This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.
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A summary of announcements from the last week:

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

Meet now automatically opens picture-in-picture when screen sharing

Google Meet now supports automatically opening picture-in-picture when starting a screen share. This will allow you to see your audience while focusing on your presentation content. This feature is an enhancement to picture-in-picture opening automatically when you switch tabs. | Learn more about automatic picture-in-picture in Meet when screen sharing.

Invite external guests to Google Meet live streams or limit access for targeted internal live streaming

Additional access controls for Google Meet will now let hosts decide who can view their live streams. Live streams can now reach a wider audience with added flexibility for events like town halls, webinars, and large presentations. This allows for mixed internal/external audiences and better granularity for hosting restricted internal broadcasts. | Learn more about inviting external guests to Google Meet live streams or limiting access for targeted internal live streaming.

Call queuing now available for select Google Voice plans

Currently, when all members of a ring group are busy, incoming calls are often sent to voicemail or, in some cases, disconnected by the carrier. With this update, when a caller dials a ring group, they will be automatically placed on hold in a queue to wait for the next available person. | Learn more about call queuing for select Google Voice plans.

Implement automated compliance recording and transcripts for selected Google Meet users

In order to help organizations, particularly those in the financial services industry, meet strict regulatory archiving requirements, today we are introducing Google Meet Compliance Recording, a new feature that can be enabled by administrators to automatically record meetings and capture transcripts for specific users or groups requiring regulatory monitoring by a registered organization. | Learn more about implementing automated compliance recording and transcripts for selected Google Meet users.

Protect sensitive Google Vault actions with multi-party approvals

We are extending multi-party approvals (MPA) to Google Vault. Last year, we launched MPA to protect customers from malicious actors taking sensitive admin actions by requiring that one admin must approve certain actions initiated by another. | Learn more about protecting sensitive Google Vault actions with multi-party approvals.

Gmail data classification update: include header or footer message

Earlier this year, data classification labels for Gmail became generally available. Admins can use this feature to classify and audit email content according to organizational guidelines (“Sensitive,” “Confidential,” etc.) and apply policies, such as data loss prevention (DLP) rules, to protect sensitive information in email messages. | Learn more about the Gmail data classification update for header and footer messages.

A new web address for Google Chat

We’re launching a faster, more reliable Google Chat experience for web users. Chat will now be served from chat.google.com instead of mail.google.com/chat. Users, however, can continue to use existing mail.google.com/chat bookmarks and links. This change will reduce loading time when opening the app and does not change the Chat user interface. | Learn more about a new web address for Google Chat.

Schedule messages to be sent at a later time in Google Chat

Today we are launching a new feature to enable users to schedule messages in Google Chat to be sent at a later time or date. This  highly requested feature is part of our commitment to enable more productive and seamless communication for our users. | Learn more about scheduling messages to be sent at a later time in Google Chat.

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What’s changing

Today we are launching a new feature to enable users to schedule messages in Google Chat to be sent at a later time or date. This  highly requested feature is part of our commitment to enable more productive and seamless communication for our users.

By scheduling messages, Chat users can be respectful of colleagues time and avoid sending messages late at night or early in the morning when recipients may be in a different time zone or unavailable.

  • When composing a message in a Chat conversation, by clicking the down arrow next to the compose bar, users can select a time to send the message up to 120 days in the future.
  • If a user has a scheduled message in a conversation, a banner will appear above the compose box. Clicking this banner or the new Drafts shortcut in the left panel will open a dedicated area to manage all scheduled messages, where users can edit, reschedule, or cancel them.
  • The Draft shortcut is only available when there are scheduled messages.
Clicking on the down arrow next to the Sent button brings up the Schedule send menu

Clicking on the down arrow next to the Sent button brings up the Schedule send menu

New Drafts shortcut to edit, reschedule, send, and delete your scheduled messages

New Drafts shortcut to edit, reschedule, send, and delete your scheduled messages

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

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What’s happening

We’re launching a faster, more reliable Google Chat experience for web users. Chat will now be served from chat.google.com instead of mail.google.com/chat. Users, however, can continue to use existing mail.google.com/chat bookmarks and links. This change will reduce loading time when opening the app and does not change the Chat user interface.

