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 

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. 


Updating Gmail "Compose" button for Chat in Gmail users on the web 
Earlier this year, we updated the "Compose" button to a smaller, icon-only button for all users of Chat in Gmail on the web. We've heard from you that the original, larger version of the button is more intuitive and will be going back to that option starting November 3, 2021. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.




New navigation menus in Google Sites
Site editors can now organize page and external links under new navigation menus. Simply select "New Menu" and add or move pages to allow more flexibility in structuring navigation within your sites. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.


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.


Enhanced menus in Google Sheets improves findability of key features
We’re updating the menus in Google Sheets to make it easier to locate the most commonly-used features. | Learn more.


Manage and share private iOS apps through Google Endpoint Management
Admins can now upload, manage, and distribute private iOS applications to advanced managed devices. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.


VirusTotal integration with the security investigation tool provides deeper insight into Gmail events
Admins can use the Security  Investigation tool to view VirusTotal reports to gain richer information regarding Gmail event logs and use that information to make more informed decisions on protecting their users and data. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more.


Improved and updated security menu in the Admin Console
We have updated the “Security” category within the left-hand navigation of the Admin console by adding navigation access to security features previously only accessible from the security settings page, introducing subcategories, and more. | Learn more.


For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Read More

Quick launch summary 

We have updated the “Security” category within the left-hand navigation of the Admin console by: 
  • Adding navigation access to security features previously only accessible from the Security settings page. 
  • Adding Authentication, Access & data controls, and Security center subcategories making it easier to find the features available. 
  • Updating the name of the Security Settings page to Overview. 
We hope these improvements will make it easier for admins to discover, access, and manage our suite of security tools.

The updated Security navigation within the Admin console


Additional details

Instead of the previous single list, security features are now categorized by Authentication, Access & data controls, and Security center.  Availability of some subcategories and features will depend on your specific Google Workspace edition:


Authentication provides account and password management capabilities including:
  • 2-step verification
  • Account recovery
  • Advanced Protection Program
  • Login challenges
  • Password management
  • SSO with SAML applications
  • SSO with third party IdP

Access and data controls provide granular capabilities to manage your data through devices, browsers and applications including:

  • API controls
  • Client-side encryption
  • Context-Aware Access
  • Data protection
  • Google Session control
  • Google Cloud session control
  • Less secure apps

Security center provides advanced security information and analytics including:

  • Dashboard
  • Investigation tool
  • Security health

Getting started

  • Admins: This update will be available automatically.
  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources



Read More

What’s changing

Earlier this year, we announced an integration between VirusTotal and the Alert Center, giving admins the ability to look into security alerts at a deeper level. Beginning today, admins can also use the Security  Investigation tool to view VirusTotal reports to gain richer information regarding Gmail event logs and use that information to make more informed decisions on protecting their users and data.


Within the security investigation tool, you select “View VirusTotal report” for a given investigation result.

The report will surface more details about potential security threats.


The Standard version of VirusTotal reports includes the following:

  • File identification: Identifiers and characteristics allowing you to reference the threat and share it with other analysts (file hashes, file type, size, etc).
  • Threat reputation: Maliciousness assessments coming from 70+ security vendors.
  • Threat time spread: Key dates that enable you to understand when a given threat was first observed in-the-wild and how long it’s been active.

The Enhanced version of VirusTotal reports includes additional features such as:
  • Multi-angular detection: Additional threat analysis coming from crowdsourced rule matches and community scoring (for example: YARA, Sigma, and IDS rules).
  • Allowlist information: Useful details to power false positive discarding (National Software Reference Library, Software Distributors, Microsoft Clean Metadata Feed, etc.). 
  • Related indicators of compromise (IOCs): Examples of IOCs include a network infrastructure distributing a malware file, servers acting as a command-and-control for a given threat, first-stage delivery vectors for a file being studied, etc.
  • Interactive threat graph: Graphical format that maps out entire threat campaigns by visualizing the relationships between IOCs.
  • Security-relevant metadata: Includes software publisher information, identification of malicious macros in documents, Android application permissions, etc.
  • In-the-wild details: Geographical and time-spread details for threats, common attacker deception techniques, and more, through VirusTotal submission metadata.
  • Suspicious attribute pivoting: Clickable details in VirusTotal reports, allowing you to explore the global VirusTotal dataset for other threats that share the same properties.

Who’s impacted

Admins


Why it matters

Integrating VirusTotal with existing notifications and warnings surfaced through the security investigation tool provides Admins with richer information regarding potential threats. 

