This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.
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New updates

There are no new updates to share this week. Please see below for a recap of published announcements.


Previous announcements

Oops! You may have noticed we missed publishing last week’s recap. To make up for it, below we’re including announcements published on the Workspace Updates blog in the past two weeks. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


Resize the Chat and Rooms sections in Gmail on the web
You can now resize the Chat and Rooms sections in the left-side navigation of Gmail on the web. | Learn more.


Quickly navigate to active cells and ranges with the new range name box in Google Sheets
We’re adding a range name box, located to the left of the formula bar, to improve navigation in Google Sheets. | Learn more.


Enable offline support for Google Calendar on web from your computer
You can now enable offline support for Google Calendar on Google Chrome from your computer. | Learn more.


Better privacy when screen sharing with muted web notifications
Now when you’re sharing your screen, Chrome will automatically hide the content of web pop-up notifications. This includes notifications from Google Chat, email notifications, and other third party websites. | Learn more.


Out of office information will now display when replying to or mentioning a user in a Google Docs comment
In Google Docs, you’ll now see out of office information when replying to or mentioning other users in a comment. | Learn more.


Control background replacement in Google Meet with a new admin setting
We’re adding the ability for admins to enable or disable the use of custom or preset backgrounds in Google Meet for meetings organized by an organizational unit (OU) level. | Learn more.


Indirect membership visibility and membership hierarchy APIs now generally available
We’re making it easier to identify, audit, and understand indirect group membership via the Cloud Identity Groups API. Specifically, we’re making the membership visibility and membership hierarchy APIs generally available. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Enterprise for Education and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.
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Quick launch summary 

We’re making it easier to identify, audit, and understand indirect group membership via the Cloud Identity Groups API. Specifically, we’re making the membership visibility and membership hierarchy APIs generally available. These were previously available in beta. 

Using “nested” groups to manage access to content and resources can help decrease duplication, simplify administration, and centralize access management. However, nested groups can create a complex hierarchy that can make it hard to understand who ultimately has access and why. These APIs help provide all of the information you need to understand complex group structures and hierarchies, and can help you make decisions about who to add to or remove from your groups. 

See our beta announcement for more information and use cases for the APIs. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Enterprise for Education and Cloud Identity Premium customers. 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, and Enterprise Essentials, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Read More

Update:
February 1, 2021: We’ve updated this blog to better explain how this setting impacts meeting organizers and participants.

What’s changing

We’re adding the ability for admins to enable or disable the use of custom or preset backgrounds in Google Meet for meetings organized by an organizational unit (OU) level.

Important Note: the meeting organizer’s setting will determine whether or not meeting participants can change their background or use custom background images.

For example: if this feature is OFF for students, but ON for teachers, students will be able to use custom or preset backgrounds when joining a meeting organized by their teacher.

For Education and Enterprise for Education customers, the “let users select custom images” option will be disabled by default. We recommend admins leave this option disabled, as well as turning off the use of preset backgrounds, to help prevent students from changing their background to distracting or inappropriate images.

Getting started 

  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at the OU or group level. Note: the “Let users select custom images” option will be disabled by default for Education and Enterprise for Education domains. Visit the Help Center to learn more about controlling whether users can change their backgrounds in Meet. 
In the Google Meet section of the Admin console, within the Meet video settings, you can control whether users can change their backgrounds in Meet.

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Read More

Quick launch summary

In Google Docs, you’ll now see out of office information when replying to or mentioning other users in a comment.

When mentioning a single user in a new comment or thread, you’ll see the OOO banner and information on when they plan to return.




For multi-person threads, you’ll see condensed out of office information. You can select the info icon to view more information on each specific person. 


Getting started

Rollout pace


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 





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Quick launch summary

Now when you’re sharing your screen, Chrome will automatically hide the content of web pop-up notifications. This includes notifications from Google Chat, email notifications, and other third party websites.

When you’re done sharing your screen, all muted notifications will be automatically displayed. Note that notifications are already muted when sharing a tab in Google Meet.

