Google Workspace Updates

Improved Search In Gmail on Android

Monday, September 20, 2021

Quick SummaryYou can now quickly and easily filter email and search results on Android mobile devices to find the one specific email or information you’re looking for. Search filters can be used independently or post-search, helping you choose filtering options from rich drop-down lists. For example, you can type a query and further narrow results by selecting search filters like from: colleague’s name, or a specific timeframe. When searching for emails by sender, users can choose from a list of suggested senders or search for emails from multiple senders.
Filtering email and search results

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. When searching in Gmail on Android, you can use the search filters below the search box.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 20, 2021. We anticipate rollout to be completed by the end of October 2021.

Availability

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

Resources

One-click recommended actions in the Alert Center

Monday, September 20, 2021

What’s changing In the Alert Center, Admins will see new one-click recommended actions for various alerts, which they can implement without leaving the Alert Center. You’ll see recommended actions such as:

Marking an email message as phishing,
Suspending a user,
Restoring a user after they’ve been suspended,
Blocking devices,
Deleting email messages and more.

When viewing an alert detail, you'll see a recommended action such as "Delete message" with a link for admins to take quick action.

Who’s impacted Admins
Why it’s important We hope these suggested actions make it easier for Admins to swiftly triage, take action, and remedy various incidents within your org faster.

Additionally, this update builds on previous improvements in the Admin console such as the updated homepage, redesigned navigation experience and a streamlined management of users and domains.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about taking action in response to alerts.
End users: There is no end user impact.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

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

Resources

Control the ability to present to Google Meet from the Editors with new Admin setting

Monday, September 20, 2021

Quick summary Earlier this year, we announced the ability to present from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly to Google Meet. Beginning today, Admins can turn this feature on or off for their organization with a new setting. We hope this gives Admins more control over how their users share content in Meet calls.

In the Meet video settings portion of the Admin console, you can control the ability to present to meet fro the Editors under the "Integrations" category.

Getting started

Admins: This feature is ON by default and can be disabled at the OU level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about allowing your users present to Meet from the Editors.
End users: No action required. When enabled by your admin, you can present a doc, sheet, or slide directly in Google Meet.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 20, 2021

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to Google Workspace Individual customers or users with personal Google accounts

Resources

Improved visibility in Google Meet on web

Monday, September 20, 2021

Quick summary Last year, we introduced low-light mode for Meet on mobile, using AI to automatically adjust your video to make you more visible if you’re in a dark environment. Having too much light behind you—such as a window on a sunny day—can also be challenging for many cameras. Google Meet on the web now automatically detects when a user appears underexposed and enhances the brightness to improve their visibility.

Google Meet will automatically detect when a user is underexposed and will enhance the brightness for improved visibility.

For illustrative purposes onlyGetting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

End users: Automatic recommendation of the feature is available to eligible devices. For all other users, visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Light Adjustment on or off for your account.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) from September 20, 2021

Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) October 4, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Turn on automatic video lighting adjustment

Upgrade to the newest version of the Google Chat app

Monday, September 20, 2021

Quick launch summaryLast year, we introduced the new Google Chat Progressive Web Application (PWA), which provides a fast, reliable, and engaging way to use Chat on any desktop device with the Google Chrome web browser. We’ve recently released a new version of this app.
While most users have already been automatically upgraded to the new app, a small number of users are still on the older Chat PWA version and will see an in-app banner nudging them to upgrade by visiting chat.google.com.

Banner to upgrade to the newest version of the Chat PWA

The banner will read “You are using an old version of Chat. You need to uninstall this old version first, then visit www.chat.google.com to install the new version.”
Beginning September 27, 2021, users who have not yet upgraded will no longer be able to use their previously installed Chat app. Instead, they’ll see a screen directing them to upgrade to the new version of Google Chat.

Screen telling users the old PWA is no longer available

Screen users will see when the old PWA version is no longer available

If users already have the new version of the app available but are still using the old app, they will simply see a screen asking them to uninstall this old version.

Screen shown to users who have installed the new PWA version but try to access the old version once it is no longer available

Screen shown to users that already have the new app, when the old PWA version is no longer available

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about the PWA.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about installing the latest Chat PWA version.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Users of the older Chat PWA version will see this banner appear in their app in the coming weeks until it is shut down beginning September 27, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Install the Google Chat standalone app

Preventing users from blocking users in trusted domains

Friday, September 17, 2021

Quick launch summary We recently launched the ability to block another user in Google Drive. Based on your feedback, we’re updating how the feature can be applied to users in trusted domains.

