Google Workspace Updates: 2022

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 2, 2022

Friday, December 2, 2022

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.

Improved meeting quality when joining on virtual machines

If you use a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) such as Citrix or VMWare to join Google Meet calls, you’ll notice an increase in video and audio quality. Meet will now detect whether you’re joining from a VDI and automatically adjust for the best performance. | Learn more.

Use the Cloud Search Query API to set Suggest Filters to enhance Cloud Search results

It’s now easier to configure and use Cloud Search search filters and facets with multiple enhancements to our existing functionalities. With this launch, you can use the Cloud Search Query API to configure new additional capabilities. | Available to Google Cloud Search Customers only. | Learn more.

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

Improved meeting quality when joining on virtual machines

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

What’s changingIf you use a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) such as Citrix or VMWare to join Google Meet calls, you’ll notice an increase in video and audio quality. Meet will now detect whether you’re joining from a VDI and automatically adjust for the best performance. This optimization will also help cut down on the demand put on your VDIs, such as CPU, GPU, and memory usage, helping improve meeting quality and overall performance.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 30, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Using VDI

Use the Cloud Search Query API to set Suggest Filters to enhance Cloud Search results

Monday, November 28, 2022

What’s changingIt’s now easier to configure and use Cloud Search search filters and facets with multiple enhancements to our existing functionalities. With this launch, you can use the Cloud Search Query API to configure new additional capabilities:

Faceting support for integer type fields, such as priority levels for support tickets or the number of pages in a document
Out of the box Faceting support for document size, document creation, and custom date fields
New default reserved operators for document size and created date fields
Simplified Query API response with filters being directly provided in the response

Expanding filter options creates a more user friendly search experience, making it easier and faster to narrow search results to the most relevant documents.

Getting started

Admins and developers: See our developer documentation for more information about using new facet enhancements
End users: There is no end user action required. You will automatically see new filter options once your admin has configured them

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to Google Cloud Search Customers

Resources

Developer Documentation: Create a search interface with the Query API

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 25, 2022

Friday, November 25, 2022

We’re excited to announce a requested feature that allows you to resize the pivot table editor side panel when creating or editing a pivot table. This functionality is especially useful when the names of columns or fields are too long and you want to see the text in its entirety. | Learn more.

Improved search results based on recent search activity in Gmail

In July, we announced better search and suggestion options in Gmail. Now, when using Gmail on the web, this also includes better search results based on your recent search activity in Gmail. This enhancement to Gmail search makes results more relevant and contextual. | Learn more.

Share Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files in Google Meet chat

Earlier this year, we announced the ability to join or present to a Google Meet call from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides. Now, if you are presenting or joining a meeting from a file, you can easily share that file with meeting attendees through in-meeting chat. With this update you’re able to grant access to a document, spreadsheet, or presentation to all or select meeting attendees, allowing everyone in the meeting to collaborate while having a conversation. | Learn more.

Previous announcements

There are no previous announcements to share this week. For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 18, 2022

Friday, November 18, 2022

Improving drag & drop on the Google Drive Android appEarlier this year, we launched drag & drop in Drive, allowing you to quickly upload files by dragging and dropping them into the app. This week, we’re improving this feature by enabling you to also drag & drop files and folders around in your Drive to move their location as you see fit. This can be done either in the two-window view or in the single app view. | Learn more.

Full mouse support now available on Google Docs Android App

Expect full mouse support while using Google Docs on Android that will mirror mouse behavior on the web. For example, clicking and dragging across text will now select that specific text instead of panning the entire document.

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.

Concentrate or disconnect with scheduled Do Not Disturb on Google Chat

You can now set a recurring schedule so you are not disturbed by Chat notifications on web, Android, and iOS. | Learn more.

Use Access Approvals to control data access during support or maintenance This week, we introduced Access Approvals, which builds on Access Transparency and Access Management. Access Approvals allows customers to explicitly approve or deny Google employees access to data during support and general maintenance. Access approvals will be rolling out over the course of the next several weeks. | Access Approvals is part of Google Workspace Assured Controls, which is available as an add-on for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative. | Learn more.