You’ll see where the notification is from, but the content of pop-up notifications will be hidden. When you’re done presenting, all muted notifications will be displayed.

There has been a dramatic shift in how many of us work – now more than ever, we’re relying on the use of Google Meet and other screen sharing solutions. We hope this feature will reduce distractions and prevent sensitive or personal information from accidentally being displayed while sharing your screen.

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

  • End users: When sharing your screen, notification content will automatically be hidden. You can select “Show All” to display content for the current and future notifications.

Rollout pace 


Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts


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Quick summary 

You can now enable offline support for Google Calendar on Google Chrome from your computer. When enabled, you can view your calendar and events from four weeks prior or any time in the future by week, day, or month. This is particularly useful when you’re offline or have unreliable internet access. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled on domain or OU level. To disable this feature for your organization, in the Admin console go to Workspace > Calendar > Settings for Calendar > Advanced Settings > Calendar web offline and uncheck “Allow using Calendar on the web when offline”. 


  • End users: When enabled by your admin, this feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled on a per device basis. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Calendar offline on your desktop. 




Rollout pace 

Admin Control 

End User Setting 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Read More

Quick launch summary 

We’re adding a range name box, located to the left of the formula bar, to improve navigation in Google Sheets. Previously, active cells were only indicated by a blue outline and could be located by scrolling or using the arrow keys. Now, you can use the range name box to jump directly to coordinates and named ranges in a sheet. 

Additionally, this box provides a dropdown menu to easily access, manage, and create new named ranges in the sheet. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. The new range name box can be found at the left of the formula bar. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using named ranges in Sheets.  

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Read More

Quick launch summary 

You can now resize the Chat and Rooms sections in the left-side navigation of Gmail on the web. This makes it easier to stay on top of your most important conversations and navigate to relevant chats faster. 

Hover over a section header and drag up or down to resize. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: There is no end-user setting for this feature. To resize a section, click on a section header and drag to adjust as needed. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers
Read More

New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.

Smart Compose in Google Docs available in French and Portuguese
Smart Compose helps you write high-quality content in Google Docs faster and more easily—helping you cut back on spelling and grammatical errors and repetitive writing. It's rolling out now in French and Portuguese. | Learn more.


Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.

Deploy and manage Google Credential Provider for Windows via the Admin console
You can now deploy and manage Google Credential Provider for Windows (GCPW) in the Admin console. | Learn more.

Expanding the Gmail delegate limit
We’re expanding the number of allowed Gmail delegates from 25. In addition, to help with delegate management, delegation for Contacts is now available via the Contacts API. | Learn more.

New tools to troubleshoot network and performance issues in Google Meet
We’ve added tools in Google Meet that make it easier for end users to understand how their local desktop and network environments affect meeting quality. | Learn more.

New option to block devices with basic management from accessing your organization’s data
We’re adding the ability for admins to manually block or unblock mobile apps from accessing their organization’s Google Workspace data on Android and iOS devices with basic mobile management. | Learn more.

Improved mobile device management rules experience in the Admin console
We’re making improvements to how you manage rules related to mobile device management (MDM) in the Admin console. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Enterprise for Education and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Learn more.
Read More

What’s changing 

We’re adding the ability for admins to manually block or unblock mobile apps from accessing their organization’s Google Workspace data on Android and iOS devices with basic mobile management. These actions can be automated using device management rules (for supported editions). 


Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it’s important 

Previously, admins had a limited set of actions they could perform with basic management—they could wipe an account or delete the device from inventory. However, they couldn’t block apps on those devices from accessing organizational data in the way that they could for devices with advanced mobile management. This launch makes that possible, helping to keep your organization’s data secure. 

