Google Workspace Updates: 2021

Check when your Google Meet meeting codes expire to ensure smooth future meeting experiences

středa 12. května 2021

Quick launch summaryGoogle Meet meetings can be scheduled across Google Workspace products, such as Calendar, Gmail, Google Chat, and more. This means your unique meeting code and its expiration are based on the product that your meeting is created from.

Most meeting codes will expire 365 days after the last use, but there are instances where the meeting code will expire instantly once the meeting ends. See below for a complete breakdown of meeting code expirations according to the product they were generated by. These meeting code expirations will take effect beginning May 19, 2021.

We strongly recommend you use the table below to ensure your meeting codes are valid, especially for meetings you plan far in advance.

Getting started

Admins and end users: We recommend reviewing the meeting code expiry limits to ensure your meeting codes are valid, especially for meetings planned far in advance.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 19, 2021.

Availability

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

Additional tools for managing the transition from classic to new Google Sites

úterý 11. května 2021

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. Important note: Starting May 15, 2021, website creation in classic Google Sites will no longer be available. Visit the Help Center for more details on the Classic Sites migration.

To help Admins and end users manage the transition to new Sites, we introduced the Classic Sites Manager in 2020. Recently, we’ve added several new options to the Classic Sites Manager to help you and your users manage the transition from classic Sites:

Super Admins can now delegate admin-level Classic Sites Manager access to other users in their organization via a new assignable privilege, allowing them to do things like assign site owners or convert websites to the new Google Sites experience on behalf of their end users
Admins and site owners can now bulk delete and restore sites within the Classic Sites Manager
Admins can now bulk update ownership of sites from within the Classic Sites Manager

See below for more information.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important We hope these new options help admins and their end users navigate the transition from classic Sites to new Sites.

Admins can delegate admin-level access to the Classic Sites Manager to the right people within their organization, allowing them to view all classic Sites and determine which migration actions need to be taken (convert, delete, assign site owners, etc.).

With the addition of the delete bulk action in the Classic Sites Manager, admins (or delegated admins) can quickly remove any sites that are no longer relevant within their domain. End users will be able to remove any sites they own. Once a site is deleted, a user or admin has 30 days to restore it before it is permanently deleted.

For sites that have no owners, admins (or delegated admins) can now use the update owners action to assign ownership of sites to a point of contact in your organization who can best advise on whether the site should be deleted or converted to new Sites.

Additionally, sites can be converted to the new Sites experience using the Classic Sites Manager, with the option to export a filtered view from the Classic Sites Manager to Google Sheets for record keeping or further analysis.

The Classic Sites Manager can be used to convert, delete, restore, and assign ownership of sites within your domain.

Getting started

Super Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about designating a different OU or Group as Admins for the Classic Sites Manager.
Admins: Use our Help Center to learn more about the Classic Sites Manager and and using the bulk delete and restoration tool in the Classic Sites Manager. Use our migration guide to plan for the transition from classic Sites to new Sites.

Rollout pace

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

Availability

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

Resources

Google Device Policy app ending support for iOS 11 soon

úterý 11. května 2021

Quick launch summary The Google Device Policy app won’t support mobile devices running iOS version 11 or lower after August 2021. If your organization has advanced mobile device management (MDM) enabled, users must upgrade to iOS version 12 or higher to access new MDM features or to download the Device Policy app for the first time.

We will remove support for iOS 11 in the first release of the Device Policy app beginning September 2021. Therefore please ensure your users upgrade their devices by the end of August 2021 to avoid any disruption to their work.

Use our Help Center to find more information on minimum device requirements for Google mobile management.

Google Docs will now use canvas based rendering: this may impact some Chrome extensions

úterý 11. května 2021

What’s changing We’re updating the way Google Docs renders documents. Over the course of the next several months, we’ll be migrating the underlying technical implementation of Docs from the current HTML-based rendering approach to a canvas-based approach to improve performance and improve consistency in how content appears across different platforms.

We don’t expect this change to impact the functionality of the features in Docs. However, this may impact some Chrome extensions, where they may no longer work as intended.