Getting started

  • Admins and developers: If you've created an extension that works with Chat, you'll need to make sure it's compatible with the new chat.google.com web address. Please update your extension to ensure it can find and interact with Chat in its new home.
  • End users: If you’re using Chrome extensions to enhance Chat, they may need to be updated by their creators to function correctly after the move to chat.google.com. If you notice an extension isn't working as expected, check if an update is available on the Chrome Web Store.
  • Admins: If you've blocked Chat access for your org users using allowlist or block URLs in Chrome (or other browsers), then you will need to add the chat.google.com domain as well. If you've configured website-specific policies for permissions and behaviors (such as allowing or denying access to camera, microphone, notifications, etc.) for Chat, you will need to update these policies to include chat.google.com. Finally, if you've force installed the Chat desktop app (aka Chat PWA) for your organization through a force-install list, you will need to include chat.google.com in this list. Note that blocking chat.google.com will break your ability to use Chat within Gmail and Google Meet.

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 11, 2025
  • Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting around January 7, 2025

Availability

  • Impacts all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts
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What’s changing

Earlier this year, data classification labels for Gmail became generally available. Admins can use this feature to classify and audit email content according to organizational guidelines (“Sensitive,” “Confidential,” etc.) and apply policies, such as data loss prevention (DLP) rules, to protect sensitive information in email messages.

We have expanded this functionality to include the ability to create a DLP rule that adds a header or footer message to email messages. Critically, header and footer messages will be shown to users outside of your domain, which helps ensure external users are aware of the sensitivity of the message and any handling requirements. DLP rules are applied to outbound messages from your domain based on how you have configured the rule scope and conditions. As a reminder, the actual classification label is only visible to recipients in your domain.

Admins can customize the information shown in the header or footer message, including links to further information on handling information. Headers and footers are visible on all device types, both within and outside of your domain.

Selecting “Add footer message” when creating a rule

Selecting “Add footer message” when creating a rule

Once the email is sent, the banner will appear in the body of the email.

Once the email is sent, the banner will appear in the body of the email

For more information on data classification labels for Gmail, please refer to our previous announcement.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

Data loss prevention rules with labels as a condition or labels as an action are available to:

  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
  • Frontline Standard and Plus
  • Cloud Identity Premium (with Workspace plan that includes Gmail)

Resources

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What’s changing

We are extending multi-party approvals (MPA) to Google Vault. Last year, we launched MPA to protect customers from malicious actors taking sensitive admin actions by requiring that one admin must approve certain actions initiated by another.

Going forward, admins can configure multi-party approvals for the following sensitive Google Vault actions:

  • Google Vault: create export: Requiring approval before a search query can be exported.
When enabled, if an admin attempts to perform these actions in the Vault interface, they will see a "Multi-party approval required" prompt. The action will not be executed until a separate, authorized administrator reviews and approves the request within the Admin console.


Vault admins have access to highly sensitive actions, including the ability to search and export specific sensitive user data or large amounts of data across an entire domain.

Multi-party approval adds an extra layer of security for these sensitive actions by ensuring no sensitive action happens in a silo and, most importantly, helps prevent unauthorized or accidental changes from being made. This dual-authorization mechanism significantly reduces the risk of unauthorized or malicious actions, such as a bad actor attempting to exfiltrate confidential information or perform unapproved data deletions.

Additional details

  • Request workflow: Once a request is submitted, approvers (super admins or delegated admins with the multi-party approval role) receive an email notification.
  • Expiration: Requests expire after three days if not approved.
  • Granular control: Admins can choose to enable MPA specifically for Vault actions without enforcing it on other settings, or vice versa, via the Multi-party approval settings page.
  • Delegation: Super admins can delegate the responsibility of approving these requests to other leaders using the "Multi-party approval" system role.
  • API: Multi-party approval will not be required for exports triggered via the API and should not impact downstream automation via the API.

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature is available for eligible Workspace customers with two or more super admin accounts. Multi-party approval for Vault exports is OFF by default and can be turned on in the Admin console. Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to Google Workspace

  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Education Standard and Plus

Resources

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What’s happening

In order to help organizations, particularly those in the financial services industry, meet strict regulatory archiving requirements, today we are introducing Google Meet Compliance Recording, a new feature that can be enabled by administrators to automatically record meetings and capture transcripts for specific users or groups requiring regulatory monitoring by a registered organization. This feature helps financial firms comply with communication retention and supervision rules mandated by the SEC, FINRA, and the CFTC. It enables firms to retain, monitor, and store digital communications in the required format to adhere to specific regulations like FINRA Rule 3170 and CFTC 17 CFR 1.31. This solution can also be used for other applications, including other global financial services compliance regimes (MiFID II, etc), and for regulatory requirements in other industries like healthcare, public sector, and more. This solution is available as part of the Assured Controls add-on. 

