This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.
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We recently received a report via our Vulnerability Reward Program of a security issue affecting a small subset of file types in Google Drive and have since made an update to address it. Please refer to the post on the Google Online Security blog for details.

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If you use a Braille display, you can now enable Braille support in Google Docs, Slides and Drawings to read and enter text. This option is currently available for Google Chrome and Internet Explorer.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:

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Admins can now restore a given user’s deleted Google Drive files for a specified date range. This helps ensure that, if a user accidentally deletes important files, those files are not permanently lost. The feature pertains to files that have been emptied from the Trash only. Files still in the Trash can be easily recovered by the user.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
https://support.google.com/a/answer/6052340

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We've launched a new version of the UI for viewing documents and images in Gmail and Google Drive to give more focus to the content itself. The tool bar has moved to the top (and disappears when not in use) and the document/image frame is now wider, giving users a more streamlined experience.

Release track:
Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks (for Gmail only, changes in Drive will launch to all tracks today)

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We know that often times you’d like an easier way to return to your most relevant and recently edited documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, no matter what device you’re using. So we created new home screens to help you do that with direct access points for Docs, Sheets & Slides. To access these home screens, use the following urls: http://google.com/docs http://google.com/sheets http://google.com/slides Release track: Rapid release (Note: this launch will be rolling out gradually over the coming weeks), with Scheduled release coming soon For more information: https://plus.google.com/+GoogleDrive/posts/PPEQLd8huvn

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Google Apps users can now edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files directly from Google Drive, Gmail and the new Docs, Sheets and Slides home screens, without needing Microsoft Office. For ChromeOS users, there's nothing to install, it just works. Chrome users for Mac and Windows can install the “Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides” extension and you’re good to go.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
Help Center Article

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With the integration of Quickoffice into the Google Docs, Sheets and Slides apps, the Quickoffice app will be unpublished from Google Play and the App Store in the coming weeks. Existing users with the app can continue to use it, but no features will be added and new users will not be able to install the app.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

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Quickoffice will be integrated into the Google Sheets app, allowing for seamless editing of Microsoft Excel files. This is available now on Android and is coming soon on iOS. Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release (Note: the update will gradually roll out to users over the coming days) For more information: Google Drive blog postHelp Center articleGet the Google Sheets app on Google Play

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Quickoffice will be integrated into the Google Docs app, allowing for seamless editing of Microsoft Word files. This is available now on Android and is coming soon on iOS. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release (Note: the update will gradually roll out to users over the coming days)
For more information: Google Drive blog postHelp Center articleGet the Google Docs app on Google Play
Get the Google Docs app in the App Store

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As previously announced, the new Google Slides mobile app is now ready for launch on Android (with iOS coming soon), making it easier for you to quickly find, edit and create presentations on the go -- online or offline. The Slides app includes support for editing PowerPoint via Quickoffice, so you don’t have to worry about file compatibility, it all just works. This is available now on Android and is coming soon on iOS. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information: Google Drive blog postHelp Center article
Get the Google Slides app on Google Play

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Now in Google Docs, any user with "can comment" access to a document will be able to make suggested edits to the document. The suggested edits will appear in the document along with a comment explaining the edit. Those with "can edit" permission will be able to accept or reject those suggested edits. Those with "can view" access will not be able to see suggested edits (until they are accepted). Viewers will also no longer be able to see regular comments, which is a change from today.

Release track:
Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming soon

For more information:
Google Drive blog post

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Vault’s robust functionality now includes another data source—Drive—so that organizations can find even more business-critical content. Vault for Drive comes at no additional cost for Vault customers and works with existing Drive content in users’ accounts. Postini customers transitioning to Vault will also be able to use Vault for Drive at no additional cost once the transition is complete.

With Vault for Drive, organizations can search for specific users’ Drive files (including both Google documents and other stored files), preview search results in Vault to make sure customers find just what they need and create copies of search results and export them for future use.

Setting retention policies, creating holds, and conducting domain-wide searches for Drive content are not available at this time.