Who’s impacted Admins and developers

Why it’s important Some Chrome extensions rely on the way the backend of a Google Doc is structured or specific bits of HTML to function properly. By moving away from HTML-based rendering to a canvas-based rendering, some Chrome extensions may not function as intended on docs.google.com and may need to be updated.

Admins should review the current extensions deployed in their organization. See this file for an example of a Google Doc using canvas-based rendering and to test out your extensions.

If you are building your own integrations with Google Docs, we recommend using Google Workspace Add-ons framework, which uses the supported Workspace APIs and integration points. This will help ensure there will be less work in the future to support periodic UI implementation changes to Docs.

If your company has developed a private Chrome Extension that you believe will be impacted and you are unable to migrate to the Google Workspace Add-ons framework, you can submit this form to provide feedback and notify our team.

Getting started

Admins and developers:

To see an example of a Google Doc using canvas-based rendering, please see this example file. We strongly recommend reviewing the current extensions used in Google Docs that are deployed within your organization.
To ensure any Chrome extensions you build in-house continue to work as intended, we recommend migrating them to the Google Workspace Add-ons framework.

End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Google Docs will be migrating slowly from HTML to canvas based rendering over the course of the next several months.

Resources

Google Workspace for Developers: Add-on types

New options to control chat history in unthreaded Google Chat rooms

pondělí 10. května 2021

What’s changingWe’re introducing a new admin control for Google Chat history in unthreaded rooms. With this new control, admins have the option to:

Set unthreaded room history behavior separately from 1:1 and group conversations: Admins can set the default history state to be either on or off. They can also prevent users from changing the default history setting for unthreaded rooms. Note: this setting does not impact threaded rooms. Threaded room history is always on.

Note that this will only affect organizations that use Chat; it will not impact organizations that still use classic Hangouts. Use our Help Center to learn more about these changes and how they might impact your organization.

Who’s impactedAdmins
Why you’d use itThese new options give you as an Admin more control and flexibility in setting Chat history options for unthreaded rooms.

Getting started

Rollout paceRapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout starting on May 10, 2021. You can set the new Admin console controls when you see them, but it may take a few days before they take effect. This is a one-time delay during the rollout. The settings should work by late May.

AvailabilityAvailable to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.
Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Set default room history for users
Google Workspace Admin Help: Set chat history options for your organization

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - May 7, 2021

pátek 7. května 2021

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

Google for Education transformation reports window open, available worldwide The next reporting window for Google for Education transformation reports is now available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide. | Learn more.

“Show Editors” provides more context on changes made in Google Docs You can now view richer information on the edit history of a particular range of content in Google Docs. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more.

Improve Google Cloud Search results with Contextual Boost We’re adding the ability to boost Google Cloud Search results using the Cloud Search Query API for third party data sources. Contextual boost is one of the key ways used to enable search personalization.| Available to Google Cloud Search customers. | Learn more.

Additional admin controls for Google Voice ring groups Admins can now configure a “fixed order” pattern for their ring groups and change the maximum duration a call should ring before proceeding to the “unanswered call” behavior. | Available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers with Google Voice standard and premier licenses. | Learn more.

Specify which attributes are available for the Secure LDAP client Admins can now specify which attributes they’d like to make available for the LDAP Client, such as system, public and private attributes. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, G Suite Enterprise, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.

More options for customizing a charts line and fill styling in Google Sheets We’ve added more for line and fill customization options for series and series items. | Learn more.

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

More options for customizing a charts line and fill styling in Google Sheets

pátek 7. května 2021

Quick Summary We’ve added more for line and fill customization options for series and series items. You can now modify:

Color
Opacity
Line dash styles
Line thickness

For column-shaped series, we’ve added the ability to add and style borders, a highly requested feature.