By giving our admins greater context over these threats, they can confidently take swift action to protect their users and data. For example, Admins can use VirusTotal to further investigate inconsistencies with users’ accounts to determine whether their device is infected with a virus. Using the VirusTotal integration tool to determine whether any shared attachments are malicious and whether the attachment has been seen elsewhere across their organization.


Additional details

VirusTotal provides an investigation layer on top of alerts but isn’t being used directly for detection or alerting. 

Data (file attachment hashes) is only shared to VirusTotal after your admin selects to view the VirusTotal report. No data is otherwise shared.

VirusTotal data is shared with the broader security community. This enables security vendors to collaborate with each other, share important details, and take action to fight security threats.

The VirusTotal report has two versions: Standard and Enhanced. The Standard version is displayed for admins who have the Security Center > VirusTotal > View report privilege, and who have one of the required Google Workspace editions. The Enhanced version is automatically displayed for paid VirusTotal subscribers who have an active virustotal.com login session with their VT Enterprise user account. Visit the Help Center for more information.


Getting started

Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources


Read More

What’s changing 

Admins can now upload, manage, and distribute private iOS applications to advanced managed devices.


In the Admin console, under Apps > web and mobile apps > Add app, you’ll now see the “Add Private iOS app” option, which will guide admins through uploading the app, populating information about the app, and configuring the OUs and groups they want the app to be distributed to. 

In the Admin console, navigate to Apps > Web and Mobile apps and then select "Add App".




Once added, you can update, delete, and manage user access to the app.




Who’s impacted 

Admins 



Why you’d use it

Internally developed, private apps can be useful and relied on by users for a variety of reasons, such as increasing productivity or sharing company specific information, such as cafe menus or campus maps. By giving admins the ability to add and provision custom iOS applications through the Admin console, they can securely distribute their own in-house apps. They can also keep private apps updated easily, because when they upload a new version of the app it’s automatically updated on users’ devices.



Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources


Read More

What’s changing 

We’re updating the menus in Google Sheets to make it easier to locate the most commonly-used features.

In this update: 

  • The menu bar and right-click menus have been shortened to better fit your screen to prevent menus from being hidden off screen
  • Some features were reorganized and added to more intuitive locations (for example, you can now freeze a row or column from the right-click menu) 
  • Some descriptions of items in the menu are shorter, enabling faster recognition 
  • Icons have been added to help you locate features more easily 
  • Changes are across all menus, including File, Edit, View, Insert, Format, Date, Tools, Extensions, Help, and Accessibility. 

Example of updated menu in Google Sheets


Example of updated menu in Google Sheets
Example of updated menu in Google Sheets

Example of updated menus in Google Sheets

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why it’s important 

The new design improves findability of key features, making it quicker and easier to use Sheets, especially on devices with smaller screens. 

Additional details 

Some of your favorite menu items may have moved a little, but all existing functionality is still available. We hope that their new home will be more intuitive and make it easier and faster to navigate the product.

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default and cannot be disabled. Use the menus as you would regularly and enjoy the new look and feel. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Sheets

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

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.


Drive for desktop support for Apple silicon (M1) devices now generally available
Earlier this year, we added Drive for desktop support for Apple Silicon (M1) devices in beta. Since then, we’ve been making improvements to the functionality, and it is now generally available. Learn more in the Google Drive for desktop release notes. |Available to all Google Workspace customers, and G Suite Basic and Business customers. Also available to users with personal Google accounts  | 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.

View more information about your colleagues and stakeholders in Google Contacts
Google Contacts will include additional information about people in your organization such as: working hours, non-manager relationships, shared files, and more. | Learn more. 


Control session length for Google Cloud Console and gcloud CLI now generally available
In 2019, we announced a beta that allows Google Workspace, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Cloud Identity admins to set a fixed session duration for specific apps and services. This is now generally available. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers, and Google Cloud Identity Free and Premium customers. | Learn more.


Mark Google Chat messages as unread
You can now mark a Google Chat direct message (DM) or Space as read or unread on mobile and on the web. | Learn more.


Integrate Google Chat with a 3rd-party archiving solution
You can now send an email archive of Google Chat messages to a 3rd party archiving solution. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus customers. | Learn more.


Easily add to Google Docs with the new universal @ menu
We’ve added a universal insertion menu to easily add things like tables and images, in addition to smart chips, directly in Google Docs. Simply type “@”, and you’ll see a list of recommended files, people, meetings, and different content elements and formats to insert into your work. | Learn more.