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
https://support.google.com/vault/answer/6049740

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The Google Drive mobile apps for Android and iOS now have a cleaner design, more responsive animations, and faster background syncing. Sharing your files is also simpler and faster. Key features include:

  • Activity view: a stream of changes to your files and folders, accessible through the details panel
  • Link sharing: easily share files and folders directly from the mobile app using a link
The new version of the app is available now on Android and iOS. Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information: Get the Google Drive app on Google Play
Get the Google Drive app in the App Store

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Google Drive will have a new look and speedier performance on the desktop, making organizing and sharing files faster and easier than ever. Users can now right click on a file to see recent activity, set sharing permissions, and enable files to be accessed while offline. When selecting multiple files, users can take actions on the entire group in three ways—right click on the selection, use the menu above the file area, or simply drag the group to move to a new folder location.

This new version is rolling out progressively to rapid release domains, who can opt-in and try the new features and interface. Scheduled release domains will be able to opt-in soon. The plan is to rollout the new Drive interface to everyone in the near future.

Release track:
Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming soon

For more information:
Learn how to opt-in

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Today at Google I/O we announced Google Drive for Work—a new premium offering for businesses that includes unlimited storage, advanced audit reporting and new security controls.

Key features:
  • unlimited storage for all employees, including files up to 5 TB in size
  • new audit reporting so admins can see activity like moving, deleting or sharing files within or outside the company, plus an audit API that makes this data available to developers
  • new security controls so admins can set sync client, offline, Drive app and add-on settings at the Organizational Unit (OU)-level
  • includes Google Apps Vault, which has been expanded to provide search for all content stored in Drive

We’re also happy to announce that all files uploaded to Google Drive will now be encrypted for all users (consumer and Google Apps alike) -- so your content is encrypted not only from your device to Google and in transit between Google data centers, but also at rest on Google servers.

Google Drive for Work is now available for new and existing Google Apps for Business customers for $10/user/month, under a new SKU called Google Apps Unlimited.

For more information:
Overview of Google Apps Unlimited

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Back in November 2011, we announced the deprecation of the Calendar GData API (v1, v2) when the APIv3 was made available. We’ll now be shutting down these older versions on November 17, 2014.

Any service dependent on the Calendar GData API (v1, v2), such as the Google Calendar Connectors (GCC), will no longer work as intended. GCC users should update to use Calendar Interop or their own custom built connectors that sync with v3 of the API.
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Building on the quarantine summary feature launched earlier this year, we are launching Message Center. Message Center is a web-based spam management system designed for Google Apps customers who relay some or all of their email traffic to on-premise SMTP servers. It provides the following features:


  • Ability to view and search 30 days of clean/spam mail
  • Ability to mark single or multiple messages as spam or not spam
  • Delivery of messages that are not spam to the on-premise mailbox
  • Addition and removal of contacts for whitelisting purposes
  • Bookmark-able URLs for searches and individual messages

Release track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information:

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We are launching several enhancements to the SMTP relay service. Admins will benefit from the following key features:
  • Multiple authentication configurations: Admins can now configure multiple sets of authentication rules. For instance, you can specify that messages sent from one IP address are always allowed, messages from another IP address are only allowed if encrypted with TLS, and messages from another IP address range require SMTP AUTH.
  • SMTP AUTH: This newly supported authentication method uses Google “application-specific passwords” to allow admins to configure clients to authenticate to the relay service. This feature is available for registered Google Apps users only.
  • IP range description field: To manage IP addresses more efficiently, admins can enter descriptions in text fields for each IP address or range that you use to set authentication rules.
  • Selective enable/disable of IP ranges: Admins can selectively enable/disable IP ranges approved for relay as needed

Release track: Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information: https://support.google.com/a/answer/2956491
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Admins can now more easily exclude email drafts from searches in Google Vault. Simply check the Exclude drafts checkbox in the search panel to exclude draft emails from your search.

