Google Workspace Updates: August 2020

Collaborate with people who are not using a Google account in Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites

Monday, August 31, 2020

What’s changing We’re making visitor sharing—secure, pincode-based collaboration with people who do not have a Google account—generally available. This means you can share items with non-Google accounts, enabling them to view, comment on, or edit content in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites using a secure pincode.
Visitor sharing was previously available in beta, and will replace the current admin setting to allow users in your organization to send sharing invitations. '
We’ll introduce the new feature according to this timeline:

August 31, 2020: The setting to control sharing with people who are not using a Google account will begin to appear in the Admin console. This setting may be on or off by default depending on your current settings. See “Getting started” below to learn more. This setting will not start taking effect for users until September 8, 2020 (for Rapid release domains) or September 28, 2020 (for Scheduled release domains).
September 8, 2020: Users in Rapid Release domains will be able to use the new feature, if enabled by their admin.
September 28, 2020: Users in Scheduled Release domains will be able to use the new feature, if enabled by their admin.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why you’d use it G Suite customers often work with partners outside of their company. These external users, or “visitors,” don’t always have Google accounts, making it more difficult for G Suite and non-Google users to collaborate seamlessly and securely.
This new feature will help ensure smooth and secure collaboration with visitors through:

Rich collaboration—including comments, edits, and more⁠—with anyone you need to work with, regardless of whether they have a Google account.
Audit logging for collaboration with visitors, so that all interactions are monitored and recorded.
Ability to revoke access and remove collaborators as needed.
Reduced need to download, email, or create separate files to work with external users who don’t have Google accounts.

If the visitor chooses to create a G Suite account with their email address, their collaboration and activity history will be preserved after the account is created.

Additional details Visitor sharing will not be supported for Cloud Identity users. With this launch, Cloud Identity users will only be able to share with non-Google recipients by sending invites that allow users to preview file contents in a read-only mode without signing in to Google accounts.

Getting started Admins:

Sharing outside of your organization to users with non-Google accounts will be ON by default if you currently allow users in your organization to send sharing invitations to people outside your organization who are not using a Google account.
Sharing outside of your organization to users with non-Google accounts will be OFF by default if you currently do not do not allow sharing outside your organization, or use domain whitelisting, Use our Help Center to learn more about sharing to non-Google accounts.
Visitor sharing will be controlled by new settings at Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Sharing Settings. See image below. The new settings can be controlled at the domain or OU level.

End users: Visit our Help Center to learn more about visitor sharing. Visitors can use our Help Center to learn how to delete their visitor session.

Rollout pace Admin console setting:

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 31, 2020

End user feature availability:

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 8, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 28, 2020

Availability

Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and G Suite Essentials customers
Not available to G Suite Basic, Cloud Identity customers, or users with personal accounts

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming G Suite release.

Improving braille support in Google Docs

Monday, August 31, 2020

Quick launch summary We’re making several improvements to braille support in Google Docs to make it easier for users of assistive technologies, including refreshable braille displays, to work on documents. These changes will enhance the experience of reading documents with new keyboard shortcuts, improved navigation, and more reliable verbalizations. We encourage assistive technology users to enable braille support when working in Docs.
Improvements you may notice include:

You can use the new Ctrl+Alt+H (CMD+Option+H on Mac) shortcut to toggle braille support in Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
When you use shortcuts to navigate, we now announce where your cursor moves to, including comments, headings, misspellings, and suggestions.
We improved the reliability of navigating through lengthy documents and lists.
Images, misspellings, and grammar errors are now verbalized directly by assistive technology.
We’ve improved navigation and selection verbalizations when moving through tables and when selecting content, including announcing the entire cell’s contents.

Please make sure to update to the latest versions of your assistive technologies and browsers to fully benefit from these improvements.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default for users with braille support turned on. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to use a braille display with Docs editors, and make sure to update to the latest versions of your browser and screen reader to use all features.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting August 31, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting September 17, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Dark theme now available for Google Voice on iOS

Monday, August 31, 2020

Quick launch summaryGoogle Voice will now support dark theme on iOS. Dark theme is already available for Voice on Android.