Note: these new options are not available for pie charts, however the ability to change pie slice colors and add borders is already available.
We hope these new options help you best display important data and create more impactful reports with Sheets.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding and editing a chart in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 7, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Add & edit a chart or graph

Specify which attributes are available for the Secure LDAP client

středa 5. května 2021

What’s changing The Secure LDAP service provides a simple and secure way to connect your LDAP-based applications and services to Cloud Identity or Google Workspace. Admins can now specify which attributes they’d like to make available for the LDAP Client:

System attributes: Default user attributes that are available for all user accounts—for example, Email, Phone, and Address. Note that you can't disable this option.
Public custom attributes: Custom user attributes that are marked as visible to the organization.
Private custom attributes: Custom user attributes that are marked as visible only to the user and administrators. Use caution when using private custom attributes, as you're exposing private information to the LDAP client.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s important

LDAP clients are in the secure LDAP service, which enables users to access traditional LDAP-based apps and IT infrastructure using their Google Workspace credentials. This new feature gives admins more control over the connections your LDAP-based applications and services use to interact with Google Workspace and Cloud Identity services.

Additional details

Custom attribute naming requirements and guidelines:

Names for custom attributes can contain only alphanumeric text and hyphens.
There should be no duplicate attribute names across all custom schemas.
If the custom attribute name matches with an existing system attribute, we will return the system attribute value.

Important: If attribute names don't adhere to the above guidelines, the attribute values in question are excluded from the LDAP response.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about the Secure LDAP service, creating custom attributes for user profiles, and configuring access permissions.
End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) May 5, 2021

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, G Suite Enterprise, and Cloud Identity Premium 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

Google Workspace Admin Help: About the secure LDAP service
Google Workspace Admin Help: Create custom attributes for user profiles
Google Workspace Admin Help: Configure access permissions

Additional admin controls for Google Voice ring groups

středa 5. května 2021

What’s changingWe’ve added new ways for admins to manage their Google Voice ring groups. Specifically, admins can now:

Configure a “Fixed order” pattern where incoming ring group calls will ring members in a predetermined order.
Change the maximum duration that a call should ring before proceeding to the "unanswered call" behavior — previously this was fixed at 30 seconds.

Set your Call Routing Pattern, Ring Duration, and Order of Call Ringing

Setting the Call Routing Pattern to Simultaneous

Who’s impactedAdmins

Why you’d use itWe've heard from you that you'd like more options to customize the ringing behavior for your ring groups. With the new “Fixed order” pattern, you can define exactly what order to ring your members when the ring group receives a call, skipping members who are already in a call or have “Do not disturb” enabled. You can also customize the maximum ringing duration for fixed and round robin patterns that allows you to limit how long an incoming call should ring, which may be particularly useful for large ring groups.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up and configuring ring groups for your organization.
End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 5 days for feature visibility) starting on May 5, 2021.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers with Google Voice standard and premier licenses.
Not available to Google Workspace and G Suite customers with Google Voice starter licenses.

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Set up ring groups

Improve Google Cloud Search results with Contextual Boost

pondělí 3. května 2021

What’s changing We’re adding the ability to boost Google Cloud Search results using the Cloud Search Query API for third party data sources. Contextual boost is achieved by defining document specific context at the time of indexing and using the right contextual values at the time of query. Contextual boost is one of the key ways used to enable search personalization.
Some examples of the contextual attributes you can define are:

Location: Certain results can be more relevant to users from a specific location. For example, an employee in Japan might search for "benefits," and want to receive benefits information specific to their office in Japan
Department: Certain results can be more relevant to a user's department. For example, a member of the Sales team might search for "pitch decks," and want to discover pitch decks specific to their team
Tenure: Certain results can be more relevant to the user's tenure. For example, a new employee might search for "onboarding documents," and want to discover documents specific to employee onboarding

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it Context is a critical element in providing highly relevant search results. By providing a wide range of contextual attributes, users will see more tailored results based on inputs such as location, department, and job role. This helps reduce the time spent searching by surfacing more relevant content faster.
With this launch, we provide support for a wide range of contextual attributes that can be used to personalize the results for the end users. This launch also supports combining contextual attributes for deeper context. Combining attributes helps to further triangulate the right results tailored for a specific end user.

