Google Workspace Updates: aprile 2016

Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

mercoledì 27 aprile 2016

Smartphones have made productivity portable. You no longer have to be at your desk to catch up on meeting notes, dial into a conference call, or send an email. But scheduling meetings on the go is still difficult, as you have to open your laptop to check everyone’s calendar and find a time that works.

Starting today, if you use Google Apps for Work or Edu, you can schedule meetings from anywhere with "Find a time" in Google Calendar for Android.

With a single tap, “Find a time” helps you find meeting times that work for everyone—even if they're in different time zones—based on their availability and the times they usually have meetings. If there are no times that work, Calendar will look at which conflicting meetings can most easily be rescheduled. Designed specifically for organizations where sharing your calendar with colleagues is the norm, here's how it works:

“Find a time” makes suggestions, but you're still in control. You can tap to see everyone's schedule at a glance—perfect for making sure the timing works for all. And if you manage someone else's calendar, you can use the feature to schedule meetings on their behalf as well.

Download Google Calendar for Android to get easy, on-the-go scheduling. And yes, we're also working on bringing “Find a time” to iPhone, as well as easier ways to schedule on the web.

Launch Details

Release track:

Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:

Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:

All end users

Action:

Change management suggested/FYI

More Information

Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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More ways for schools & organizations to manage YouTube

martedì 26 aprile 2016

Posted by Matt Ward, Software Engineer

(Cross-posted on Google for Education blog)

In August 2015 we launched YouTube Settings in Google Apps to give schools and other organizations a way to manage the YouTube experience for users logged in to their domains and on networks they manage. Today we’re happy to announce a number of new features to make these more flexible and easier to use.

Channel whitelisting
Administrators and designated approvers can now whitelist entire channels, not just individual videos. For example, if you want to ensure that all current and future videos uploaded to your organization or school’s channel are watchable by your users, you can now simply add the entire channel to your approved list. Learn how to designate approvers.

Using YouTube settings in Google Apps for Education already gives your users access to all the videos on educational YouTube channels like Veritasium, but now your domain’s video approvers can add other channels as well, like your school’s YouTube channel.

More flexible options for administrators
Administrators have new capabilities to help them manage YouTube to meet the needs of their organization.

Administrators can now choose between two levels of Restricted Mode restrictions -- strict or moderate -- for their logged-in users.

Admins can select between a strict and moderate level of restriction for YouTube.

Network managers can now use an HTTP header to enforce either strict or moderate restricted mode on managed devices.
Network managers can also use this new DNS configuration if they want to enforce moderate restricted mode on wifi networks they manage.
Coming soon, logged-out users on YouTube’s mobile apps on restricted networks will also get a restricted experience.
And since we know this can be tricky to set up, network managers can visit this page to ensure their network restrictions have been configured correctly.

YouTube for Schools
In August we announced that we would no longer be maintaining YouTube for Schools (YT4S). As of July 1, 2016, YT4S will no longer be available. View the YouTube Settings in Google Apps Help Center for additional details.

More information
Learn how to enable YouTube settings for your Google Apps domain and join the discussion in the product forum.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Resize the formula bar for easier reading and typing in Google Sheets

lunedì 25 aprile 2016

Working with long and complicated formulas is tough enough as is; you shouldn’t have to struggle to simply read them. Fortunately, this launch makes it easier to view and type those lengthy equations in Google Sheets on the web, by allowing you to drag and expand the formula bar.

Only have view or comment access to a spreadsheet? Previously, it was difficult to read the entire content of a cell containing a large amount of text. With this launch, you can simply click the bottom of the function bar and drag it up or down to make it big enough to see everything within it.

Check out the Help Center for more information on working with formulas in Sheets.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Add formulas and functions to a spreadsheet

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Microsoft Exchange® support coming to the Android Gmail app

lunedì 25 aprile 2016

The Android Gmail app is getting an update to support users using dual delivery mail flow or calendars with Microsoft Exchange. Now, whether you're on Google Apps or Exchange, you can use the Gmail app on any Android device to send and receive mail.

Launch Details

Release track:

Launching to both Rapid and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:

Gradual rollout (3 or more days for feature visibility)

Impact:

All end users

Action:

Change management suggested/FYI

More Information

Google Play

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Respond quickly with Google Drive notifications in Google Chrome

lunedì 25 aprile 2016

We’re pleased to announce that Google Drive will now support web notifications when your colleagues share Google Drive files with you, or request access to files.