Dark theme for Google Voice

Getting startedAdmins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: The latest Google Voice update for iOS (version 20.36) will adopt the dark or light theme as set in iOS Settings. Learn more.
Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout through the App store (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 31, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers with Google Voice licenses and Voice users with personal accounts.

Adding support for service accounts in Google Groups

Thursday, August 27, 2020

What’s changing We’re adding full support for service accounts in Groups in beta. This builds on our recent announcements of a new Cloud Identity Groups API beta and the ability to use service accounts with Groups APIs without domain-wide delegation. With this launch, you can now:

Add service accounts from primary and secondary domains without turning the “Allow external members in the group” setting on.
See the service account member type on the Groups page and audit logs in the Admin console.
Add, remove, and manage service account membership via the Admin console and Cloud Identity Groups API.

Who’s impacted Admins and developers

Why it’s important Groups are a critical tool for customers to manage their G Suite deployment. Many customers use service accounts with Groups to automate user management, manage migrations, and integrate G Suite with other apps, tools, and services.
Until now, it was difficult to use service accounts in groups due to limitations in the functionality. This launch fixes many challenges and makes it easier to use service accounts with groups while increasing security and transparency.

Additional details The feature does not affect Admin SDK Group APIs.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be available by default. You can use new or existing service accounts. Visit our Help Center to learn more about managing Groups for your organization, creating service accounts, using the Cloud Identity Groups API, or viewing the Groups audit log.
End users: No impact to end users.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Use service accounts with Google Groups APIs without domain-wide delegation

Thursday, August 27, 2020

What’s changing Service accounts can now have direct access to Groups APIs without needing domain-wide delegation and admin impersonation. This means you can:

Who’s impacted Admins and developers

Why it’s important Using service accounts with Groups can help provide sufficient data access for business apps and enable the automation of various admin tasks.
Previously, you had to use domain-wide delegation and admin impersonation to provide service accounts with sufficient data access. This was a cumbersome process, which could result in overly broad privileges for the service account and audit logs that were hard to interpret.
By enabling direct API access, we’re making it easier to use service accounts to enable critical business apps and processes while making it easier to maintain a strong security and compliance posture.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be available by default. You can use new or existing service accounts. Get started with the setup guide for authenticating with the Groups API. Visit our Help Center to learn more about managing Groups for your organization, creating service accounts, using the Cloud Identity Groups API, or checking Audit logs in the Admin console.
End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace

API role assignments: This feature is available now for all users
Admin console roles page updates: Rapid and Scheduled release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2020
Service account API access: This feature is available now for all users

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Cast Google Meet to your TV

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Quick launch summaryYou can now cast Google Meet calls to your TV or smart display.

Cast Google Meet to your TV

You can start casting before you join a meeting or anytime during a meeting.

By viewing your Meet on Cast, you can turn any room in your house into your own personal conference room. Whether you want to step away from the notifications on your laptop or phone to be more present in a meeting or you’re on mute in a larger meeting and want to concentrate on your task at hand, casting to your TV can help you be more productive and stay focused.

Meet and Cast can also pair up to simplify distance learning. Students can view their classmates and lesson plans on the big screen while working from their laptops, and teachers can get a broader view of their students on a call.

Check out our announcement on the Keyword for more information on using Meet and Cast together.
Getting startedAdmins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: To get started, you‘ll need to have a Google account, update to the latest version of Chrome, and ensure that your Chromecast device has the latest firmware installed. Google Cast functionality is available for all Meet users, and casting works on Chromecast, TVs with built-in Chromecasts, and Nest displays. Check out the Help Center to learn more.Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

The Keyword: Make your Google Meet and Duo calls better—and bigger
Google Help: Cast Google Meet to your TV

Automate and expand Connected Sheets updates with new APIs, connections, and capabilities

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

What’s changing We recently launched Connected Sheets, which connects Google Sheets and BigQuery to help you analyze large datasets using familiar spreadsheet tools. We’re now adding support for macros and APIs to help you automate tasks, as well as providing mobile access. Specifically, you can now use Connected Sheets with:

Who’s impacted Developers and end users

Why you’d use it
Sheets Macro recorder You can use the macro recorder to record when to create, edit, delete, and refresh Connected Sheets objects. This generates macros which you can then directly run in Sheets to refresh the data. This can automate common tasks, saving time and reducing errors.
Apps Script and Sheets API You can use these APIs to write scripts and applications that automate tasks. For example, you can automate CRUD functions for Connected Sheets objects, including sheets, formulas, pivot tables, and extracts. Additionally, you can use the APIs to refresh these objects, as well as to refresh charts.
Mobile app support You can now view Connected Sheets on mobile devices. You can also copy and paste data from Connected Sheets using the mobile apps. At this stage, you can’t create, edit, or refresh data in Connected Sheets on mobile.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains:

Availability

Connected Sheets is available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite Enterprise Essentials customers
Connected Sheets is not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and G Suite Essentials customers

Resources

Expanding shortcuts in Google Drive, reducing unorganized files

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

What’s changing Earlier this year, we made shortcuts in Google Drive generally available. Shortcuts simplified file and folder structures in Drive by creating pointers to items, rather than having items which existed in multiple locations. This helps ensure easy access to files and folders for different users while reducing possible confusion about how files are owned, managed, and updated.
Now, we want to share three updates to our plans for shortcuts and file locations:

Expanding use of shortcuts: Removing some specific actions which still created multiple locations for files.
A migration update: More details on migration of existing multiple-location files to shortcuts.
Improving file management and reducing “unorganized” files: Ensuring files which have their last location removed are now placed in the owner’s My Drive folder. See more details below.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important Expanding the use of shortcuts will increase the consistency of behavior and make it easier for users to understand how their Drive is structured.

Additional details
Expanding use of shortcuts
After launching shortcuts, there were still some ways for users to add files to multiple locations. We’re now stopping some of those to create a more consistent experience across different platforms and ways of using Drive. Specific changes include:

When using Drive on the web, the keyboard shortcut Shift+Z on a shared file used to place the file in multiple locations. Now, when a single file or multiple items are selected, Shift+Z will create a shortcut instead. However, if a single folder is selected, Shift-Z will still add another location for the folder to ensure continued compatibility with offline access via Backup and Sync.
When using Drive on the web, making someone else the owner of a file used to create multiple locations for the file. Now, if the new owner can see the file’s existing location, it will remain there. If the new owner can’t see the existing location, it will be moved from its current location to the My Drive folder of the new owner, and a shortcut will be created in its place

Visit our Help Center to learn more about shortcuts in Drive.

A migration update
In our original announcement, we mentioned that we would be migrating existing files in multiple locations to shortcuts. We’d like to share more details on these plans:

We will start this migration some time in 2021. We’ll announce the migration on the G Suite Updates blog and with an in-product notification banner at least 2 weeks before it starts.
The migration will remove all but one location of files that currently are in multiple locations, and will replace the removed files with shortcuts.
The migration heuristics will be based primarily on original ownership, but will also take signals about access and activity on other parent folders into account, to ensure the least possible disruption for collaboration.
File access and ownership will not be impacted.
The migration will be automatic and won’t require manual work from users or admins.

Improving file management and reducing “unorganized” files
A file can become unorganized when its last previous location is removed. For example, this could happen if you had added a file to a shared folder that was later deleted by the owner of the shared folder.
Previously, in those situations you would only have been able to find the file by specifically searching for it, not by browsing for it. This led to some instances where it appeared a file was lost. Now, we will add these items to the owner’s My Drive. This change will make it easier to locate files which have had their locations removed.

API updates reminder
Earlier this year, we announced changes to the Drive API which would support the transition to file shortcuts. These changes will start to go into effect on September 30, 2020. Read more details about the API changes here.