New Consolidated Controls Page for Google TakeoutBeginning November 15, 2022, admins can manage Takeout settings from a new consolidated controls page, located at Admin console > Account > Google Takeout > User access to Takeout for Google services. We anticipate the new page to be fully rolled out within the next few weeks. | Learn more.

Sharing suggestions in Google Drive make collaborating easierWe've made it easier to share files with the people you typically share with in Google Drive. With this feature, suggested recipients will appear in the sharing dialog to speed up collaboration across your organization. | Learn more.

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

Sharing suggestions in Google Drive make collaborating easier

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

What’s changingStarting today, we’re making it easier to share files with the people you typically share with in Google Drive. With this feature, suggested recipients will appear in the sharing dialog to speed up collaboration across your organization.

Getting started

Admins: Sharing suggestions will be ON by default and will always comply with your organizational sharing policy. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning sharing suggestions on or off for users.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing files from Google Drive and sharing folders in Google Drive.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

New Consolidated Controls Page for Google Takeout

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

What’s changing Beginning November 15, 2022, admins can manage Takeout settings from a new consolidated controls page, located at Admin console > Account > Google Takeout > User access to Takeout for Google services. We anticipate the new page to be fully rolled out within the next few weeks. Once the new page is fully available, the previous Takeout settings page—located at Admin Console > Apps > Additional Google Services > Google Takeout—will no longer be available.

Once the rollout is complete, admins can modify Takeout settings from the new consolidated controls page, as well as from additional service setting pages for services with an individual Takeout control (see here for a list of those services: Allow or block Google Takeout for users).

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it matters Admins can now specify which services users are allowed or not allowed to export data from via Google Takeout all from one place in the Admin Console.

Getting started

Super Admins and Service Settings admins: This feature will be available to admins with the services permission. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to Allow or block Google Takeout for users.
End users: For services where Takeout is allowed by your admin, learn more about downloading your Google Data.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 15, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Use Access Approvals to control data access during support or maintenance

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

What’s changing Today, we’re introducing Access Approvals, which builds on Access Transparency and Access Management. Access Approvals allows customers to explicitly approve or deny Google employees access to data during support and general maintenance. Access approvals will be rolling out over the course of the next several weeks.

We’ve designed our systems to limit the number of employees that have access to customer data and to actively monitor the activities of those employees. Access Approvals allows our customers to set up granular controls—at an organizational unit or admin group level—to require explicit permission for Google to access covered content for a limited time period.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important Access Approvals provides admins granular control over how Google accesses that data when support requests are initiated or maintenance is being performed. Critically, this gives customers the ability to approve or decline access on individual requests.

We know it’s essential that our customers have visibility and control over their systems and how they’re accessed by Google. This update, along with Sovereign Controls for Google Workspace, Client-side encryption, data regions, and Access Management capabilities, provide solutions for our customers to reach their digital sovereignty goals.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Access Approvals, Access Management and Access Transparency.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 15, 2022

Availability

Access Approvals is part of Google Workspace Assured Controls, which is available as an add-on for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative.

Resources

Concentrate or disconnect with scheduled Do Not Disturb on Google Chat

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

What’s changingIn addition to setting a custom duration for “Do Not Disturb” in Google Chat, you can now set a recurring schedule so you are not disturbed by Chat notifications on web, Android, and iOS.
This is useful when you want to mute notifications during your regular lunch break, or have “Do Not Disturb” set automatically over the weekend while away from your desk. We hope this feature enables you to better concentrate without Chat distractions or help you disconnect entirely from work when needed.

Getting started

Rollout pace Web:

Android & iOS:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 21, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Change your availability status and mute notifications in Google Chat

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 11, 2022

Friday, November 11, 2022

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.