Classic Sites to new Google Sites migration reminder
Starting December 1, 2021: you will no longer be able to edit any remaining classic Google Sites in your domain. Starting January 1, 2022: classic Google Sites will no longer be viewable unless they are converted to new Google Sites. See full announcement for more information and milestones. | Learn more.


Add a page break before paragraphs in Google Docs
You can now mark a paragraph to always begin on a new page with the new “Add page break before” option in Google Docs. | Learn more.


Set aside time for focus in Google Calendar
We’re introducing a new Google Calendar entry type, Focus time, so you can block out and protect your time for heads-down individual work. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Teaching & Learning Upgrade, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Nonprofits customers. | Learn more.


Visual updates and improvements for the To, Cc, and Bcc fields in Gmail
When interacting with the “To”, “Cc”, and “Bcc” fields, some improvements you’ll notice are a new right-click menu to view a recipient’s full name, edit contact names, etc., avatar chips for recipients, and more. | Learn more.


Google Meet meeting hosts now have more control of participant's audio and video feeds for smoother, more productive meetings
Meeting hosts in Google Meet can now use Audio and Video Lock to turn off the microphones and/or cameras of other participants in the meeting and prevent them from turning them back on until you unlock them, in the main and breakout rooms. | Learn more.

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Read More

What’s changing 

Meeting hosts in Google Meet can now use Audio and Video Lock to turn off the microphones and/or cameras of other participants in the meeting and prevent them from turning them back on until you unlock them, in the main and breakout rooms. Earlier this year, we announced the ability for meeting hosts to mute everyone all at once in Google Meet on desktops/laptop devices. The new Audio and Video lock makes this feature more useful by enabling hosts to prevent participants from unmuting themselves after they are muted. 


Host control screen

Host control screen

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why it’s important 

This feature gives meeting hosts more control over their meetings by letting them decide when they want to allow different levels of participation from attendees, for example to address disruptive participants.

Additional details 

Participants using versions of the Android and iOS apps that do not support audio and video locks will be removed from the meeting if the host or co-host turns on either of the locks. If they attempt to join a meeting that has either of these locks enabled they will be prompted to update their app or use another device to join the meeting. Turning off audio or video locks will allow these participants to rejoin the meeting. 

The minimum supported versions are: 

Android: 

  • Android OS version M or newer 

iOS

  • iOS version 12 or newer 

Meet or Gmail app: 

  • The most updated version 

Audio or video locks, as well as chat and present locks, set by the host in the main meeting will also apply to subsequently launched breakout rooms. Once a breakout room is launched, any changes made to a lock setting in an individual room will not affect the settings of other breakout rooms or the main meeting.

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Meet security & privacy for admins 
  • End users: This feature will be OFF by default. Hosts can turn it on during meetings. Host Management needs to be enabled to use these features. 

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release domains: / Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) / October 21, 2021 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 1, 2021 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Read More

What’s changing 

We’re making several improvements in Gmail to help users compose email more efficiently and confidently. When interacting with the “To”, “Cc”, and “Bcc” fields, some improvements you’ll notice are: 
  • A new right-click menu to easily view a recipient's full name and email, edit contact names, copy email addresses, open a recipient's information card
  • Avatar chips for recipients 
  • Better indicators when adding a user outside your organization and contacts 
  • Visual indicators when you’ve already added a user as a recipient, and more 

Additionally, these updates may impact some Chrome extensions. See the “Additional details” section below for more information. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins, developers, and end users
 

Why it’s important 

We hope these improvements will help users connect with their colleagues and stakeholders quickly and with confidence. The improvements will mean you can more easily: 
  • View a recipients entire email address, and edit if needed
  • Copy an email address 
  • Access a user’s information card. Note that information cards can also be accessed by hovering over recipient chips, or selecting and using the keyboard shortcut Alt/Option + → 

See below for more details and information. 


Additional details 


New options to control what contact name is displayed to email recipients 
Additionally, you can use this menu to change how a recipient's name is displayed. For example, if you have a contact saved as “Sales Manager”, you can change what contact name will be displayed to others receiving the email. Note: this will not change the saved name in Contacts, only how the name appears to others included in the email. 

You can now change how a recipient's name is displayed in an email.


Important Note: This specific feature is not available for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, or the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers.





Visual indicators when composing emails 
We’ve added better visual indicators to help guide users when composing emails. Each recipient will now have an avatar chip, which is helpful for identifying who’s been added to the email. 


Avatar chips will be displayed for each recipient.