Getting started

Rollout pace Expanded use of shortcuts and improved file management:

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 9, 2020

Migration of existing files in multiple locations:

Will not start until 2021, and will be announced in advance on the G Suite Updates blog and with an in-product notification banner.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts

Resources

Use target audiences in beta to limit Google Drive sharing to specific groups

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

What’s changing We’re launching a new feature that enables admins to define specific audiences that their users can link-share Drive files with. This gives admins more influence over who their users share files with, and helps to protect organizational data by reducing the potential for accidental oversharing of files. Target audiences is initially available in an open beta.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why you’d use it Previously, admins could choose to allow users to link-share files to either their entire domain or anyone with the link. Target audiences allow admins to define and recommend more granular link-sharing options for users.
This means that admins can prevent oversharing without hampering collaboration—since target audiences are defined and recommended by their admins, users can be confident that sharing files with a target audience is appropriately broad and secure. It can also help users share files more quickly, as target audiences allow for the ease of link-sharing, but with more specific audiences. This can reduce the need for users to manually add specific users and groups and respond to individual access requests.
For example, an admin could set up an audience of all finance team members. When someone on that team enabled link sharing for a file, they’d see an option to allow link-sharing to anyone on the finance team. Members of the team could access the link immediately, while anyone outside of the team would have to ask permission before they could view the file.

Getting started

Admins: Find Target audience settings at Admin console > Directory > Target audiences. You can assign target audiences on the group or OU level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing target audiences for your organization.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. If enabled by an admin, users will see target audiences available to them as link-sharing options for Drive, as indicated in the image above.

Admins can create a target audience in the Admin console
Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 25, 2020

Availability

Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, and G Suite Enterprise for Education
Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite for Education, G Suite Essentials, G Suite Enterprise Essentials, and G Suite for Nonprofits customers

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming G Suite release.

Use Collaborative Inboxes and labels in new Google Groups

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

What’s changing We're launching two features in new Google Groups:

Collaborative Inboxes, which can be used by teams to collaborate on messages received by a group, such as a customer support team managing support queries from customers.
Shared labels, which can help organize group conversations and enable you to filter and search for messages. This replaces tags and categories in classic Groups.

Who’s impacted End users

Why it’s important These features were available in classic Groups, but until now were not available in new Groups. We hope that adding them to the new experience will enable more users to use the new and improved interface in Groups.

Additional details
Collaborative Inboxes Using Groups as a Collaborative Inbox can be useful if you want to use a group as a mailing list for a team, where different team members can see, manage, and respond to messages sent to the group. For example, you could have a Collaborative Inbox for your support team, so the team could all see inquiries to your support email address. Once inquiries are received, team members can assign each other tasks, categorize topics with labels, and mark topics as resolved. Collaborative Inboxes in new Groups enables:

Advanced search, including for conversation status
Filtering, including quick filters for conversation status or to help users find conversations assigned to themselves, others, or that are unassigned

Existing collaborative inboxes will be accessible in the new Groups experience. New and existing groups can be changed to a Collaborative Inbox via Groups settings.
Learn more about Collaborative Inboxes.

Labels Labels is a replacement for tags and categories in classic Groups. Any tags currently used in classic Groups will be migrated to new Groups as labels, and the feature will be turned on automatically. Tags that are created under categories will also be migrated over if the Labels feature is enabled in new Groups. Note, categories will not be migrated.

When a message is posted to a group, group owners or managers can label conversations. Labels will appear in the left navigation panel of a group, and any users viewing the group can then search and filter conversations by those labels. This can make it easier to find messages, to see grouped related messages, or to manage workflows within Collaborative Inboxes.
Learn more about labels.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: These features will be OFF by default, but can be turned on for each group by group owners or managers. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Collaborative Inboxes and labels.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Create a Collaborative Inbox
Google Help: Use a group as a Collaborative Inbox
Google Help: Search, filter, and tag group content

Profile photo updates: Unified user photos and new admin controls

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Quick launch summary We’re changing the manner in which user profile photos are displayed across Google products and services, and updating how admins can manage those photos.
Last year, we removed a photo setting in Gmail that allowed users to set a different profile photo in Gmail than their Google Account. Starting today, users who still have two different profile photos will be migrated to a single profile photo. No action is needed by users, the current Google Account photo will become their only profile photo. This will ensure users are seen and recognized consistently across different products and interfaces.
We’re also giving admins the ability to set the single Google Account profile photo for users. You can add, replace, or delete an existing profile photo for users through the Admin console or through the Admin SDK Directory API.
Previously set Google Account profile photos are kept in a user’s Album Archive, available at get.google.com/albumarchive. New profile photos set by users or admins will also be stored here.
Note that if a user updates their photo, the photo will be visible to everyone, across Google products. If an admin adds a photo to a user’s account, it will only be visible to users within their organization and external users they interact with. Learn more about what information others can see across Google services.