Easily assign Tasks from Google Docs on mobileEarlier this year, we made it easier for you to assign Tasks from Google Docs. This enables you to assign a checklist item to yourself or a colleague that will then show up in the assignee’s Tasks list. When edits are made to an assigned item in Tasks, such as a change to the title, due date or completion state, those updates will show in the Doc, and vice versa. We’re excited to announce that this is now available on the Docs Android and iOS apps. | Learn more here and here.

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.

The new Gmail user interface is becoming the standard experience

At the beginning of 2022, we announced a new user interface and a customizable, integrated view for Gmail, bringing critical applications like Gmail, Chat, and Meet in one unified location. Starting this month, this user interface will become the standard experience for Gmail, with no option to revert back to the “original view.” With the new UI, users are still able to change their Gmail theme, inbox type, and more through quick settings. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers only. | Learn more.

Trust rules in Google Drive now generally available

In July 2022, we announced an open beta for trust rules in Google Drive. Beginning today, this feature will become available for eligible Google Workspace customers. Trust rules give admins more control over how files can be shared, both within and outside of their organization. For example, admins can limit what specific departments can access versus other parts of their organization. See our original announcement for more information. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers only. | Learn more.

Use Key Migration to change or add key services for Client-side encryptionAs we continue to expand Client-side encryption (CSE) across Google Workspace products, we’re introducing Key Migration which allows admins to enable additional key services or change their existing key service. In both cases, built-in controls ensure key migrations are performed safely, with support for backup key services and potential roll backs. These ensure encrypted data remains inaccessible to Google and fidelity is maintained through the migration process. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.

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

Use Key Migration to change or add key services for Client-side encryption

Thursday, November 10, 2022

What’s changing As we continue to expand Client-side encryption (CSE) across Google Workspace products, we’re introducing Key Migration which allows admins to enable additional key services or change their existing key service. In both cases, built-in controls ensure key migrations are performed safely, with support for backup key services and potential roll backs. These ensure encrypted data remains inaccessible to Google and fidelity is maintained through the migration process.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important Client-side encryption gives admins direct control of their encryption keys and the identity service that they choose to authenticate for those keys. Google never has access to the keys, rendering the data indecipherable, which may help organizations meet regulatory compliance in many regions.

This update gives admins the flexibility to perform key rotations that best suit their organizational policies—including having different key services —or resolve key service availability issues. Customers can add a new key, assign it to an organizational unit or group and migrate any content encrypted by the previous key to be encrypted by the new key. During this migration process the new key is backed up by an existing key as a safeguard mechanism. Once customers are confident in their new key and have completed any migrations they can remove the backup key.

Additionally, this release provides more granular control for our customers in maintaining their encryption keys by accommodating situations where they may choose to switch key service providers, move from on-premise to a managed service, and migrate encrypted content.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on November 10, 2020

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers

Resources

Trust rules in Google Drive now generally available

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

What’s changing In July 2022, we announced an open beta for trust rules in Google Drive. Beginning today, this feature will become available for eligible Google Workspace customers.
Trust rules give admins more control over how files can be shared, both within and outside of their organization. For example, admins can limit what specific departments can access versus other parts of their organization. See our original announcement for more information.

Getting started

Admins: Eligible Admins can enable this feature in the Admin console by going to the Rules > Turn on trust rules. Visit the Help Center to learn more about trust rules.

End users: Your Admin’s trust rules will determine who you can share and collaborate with on Drive files.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout will complete by November 8, 2022

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Education Standard 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

The new Gmail user interface is becoming the standard experience

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

What's changing

At the beginning of 2022, we announced a new user interface and a customizable, integrated view for Gmail, bringing critical applications like Gmail, Chat, and Meet in one unified location.

Starting this month, this user interface will become the standard experience for Gmail, with no option to revert back to the “original view.” With the new UI, users are still able to change their Gmail theme, inbox type, and more through quick settings.