In this article, we will refer to users who benefit from the solution as “regulated users”. This can include any persons who need to be monitored to comply with regulatory requirements; registered broker/dealers, compliance officers, broader employees who communicate with the former groups, and more.

New Google Meet Compliance Recording feature

New Google Meet Compliance Recording feature

Why this matters

  • Meet regulatory requirements: When compliance recording is turned on for a regulated user, their Meet meetings are automatically recorded, and transcripts are captured. Both the recordings and transcripts are stored in a WORM (write once, read many) compliant Google Cloud Storage (GCS) bucket with appropriate retention policies, ensuring immutable records for regulatory archiving.
  • Enable collaboration features: Historically, regulated entities had to disable several valuable collaboration features in Meet (like chat and screen sharing) to comply with SEC rules. This new framework solves that by automatically creating unalterable records of the recording and transcript when a regulated user joins a call, preserving the standard Meet experience for both participants with the feature turned on or off.
  • User experience: All call participants will have an uninterrupted experience, with the assurance that regulated user communications are automatically archived for regulatory purposes.

How compliance recording works

Compliance recording is automatic and cannot be disabled by participants once the recording starts.

  • Visibility: All meeting participants will see a Compliance badge displayed when a regulated user is present. This badge cannot be turned off. A notification is also shown on the pre-meeting screen on the web and when the recording starts.
  • Storage and Sharing: The recordings and transcripts are not automatically shared with attendees, attached to Google Calendar events, or sent via email notifications to users. They are for compliance archiving only.
  • Limitations:
    • Users cannot access these compliance recordings; they must record the meeting themselves if they want a personal copy.
    • As with existing Meet recordings, compliance recordings are limited to a maximum of 8 hours, after which regulated users might be removed from the meeting.
    • The recording will not capture content in Breakout Rooms when regulated users join them.
  • Audio/Video Options: Admins can choose to record audio only or audio and video.

Getting started

  • Admins: The compliance recording setting is off by default. This setting can be applied at the organizational unit (OU) or configuration group level to target only your regulated users. This feature is tied to the license, so only users with an eligible add-on license will be subject to these measures. 
  • End users: No action is required for end users. The recording and transcription process for compliance is automatic and transparent to the user, except for the in-meeting notification and the permanent compliance badge.

Rollout pace

  • Available now

Availability

  • Available for users with the Google Workspace Assured Controls or Assured Controls Plus add-on license

Resources

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What’s happening

Google Voice is introducing call queuing for ring groups.

Currently, when all members of a ring group are busy, incoming calls are often sent to voicemail or, in some cases, disconnected by the carrier. With this update, when a caller dials a ring group, they will be automatically placed on hold in a queue to wait for the next available person.

This new feature allows administrators to customize several aspects of the caller experience, including:

  • Music and periodic announcements to be played while callers are on hold
  • A maximum number of callers allowed in the queue
  • A maximum time a caller can wait in the queue before being routed elsewhere
  • A "wrap-up time" to give agents a brief pause after a call before they receive the next one from the queue


Why it's important 

This feature is designed to solve common frustrations for both businesses and their customers. With this update, you can:

  • Capture more calls: By placing callers in a queue instead of sending them to voicemail, businesses can significantly reduce the number of unanswered calls and ensure more inbound inquiries reach an agent.
  • Boost sales: For sales-focused teams, call queuing ensures that no potential lead is lost due to a busy line. For support teams, it provides a structured way to handle high call volumes, especially during peak hour
  • Improve customer experience: Call queuing prevents callers from being abruptly disconnected and reduces their frustration, which is particularly helpful for businesses that experience high call volumes or have customers in regions with carrier-imposed ring time limits.

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature can be enabled or disabled per ring group. Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available for Google Workspace customers with the Voice Standard and Voice Premier add-ons

Resources


Read More

What’s changing

Additional access controls for Google Meet will now let hosts decide who can view their live streams. Live streams can now reach a wider audience with added flexibility for events like town halls, webinars, and large presentations. This allows for mixed internal/external audiences and better granularity for hosting restricted internal broadcasts.