Getting started

A user’s Google Account photo will be used for their profile photo

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)] starting on August 25, 2020.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Manage groups programmatically with the Cloud Identity Groups API beta

Thursday, August 20, 2020

What’s changing We’re launching a new Cloud Identity Groups API. This will enable you to create and manage Google Groups and their memberships for your domain via API. Previously, API support for group management was available only via the Admin SDK and therefore was accessible only to domain admins. With this launch, the APIs can be accessed by admins as well as non-admins. Once you create groups via the API, you can view and manage them through the Google Groups web UI (groups.google.com), through the Admin console, or via the API.
Using the new API you can:

Create and delete groups
See and update group metadata
Add members to and remove members from a group
Modify member roles within a group

See our developer documentation for more details on how to use the Cloud Identity Groups API.

Who’s impacted Admins, developers, and end users

Why you’d use it Groups are an important tool to manage communication, access, and security for organizations. Adding the ability to create and manage groups via an API can help make group management more scalable and efficient.

Additional details Available to admins, developers, and end users Business teams can create and manage groups they own without being granted admin permissions, preventing them from managing additional, unnecessary groups and saving the admin team time. This allows teams to manage their work more efficiently without creating any security risks from assigning admin permissions when they are only needed for this specific task.

Getting started

Admins and developers: This is available to all users in beta. See our developer documentation for more details on how to use the Cloud Identity Groups API.
End users: End users can use the API within the scope they have to create and manage groups. See our developer documentation for more details on how to use the Cloud Identity Groups API.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users in beta.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

Developer documentation: Cloud Identity API

Improved mobile interface for new Groups

Monday, August 17, 2020

Quick launch summary Earlier this year, we made new Groups generally available. The new experience featured an updated interface that made it easier to use on desktop devices. Now we’re also improving how new Groups looks when accessing it on a mobile web browser. The modern and streamlined interface matches the look and feel of new Groups on desktop, and makes it easier to complete common tasks, including:

Finding groups by browsing, searching, or going to favorite groups
Managing your membership settings for a group
Reading conversations within a group

Note that not all group interactions are available on mobile. For example, you can’t post to a group or reply to a conversation on mobile. For full functionality, please use groups on a desktop device.

Getting started

Admins: The new interface will be ON by default for users unless you’ve turned off new Groups for your users. Use our Help Center to learn more about using new Groups on mobile, or moving your organization from classic to new Groups.
End users: This feature is ON by default as long as your organization has not turned new Groups off for its users. To see it, go to groups.google.com via a web browser on a mobile device. Visit our Help Center to learn about new Groups on mobile.

Browse, sort, and search for groups on mobile

Read conversations within a group on mobile

Manage group membership and browse for groups in the main menu

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 17, 2020.
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 25, 2020.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Assign Google Voice numbers before a port is completed

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Quick launch summaryAdmins can now assign Google Voice numbers to users while a port is still in progress, and users can start using their assigned numbers immediately once porting is completed. Previously, admins had to wait to assign the numbers until after the port completed, and only then could the user activate the application.
This reduces downtime for users, allowing them to start making calls more quickly and ensuring they don’t miss incoming calls once the port is complete.
Numbers can also be assigned to auto attendants and ring groups ahead of time allowing a seamless transition once the port is complete.

Search for and assign numbers that are in the process of being ported.

Review number assignments for users

Getting startedAdmins: This feature will be ON by default. During number porting, we’ll inform admins that numbers are available for immediate assignment. Visit the Help Center to learn more about porting business numbers to Voice.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Users will automatically get welcome info once the port completes.
Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 13, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers with Google Voice licenses

Resources

G Suite Admin Help: Port business numbers to Voice for G Suite

Enable the new integrated experience in G Suite across the web and Android

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

UpdateSeptember 9, 2020: Please note that the rollout of these features on the web and Android to Scheduled Release domains was slightly delayed and is starting today. These features on iOS are rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and will begin gradually rolling out to Scheduled Release domains on September 16.

Quick launch summary

We recently announced a new integrated workspace that brings your favorite G Suite apps closer together. We’re now rolling out this workspace to Gmail on the web and Android. Stay tuned to the G Suite Updates blog for information on the timing of the launch to iOS.