The new Gmail interface updated with Material 3 look and feel

The integrated view with Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet on the left side of the window will also become standard for users who have turned on Chat. Through quick settings, you can customize this new interface to include the apps most important to you, whether it’s Gmail by itself or a combination of Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet. This makes it easier to stay on top of what’s important and reduces the need to switch between various applications, windows, or tabs. With Chat now available on the left, users will no longer have the option to configure Chat on the right side of Gmail.

Easily select the applications you want to use in Gmail
Visit the Help Center and The Keyword to learn more.

Rollout

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 8, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 29, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 4, 2022

Friday, November 4, 2022

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.
Use smart chips in Google Sheets as links on mobile With smart canvas, you’re currently able quickly add people and files into Google Sheets with smart chips on the web. Starting this week on mobile, these chips are treated like linked text and will show relevant hovercards and context menu items.
Offline printing now available for Google Sheets We’ve launched offline printing to support users working in a Sheet with offline access. In addition, emojis and system fonts are now included in offline printing. This feature is only available to those using Google Chrome. As a reminder, your organization can encrypt Sheets files with Workspace Client-side encryption, an additional feature supported by offline printing. | 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.

Improved flow for expiring access controls in Google Drive You can now set expiring access when sharing files in My Drive. This update improves the existing expiring access capabilities by allowing you to add an expiration when sharing, as opposed to after a person already has access to the file. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Education Standard, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.
Reminder to migrate your classic Google Sites before January 30, 2023 We’re extending the previously announced timeline to give Google Workspace customers more time to migrate from classic Google Sites to new Google Sites:

On January 30, 2023 (previously December 1, 2022): We will begin to turn off the ability to edit any remaining classic Sites in your domain. Your classic Sites will remain viewable until the automatic conversion.
After January 30, 2023 (previously January 1, 2023): We will begin to automatically convert all remaining classic Sites to new Sites drafts for site owners to review and publish, and export static archives to Google Takeout. Your classic Sites will be deleted after they are converted to new Sites. Note: Refer to the CSV file included with the export generated after your domain’s autoconversion completes for any classic Sites we were unable to convert. | Learn more.

Google for Education transformation reports window open for customers worldwide Google for Education transformation reports are available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide, at no cost. Note: transformation reports are only available in English at this time. | Available to K-12 Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers only. | Learn more.
Manage projects & tasks with a new timeline view on Google Sheets We’ve introduced an interactive timeline view that allows you to track projects in Google Sheets. This new visual layer displays project information stored in Sheets, such as the task start and end date, description, and owner. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.

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

Manage projects & tasks with a new Timeline View on Google Sheets

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘22. Visit the Cloud Blog to learn more about the latest Google Workspace innovations for the ever-changing world of work.

What’s changingTo extend the power of smart canvas

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

The Timeline View enables you to easily interact with project information and can help you manage things like marketing campaigns, project milestones, schedules, cross-team collaboration, and more.

Additional details

By clicking on a card within the Timeline, you can view more information about the project in the sidebar. You can also view your Timeline at various time intervals (day, week, month, quarters, year, and multiyear).

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: To create a Timeline, navigate to Insert > Timeline > select a data range > configure the attributes in the timeline settings sidebar. Once created, you can view the Timeline at different time intervals, jump to the current date, change the visual appearance of the Timeline by adjusting spacing or using colors, and more. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Timeline View.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers
Not available to legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Timeline View
Cloud Blog: Introducing innovations in Google Workspace to help your organization thrive in hybrid work

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Google for Education transformation reports window open for customers worldwide

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

What’s changingGoogle for Education transformation reports are available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide, at no cost. Note: transformation reports are only available in English at this time.
The reporting window is open from Nov 2, 2022 through Dec 31, 2022. Workspace admins will benefit from:

Immediate access: Google Workspace for Education super admins can log in today and immediately view their custom report.
Realtime customization: You can adjust settings in realtime, including your two 12 week product data reporting windows and the numbers of teachers and students in your organization. (The report will be locked for editing after Dec 31, 2022.)