  • External live streaming: Hosts can now also invite external users outside their own domain to join live streams. External viewers join live streams with their invited Google Account.
  • Targeted internal live streaming: Hosts can now optionally limit in-domain access to a live stream to only specific users or groups and not the entire domain.
  • New "Adaptive" meeting type: A new opt-in "Adaptive" meeting type setting provides access to these new controls. Existing meetings will keep their behaviors unchanged.



Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users (meeting hosts): The new Adaptive meeting type is available for meetings with a live stream. Visit the Help Center to learn more about hosting a live stream.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available for Google Workspace editions that support live stream hosting:

  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning add-on

Resources

 

Read More

What’s changing 

Google Meet now supports automatically opening picture-in-picture when starting a screen share. This will allow you to see your audience while focusing on your presentation content. This feature is an enhancement to picture-in-picture opening automatically when you switch tabs. 



In addition to this change, users can now control when picture-in-picture should open automatically from the General tab in Settings. You can choose to: 

  • Never use automatic picture-in-picture 
  • Only use automatic picture-in-picture for tab switching 
  • Only use automatic picture-in-picture for window and screen sharing 
  • Always use automatic picture-in-picture 
Note: Automatic picture-in-picture for tab switching requires you to grant permission in your browser once. 


End users can choose when to use automatic picture-in-picture in Meet’s settings. 

Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts 

Resources 

Read More

A summary of announcements from the last week:

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

Control whether users can request to join a space in Google Chat

New Google Chat Access Control Space owners and managers can now disable the "request to join" feature. Previously, users with a link to a restricted space could ask for permission to enter; with this new setting, managers can block these requests entirely, preventing users from asking to join via a link. | Learn more about controlling whether users can request to join a space in Google Chat.

Educators can now assign public notebooks in Google Classroom

Expanded NotebookLM Assignments in Google Classroom Educators can now attach public notebooks to assignments, rather than being limited to notebooks they personally create or own. This update allows teachers to easily integrate external shared resources—such as content from the OpenStax partnership—directly into their curriculum. | Learn more about assigning public notebooks in Google Classroom.

New to Gmail: share emails in Google Chat

We’re launching a new integration between Gmail and Google Chat designed to improve team collaboration and productivity. With this feature, you can easily share a conversation from your Gmail inbox to a Chat direct message or space. No need to start your chat conversation with, "Did you see the email I forwarded?" or dig through your inbox to find the message being discussed. | Learn more about sharing emails to Google Chat directly from Gmail.

Choose your preferred caption language for Meet live streams on mobile devices

Google Meet live stream viewers can select their own preferred language for translated captions on mobile devices. Individual language selection helps overcome language barriers during presentations and events, maximizing each viewer's potential to understand and engage with the content being shared. | Learn more about choosing your preferred caption language for Meet live streams on mobile devices.

Google Meet translated captions now available in Cantonese

Cantonese Support for Google Meet Translated Captions Google Meet has added Cantonese to its list of supported languages for translated captions. This allows real-time translation of Cantonese speech into other languages, significantly improving accessibility and collaboration for global teams and educational institutions operating in diverse linguistic environments. | Learn more about Cantonese support for Google Meet translated captions.

A refreshed user interface for Google Meet hardware touch controllers

In the coming weeks, we’ll roll out a streamlined user interface for the following Meet Hardware devices: Mimo Vue HD, Mimo Mist, Logitech Tap, Logitech Tap IP, and Lenovo Series One Touch controllers (with Android devices coming soon). This new experience will offer users a more efficient and intuitive way to manage their meetings. | Learn more about a refreshed user interface for Google Meet hardware touch controllers.

Seamlessly join meetings on Google Meet hardware with “Connect room”

In the coming weeks, we’ll introduce Connect room, a new way to seamlessly begin your meetings on Google Meet hardware directly from your personal device. This will be available in early preview. Connect room streamlines how you start meetings in a conference room. Instead of manually typing a meeting code, this feature uses ultrasound proximity detection to identify a nearby, available Google Meet hardware device. | Learn more about seamlessly joining meetings on Google Meet hardware with “Connect room”.

Get quick insights on your Google Drive folders with Gemini

Earlier this year, we introduced Gemini “nudges” at the top of folders in Google Drive, and we’re now making it even easier to get the context of your folders at a glance. Gemini will now proactively provide insights about the files within a folder, right at the top of the folder view. This makes it easier to quickly understand what’s inside without having to open individual files. | Learn more about getting quick insights on your Google Drive folders with Gemini.