Gmail will now feature four distinct components:

Mail, which has not changed and is the same Gmail experience users know and love.
Chat, which allows users to message individuals and small groups directly.
Rooms, which are spaces that include shared chat, files, and tasks to help groups more easily work on projects.
Meet, which features upcoming meetings that you can view and join.

Mail,Chat Rooms and Meet tabs Gmail on mobile

With this launch, you’ll also be able to open and co-edit a document with your team without leaving Gmail. This will make it easier for you to collaborate directly within the context of where you’re doing your work at that moment.

In addition, we’ve introduced several new tools to help you prioritize and stay focused. You can now:

Assign group tasks.
Get notified about task updates in rooms.
Pin important rooms so they’re easier to find and access.
Set your availability to “Do not disturb."
Better protect your time with status notices in Chat like “Out of office.”
See files shared in a room.
See integrated search results and toggle between Email and Chat results on the web.
Start a new meeting or see your upcoming meetings under “Meet” on the web.

We hope this new integrated experience in Gmail helps you stay focused, be productive, and collaborate more effectively—no matter what your workspace looks like.

Getting started

Admins: These features will launch to all domains with Chat preferred enabled. Chat preferred can be enabled at the organizational unit (OU) or domain level. We recommend migrating your organization all at once to avoid any disruption.

Note, certain features included in this launch require specific services to be enabled in the Admin console. Visit the Help Center for more information about ensuring you have these services properly configured.

End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Chat in Gmail and Meet in Gmail on or off.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout to users (up to 15 days for full feature visibility) starting on August 12, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout to users (up to 15 days for full feature visibility) starting on September 9, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers

Resources

G Suite Admin Help: Set up integrated Gmail for your organization
Google Help: Get started with the new integrated Gmail

Improvements to Google Classroom: class links, SIS export, Applied Digital Skills integration, and more

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Quick launch summary Today, we announced several new features that will help administrators, teachers, and students be more productive using our tools. See our Google for Education blog to learn more about these features and other upcoming launches in Google for Education.
Announced improvements to Google Classroom include:

New to-do widgets: We’re adding a to-do widget for students and a to-review widget for teachers to help keep track of work in Google Classroom. Learn more.
Join classes via link: Teachers can now send out links to classes, which students can join with a single click. This can help educators share classes anywhere they communicate with students, including in messaging platforms. Learn more.
Student information systems (SIS) grade export: You can now export grades from Gradebook to your SIS. This can make it easier to keep track of grades in one central location. Learn more.
Support for new languages: We’re launching Classroom in 10 additional Indian languages. Soon, Classroom will support over 54 languages globally.

In addition to these improvements, we’re also making other changes:

See our Google for Education blog to learn more about these features and other upcoming launches in Google for Education.

Who’s impacted Admins, teachers, and end users
Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 11, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite editions.

Resources

Keyword: What’s coming to Classroom and Meet for back-to-school
Google Help: Export grades to your SIS
Google Help: Invite students to your class
Google Help: View all your students’ work
Google Help: Use Applied Digital Skills with Google Classroom

Assignments now generally available for G Suite for Education customers

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Quick launch summary We’re making Assignments generally available as a Core Service for G Suite for Education customers. It was previously available in beta. Assignments is an add-on for your school’s learning management system (LMS), which simplifies the process of creating and grading coursework with flexible, collaborative, and easy-to-use tools.

You can use G Suite for Education tools to optimize your assignment workflows, including:
Distributing personalized Google Drive templates and worksheets to students
Enabling students to submit Google Drive files as assignments
Analyzing student work for plagiarism and fostering authentic writing with originality reports
Providing feedback and grades which sync to your LMS gradebook

See the Google for Education blog for more information on how Assignments brings the G Suite experience to your LMS.