Previously, user blocks could be applied to any user outside of your domain. With this update, user blocks will no longer work with users in trusted domains. Any previous blocks established for users in trusted domains will no longer be enforced in Google Drive, but will continue to be enforced in other apps and services.
Getting started

Admins: Admins can use our Help Center to manage trusted domains for Google Drive.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about blocking and unblocking users in Google Drive.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 17, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Design your own custom themes in new Google Sites

Thursday, September 16, 2021

What’s changing You can now create highly customized themes in new Google Sites that align with your organization’s brand guidelines or your own personal style.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it Currently, there are six pre-created themes with limited customization options, which are helpful for quickly creating a consistent look and feel for sites. With the addition of custom themes, you have greater control over things like:

Fonts and text style,
Colors,
Brand images,
Navigation settings,
Style of components such as buttons, and more.

We hope that custom themes and custom templates allow you to create and share sites that best match your brand guidelines or specific style.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility starting on September 16, 2021
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on October 6, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Change how your site looks

Set the default state for Quick access and Host Management in Google Meet with new Admin settings

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Quick summary Recently, we announced the expansion of the meeting safety features and the ability to add up to 25 co-hosts in Google Meet. We’re now adding two new controls that will allow admins to configure whether the Host Management and Quick access features will be on or off by default in their domain.

In both cases, if the feature is set to OFF by default, meeting hosts can manually enable Quick access or Host Management from inside the meeting. Please see below for detailed information on the default Admin setting for each feature.
Getting started

Admins:

Host Management:Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Meet safety settings and Host Management.
Quick access: Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Quick access settings

End users: When enabled by your Admin, use the Help Center to learn more about adding or removing people from a Google Meet video call and assigning host privileges.

Rollout pace

Host Management

This feature is available now.

Quick Access:

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

Availability Host management is:

OFF by default for: Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Basic, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Essentials, and Non-profits customers.

ON by default for: Google Workspace for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning upgrade, and Frontline customers

Not available to Google Workspace Individual customers or users with personal Google Accounts.

Quick access is:

ON by default for all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.

Not available to Google Workspace Individual customers or users with personal Google Accounts.

Resources

New logo coming to Google Tasks

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

Quick launch summaryWe’re updating the Google Tasks logo to better align with products across Google Workspace.

New logo

Old logo

This new logo will appear everywhere you see Tasks, across the web and on your mobile devices.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. The logo will automatically update across platforms over the coming weeks.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 23, 2021

Availability

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

New iOS Data Protection setting for Google Chat protects data sharing between Google Workspace and personal Google accounts

Monday, September 13, 2021

What’s changing Earlier this year, we announced a new admin setting which restricts data and content sharing between Google Workspace accounts and personal Google accounts in Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides on iOS. We’re now expanding this to include Google Chat. With data protection, users can only share or save content—such as files, emails, chat messages, or copied & pasted content—within Google Workspace accounts. This will protect users from sharing a Chat message with their personal Google accounts or saving data to their personal account.
Sharing to personal Chat account can be blocked by admins

Sharing to personal Chat account can be blocked by admins

Admins can turn off sharing from company to personal Chat accountsWho’s impacted Admins and end users
Why it’s important Google applications on iOS support multi-user logins, allowing users to access Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Chat and Slides with their personal and Google Workspace accounts. Giving admins the ability to control how data is shared across user accounts helps minimize accidental data sharing. Together with the previously released copy and paste and drag and drop restrictions and protections against data sharing between Google Workspace and personal Google accounts, these measures expand data protection coverage and help increase the security of your corporate data on iOS.
Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about controlling whether users can copy work data to personal apps on iOS devices.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. When enabled by your admin, you will be able to securely share enterprise Google Chat content.

Rollout pace

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

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers

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

Resources

Google Help: Apply Settings For iOS Devices

Google Workspace Updates Blog: New iOS Data Protection setting protects data sharing between Google Workspace and personal Google accounts

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Useful Links

Updates

Improved Search In Gmail on Android

One-click recommended actions in the Alert Center

Control the ability to present to Google Meet from the Editors with new Admin setting

Improved visibility in Google Meet on web

Upgrade to the newest version of the Google Chat app

Preventing users from blocking users in trusted domains

Design your own custom themes in new Google Sites

Set the default state for Quick access and Host Management in Google Meet with new Admin settings

New logo coming to Google Tasks

New iOS Data Protection setting for Google Chat protects data sharing between Google Workspace and personal Google accounts

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