Please note:

Users must opt-in to turn on notifications.
This feature will only be visible while using Google Chrome.
Users can control which notifications they receive, on a per-device basis.

To make users aware of these notifications, Google Drive will show a message in the bottom left of the document list, outlining the benefits with a link to enable the feature.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in 2 weeks

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Saying goodbye to OAuth 1.0 (2LO)

mercoledì 20 aprile 2016

Posted by Vartika Agarwal, Technical Program Manager, Identity & Authentication, and Wesley Chun, Developer Advocate, Google

(Cross-posted on Google Apps Developer Blog)

As we indicated several years ago, we are moving away from the OAuth 1.0 protocol in order to focus our support on the current OAuth standard, OAuth 2.0, which increases security and reduces complexity for developers. OAuth 1.0 (3LO)* was shut down on April 20, 2015. During this final phase, we will be shutting down OAuth 1.0 (2LO) on October 20, 2016. The easiest way to migrate to the new standard is to use OAuth 2.0 service accounts with domain-wide delegation.

If the migration for applications using these deprecated protocols is not completed before the deadline, those applications will experience an outage in their ability to connect with Google, possibly including the ability to sign-in, until the migration to a supported protocol occurs. To avoid any interruptions in service for your end-users, it is critical that you work to migrate your application(s) prior to the shutdown date.

With this step, we continue to move away from legacy authentication/authorization protocols, focusing our support on modern open standards that enhance the security of Google accounts and that are generally easier for developers to integrate with. If you have any technical questions about migrating your application, please post them to Stack Overflow under the tag google-oauth.

*3LO stands for 3-legged OAuth: there's an end-user that provides consent. In contrast, 2-legged (2LO) doesn’t involve an end-user and corresponds to enterprise authorization scenarios such as enforcing organization-wide policy control access.

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Do more with charts in Google Sheets on your Android device

mercoledì 20 aprile 2016

In the Google Sheets Android app today, you can insert charts, change their types, and move, resize, and delete them. With this launch, we’re giving you the ability to do even more, including:

Add or change a chart’s title.
Add or change the titles of a chart’s X and Y axes.
Change the color of a series in a chart.
Specify where the chart’s legend should be located.

Check out the Help Center for more information on creating and editing charts in the Sheets Android app.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Edit and format your chart

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Choose the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files you want to access offline

lunedì 18 aprile 2016

An internet connection isn’t always easy to come by, but that shouldn’t stop your employees from completing their work. That’s why we give Google Apps admins the option of allowing their users to enable offline access to Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files. Once an individual user has enabled offline access in Google Drive, a subset of their Docs, Sheets, and Slides files are synced to their computer or device. The specific files synced are based on certain criteria, primarily recency.

With this launch, we’ll allow end users to choose the specific files they want to make available for offline access when they’re working in a Chrome browser on their desktop computer. This will make it easy for individuals to work anywhere, anytime, even when they don’t have an internet connection. To make a file available for offline access, a user simply needs to visit the Docs, Sheets, or Slides home screen and toggle the Available offline switch in a file’s overflow menu to ON.

Please note that this feature will only be available to users working in a Chrome browser on desktop and whose admins have allowed them to enable offline access in Drive. For more information, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Google Drive for Mac/PC just got better! Now sync only the subfolders you need.

giovedì 14 aprile 2016

Google Drive for Mac/PC — the app that syncs your computer with Google Drive — is an easy way to make sure your files are safe and accessible from anywhere. Today, we are releasing new features that make your syncing and sharing experience better (and faster, too).

Select which subfolders sync to your computer

While syncing top-level folders is already possible, you can now choose which subfolders from My Drive to sync to your desktop.

To do this, click Preferences > Sync Options > Only these folders… Here, you’ll be presented with a list of subfolders from Google Drive that you can check or uncheck to enable or disable syncing.
Manage your local storage transparently

While you get tons of storage with Google Drive, your local desktop may not have the same amount of free disk space. Now, Drive’s interface will show the size of your individual subfolders as well as the space remaining on your computer. It will also warn you if there is not enough space to sync.

On top of that, during setup, if the default folders don't fit, Drive will guide you to use selective sync to help you better manage your storage space from the start.
See warnings before deleting or moving shared files
When you’re working with folders on your computer, moving and deleting things is simple. But, doing that with shared files or folders can cause others to lose access. Now, Drive warns you so you’ll know if someone might lose access.