Getting started

Availability

Available to Google Cloud Search customers

Rollout pace

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

Resources

Google Cloud Search: Increase ranking based on item context

“Show Editors” provides more context on changes made in Google Docs

pondělí 3. května 2021

Quick launch summary You can now view richer information on the edit history of a particular range of content in Google Docs. Simply highlight and right-click on a range of text and select “Show Editors” from the dropdown menu. Here, you can view a list of editors and their latest edit along with time stamps. You’ll also have the option to open the Version History of the document.

This makes it easier to track edits made by multiple collaborators, giving greater insight into who the recent editors were, what changes were made and when.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing who changed part of a document in Google Docs.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: This feature is available now.
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 3, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Find what’s changed in a file

Google for Education transformation reports window open, available worldwide

pondělí 3. května 2021

What’s changing Google for Education transformation reports are available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide, at no additional cost. Note: transformation reports are only available in English only at this time.

The next reporting window is open as of May 3, 2021. See below for more information on generating your transformation report.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why you’d use it The transformation report is a free tool designed to help quantify your organization’s Google for Education implementation across our products and programs. Semester-based reports track usage trends over time and make it easy to understand how your organization is using Google Workspace for Education, Chromebooks, and progressing through Certification programs.

Based on usage information and survey responses, you’ll receive tailored recommendations and resources from Google for Education to help you drive more impact across your organization.

See here for more information about Google for Education transformation reports, as well as a list of frequently asked questions.

Getting started

Admins: Google Workspace for Education super admins must log in to the transformation report tool between May 3rd and May 21st to ensure a report will be available on June 2, 2021. Within the tool, we strongly recommend Admins:

On June 2, 2021, log in to g.co/edutransformationreport to access your custom transformation report

End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Transformation reports are available now for all users.

Availability

Available to K-12 Google Workspace Education Fundamentals and Education Plus customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 30, 2021

pátek 30. dubna 2021

New updates There are no new updates to share this week. Please see below for a recap of published announcements.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.Edit details in line with Google Tasks on the web
You can now add additional information to your personal tasks without opening the “Details” dialog box. | Learn more. Admins will now be alerted when there is an issue with their Google Voice auto attendants or ring groups
Admins will now receive an alert in the Admin console’s Alert Center when an issue is detected with their auto attendant or ring group configuration along with instructions on how to quickly resolve the issue. | Learn more.
Google Vault now supports Google Sites
Google Vault now supports new Google Sites. You can use Google Vault to set retention policies for Google Sites, perform searches of Google Sites data, and export Google Sites content. | Learn more. Apply context-aware access policies to mobile and desktop applications
Admins can now assign existing or new context-aware access levels to Google desktop and mobile applications. | Learn more. Email threads with recipients outside your organization will be labeled “External”
We’re adding a new “External” label to email threads that include recipients outside your organization. This adds to the existing external recipient warning banner and can be turned on and off by admins. | Learn more. For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Email threads with recipients outside your organization will be labeled “External”

čtvrtek 29. dubna 2021

What’s changing We’re adding a new “External” label to email threads that include recipients outside your organization. This adds to the existing external recipient warning banner, which is displayed when responding to emails sent from outside of your organization.

The “External” label will be visible on Gmail on the web and Android devices. We will provide an update when this feature becomes available on iOS.

Important Note: Admins can turn these warning labels on or off for their organization.

The external label and warning banner appears when interacting with individuals outside the domain.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important The “External” label and the reply warning banner and label are helpful reminders for users to treat external messages with caution. This can help avoid unintentionally sharing confidential information with recipients outside of their organization.

Additional details Secondary and alias domains are exempted from being labeled as “External”.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning external recipient warnings on or off in Gmail. Note: This setting controls both the “External” label and warning banner.
End users: No action required. When enabled by your admin, you'll see "External" label and warning banner when interacting with or replying to email threads with recipients outside your organization or contacts.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 29, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn external recipients warnings on or off in Gmail

Apply context-aware access policies to mobile and desktop applications

úterý 27. dubna 2021

What’s changing Admins can now assign existing or new context-aware access levels to Google desktop and mobile applications.