See below for more information on generating your custom 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 educator certification programs. Additionally, each report includes links to free resources aimed to support your Google implementation.

Find more information about Google for Education transformation reports here, and review frequently asked questions.

Getting started

Admins: Google Workspace for Education super admins can log in to the transformation report tool starting Nov 2, 2022 to view their custom report. Upon login, Admins should:

End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Transformation reports are available now for all users

Availability

Available to K-12 Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade 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

Reminder to migrate your classic Google Sites before January 30, 2023

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

What’s changingWe’re extending the previously announced timeline to give Google Workspace customers more time to migrate from classic Google Sites to new Google Sites:

On January 30, 2023 (previously December 1, 2022): We will begin to turn off the ability to edit any remaining classic Sites in your domain. Your classic Sites will remain viewable until the automatic conversion.
After January 30, 2023 (previously January 1, 2023): We will begin to automatically convert all remaining classic Sites to new Sites drafts for site owners to review and publish, and export static archives to Google Takeout. Your classic Sites will be deleted after they are converted to new Sites. Note: Refer to the CSV file included with the export generated after your domain’s autoconversion completes for any classic Sites we were unable to convert.

Until January 30, 2023, admins and site owners can manually convert classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager or the conversion tool. Review your domain’s settings prior to January 30, 2023 to ensure a successful automigration.

You will be notified once all the sites on your domain have been migrated. This may take multiple months for your domain, depending on the number and complexity of your sites. In the meantime, you can check the status of your sites in the Classic Sites Manager.

Getting started

Admins and Google Workspace end-users:

To ensure a smooth transition, we recommend the following best practices when migrating your sites:

Note that the timeline for this transition is different for users with personal Google accounts — see this article in the Help Center for more information.

Availability

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

Resources

Improved flow for expiring access controls in Google Drive

Monday, October 31, 2022

What’s changingYou are now able to set expiring access when sharing files in My Drive. This update improves the existing expiring access capabilities by allowing you to add an expiration when sharing, as opposed to after a person already has access to the file. Additionally, you can now add expiring access for editors, as opposed to just for viewers and commenters.

Who’s impactedEnd users

Why it matters This update makes sharing across Google Workspace more secure by making it easier to specify when a given collaborator should lose access to a specific file. This is especially useful in cases where a file creator or editor knows their collaboration with another person is time-bound. With this security feature, you don’t have to clean up a file’s access control list after collaboration has ended.

Additional details You will also be able to set expiring access to files when sharing files in My Drive on Android by the end of November.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 31, 2022

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Education Standard, and Nonprofits customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Frontline, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Set an expiration date for file access

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - October 28, 2022

Friday, October 28, 2022

New keyboard shortcuts for Keep

In continuing our efforts to provide a top-class user experience on large screen devices, we’re releasing updated keyboard shortcuts for Keep on Android that better align with the web experience. | View the full list of shortcuts and learn more here.

Enhancing spell check in Google Docs

Words whose spelling is not recognized will now be underlined in red, even if there is no suggestion. When you click on such a word, you'll see it labeled as an "unknown word" -- from here you can choose to add the word to your personal dictionary or ignore the suggestion. This improvement will highlight more potential spelling errors - helping you write correctly and with confidence. Note that this feature is only available in English at this time. | Learn more.

Improved hearing aid support for Google Meet on Android

We’ve expanded Google Meet hearing aid support on Android devices to recognize a wider variety of hearing aid devices. Meet will automatically default to using hearing aid support when they’re connected. You can also select hearing aids during a meeting from the audio settings menu. If the hearing aid has a built-in microphone, this microphone will be used. If it doesn’t the mobile phone or tablet microphone will be used.

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.

Use built-in mail merge tags like @firstname to personalize multi-send emails

We’ve launched the ability to personalize multi-send emails with mail merge tags like @firstname and @lastname. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Workspace Individual customers only. | Learn more.