Now available: Create AI agents to automate work with Google Workspace Studio

Today we’re introducing Google Workspace Studio: the place to create, manage, and share AI agents to automate work in Workspace—no coding required. | Learn more about creating AI agents to automate work with Google Workspace Studio.

A more modern interface for viewing PDFs, videos, images, and audio files in Google Drive on the web

Google Drive is making significant improvements to the viewing experience of third party file formats, such as PDFs, videos, images, and audio files. | Learn more about a more modern interface for viewing PDFs, videos, images, and audio files in Google Drive on the web.

BYOD on Google Meet on Chrome OS touch controller rooms

We're launching an integration with Lightware peripheral switchers, so that you and your team can bring your own devices (BYOD) to Google Meet on Chrome OS touch controller rooms. Now, you can plug your laptop into a Meet room with a single USB-C cable and easily use the room's display, speaker, microphone, and camera—along with your laptop—for video conferencing. | Learn more about BYOD on Google Meet for ChromeOS touch controller rooms.

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What’s changing

We're launching an integration with Lightware peripheral switchers, so that you and your team can bring your own devices (BYOD) to Google Meet on Chrome OS touch controller rooms. Now, you can plug your laptop into a Meet room with a single USB-C cable and easily use the room's display, speaker, microphone, and camera—along with your laptop—for video conferencing. The integration is available with the following peripheral switcher devices:

  • Lightware Taurus UCX 4x2 HC40
  • Lightware Taurus UCX 4x3 HC40

Additional details

This offers the following benefits:

  • Seamless transition: Rooms will automatically enter BYOD mode as soon as a user connects their laptop via a certified cable, enabling immediate use of the room's display and high-quality audio and video equipment.
  • Meeting continuity: If a Google Meet call is already in progress, connecting a laptop will not interrupt the call or activate BYOD mode. The same cable for BYOD mode can be used during a Google Meet meeting for sharing your screen to the meeting, ensuring a unified meeting experience.
  • Enhanced admin control: Administrators will gain new visibility within the Google admin console, allowing them to see when BYOD mode is active in a room and preventing erroneous missing peripheral alerts when a third-party device is in control.

Getting started

  • Admins: Visit the Lightware website for more information.
  • End users: Once the integration is installed, use a USB-C cable to use the room displays, audio devices, and camera.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Meet on Chrome OS devices

Resources

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What’s changing

Google Drive is making significant improvements to the viewing experience of third party file formats, such as PDFs, videos, images, and audio files. With this launch, we are modernizing the interface to include:

  • A new left rail for PDFs which will include a table of contents (where applicable) and thumbnails for easier navigation of documents
  • A new file menu
  • A new toolbar and app bar
  • An option to search by transcript when looking at a video

This modernization will make it easier for Google Workspace users to navigate documents, and will be particularly useful for large documents. 


New Drive Web Viewing Experience for PDFs

New Drive Web Viewing Experience for PDFs

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be on by default. There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: This feature will be on by default. You will see it when you open a supported file format in a new tab in Google Drive on the web. Use our Help Center to learn more about how to use Google Drive. 

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

Read More

What’s happening

Today we’re introducing Google Workspace Studio: the place to create, manage, and share AI agents to automate work in Workspace—no coding required. 


What you can do with Workspace Studio

Workspace agents built in Studio offer flexibility and intelligence beyond traditional automation.

  • Automate with agents: Move beyond simple, rule-based automation. Agents can reason through problems and adapt to new information, tackling complex workflows such as intelligent prioritization, support issue triage, smart approvals, content generation, and sentiment analysis.
  • Create agents with AI: Empower every user to build custom agents in minutes. End users can simply describe what they want to automate in plain language (e.g., "every Friday, ping me to update my tracker"), and Gemini will create it.
  • Work smarter with context: Agents can now help with tasks such as “Draft a weekly update for Project Cymbal”, or “What should I do today?”. They are deeply integrated with your Workspace apps (like Gmail, Drive, and Sheets). This allows agents to automatically pull relevant context from your documents, emails, and the web, enabling them to provide smarter, personalized answers and take actions based on your specific situation.
  • Integrate seamlessly: Automate across your entire toolset. Agents can be connected to third-party apps and platforms including Asana, Jira, Mailchimp, and Salesforce.
  • Extend capabilities: Create more powerful and personalized agents for your business or education institution:
    • Call external APIs with webhooks to connect to virtually any internal or external service (e.g., push notifications to Slack/Teams/Discord).
    • Build custom steps using Apps Script to integrate with proprietary internal tools, ADK agents, or models via Vertex AI.
  • Share and scale: Agents can be shared with a team for others to copy, similar to sharing a Google Doc. This makes it easy to scale powerful agents across your organization.
  • Use templates: Users can create agents with a library of zero-configuration templates for common use cases that can be shared across your organization. For example:
    • Get a daily summary of unread emails
    • Label emails with action items
    • Get pre-meeting briefs in chat