Applying context-aware access levels to mobile and desktop applications

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important With context-aware access, you can set up different access levels based on a user’s identity and the context of the request (location, device security status, IP address). Expanding these policies to other Google Workspace entry points—such as the Google Drive for desktop app or using Gmail on a mobile browser—gives admins greater control over how, when, and where users can access Workspace resources.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 27, 2021.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, 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

Google Vault now supports Google Sites

úterý 27. dubna 2021

What’s changingGoogle Vault now supports new Google Sites. You can use Google Vault to set retention policies for Google Sites, perform searches of Google Sites data, and export Google Sites content. If you already use Vault to hold Google Drive files, sites files will now be covered by those holds. You can set Sites-specific retention rules if you want to manage sites retention.
Who’s impactedAdminsWhy it mattersThis provides you with expanded control over your organization’s data, and can help you meet regulatory or legal obligations for your Google Sites data.
If you have Drive retention rules set to purge data after a retention period, sites will be purged according to those rules.
Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about supported Sites data, how to Retain Google Sites data with Vault, use Drive search to find sites, and work with sites in Drive export files.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout paceRapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 27.
Availability

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

ResourcesGoogle Workspace Admin Help: Supported services and data typesGoogle Help: Google Vault Help

Admins will now be alerted when there is an issue with their Google Voice auto attendants or ring groups

pondělí 26. dubna 2021

Quick launch summary Admins will now receive an alert in the Admin console’s Alert Center when an issue is detected with their auto attendant or ring group configuration along with instructions on how to quickly resolve the issue. These issues include:

No valid members in a ring group,
No valid auto attendants or ring groups to forward the call to,
No voicemail recipients.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 26, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Edit details in line with Google Tasks on the web

pondělí 26. dubna 2021

Quick launch summary You can now add additional information to your personal tasks without opening the “Details” dialog box. We hope this change makes it faster and easier for you to add descriptions, assign dates and times, and organize your tasks.

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 editing tasks on the web.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 26, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Add or edit a task

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 21, 2021

pátek 23. dubna 2021

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

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.

More ways to work with and analyze BigQuery data using Connected Sheets We’re adding several new features that will give you more ways to work with, display, and organize your BigQuery data when using Connected Sheets. | Learn more.

Use Google Maps in the quick access side panel You can now use Google Maps in the quick access side panel. With Maps in the side panel, you’ll be able to see more information without switching contexts or using multiple tabs. | Learn more.

Reminder: Website creation in classic Google Sites will no longer be available starting May 15, 2021 Starting May 15, 2021, users will no longer be able to create new websites in classic Google Sites. We recommend that you turn off site creation in classic Sites for your domain before May 15, 2021. | Learn more. | See more details on the classic Sites to new Sites migration timeline.

Google Meet now gives you more space for content and control over layouts for a more flexible experience. Inspired by your feedback, we’re rolling out a refreshed Google Meet desktop/laptop experience with updates to video feeds, the viewing and presenting experience, and the bottom bar. | Learn more.

Use Virtual Private Cloud Service Controls to create security perimeters around Google Cloud Search data We’re introducing support for Virtual Private Cloud Service Controls (VPC-SC) for Google Cloud Search. You can use these controls to define a service perimeter around Google Cloud Search resources and create policies to grant access based on contextual attributes. | Learn more.

Control your data usage and improve device performance with new data saver setting for Google Meet on mobile You can now limit Google Meet data usage on Android and iOS mobile devices. When enabled, this will help to limit data use, conserve data on your mobile plan, conserve battery power, and lower the demand on your phone’s CPU. | Learn more.

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

Control your data usage and improve device performance with new data saver setting for Google Meet on mobile

čtvrtek 22. dubna 2021

What’s changingYou can now limit Google Meet data usage on Android and iOS mobile devices. When enabled, this will help to:

Limit data use, conserving data on your mobile plan
Conserve battery power
Lower the demand on your phone’s CPU

Who’s impactedEnd users
Why you’d use itGoogle Meet automatically adjusts to your device, network and set-up to provide the best possible meeting experience. However, you may want to adjust the quality of your meeting to reduce impact on your mobile device. The data saver setting can help:

Minimize cellular data usage
Maximize battery life
Free up your device's CPU and memory for other tasks

When needed, you can use Google Meet in higher quality by simply toggling the data saver setting off.
Getting startedAdmins: There is no admin control for this feature.End users: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled by the user. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Meet saver mode on or off for your account.