Highlighting external recipients 
We’ve also made it more obvious when users outside of your enterprise have been added to your recipient list: 
  • External contacts that you’ve interacted with before will be highlighted in a deep, yellow color. 
  • External contacts that you have not interacted with before will also be highlighted along with an out of organization avatar and warning banner. 

Improved visual indicators for recipients outside of your enterprise



Changing display for domains within your organization 
Additionally, different domain names within the same organization will no longer be marked as “external”. For example: users from @google.com will not appear as out of organization if added to an email from an @youtube.com user. This will help eliminate unnecessary warnings and confusions for users communicating across different brands under the same umbrellas or during the process of one company acquiring another. 


Improved interface for duplicate recipients 
We’ve also added a checkmark to better indicate a recipient who has already been included on the email. Also, when hovering over or scrolling through contacts within the dropdown menu, you’ll notice a grey tone to better indicate where your mouse or keyboard is. Additionally, Gmail will automatically remove duplicate entries within the same fields, when dragging and dropping between the To, Cc, and Bcc fields. 



If you've already included a recipient on the email, you'll see a checkmark indicator.  



Improving email and formating validation 
To prevent errors, Gmail will now validate that email addresses are typed in the correct email format (e.g. username@domain.com), and will prevent any strings from becoming recipient chips if they are  are not formatted correctly. Previously, users had to double click to correct an error. Further, if you do maintain an invalidly formatted email address in the address bars, you’ll see an error message prompting you to fix the error before sending. Note: validation is only performed on email address formatting and does not check the validity of the email address itself. 

Impact to Chrome extensions using the current compose interface 
This update changes the underlying structure of the addressing fields in Gmail Compose. Therefore, admins that maintain Chrome extensions that depend on the current Gmail UI, around recipient search, selection or authoring, should check their integrations against the updated UI. Be sure to change your release track on a test account to Rapid release to get access to the new UI so that you can test your integration before it is made more broadly available (see below). 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. If your organization maintains Chrome extensions that depend on the current Gmail UI for recipient search, selection or authoring, check your integrations against the updated UI. 

  • Developers: Developers that maintain Chrome extensions that depend on the current Gmail UI, around recipient search, selection or authoring, should check their integrations against the updated UI. 

  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending an email in Gmail. 

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 20, 2021. 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) beginning no earlier than November 8, 2021.

We anticipate rollout to be complete by the end of year, and will complete rollout to Rapid Release domains at least two weeks before beginning rollout to Scheduled Release domains. We will provide updates here when rollout for Rapid and Scheduled release domains is complete.

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 
  • Note: The menu option to edit a recipient's display name is not available for Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, or the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers.

Resources 

Read More



What’s changing

We’re introducing a new Google Calendar entry type, Focus time, so you can block out and protect your time for heads-down individual work. Similar to the Out of office event type, focus time has a different appearance on your calendar and includes the option to automatically decline conflicting events.

Focus timer is now an entry type in Calendar
Create a Focus time entry in Calendar

An example of what a Focus time entry will look like on Calendar, with a headphones icon
Focus time appears with a headphones icon on your calendar

Who’s impacted

End users

Why it’s important

With the changes to our working environments in the past year, having more chats and meetings make it more difficult for people to carve out time for their core individual work. With the new focus time feature, we hope to make it easier to create dedicated time for thinking and core work.

Additional details

You can choose to assign a new color to have your focus time have a different visibility from your events and other meetings.

Additionally, your scheduled focus time will also be tracked in your Time Insights.

Getting started

  • Admins: 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 using focus time.

Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources

Read More

Quick launch summary

You can now mark a paragraph to always begin on a new page with the new “Add page break before” option in Google Docs. This is particularly useful if you want certain paragraph styles to always create a new page such as titles, subtitles, or headings.

Add the new "Add page break before" paragraph style in Docs


This also means that you can import and export Microsoft Word and other third-party documents that have “Page break before” applied to paragraphs and Docs will retain that formatting.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: You can add this formatting style by going to Format > Line & paragraph spacing in the Docs menu bar and clicking “Add page break before.” Visit the Help Center to learn more about paragraph styles in Docs.

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

Read More

What’s changing 

As previously announced, we are replacing classic Google Sites with new Google Sites. To avoid disruption, please make sure all of your existing classic Sites are migrated by December 31, 2021. 