Additional details

Workspace customers on all eligible editions will get promotional access to higher usage limits of Workspace Studio, allowing users to further experiment with these features. Please note that usage may be subject to change to ensure a consistent and high-quality experience for all users. Additional details on per-user usage limits will be provided in a future update in January 2026.

Users under the age of 18 will not be able to create agents with Gemini AI or use AI-powered steps in agents.

Getting started

  • Admins: Google Workspace Studio is a core service and will be on or off by default based on your organization’s release preference for new products. It can be enabled or disabled at the OU and group level. Additionally, in the coming weeks, Workspace Studio will be rolling out several new features, including enhancements for external sharing, email sending beyond your primary domain, and robust webhook support. These features will be tightly integrated with your existing trusted domains and allow list configurations, ensuring that admins will have the ability to control, monitor, and audit data flow to meet their organization's specific security and compliance standards. Granular admin controls will also be available to manage these features. More info on default settings for sharing, webhooks, and Gemini features can be found in the Admin Help center.
  • End users: Once available, end users can access this feature by visiting https://studio.workspace.google.com/.

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Admins will see settings appear in the Admin console at the same time their end users get access to Workspace Studio; this rollout will be gradual starting December 3, 2025.
  • Scheduled Release domains: Admin console settings will roll out gradually starting December 3, 2025; end user access to Workspace Studio will roll out gradually starting January 5, 2026.

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

  • Business Starter,  Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus
Also available to:

  • Google AI Pro for Education
  • Google AI Ultra for Business

Resources

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What’s happening

Earlier this year, we introduced Gemini “nudges” at the top of folders in Google Drive, and we’re now making it even easier to get the context of your folders at a glance. Gemini will now proactively provide insights about the files within a folder, right at the top of the folder view. This makes it easier to quickly understand what’s inside without having to open individual files. For a more in-depth look, you can click “Explore with Gemini” to get a full summary or ask follow up questions in the Gemini side panel. 

Get quick insights on your Google Drive folders with Gemini

This feature is designed to help you save time and stay organized by providing at-a-glance insights into your folders. It is an evolution of the previous version of folder nudges, moving from simple suggestions to proactive, intelligent insights. This feature is currently available in English only.

Getting started

  • Admins: To enable this feature for your users, you can turn on the default personalization setting for smart features in the Admin console.
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default for end users who have smart features and personalization turned on in their Google Workspace apps. To disable, you can “collapse” the “insights by Gemini” section of a folder. You can also disable this feature by turning off smart features entirely. 

Rollout pace

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus

Also available to:

  • Google One AI Premium
  • Google AI Pro for Education
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What’s changing

In the coming weeks, we’ll introduce Connect room, a new way to seamlessly begin your meetings on Google Meet hardware directly from your personal device. This will be available in early preview.

Connect room streamlines how you start meetings in a conference room. Instead of manually typing a meeting code, this feature uses ultrasound proximity detection to identify a nearby, available Google Meet hardware device.

When you open the Google Meet green room on your laptop, it will automatically detect the room and present a simple option to connect to it. With a single click, the meeting starts on the room hardware, and your laptop transitions into Companion mode, getting you checked-in and ready to collaborate without missing a beat.


After clicking Connect room, your meeting is started on the room device while your laptop joins in companion mode and checks you into the room.


Google Meet updates the “Use Companion mode” to “Connect room” when it detects a nearby room to start a meeting.
This feature simplifies the meeting join experience. In particular, you can now:

  • Take over a booked, but empty conference room: If a conference room is reserved but unoccupied, open your meeting on your laptop, click “Connect room,” and you can immediately start your meeting on the Google Meet hardware.
  • Join and book an available conference room in one click: If you find an available and bookable conference room and wish to use it, simply open your meeting on your laptop, click “Connect room,” and the Google Meet hardware will instantly join the meeting, simultaneously booking the room for your use.
  • Join private meetings more easily: Simply open a meeting invite on your device, click “Connect room,” and instantly join the meeting directly on Google Meet hardware.
  • Join a meeting not listed on the conference room calendar: If you were sent a Google Meet invitation in chat or email, open your meeting on your laptop, click “Connect room,” and you can immediately start your meeting on the Google Meet hardware.