Release Track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
https://support.google.com/vault/answer/4388708

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A new version of the Google Apps Migration for Microsoft Exchange (GAMME) tool is now available. The release includes support for Outlook® 2013 (but not Click-to-Run editions) and several bug fixes.

Release Track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
https://support.google.com/a/answer/172212

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When previewing Gmail attachments in Chrome, certain Chrome extensions can now be queried to determine if they are enabled for Drive. If they are, they will be included in the list of apps available as choices in the "Open with" menu in the attachment viewer. 

Release Track:
Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

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Owners of a document, spreadsheet or presentation will now be able to move it to the trash from within its own File menu, rather than needing to do so from the Drive home page. Editors and viewers will see the ‘Move to trash’ option in the File menu, but it will be inactive and greyed out.

Release Track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

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In an effort to maximize visibility for domain admins, we recently started logging admin actions related to Google Apps Marketplace (GAM) apps in Admin console. Admins can now view logs for whenever they install/uninstall a GAM app and when they grant/revoke data grants for an app. Admins can view this data in the Reporting section of Admin console. Release Track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/110958109415435620761/posts/gB7nQda6n2E

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Starting today, Google+ Premium Features will be enabled for any new customers that enable the Google+ service moving forward. In the next few weeks, we will be enabling Premium Features for existing customers as well. This change will give Google Apps admins access to a number of great business-specific features, making it even easier for your users to share and collaborate with each other, while ensuring that confidential information stays inside your organization. Release schedule:
Rapid release and Scheduled release For more information:
https://support.google.com/a/answer/2677443

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Back in May, we communicated the upcoming launch of login challenges--a new feature aimed at keeping domain accounts safe from hijackers, even if they have attained a user’s username and password. The login challenges feature was rolled out slowly over the past few weeks, and impacted a large number of domains this week. The initial intent was not to expose this feature to users with 2-Step Verification enabled and domains using SSO. While the challenge feature is not enabled for domains using SSO, many users in these domains did see a prompt to enter their phone number as a means of verifying their identity in the future. This understandably caused confusion and led to escalations to admins. Upon hearing of this confusion, the launch of the interstitial prompt was temporarily rolled back for all domains until SSO domains can be fully excluded, at which point it will be relaunched. We are passionate about keeping our users’ information safe and secure, so we do plan to enable login challenges for domains using SSO later this year. Furthermore, enabling 2-Step Verification provides the highest level of protection for users, so we encourage domains to take advantage of this offering to protect their data. For more information:

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Several accessibility improvements have been made to Google Sites, ranging from new keyboard shortcuts for editors (like Alt+Shift+F for opening the editor toolbar) to better viewing experiences for readers. Editors can now also set image width to 100% of the screen width and easily customize the font, color, and size of lower-level headers (H2, H3, and H4 tags).*

Release Track:
Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming later in June [*customization of lower-level headers was previously launched to Rapid only and is now launching to Scheduled]

For more information:
Keyboard shortcuts listing

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Today we launched several features aimed at improving integration between Google Sites and other products. When sharing on social media sites, Google Sites now will showcase images in posts. You’ll see this change when you share Sites links on Google+ and other sites. Google Analytics support on Sites has been improved to support Universal analytics. Finally, Sites can now embed Google Maps Engine Lite, so custom maps you have created can be shared side-by-side with your content.

Release Track:
Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming later in June

For more information:

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We’re introducing a new redesigned Reports section to the Admin console to make it easier for admins to manage Google Apps and gain insights that help their entire organization run more efficiently. 

The new reporting section will offer domain highlights, user-level reporting, custom filtering/sorting on data and new audit streams (Login Audit). 

To use it, go to your Admin console and click on the Reports icon. If you would like to access the old reports section, click on the settings icon (gear icon) in the top right and select “Revert to the old reports page.”

Release Track:
Rapid release and Scheduled release

For more information:
https://support.google.com/a/answer/6000239?hl=en&ref_topic=4490889

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Check out this month's "What's New in Google Apps" newsletter for a roundup of all Apps launches from May 2014.

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