We’d like to remind you that: 
  • Starting December 1, 2021: you will no longer be able to edit any remaining classic Google Sites in your domain. 
  • Starting January 1, 2022: classic Google Sites will no longer be viewable unless they are converted to new Google Sites. Any remaining classic Sites will automatically be: 
    • Downloaded as an archive and saved to the website owner’s Google Drive. 
    • Replaced with a draft in the new Google Sites for site owners to review and publish. 

See below for more information.


Who’s impacted

Admins and end users 


Why it’s important

To ensure your organization’s classic Sites content continues to be viewable without interruption, make sure all your existing classic Sites are migrated by December 31, 2021. If you haven’t already done so, enable new Sites creation for your organization.


We anticipate the transition process for all remaining classic Sites that starts on January 1, 2022 will take up to three months to complete. Admins will receive an email notification once this is completed for their domain. During the transition period, you and your users will still be able to migrate remaining classic Sites that have not already been auto-migrated.


If you don’t take any action, the changes outlined in the transition timeline above will automatically be applied to your domain. Use our Help Center to learn more about the transition from classic Sites to new Sites.

Additional details

Some sites may not be automatically replaced with a draft in new Google Sites due to page count limits or other factors. Please see this Help Center article for more information and to determine if your site is impacted and action is needed before December 31, 2021.


Getting started

  • Admins: 
    • Use the Classic Sites Manager to help your users make the transition. Using this console, admins can: 
      • View all classic Sites in your domain with the option to export to Google Sites for project management. 
      • Convert, archive, restore, or delete your websites, individually or in bulk. 
      • Bulk update ownership of sites.

Read More

What’s changing 

As part of our mission to build the future of work, smart canvas enables new ways to collaborate in Google Workspace. This includes smart chips, which enable you to add interactive building blocks to connect people, content, and events into one seamless experience. 

Now, we’ve added a universal insertion menu to easily add things like tables and images, in addition to smart chips, directly in Google Docs. Simply type “@”, and you’ll see a list of recommended files, people, meetings, as well as different content elements and formats to insert into your work. You can also search all available components. 

Typing @ to add to Google Docs

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why it matters 

A quick and simple way to add rich elements to your content, the universal @ menu makes it easy to preview and read relevant documents, find associated meetings and stakeholders, add tables and images, and more, directly from Google Docs. 

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 adding items with the @ menu 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Read More

What’s changing 

You can now send an email archive of Google Chat messages to a 3rd party archiving solution. 

For users that have archiving of Chat messages enabled, the 3rd party archiving solution will be able to receive email archives containing 1:1 conversations and conversations in rooms and groups. Content within the Chat message is also archived, such as reactions, Drive links, and file attachments. 

Who’s impacted

Admins and developers

Why it’s important

If you’re required to archive Chat messages for compliance purposes, or are already using a 3rd party archiving solution, you’ll now be able to integrate Google Chat with these 3rd-party partners. 

Getting started 

Turning on third party archiving setting



End users: 

  • There is no end user setting for this feature. 

Rollout pace 

  • This feature is available now for all users.

Availability 

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

Resources 

Read More

Update
January 13, 2022: This rollout has resumed and is now complete for all users


Quick launch summary

You can now mark a Google Chat direct message (DM) or Space as read or unread on mobile and on the web.

Mark as unread using the message actions menu
Mark as unread in message actions





Mark as unread using the conversation options in Chat
Mark as unread in conversation options

Mark as unread in Chat using the conversation list
Mark as unread in conversation list


Marking a message as unread can help remind you to return to it later in Chat. In 1:1 and group DMs, you can mark a thread as unread starting from a particular message. To do this, you have to hover over the message and click the mark as unread icon.

When you hover over a message in Chat, you'll see the mark as unread icon
Hover over a message to find the mark as unread icon


You can also clear the badges on rooms with unread messages by marking them as read.

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 marking as unread in Chat.

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

Roadmap

  • This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Read More

Quick Summary 

In 2019, we announced a beta that allows Google Workspace, Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Cloud Identity admins to set a fixed session duration for specific apps and services. This is now generally available. After the session expires, users will need to re-enter their login credentials to continue to access: 

Giving admins more control over how often users need to re-authenticate makes it more difficult for the wrong people to obtain that data if they gain unauthorized access to a device. 

Visit the Help Center for more information about mobile apps and third-party identity providers.

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the OU level. You can find session length controls at Admin console > Security > Google Cloud session control. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to set session length for Google Cloud services. 
  • End users: If a session ends, users will simply need to log in to their account again using the familiar Google login flow. 