Additional details

Users on the Rapid Release track will start seeing this feature for devices enrolled in our Early Preview Rooms (EPR) program starting on December 2, 2025. We’ll share more details on the Workspace Updates blog when we begin a broader rollout.

Getting started

  • Admins: To preview this feature, your domain must be on the Rapid Release track and have devices enrolled in our EPR program. In addition, this feature relies on Google Meet hardware’s Proximity Detection device setting, which is ON by default. For this feature to work, you must enable Proximity Detection on your fleet's devices. In-room booking must also be enabled for Connect room to automatically book the room when joining the call.
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default for users on the Rapid Release track entering a room with enabled hardware. To use the feature, ensure your laptop microphone is selected in the greenroom, then simply click "Connect room" when the prompt appears. Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources

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What’s changing

In the coming weeks, we’ll roll out a streamlined user interface for the following Meet Hardware devices: Mimo Vue HD, Mimo Mist, Logitech Tap, Logitech Tap IP, and Lenovo Series One Touch controllers (with Android devices coming soon). This new experience will offer users a more efficient and intuitive way to manage their meetings. It includes:

1.Simplified access to key controls: The controls you use most frequently inside a meeting, like mute and hand raise, are now more prominent and easily accessible. This means less time spent searching for features and more time focusing on your meeting.

2. Intuitively organized features:

  • In-meeting experience: If you need to access more advanced features, like camera controls or the meeting layout, you can now find them conveniently under the “More actions” menu. This keeps the main interface clean and uncluttered while ensuring less frequently used features are still accessible when you need them.
  • Pre-call experience: A refreshed pre-call meeting design prominently features the option to enter a meeting code or nickname, and includes a clear drop-down menu for joining Webex or Zoom meetings, streamlining your connection process.

3. A familiar interface: The touch controller UI will look and feel more similar to the Google Meet UI on the web, making your transition more intuitive.




New touch controller in-meeting experience

Getting started

  • Admins: The new experience will be ON by default. There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: This new experience will be ON by default for eligible Meet Hardware devices in your meeting rooms.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers with Google Meet hardware devices

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What’s happening

We are enhancing the translated captions feature in Google Meet by adding support for Cantonese. This update makes it easier for users to communicate and collaborate across different languages.

For your end users, this means that if a meeting attendee is speaking in Cantonese, or another supported language, Meet can now display real-time translated captions to the language of their choice. This is particularly helpful in large, global organizations or educational institutions where participants may speak different primary languages. Adding Cantonese support ensures smoother communication, better meeting accessibility, and more inclusive participation for teams working in diverse linguistic environments.

This feature allows teams to connect and collaborate more easily, ensuring all voices are heard and understood regardless of location or native language.


Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

This feature is available for the following Google Workspace editions:

  • Business Standard
  • Business Plus
  • Enterprise Standard
  • Enterprise Plus
  • Google AI Pro for Education

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What’s changing

Google Meet live stream viewers can select their own preferred language for translated captions on mobile devices. Individual language selection helps overcome language barriers during presentations and events, maximizing each viewer's potential to understand and engage with the content being shared.

Previously, Meet live streams were broadcast to mobile devices with a single target language set for captions, selected by the host when starting the live stream. Now, viewers independently select their own preferred language for translated captions and can also change this setting while watching the live stream.


Choose your preferred caption language for Meet live streams on mobile devices 

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: End users can turn translated captions on or off and select their preferred language. Visit the Help Center to learn more about translated captions.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • All Google Workspace customers can select their preferred language for captions. Only users with eligible licenses can host live streams.

Resources

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What’s changing

We’re launching a new integration between Gmail and Google Chat designed to improve team collaboration and productivity. With this feature, you can easily share a conversation from your Gmail inbox to a Chat direct message or space. No need to start your chat conversation with, "Did you see the email I forwarded?" or dig through your inbox to find the message being discussed.

Starting from a Gmail thread, you can initiate a chat with the existing email recipients, a subset, or a new group. The email is automatically forwarded and recipients can open it directly from a link in Chat.

This enables you to switch to Chat for active discussion while preserving the connection to the original message. Two-way linking helps ensure that everyone has the full context they need for a productive discussion and reduces the need to jump between tabs.