Turning on Limit data usage in Google Meet Settings on Android
Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 22, 2021

Availability

Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Frontline, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Nonprofits, Cloud Identity Free, Cloud Identity Premium. Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

ResourcesGoogle Meet Help: Meet saver mode

Use Virtual Private Cloud Service Controls to create security perimeters around Google Cloud Search data

středa 21. dubna 2021

What’s changing We’re introducing support for Virtual Private Cloud Service Controls (VPC-SC) for Google Cloud Search. You can use these controls to define a service perimeter around Google Cloud Search resources and create policies to grant access based on contextual attributes, such as:

IP Address: You can grant an access level based on the IP address of the originating request
Device type and operating system: You can grant an access level based on user devices, including operating system and version
User Identity: You can grant an access level based on the user identity

This ensures that:

Resources within a perimeter are accessed only from users with authorized VPC networks.
Clients with access to resources within a perimeter don't have access to resources outside that perimeter.
Data cannot be copied to unauthorized resources outside the perimeter.
Internet access to resources within a perimeter are restricted using allowlisted IPv4 and IPv6 ranges.

For more information, see this overview of the VPC Service Controls.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

Data security is paramount for every enterprise.. VPC Service Controls help you restrict public network access to your sensitive data while using Google Cloud Search’s fully managed document indexing and search capabilities.

With this managed service, you can configure private communication between cloud resources and hybrid VPC networks. By expanding perimeter security from on-premise networks to data stored on Google Cloud Search, you can feel confident indexing and using sensitive data on Cloud Search.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 21, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

Google Meet now gives you more space for content and control over layouts for a more flexible experience.

středa 21. dubna 2021

What’s changingInspired by your feedback, we’re rolling out a refreshed Google Meet desktop/laptop experience with updates to video feeds, the viewing and presenting experience, and the bottom bar.
Video feeds

Hover over your video feed for options between a tile in the grid or a floating picture. You can also resize, reposition, and hide it to concentrate on the call.
Your self-view appears in the bottom right of the grid to put more video feeds at eye-level as you look into the camera.

Viewing and presenting experience

See what you are presenting while in Google Meet.
Unpin the content you or others share to see more and larger video feeds.
Participant names are always visible regardless of meeting size.

Bottom bar

Meeting dial-in codes, attachments, the participants list, chat, and other activities are at the bottom right to create more vertical space for seeing people and content.
Controls are consolidated in one place with descriptions available upon hover.
Leave call button is moved away from the microphone and camera buttons to prevent accidental call hang-ups.
Bottom bar is always visible, while not covering cover captions and bottom video feeds.

Other visual updates include

When someone speaks, their tile is outlined in blue.
Mute indicators are subdued to reduce visual distraction.
When there are more participants than can be shown on the grid, a tile is added so you always remember who’s on the call.

Unpin shared content

Hide your own self-feedWho’s impactedEnd users

Why you’d use itEnjoy a simpler, more flexible experience that lets you participate with confidence in Google Meet calls as a presenter, attendee, teacher or student, knowing you have more control over your video feed, layouts, and content.

Additional details

Users will see a banner before joining a call that says “Meet has a new look” when this refreshed user interface is enabled for them.
Use of Chrome extensions (including the Grid View extension) could impact your experience. Uninstalling any extensions that interact with Google Meet could resolve this.
For better presentations and to avoid mirroring, share a different window or a specific tab instead of the meeting window.
In some cases, your self-view could appear with gray bars at the top and bottom to show you everything your camera sees. Other participants might see a cropped version of your video feed.

Getting startedAdmins: There is no admin control for this feature.End users: This feature will be ON for everyone.