Please note that Google Apps administrators must first choose whether their users are allowed to use the Google Drive sync client from the Admin console, before it can be used.

The improved Google Drive sync client is available now on both Windows and Mac here.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Upload directly to a folder with inline uploads in Drive for Android

giovedì 14 aprile 2016

A new version of the Google Drive for Android app is coming to Google Play. New features include:

Inline Uploads: Previously when uploading files to Google Drive, they would be sent to a folder called Uploads, instead of a destination folder. Now, when uploading files, you’ll see them appear within the destination folder to which you uploaded the file, along with a clear upload progress indicator.

Launch Details

Release track:

Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:

Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:

All end users

Action:

Change management suggested/FYI

More Information

Get the latest Google Drive Android app on Google Play

Introducing Goals in Google Calendar on Android and iPhone

martedì 12 aprile 2016

Calendars should help users make the most of their time. That’s why starting today, we’re introducing a new feature called Goals in Google Calendar on Android and iPhone to help users find time for personal activities. With Goals, users can add a goal and Calendar will help them find the time and stick to these goals.

Goals are easy to set up
To set a goal (like “Work out more”), a user must simply answer a few questions (like “How often?” and “Best time?”). From there Calendar will look at the user’s schedule and find the best windows to pencil in time for that goal. Goals created in Google Calendar will have the same privacy setting as the default calendar setting.

Goals adjust to your busy life
Goals aren't easy—especially when the unexpected comes up—but Calendar can help adjust in a number of important ways. For example, Calendar will automatically reschedule if a user adds another event that's a direct conflict with a goal.

Users can also defer a goal at any time, and Calendar will make time for it later.

Finally, Calendar actually gets better at scheduling the more it is used—if a goal is deferred or edited then Calendar will choose even better times in the future.

To get started, users can download the Google Calendar app on Android or iPhone, and set their first goal.

Please note: Currently, events created through Goals does not take into account secondary calendars or other personal calendars synced to the device.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Goals
Get the latest Google Calendar Android app on Google Play
Get the latest Google Calendar iPhone app in the App Store

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Scroll quickly through Google Docs on your iPhone or iPad

mercoledì 6 aprile 2016

In March, we introduced the ability to quickly and easily scroll through Google Docs files on your Android phone or tablet. We’re excited to announce that we’re now launching that same functionality for your iOS device. Starting today, when you begin scrolling in Google Docs on your iPhone or iPad, a small navigation handle will automatically appear on the side of the screen. Touching that handle will display any headers you’ve created or—if you haven’t manually applied them—headers that we’ve intelligently detected. This will allow you to quickly skip from section to section, instead of slowly swiping up and down.

Check out the Help Center for more information on using this feature.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Edit and use a document outline

NOTE: The image above uses material from this Wikipedia article, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0.

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Update to Drive plug-in for Microsoft® Office: Outlook support

mercoledì 6 aprile 2016

Last July, we launched the Google Drive plug-in for Microsoft® Office. This plug-in made it super easy for people using Office for Windows to open their Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents stored in Drive and then save any changes back to Drive once they were done. Today we are extending the capabilities of this plug-in to include Outlook support.

From within Outlook for Windows, you can now:

Insert files using Drive: You can now simultaneously upload any local file to Google Drive and email the link out to the collaborators using Outlook. This is especially useful if your organization uses Google Apps Sync for Microsoft® Outlook or has a setup that uses Outlook with another mail provider.

Send a Drive file from Outlook

Save local files to Drive seamlessly

Update sharing permissions: While composing a message in Outlook, you can now insert an existing Drive document link (or the actual Drive file) and customize the access permissions before sending the email. The plug-in is smart enough to know when to show you the document’s permissions and if you need to share the document with your recipients.

Fix Drive file access right from Outlook

Save incoming attachments to Drive: For an incoming email attachment, Outlook users will now see a new Save to Drive option, which allows you to save attachments directly to Google Drive. This can save valuable time uploading downloaded attachment files from local storage back into Google Drive.

Sync your incoming attachments to Drive

Limitations
The Drive plug-in for Microsoft Office supports the Microsoft Windows versions of Outlook (2007, 2010, 2013 and 2016 versions), and Office 365 if you've downloaded and installed Microsoft Outlook on your computer as part of an Office 365 subscription.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Learn more
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Update: Activate link sharing quickly via the “Get sharable link” icon in Drive web

martedì 5 aprile 2016

Last week we announced changes to the link sharing behavior on Google Drive on the web. Based on feedback from Google Apps customers following the announcement, we’ve decided to change the default behavior for this new feature. Turning on link sharing will now require two clicks: one on the “Get shareable link” icon and then another on the toggle switch itself.