This feature is helpful in common scenarios such as:

  • Resolving an issue in real time instead of going back and forth over email
  • Chatting about an email with a subset of the original group before responding
  • Discussing a customer email with coworkers
  • Signal boosting an announcement by company leadership 
  • Sharing meetings notes and action items

Sharing an email in Google Chat
Sharing an email in Google Chat

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. Organizations must have both Gmail and Chat enabled for the feature to appear.
  • End users: This feature will be on by default for users who have Chat enabled in Gmail, available on desktop at launch and on mobile soon (currently available in limited testing on mobile for selected users). Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to share in Chat from Gmail.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

  • Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Frontline Starter, Standard, Plus
  • Nonprofits
We plan to bring this feature to Education customers in the coming months. Please stay tuned to the Workspace Updates blog for an update on availability.

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What’s changing

We recently introduced the ability for educators to create and assign NotebookLM in Google Classroom. Now, teachers can attach public notebooks to assignments, in addition to the notebooks they create or own.

This update significantly expands the access to educational content available to educators and students. Educators can now easily integrate publicly shared learning materials — including notebooks available from our partnership with OpenStax. 


Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available for Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus

Resources

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What’s changing

We are introducing a new setting in Google Chat that allows space owners and managers to control whether users can request to join a space.

Previously, if someone received a link to a space that required permission for them to join, they could send a request to space owners and managers. With this new feature, space owners and managers can now further restrict access by disabling the "request to join" option. If users try to access a space via a link, they will no longer be able to request to join.

New permissions control in the space settings menu
New permissions control in the space settings menu


‘No access’ message for users without permission
‘No access’ message for users without permission

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: Go to space settings and flip the toggle under “Allow requests to join.” 

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts

Resources


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A summary of announcements from the last week:

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

Granular OAuth consent in web apps and Google Workspace add-ons

Earlier this year,  we launched an improved version of the OAuth consent screen to the Apps Script IDE and unpublished web apps and Google Workspace add-ons that allows users to specify which individual scopes they would like to authorize for that script. For example, if a script requests access to a user’s Google Sheets and Forms files, and the user only intends to use the script with Sheets files, they can decide to only allow access to their spreadsheets and not their forms. | Learn more about Granular OAuth consent in web apps and Google Workspace add-ons.

Data classification labels visible in more places across Google Drive

Beginning today, a Drive item’s applied data classification values will appear across all views on Drive on the web, including Home, My Drive, Shared Drives, and Drive search results. Previously, users needed to either navigate to Details or open the file to know a Drive item’s classification state. Now, users will immediately see the applied classification values when navigating throughout the Drive product. | Learn more about the expanded visibility of data classification labels across Google Drive.

Automatically generated captions for videos in Google Drive now available in more languages

We are expanding automatic video captions in Google Drive to support 27 new languages. This update improves accessibility for all users—including those who are hard of hearing or speak different languages—while saving time by eliminating manual caption creation and enhancing video searchability. | Learn more about new language support for automatically generated captions in Google Drive.

Fine-tune your network for Meet live streaming with extended quality metrics

Meet audit events logged for live stream viewers now contain an extended set of quality metrics. These metrics can help admins understand their viewers' perceived quality when participating in live streams. The quality metrics can be used to identify potential network configuration adjustments that can improve the live streaming experience. | Learn more about fine-tuning your network for Meet live streaming with extended quality metrics.

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What’s changing

Meet audit events logged for live stream viewers now contain an extended set of quality metrics. These metrics can help admins understand their viewers' perceived quality when participating in live streams. The quality metrics can be used to identify potential network configuration adjustments that can improve the live streaming experience. 

The audit events contain quality metrics about both direct media delivery from Google's servers and peer-assisted media delivery when eCDN is used. 

Some examples of the new quality metric fields
Some examples of the new quality metric fields  

Getting started

  • Admins: Access audit events for Meet through the Admin SDK.

Rollout pace

  • Available now

Availability

Audit events are logged for live stream viewers of all Google Workspace customers. Hosting live streams is available to organizers with an eligible Workspace license, including:

  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Education Plus and Teaching and Learning add-on

Resources

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Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

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

Learn about more Google Workspace launches

On the “What’s new in Google Workspace?” Help Center page, learn about new products and features launching in Google Workspace, including smaller changes that haven’t been announced on the Google Workspace Updates blog.

Learn about our customers

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