Getting started

Admins: Assignments works as a Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) tool integrated within your LMS. It must be installed or configured in your school's LMS before any instructor or user can start using it. Visit our Help Center to learn more about how to set up Assignments for your organization.
Instructors and end users: No action needed until Assignments is enabled by an admin. Once enabled, use our Help Center to learn more about how Assignments works.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 11, 2020

Availability

Available to G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers
Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Nonprofits, G Suite Essentials, and G Suite Enterprise Essentials customers

Resources

Block Google Meet participants from knocking again

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Quick launch summaryWe’re making two changes to “knocking” (requesting to join a meeting) in Google Meet to reduce disruptions in education meetings.
First, if a meeting moderator rejects a knock twice from the same participant, the participant will be blocked from knocking again. This means the moderator won’t see any additional knocks from that user for the duration of the existing meeting.

Second, if the moderator ejects a participant, that participant will be unable to:

Rejoin the existing meeting (even if they are in-domain or on the calendar invite).
Knock to request rejoining the existing meeting.

Previously, when disruptive members were ejected from a meeting, they were able to continue disrupting the meeting by either re-joining or continuously knocking.

Note, if the moderator mistakenly ejects a participant, they can still add that participant to the meeting by manually inviting them. They can use the add person button in the people panel.

Getting startedAdmins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about removing Google Meet participants.Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 11, 2020

Availability

Available to G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers
Not available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Enterprise Essentials, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise and G Suite for Nonprofits customers

Resources

Google Help: Pin, mute, or remove Google Meet participants

Ring groups in Google Voice now generally available

Friday, August 7, 2020

What’s changingWe’re launching automatic call routing rules with ring groups in Google Voice. With ring groups, multiple people in your organization can make and receive calls from the same Google Voice number. This feature was previously available in beta and is now generally available.

Who’s impactedAdmins and end users

Why you’d use itA ring group is a way for a team to intelligently route incoming calls to the correct person or device. This means that groups within your organization, like sales or customer service teams, can easily triage and take quick actions on ongoing calls (such as transferring to a team member or another device).

Additional detailsAdmins can customize several aspects of ring groups, including:

Simultaneous or random order call routing
Who in the ring group can make outbound calls and use the ring group number(s) as caller ID
What happens to unanswered calls
Ring group business hours

Check out the Help Center for more information on configuring ring groups.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be OFF by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning ring groups on or off for your organization.
End users: No action needed.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers with Google Voice standard and premier licenses.

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming G Suite release.

Timelines and tools for transition from classic to new Google Sites

Thursday, August 6, 2020

What’s changing In 2017, we announced that we would replace classic Sites with new Sites, and in 2019 we announced that domains will have until the end of 2021 to complete the transition. Now, we’re providing a more detailed timeline, as well as new tools to help you and your users manage the transition.

Timeline to fully transition to new Sites by end of 2021
Here’s a detailed look at the expected timeline for the transition from classic Sites to new Sites:

Downloaded as an archive.
Replaced with a draft in the new Sites experience for site owners to review and publish.

We’ll announce more details on each of these stages on the G Suite Updates blog over the course of the transition. Use our Help Center to learn more about the transition from classic Sites to new Sites.

Enable new Sites for users today If you haven’t done so already, we recommend that you enable new Sites for all user groups that don’t already have access within your domain, and disable creation of new classic Sites. This will help reduce the number of classic Sites which get created and then need to be migrated. Your users will still be able to view and edit existing classic Sites as needed. Use our Help Center to learn more about turning on new Sites for your users.

New Classic Sites Manager tool now available A new tool, Classic Sites Manager, is now available. It provides a view of your classic Sites, the ability to export a summary to Google Sheets for project management, options to convert classic Sites, and take bulk actions to archive or delete sites. Currently, super admins will be able to see and manage all classic Sites in their domain, and users will be able to see and manage classic Sites they own. Use these guides to learn more about how to use the Classic Sites Manager tool: guidance for G Suite admins, guidance for end users.
New Sites the default option starting on August 13, 2020 Starting August 13, 2020, new Sites will become the default option for website creation. This means that if you have both classic Sites and new Sites enabled, when users go to sites.google.com, they’ll be redirected to sites.google.com/new. From there, users can see and manage new Sites, as well as create sites with new Sites. Users will still be able to use classic Sites easily by clicking the “back to classic Sites” button on the new Sites homepage.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why you’d use it Since launching new Sites, we’ve listened to and incorporated your feedback, and top requests are now included in the new Sites experience. These include:

As a result of these improvements, new Sites offers powerful features and a simple user experience so users can create websites without designer, programmer, or IT help. For example, you can learn about how customers are using Sites to support remote work and learning. Use our Help Center to learn more about how G Suite admins can use the new Google Sites.