This revised behavior will rollout to Rapid release domains today and Scheduled release domains in two weeks. Monitor the Google Apps release calendar for the specific launch date.

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Launch of Reminders for Google Calendar on the web

martedì 5 aprile 2016

Last year, we launched Reminders in the Google Calendar app for iOS and Android. We’re now happy to announce that Reminders are coming to Google Calendar on the web.

Key features:

Set a reminder for a specific time and date and get notified when it’s time. To create a reminder, tap on a time in the calendar grid, then select “Reminder.”

Reminders carry forward to the next day, until you mark them done. To mark a reminder as done, simply click on the reminder, and click ‘Mark as done’.

Reminders created in the Google app, Keep, and Inbox will also show in Google Calendar.
Reminders on the web will sync to your Google Calendar Android and iOS apps.

Please note:

Reminders are private to calendar owners and are not viewable, even if your calendar is shared with others.
Google Tasks users will not be prompted to use the Reminders feature. It can be enabled from the drop down menu on the Tasks calendar.

Check out the Help Center for more information.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in 4 weeks

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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What’s New with Chrome devices for meetings?

lunedì 4 aprile 2016

With the recent release of Chrome OS 49 stable, the Chrome for Work team is excited to announce the following updates:

Chromebase for meetings available March 31, 2016
We've expanded into small spaces adding a brand new form factor, the Acer Chromebase for meetings. Purpose-built for desktop, telephone room and huddle spaces, this all-in-one touchscreen requires no messy wires or bulky accessories and is packed with the same capability as our current offering.

For a limited time, eligible customers can try two devices free for 30 days with no obligation by signing up here.

What’s in a name?
You may have noticed above we’re now referring to our product as “Chrome devices for meetings.” That’s because the launch of the new Chromebase expands our “for meetings” offering to a new form factor; the Chromebase. So now that we have Chromebases and Chromeboxes for meetings, we’ll refer to them collectively as, “Chrome devices for meetings.”

25 Person Hangouts
We increased the maximum number of participants to 25 from 15 for Google Apps customers. See the Google Apps Update Blog for more details.

Custom wallpaper
Chrome devices for meetings featured photos from Google+ on its home screen. Now you may upload up to 10 of your own photos which will be selectively displayed on CfM homescreens. See the Help Center for guidelines.

Forward feedback to domain admin
While we allow users to submit real time feedback to Google from their devices, there was no way for the domain administrator to see that information. So we have launched an option in the Admin console for domain administrators to have user feedback go not only to Google Feedback servers, but also to a specified set of recipients.

Run remote diagnostics on Chrome devices for meetings
To provide domain administrators with even more tools to view the health of their Chrome devices for meetings, we have also added the ability to remotely run and view device diagnostics directly from the Admin console. These remote diagnostics enable testing devices for connection quality, video bandwidth, resolution, audio capture, and the functioning of protocols such as UDP, TCP, and IPV6. See the Help Center for more information.

Launch Details
Release track:
All features launched to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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What's New in Google Apps newsletter - March 2016

lunedì 4 aprile 2016

Check out the latest "What's New in Google Apps" newsletter [pdf] for a roundup of all Apps launches from March 2016.

Newsletter Archive & Translated Versions (coming soon for March issue)

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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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

Google Calendar for Android: Find a time for my meeting

More ways for schools & organizations to manage YouTube

Resize the formula bar for easier reading and typing in Google Sheets

Microsoft Exchange® support coming to the Android Gmail app

Respond quickly with Google Drive notifications in Google Chrome

Saying goodbye to OAuth 1.0 (2LO)

Do more with charts in Google Sheets on your Android device

Choose the Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files you want to access offline

Google Drive for Mac/PC just got better! Now sync only the subfolders you need.

Upload directly to a folder with inline uploads in Drive for Android

Introducing Goals in Google Calendar on Android and iPhone

Scroll quickly through Google Docs on your iPhone or iPad

Update to Drive plug-in for Microsoft® Office: Outlook support

Update: Activate link sharing quickly via the “Get sharable link” icon in Drive web

Launch of Reminders for Google Calendar on the web

What’s New with Chrome devices for meetings?

What's New in Google Apps newsletter - March 2016

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