Stronger Admin console protection with risk-based re-authentication challenges

In August 2022, we announced strengthened safeguards for sensitive actions taken in your Google Workspace end users accounts. Specifically, this update protected users from bad actors taking over accounts via cookie theft. Beginning this week, we’re extending this protection to the Admin console. | Learn more.

Custom emojis coming to Chat

We’re making emojis even more expressive and personalized by allowing people to create custom emojis. Everyone in an organization can view and use custom emojis uploaded by their colleagues in Chat messages and reactions. | Learn more.

Save time by adding in grading category information before exporting Google Assignments in Google Classroom

Starting this week, teachers can include grading category information when exporting Google Classroom assignments to the SIS. | Available to Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Aspen and Skyward 2.0 (SaaS Customers Only) SIS customers only. | Learn more.

Create and manage AppSheet databases, available in public preview

AppSheet is Google’s platform for building and deploying end-to-end apps and automation without writing code. As we continue to enhance and streamline app creation, we’re introducing a built-in structured database in public preview. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers, as well as those with an AppSheet license. | Learn more.

Configure App Access Control for third-party applications in bulk

You can now use that CSV file to specify the status of each app—trusted, blocked, or limited—and upload the file back into the Admin console for updates. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Frontline, and Nonprofits, legacy G Suite Basic and Business, and Cloud Identity Pro customers only. | Learn more.

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

Configure App Access Control for third-party applications in bulk

Thursday, October 27, 2022

What’s changing Currently, you can download and view a CSV file with information on accessed and configured apps. Now, you can use that CSV file to specify the status of each app—trusted, blocked, or limited—and upload the file back into the Admin console for updates.

In the Admin console, under Security > API Controls > App Access Controls, you’ll see the option to “Bulk update list”.

Controlling how apps across your organization access Google Workspace data is critical to the security of your end users and sensitive data. This change makes it easier for Admins to set these policies in bulk, versus taking these actions individually, which can be time consuming.

Getting started

Admins: To manage app access, in the Admin console navigate to Security > API Controls > App Access Controls. Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding & configuring third-party apps in bulk.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 27, 2022

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to Cloud Identity Pro customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Add and configure third-party apps in bulk

Create and manage AppSheet databases, available in public preview

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

What’s changing AppSheet is Google’s platform for building and deploying end-to-end apps and automation without writing code. As we continue to enhance and streamline app creation, we’re introducing a built-in structured database in public preview.

Within the database editor, you can set the same column types as in the AppSheet editor for your data.

Easily create and customize databases starting from AppSheet's My Apps page.

Who’s impacted Admins, developers and end users

Why it’s important AppSheet databases make it easy for you to organize and manage the data that power your apps directly inside AppSheet. See our Developer Blog for more information.

Additional Details Note that during preview:

Access to AppSheet databases will be enabled by default for everyone. There will be no impact on existing apps. Users can connect a database to both new and existing AppSheet apps.
Databases will be limited to 10k rows per table, 20 tables per database and 20 databases per user. These limits may change when this feature becomes generally available.

Getting started

Admins and Developers: You can create a blank database from the My Apps page.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers, as well as those with an AppSheet license.

Resources

Save time by adding in grading category information before exporting Google Assignments in Google Classroom

Tuesday, October 25, 2022

What’s changingFor teachers who export grades from Google Classroom to their student information system (SIS), it's important to make sure that all data is transferred seamlessly. Starting today, teachers can include grading category information when exporting Google Classroom assignments to the SIS.

Who’s impacted End users

Why it matters This highly requested grade export feature eliminates the previous experience of teachers having to manually change the grading category directly in their SIS, which was both tedious and prone to error.

Getting started

To set up your gradebook with grading categories, go to classroom.google.com, click the class > select Class Settings > and set up your grading categories.

Note: The grading category titles should match the exact text in your SIS gradebook.

After setting up grading categories, assign a grading category when creating an assignment. To export grades with grading categories, click SIS export > select the assignment > click export.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about exporting grades to your SIS.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 26, 2022

Availability

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

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