sensitive data when users upload files to external Google Forms, now generally available

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Quick summary In April, we announced a beta that allows users to respond to external forms that contain file upload questions, while also helping to prevent the leak of sensitive and confidential information.
This feature is now generally available and will apply your domain’s existing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Drive policies to files that your users submit to Google Forms, without creating new rules or updating any existing ones.

Getting started

Admins:

DLP for Drive rules defined for your domain will be applied to files submitted to file upload questions in Google Forms outside your domain.
If you are not using DLP for Drive, you can create DLP rules at the domain, OU, or group level in the Admin console under Security > Data protection. You can apply block, warn or audit actions. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Workspace DLP on for your organization.

End users:

End users can respond to forms as usual, but can now respond to forms outside their domain, including forms that have file upload questions.
If a form violates DLP for Drive rules for their domain, end users may see warnings or be blocked from submitting.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 21, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 11, 2022

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Frontline, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 17, 2022

Friday, June 17, 2022

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.

Improved email notifications for Google Calendar invites We’ve refreshed the layout of emails sent by Google Calendar to make key event details more accessible and useful. | Learn more.
De-reverberation available for Google Meet Google Meet will now remove reverberations from sound recorded by your microphone. This automatically filters out echos created by spaces with hard surfaces, such as a basement or a kitchen, helping to ensure optimal audio quality. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning upgrade, and Frontline customers only. | Learn more.
VirusTotal integration with the security investigation tool provides deeper insight into Chrome events You can now use VirusTotal to view deeper insights on Chrome log events in the Security Investigation Tool. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.
Manage Google Voice call recording options for your organization Admins can set Google Voice call recording options (automatic or manual) for any organizational unit or group in their organization. | Automatic voice recording is available to all Google Voice Premier customers. On-demand voice recording is available to all Google Voice Premier and Standard customers. | Learn more.
Improved experience for removing participants from Google Meet calls We’ve updated the user experience for removing participants from a meeting in Google Meet. When a host or co-host removes a participant from a call, they are prompted with additional actions: remove the user from the call, fill out an additional abuse report, and/or block the user from rejoining. | Learn more.
Export search results to .CSV files from the security investigation tool Admins can now download log event data from the security investigation tool as a .CSV file. This will allow admins to further analyze data outside of the tool. | Learn more.
Picture-in-Picture and multi-pinning available for Google Meet in Chrome We’re bringing picture-in-picture to Google Meet to Chrome browsers on the web. You’ll be able to see up to four video tiles of meeting attendees in a floating window on top of other applications. | Learn more.

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

Picture-in-Picture and multi-pinning available for Google Meet in Chrome

Thursday, June 16, 2022

Quick summary We’re bringing picture-in-picture to Google Meet to Chrome browsers on the web. You’ll be able to see up to four video tiles of meeting attendees in a floating window on top of other applications.

Additionally, you can now pin multiple video feeds. This will provide greater flexibility in how you combine people and content, allowing you to adjust the view in a way that best serves your meeting.
We hope these features make it easier for presenters and meeting attendees to stay engaged with their meeting. Visit the Cloud Blog to learn more about how we’re boosting communication and collaboration for teams in Google Workspace.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about multi-tasking with picture-in-picture and changing your layout in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 16, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Export search results to .CSV files from the security investigation tool

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Quick summary In addition to a Google Sheets file, admins can now download log event data from the security investigation tool to as a .CSV file. This will allow admins to further analyze data outside of the tool. The export limit for .CSV files is 100,000 rows.

Note: Sharing permissions for exported Sheets files will default to your domain configuration (meaning, if newly created files are shared with everyone, the exported data will be available to everyone).

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about exporting search results from the security investigation tool.
End users: There is no end user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 15, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Export Search Results - Security investigation tool

Improved experience for removing participants from Google Meet calls

Wednesday, June 15, 2022

Quick summary We’re updating the user experience for removing participants from a meeting in Google Meet. Now, when a host or co-host removes a participant from a call, they will be prompted with additional actions. Specifically, they can opt to:

Simply remove the user from the call
Fill out an additional abuse report
And/or block the user from rejoining

Note: We recommend using the “block” functionality only when absolutely necessary. Blocked users can be manually back to the call from the “People” panel.

We hope these additional options make it easier to manage your meetings and avoid further disruptions. This update will be available for Google Meet on laptop and desktop devices, as well as Android and iOS devices.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding or removing people from a Google Meet video call.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 15, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Add or remove people from a Google Meet video call

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

Offline syncing available for opened Microsoft Office documents

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 24, 2022

Easily print your Tasks List

Adjust spacing between content in Sites using new density theme setting

New options for styling fonts in Google Forms

Data Loss Prevention for Drive helps protect sensitive data when users upload files to external Google Forms, now generally available

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 17, 2022

Picture-in-Picture and multi-pinning available for Google Meet in Chrome

Export search results to .CSV files from the security investigation tool

Improved experience for removing participants from Google Meet calls

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