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers, and Google Cloud Identity Free and Premium customers

Read More

Update

[January 28, 2022]: We’d like to clarify rollout for several features mentioned in this announcement:

  • The rollout for custom attributes is complete.
  • The rollout for shared drive files, local time and working hours, and non-manager relationships is paused while we optimize performance. We apologize for the delay and we will share an update once rollout resumes.

Quick launch summary 

Google Contacts will include additional information about people in your organization: 
  • Local time: The the local time for a user’s time zone will be displayed 
  • Working hours: You’ll see a crescent moon indicator and purple banner if it’s outside the working hours a user has set in Google Calendar 
  • Non-manager relationships: You can view relationships such as an administrative business partner or a dotted line manager 
  • Shared files: You’ll see a list of any Drive files a user has shared with you Custom attributes: any custom attributes your organization has added, such as Team, Skills, or other information specific to your organization
In Contacts, you'll see additional information about people in your organization, such as the local time in their area, their working hours, shared files, and more.



Getting started

Admins: 
  • To share non-manager relationships in Google Contacts, populate the “Relationships” section of the User resource using the Admin SDK.

  • Custom Attributes can be configured in the “Users” section in the Admin console and the Directory API. 

  • Local Time and Outside Working Hours is automatically shown when Calendar availability is enabled and working hours are set.

  • Shared Drive files will automatically be displayed; no additional action is required.
End users: To open the Contacts Sidebar, click “Open detailed view” while hovering over a user’s information card, or select the Contacts icon in the side panel. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google products side by side. 

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 18, 2021. 
  • Note: Each card (custom fields, shared files, non-manager relationships, and local time) will be rolled out separately.

Availability

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

Resources


Read More

Quick launch summary

At Google Cloud Next ‘21, we announced a beta for data loss prevention (DLP) in Google Chat to help prevent sensitive and confidential information from leaking outside of your organization.

Error message shown to users when they try to share sensitive information outside of the organization in Chat
Prevent sensitive data from leaking with the DLP in Chat beta



Adding DLP to Chat enables admins to create custom policies to prevent sensitive data leaks from Chat. Admins can choose to simply audit (monitor) any DLP violations or block end users from sending sensitive content. Admins are alerted about policy violations and can quickly investigate and take action.


DLP in Chat rules in the Admin console
Set up DLP rules in the Admin console


With this beta, you can set all the same policies across Chat, Drive, and Chrome.

You can sign up your organization for the beta using this form.

Getting started


  • Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and, once added to the beta, can be enabled at the domain, OU, or group level. You can create DLP rules in the Admin console under Security > Data Protection. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning data loss prevention in Chat on for your organization.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources

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What’s changing

We're bringing more flexibility into Google Workspace by integrating AppSheet into Gmail through dynamic email support. This integration lets anyone—including non-technical users—build dynamic emails using AppSheet.

Google Workspace Enterprise Plus users and AppSheet users can now:
  • Create AppSheet apps that can be rendered in Gmail
  • Easily send AppSheet forms and views to Gmail users with embedded, editable data fields
  • Trigger additional workflows—such as vacation or budget approvals—using AppSheet automation
Example using AppSheet in dynamic emails for a budget approval
Example of using AppSheet to approve an inventory request in Gmail


This feature was announced as a part of Google Cloud Next ‘21.

Who’s impacted

Admins, end users, and developers

Why you’d use it

AppSheet enables anyone, regardless of their coding experience, to quickly build and deploy applications and automation. By bringing AppSheet into Gmail using dynamic email, Google Workspace users can now interact with these apps without having to leave their inbox, saving them time, and helping them be more productive and efficient.

Google Workspace customers are already using this feature in exciting ways, such as for budget, inventory, and vacation approvals; commenting on requests and projects; assigning support tickets; and updating customer info in their CRM, among many other scenarios.

Getting started


Rollout pace

  • This feature is available now.

Availability

  • Available to all AppSheet customers and Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers.
  • AppSheet Starter and Core are available as an add-on paid subscription to all Google Workspace editions; AppSheet Core licenses are included at no cost in Google Workspace Enterprise Plus.

Resources

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Quick summary 

We’ve made a slight adjustment to how users create and manage backup codes for 2-step verification. Rather than generating or accessing backup codes from the 2-step verification homepage, users will be taken to a dedicated backup codes page. 

2-step verification page

Here, users can generate new backup codes or re-fresh for additional backup codes, and print or download the codes as before. Additionally, we’ve added a new option to delete your backup codes. 


Backup codes


This update will be available on web, Android, and iOS devices. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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