Rollout paceRapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 3, 2021Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 17, 2021

Availability

Available to all Workspace users. Also available if you're using Google Meet with a personal Google account.

ResourcesGoogle Meet Help (with an enterprise or education account)Google Meet Help (with a personal account)

Reminder: Website creation in classic Google Sites will no longer be available starting May 15, 2021

úterý 20. dubna 2021

What’s changing As previously announced, we are replacing classic Sites with new Sites. All Google Workspace customers will have until the end of 2021 to complete this transition.

We’d like to remind you that starting May 15, 2021, users will no longer be able to create new websites in classic Google Sites. We recommend that you turn off site creation in classic Sites for your domain before May 15, 2021.

Note that the timeline for this transition varies for users with personal Google accounts — see the “Getting Started” section below for more details.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important If you haven’t already, we strongly recommend enabling new Sites creation for your users today, to ensure all newly-created websites use the new Google Sites. If you want your organization’s classic Sites content to continue to be viewable without interruption, make sure all of your existing classic Sites are migrated by December 31, 2021.

Starting May 15, 2021: New website creation will no longer be available in classic Sites. This means that any new websites created in your organization will only be in new Sites.

Starting December 1, 2021: Editing of any remaining classic Sites will be disabled.

Starting January 1, 2022: When users try to visit a classic Site, they will no longer see the website content. 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.

details on the Classic Sites migration.

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.

Getting started

Admins: Follow the disable creating classic Sites instructions to turn off site creation in classic Sites before May 15, 2021. This change will help ensure all newly-created websites are using the new Google Sites experience.

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, or delete your websites.
Bulk delete and restore sites.
Bulk update ownership of sites.

Google Workspace 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.

End users with personal Google accounts: Visit the Help Center to learn more about the transition timeline from classic Sites to new Sites.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.
Available to users with personal Google accounts.

Resources

Use Google Maps in the quick access side panel

pondělí 19. dubna 2021

Quick launch summary You can now use Google Maps in the quick access side panel. This means you can use Google Maps to see and research place information on the same screen, which can make it easier to:

See place details such as location, opening hours, and user reviews.
Make sure you’re adding the correct location to a Calendar event.
Get travel times and directions to plan ahead your trip to an upcoming event location. You can add trips to your Calendar to help arrive on time by knowing when to leave. Predicted traffic and transit at the future time of the event is used for a better estimate of travel time.

The quick access side panel can already help you view your Calendar while in other Google Workspace apps, take notes, manage your tasks, and more. With Maps in the side panel, you’ll be able to see more information without switching contexts or using multiple tabs. This will make it easier to plan and participate in timely events.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Use Google products side by side

More ways to work with and analyze BigQuery data using Connected Sheets

pondělí 19. dubna 2021

What’s changing We’re adding several new features that will give you more ways to work with, display, and organize your BigQuery data when using Connected Sheets. Specifically, the new abilities and improvements are:

Column stats
Filter by value
Calculated fields for pivot tables
Pivot table grouping
Slicers

See below for more details on these features. If you’re new to BigQuery and Connected Sheets, check out this video demo.
Who’s impacted Admins and End users
Why you’d use it Column stats This new feature allows easy access to aggregated insights about the data in any column of your BigQuery table. These insights help you understand the shape of your data and include sum, average, median, unique count, max, min, list of most and least frequent values and distribution of the values in the column.

Filter by value In addition to the ability to filter a column “by condition”, you can now filter a column “by value”. Connected Sheets will retrieve the list of values for any column that you can access for your analysis. Use the Help Center to learn more about filtering columns by value when using Connected Sheets.

Calculated fields in pivot tables Calculated fields for pivot tables allow for custom aggregation of formulas in pivot table buckets. Use the Help Center to learn more about how to use calculated fields.
Pivot table grouping You can now group numeric values from your source data into buckets of equal size in Connected Sheets pivot tables. This is useful when you’re working with a pivot table with numerous unique values—grouping can better narrow down your data by a minimum, maximum, and interval. Use the Help Center to learn more about using pivot table grouping in Google Sheets.