While the blocking action is the same for devices with basic and advanced management, advanced management allows you to proactively block devices based on the Require Admin Approval setting. With basic management, you can only do this on a per-device basis. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: This feature will be available by default. To use it, navigate to a device page in the Admin console and click block device. Visit the Help Center to learn more about blocking and unblocking devices. 
  • End users: If a user’s device is blocked by an admin, the user will be signed out of all Google Workspace mobile apps. If they try to sign in again, they will see a message indicating that they do not have access to the app, and that they should contact their administrator for help. 
New option to block a device available for devices with basic management 

Once a device is manually blocked, admins can unblock the device 

Those trying to access Google Workspace apps on a blocked device will see a message to contact the administrator for help 


Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Read More

Quick launch summary

We’re making improvements to how you manage rules related to mobile device management (MDM) in the Admin console. There are two key aspects of the launch: 
  1. A new location for MDM rules: You can now manage rules at Devices > Security rules. Previously, MDM rules were managed at Admin console > Rules. 
  2. New rule options and creation workflow: You’ll see a new flow to create MDM rules, including new conditions which can trigger rules, and new device management and notification actions to take as a result. 
Use our Help Center to learn more about managing MDM rules for your organization. Note that any previously created rules will continue to function as before. However, you’ll be able to use the new flow and options if you update the rules. 


Getting started 

Device management rules are now in the Security rules section of the Admin console 

A sample screen from the new rule creation flow 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, Enterprise for Education, and Cloud Identity Premium customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Read More

What’s changing 

We’ve added tools in Google Meet that make it easier for end users to understand how their local desktop and network environments affect meeting quality. During a call, you can now go to the three-dot menu and select “Troubleshooting and Help” to see: 
  • CPU load and network stability over time 
  • Time segments highlighted when the local environment likely affects the call quality 
  • Suggested actions to help improve call performance 
  • Real-time feedback on the effect of any action taken on network and processing load 
  • Tips for performing common tasks, like presenting content and recording meetings 


Who’s impacted 


End users 


Why it’s important 

Meet shares processing power and network connections with all other applications and browser tabs running on a computer. When the system is overusing its processing power or suffering from a bad network connection, Meet will try to adjust and maintain performance while consuming less resources. Some of those adjustments are less visible, but if resource shortages are severe or persistent, users may notice blurry video, stuttering audio, or other issues. 

With this launch, we’re providing more visibility into how the system is performing. We hope this will help diagnose and alleviate any noticeable performance issues if they occur. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Read More

What’s changing 

We’re expanding the number of allowed Gmail delegates from 25. In addition, to help with delegate management, delegation for Contacts is now available via the Contacts API. 

Who’s impacted 

Admins, end users, and developers 

Why you’d use it 

We’ve heard from you that allowing more than 25 users to access a single mailbox can sometimes help manage the messages. For example, in certain cases, the volume and variety of inquiries necessitated having a larger group of individual users be able to read and respond to them. To address this need, we‘ve enabled higher limits. 

Additionally, we’re now offering programmatic access to managing Contacts delegation, similar to how Gmail delegation can be managed via the API. Note that delegation limits for Contacts delegation are not changing. 

Additional details 

Where previously we advised that a technical limit of 25 delegates applied for email delegation, our updated guidance is as follows: 
  • With typical usage, up to 40 of those configured users may concurrently access the account. However, please note that 
    • All other Gmail limits and policies continue to apply. 
    • Heavy usage by any user will reduce the overall concurrency limit. This will most commonly occur if automation or scripting (e.g. via Chrome extension or API) is used to engage with the mailbox via high frequency actions. 
  • Up to 1000 delegates may be configured as delegates for the purposes of setting up access control. 
  • For high-volume operations such as sales or support teams, we continue to recommend the use of a dedicated ticketing system. Gmail is not intended to replace a ticketing system for scaled operations. 
  • Contacts delegation is still limited to 25 delegates per user.  

Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 
  • Not available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Read More

What’s changing 

You can now deploy and manage Google Credential Provider for Windows (GCPW) in the Admin console. Previously, you had to edit registry entries to manage GCPW. The new, organization-specific installation file and setting management in the Admin console makes it easier to deploy and manage GCPW in your organization. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why you’d use it 

GCPW is an aspect of Enhanced desktop security for Windows that makes using Windows 10 devices with Google Workspace easier and more secure. Once set up, users can: 
  • Sign in to a Microsoft Windows 10 device using their Google Workspace Account. 
  • Take advantage of security protections on Windows 10 devices, including 2-step verification (2SV) and login challenges. 
  • Access Google Workspace and other single sign-on (SSO) apps without the need to re-enter their credentials. 
With this launch, you can configure and manage GCPW in the Admin console instead of in each device’s registry settings. This can make setting up and updating GCPW deployments less manual and time-consuming for if you don’t have standard software deployment tools. 