Getting started Admins:

End users:

Users need to transition from classic to new Sites according to the timeline outlined above. Learn more about how to use the Classic Sites Manager tool, or visit our Help Center to learn how to convert a classic Site to a new Site.

Rollout pace New Sites default:

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 13, 2020.

Classic Sites Manager tool:

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google accounts.

Resources

G Suite Admin Help: Transition from classic Sites to new Sites
G Suite Admin Help: About new Sites
Google Help: How to use Google Sites
Google Help: Convert your classic Site to new Sites
Google Cloud Blog: Create useful websites for your business with updates in new Google Sites
Google Cloud Blog: How Google Sites supports remote work and learning

Google Docs mobile improvements: link previews and Smart Compose

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

What’s changing We’re improving the Android and iOS experiences for Google Docs users with two new features. These were previously available on the web, and are now available on mobile as well:

Link previews, which help you get context from linked content without bouncing between apps and screens.
Smart Compose, which helps you write faster and with more confidence.

Read our Cloud Blog post to learn more about how these and other launches can help you collaborate from anywhere, with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides on mobile.

Who’s impacted End users

Why it’s important These launches build on other recent launches that improve the mobile user experience, including a new commenting interface in Docs on Android, dynamic email notifications for Gmail on mobile, and dark mode for Docs, Sheets, and Slides on Android.
Together, these features will help make it easier and quicker not only to read and review content on mobile devices, but also to create and collaborate on content, wherever you are.

Additional details Link previews Linked content can enrich documents with useful information, but if clicking a link means opening another window, that can be distracting and disrupt your reading flow. Earlier this year, we launched link previews on the web. Now, we’re adding link previews to mobile as well. When you click on a link in Docs, dynamic information about the content will appear. This may include the title, description, and thumbnail images from public web pages, or the owner and latest activity for linked Drive files. This can help you decide whether to open linked content while staying in-context.
Preview links in Google Docs on the web

Preview links in Google Docs on mobile devices
Smart Compose Smart Compose on mobile will help you write documents faster and reduce the chance of spelling and grammatical errors when working on the go. When a Smart Compose suggestion appears, simply swipe right to accept it. See more in our announcement for the feature on the web.
Getting started Admins: These features will be ON by default. There are no admin controls for them.
End users:

Rollout pace Link previews in Docs, iOS and Web

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available now for all users.

Link previews in Docs, Android

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting August 26, 2020.

Smart Compose in Docs, iOS

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting August 5, 2020.

Smart Compose in Docs, Android

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting August 12, 2020.

Availability

Link previews in Docs: Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts.
Smart Compose in Docs: Available to all G Suite customers. Not available to users with personal accounts.

Resources

Updates

Collaborate with people who are not using a Google account in Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites

Improving braille support in Google Docs

Dark theme now available for Google Voice on iOS

Adding support for service accounts in Google Groups

Use service accounts with Google Groups APIs without domain-wide delegation

Cast Google Meet to your TV

Automate and expand Connected Sheets updates with new APIs, connections, and capabilities

Expanding shortcuts in Google Drive, reducing unorganized files

Use target audiences in beta to limit Google Drive sharing to specific groups

Use Collaborative Inboxes and labels in new Google Groups

Profile photo updates: Unified user photos and new admin controls

Manage groups programmatically with the Cloud Identity Groups API beta

Improved mobile interface for new Groups

Assign Google Voice numbers before a port is completed

Enable the new integrated experience in G Suite across the web and Android

Improvements to Google Classroom: class links, SIS export, Applied Digital Skills integration, and more

Assignments now generally available for G Suite for Education customers

Block Google Meet participants from knocking again

Ring groups in Google Voice now generally available

Timelines and tools for transition from classic to new Google Sites

Google Docs mobile improvements: link previews and Smart Compose

Filter by product

Filter by date

Subscribe by feed

Subscribe by email

Localized Google Workspace Updates

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

Learn about more Google Workspace launches