Slicers for Connected Sheets You can also use a slicer to filter your Connected Sheets tables, charts, and pivot tables. A slicer is based on a column/field from the BigQuery data source. The slicer influences all the Connected Sheets charts, extracts and pivot tables in the same tab. Use the Help Center to learn more about using slicers with Connected Sheets.
Additional details In the coming weeks, we will introduce improvements for scheduled refresh, allowing you to automate refresh at a specified frequency with more granular scheduling options. These options include:

Hourly refreshes
Specific start dates
Frequency options such as every five days, every two months, etc.

When this feature becomes available, we’ll provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog.
Getting started

Admins: Connected Sheets will be ON by default. To use it, you must have set up BigQuery for your organization, and users must have access to tables or views in BigQuery. Use our Help Center to learn more about how to set up Connected Sheets.
End users: These features will be available by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about analyzing and refreshing BigQuery data in Google Sheets using Connected Sheets.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: These features are available now for all users.
We’ll provide an update when the scheduled refresh improvements become available.

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 16, 2021

pátek 16. dubna 2021

New updatesUnless 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.
Improved suggestions when inserting links in Google DocsNow when you insert a link to selected text, you’ll see intelligent suggestions for Drive files, section headings, and bookmarks within your document based on the context of your selection. This makes it easier to link to the most relevant content faster, without switching applications.
Q&A and polls now available for Google Meet on mobile devices and tabletsMeeting participants can now see and respond to Q&A and polls on their Android and iOS devices. Q&A and polls are already launched on the web. | Learn more about Q&A and Polls in Meet.
Adding present and chat Meet safety locks for education users on mobileWe’re giving hosts Google Workspace education meetings new meeting safety controls on Android to manage who can share their screen and who can send chat messages within the meeting. These controls were previously available on the web. | Available to Google Workspace Education Fundamentals and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.
Previous announcementsThe announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.
New Google Meet Hardware Admin console features: peripheral status, default volume, and static URLsWe’re adding three new features to the Google Meet Hardware section of the Admin console: peripheral status, default volume, and static URLs | Learn more.
New Rules homepage in the Admin console makes security simplerWe're making some updates to how you create, view, and manage rules in the Admin console. We hope this information makes it easier for admins to decide which rules to proactively implement, easier to maintain with centralized management, and easier to investigate with direct Investigation tool integration. | Learn more.
School matches are available in originality reports for Education customersIn addition to checking student work for matches across billions of web pages and books, originality reports can now check for matches against a repository of student work within your domain. | Available to Google Workspace Education Plus customers. Also available with the Teaching and Learning Upgrade only. | Learn more.
For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Updates

Check when your Google Meet meeting codes expire to ensure smooth future meeting experiences

Additional tools for managing the transition from classic to new Google Sites

Google Device Policy app ending support for iOS 11 soon

Google Docs will now use canvas based rendering: this may impact some Chrome extensions

New options to control chat history in unthreaded Google Chat rooms

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - May 7, 2021

More options for customizing a charts line and fill styling in Google Sheets

Specify which attributes are available for the Secure LDAP client

Additional admin controls for Google Voice ring groups

Improve Google Cloud Search results with Contextual Boost

“Show Editors” provides more context on changes made in Google Docs

Google for Education transformation reports window open, available worldwide

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 30, 2021

Email threads with recipients outside your organization will be labeled “External”

Apply context-aware access policies to mobile and desktop applications

Google Vault now supports Google Sites

Admins will now be alerted when there is an issue with their Google Voice auto attendants or ring groups

Edit details in line with Google Tasks on the web

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 21, 2021

Control your data usage and improve device performance with new data saver setting for Google Meet on mobile

Use Virtual Private Cloud Service Controls to create security perimeters around Google Cloud Search data

Google Meet now gives you more space for content and control over layouts for a more flexible experience.

Reminder: Website creation in classic Google Sites will no longer be available starting May 15, 2021

Use Google Maps in the quick access side panel

More ways to work with and analyze BigQuery data using Connected Sheets

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 16, 2021

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