Additional details 

Device setup and management: To set up GCPW on a new device, download a GCPW installation file customized for your company from the Admin console. After GCPW is installed, you can manage GCPW settings in the Admin console. When a user signs in to a device managed with GCPW, GCPW fetches and applies the settings from in the Admin console. GCPW settings in the Admin console may take up to one hour to be implemented on the device. If you already installed GCPW on a device, you can set a token to manage GCPW from the Admin console. 

Settings available in the Admin console: You can manage most of the settings in the Admin console that you can in registry settings, including offline access, multiple account management, and more. 

Working with existing registry settings: Admin console settings supersede registry settings. To continue to use registry settings instead of Admin console settings, leave GCPW settings in the Admin console as “not configured.” 



Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers. 

Resources 

Read More

New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time (if not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.


Google Voice now generally available in Germany and Italy
Google Workspace customers based in Germany and Italy can now sign up for Google Voice. These customers, as well as international customers with Google Voice Premier edition, can assign and port numbers with Germany country codes (+49) and Italy country codes (+39) to users. | Learn more.


Previous announcements

The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.


Smart compose and spelling autocorrect available when adding comments in Google Docs
Smart compose and spelling autocorrect are now available when adding comments in Google Docs. | Learn more.


Join a meeting with new options on the Google Meet landing page
We’re changing the options for a more tailored experience when Google Workspace users join or start a meeting from meet.google.com. | Learn more.
Read More

Update

January 25, 2021: We updated this post to reflect a change in the rollout timing for both Rapid and Scheduled Release domains. Rollout to Rapid release domains will now start today, January 25, 2021, with Scheduled release domains planned for February 8, 2021.

Quick launch summary

We’re changing the options for a more tailored experience when Google Workspace users join or start a meeting from meet.google.com.

When you click “New meeting,” you’ll now see the following three options:

  • Create a meeting for later: Generate joining information for a new meeting. You can save this information to use later.
  • Start an instant meeting: Join a meeting in one click, without first going to the Meet greenroom. Once in the meeting, you can add others or copy the joining information to share. Please note, your camera and microphone will be on automatically if you select this option. You can turn them off once in the meeting.
  • Schedule in Google Calendar: Go to Calendar in a new tab to create an event with Meet conferencing details automatically populated.
New options to start a meeting from meet.google.com


Users will still be able to enter a meeting code or nickname to join a meeting.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about joining a video meeting.

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers. Also available to users with personal Google Accounts Google
  • Workspace Essentials customers will not see the “Schedule in Google Calendar” option, but will have the other two options available.

Resources

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Quick Summary

Smart compose and spelling autocorrect are now available when adding comments in Google Docs. These features help users compose comments quickly and with confidence by reducing the chance of spelling and grammatical errors and suggesting relevant contextual phrases. 



Smart Compose suggestions will appear in light grey when typing—to accept a suggestion, press “tab.” 

Smart compose suggestions will appear in light grey while typing a comment. 



Misspelled words will be automatically corrected while typing and denoted with a grey dashed underline. As you continue typing, this dashed line will disappear. 

Misspelled words will automatically be corrected. The corrected word will appear with a dotted grey underline. 



Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Smart compose in Google Docs comments 

Spelling autocorrect in Google Docs comments 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Read More

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

In the Google Cloud Community, discuss the latest features with Googlers and other Google Workspace admins like you. Learn tips and tricks that will make your work and life easier. Be the first to know what's happening with Google Workspace.

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.

Learn about our customers

Discover how a diverse range of organizations, from small businesses and nimble startups to globally recognized Fortune 500 corporations, leverage the collaborative power of Google Workspace. Explore examples of how teams of are streamlining workflows and driving productivity by utilizing Google-Workspace.