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


You can now protect your calendar from repeated calendar spam and unwanted invitations. When you block a user in Google Calendar, the current event is automatically removed and you no longer receive new calendar invitations from that person.

In addition, when you block an individual in Calendar, they’re added to your account-wide blocklist, and interactions across all supported Google products are blocked. Similarly, if the individual was blocked in another supported Google product, their Calendar invitations will now also be blocked.




This feature allows blocking invitations from users with a Google account. To block invitations from a non-Google Calendar user, use the Gmail blocking functionality. This will block all emails from them, including emails that create Calendar events.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers and Workspace Individual subscribers

Resources

We are introducing Admin Assist, bringing two new Gemini-powered capabilities to the Google Admin Console: the Sidepanel and Search Overviews. Designed to simplify complex administrative workflows and troubleshooting, this launch makes managing Google Workspace easier and faster. Admin Assist is available for customers with Google Workspace Business editions only.

Previously, administrators often had to toggle back and forth between different browser tabs, troubleshooting documentation, and the console to manage domain policies. With this update, we are integrating conversational AI assistance directly into your Google Workspace management surface to provide instant, contextual support.

  • Gemini-powered Sidepanel: Conveniently accessible via the One Google Bar (OGB) on most of the pages of the Admin Console. Super admins can use the sidepanel to get help with complex tasks, learn about administrative best practices, and receive interactive, step-by-step guidance.
  • Gemini-powered Search Overviews: A proactive search feature that triggers when you ask a question in the main Admin Console search bar. Admin Assist will automatically synthesize Google Workspace Help Center articles into conversational summaries, presenting you with the exact answers you need alongside direct, actionable next steps.

Whether you are looking to audit application usage or investigate configuration drifts, Admin Assist acts as your personal technical co-worker—allowing you to manage your domain securely and efficiently.

Getting started

  • Super Admins: This feature will be ON by default for Super Admins with eligible Business SKU editions (see ‘Availability’ below). It is not available to Delegated Admins.
  • End users: There is no end-user setting or impact for this feature, as these capabilities are restricted exclusively to Super Admins at the Google Admin Console.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Business: Business Starter, Standard, and Plus

Gemini Notebook users can now copy entire notebooks, including all associated sources and studio items, if they have copy permission for that notebook. This capability allows users to build upon existing work or templates shared by others. For example, a student can copy a notebook shared by a teacher, and then add their personal study notes and generate customized practice quizzes or flashcards to that copy, or a coworker can copy a notebook with foundational information and add on additional sources to tailor it to a specific project.

When you make a copy of a notebook, several key components are copied to the new user's library. This includes sources and studio content.

A few notes:

  • Sources: Drive-based sources are only included if the user performing the copy has permission to access and copy the original Google Drive file.
  • Studio content: This includes studio artifacts like Audio Overviews, Video Overviews, Study Guides, Flashcards, Quizzes, and Slide Decks, plus artifact generation prompts and custom chat configurations. 

Personal chat history and user-generated notes are not transferred to the new notebook. Additionally, a copied notebook does not sync with the original, so any subsequent updates made by the original owner do not overwrite the copied version.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

Workspace Studio enables users to boost their productivity with custom, no-code agentic automation. Today, we are adding a new set of enterprise security controls to enable additional collaboration use cases. These granular identity, data protection, observability, and governance controls provide admins with more confidence to safely enable and adopt agentic capabilities in their organization.

Built-in, enterprise security controls in Workspace Studio include:

  • Agent identities
  • Agent access management
  • Agent auditing and observability
  • Admin settings / human-in-the-loop (HiTL)
  • Runtime protections

Collaboration use cases

When Studio initially launched, it was only able to assist users in their tasks, such as drafting an email, not executing tasks autonomously, such as sending an email. Now, Studio supports cross-user collaboration through the introduction of several new steps with built-in guardrails.



Collaboration actions in Studio Flows

Agent identities: Automation with flows in Studio will continue to run with the user’s identity, but in a least-privileged way. This means that the flow will have the minimal set of privileges required to run, and not the full set of privileges the owner has. When the flow executes, it will do so with a unique, auditable identifier. Note: the least-privilege agent identity will apply to newly created flows only.  Existing flows will be supported in the future.

(Beta) Identity attribution: Admins, through a new setting, will be able to decide whether the actions taken by a flow show the owner's identity, or are attributed to the flow itself, with the owner information made visible.  This will default to “on”; meaning the actions by the flow will be attributed to the flow. Note: the agent identity attribution setting will apply to newly created flows only.  Existing flows will be supported in the future.

Flow represented as the owner's identity

" Flow attributed as the flow’s name with owner’s information

Auditing and observability: Actions in Studio across configuration and execution events are recorded in Studio audit events. Additionally, audit events for actions, such as edits made to a file in Drive or emails sent in Gmail, will include flow context, such as a unique flow identifier and the owner’s information. Note: agent context in audit logs will apply to newly created flows only. Existing flows will be supported in the future.

Agent access management: In the admin console, an Agent access management dashboard gives admins the ability to suspend all flows or targeted OAuth scopes for individual flows, such as revoking Drive access. Additionally, the security investigation tool enables admins to transition directly from an audit event to the agent access management page, facilitating swift remediation during incident investigations. Note: after the rollout, newly created flows will be shown in Agent access management.  Existing flows will be supported in the future.



Agent access management dashboard


Admin settings & human-in-the-loop: Additional admin settings will support disabling specific step types for flows, disabling Gemini data access, enforcing end-user confirmation for steps that share data externally, and disabling webhook integrations.



Flow asking for human approval before it sends an email externally


Runtime protections: Additional data loss prevention (DLP) features for Gemini data access and Studio flows are available for added protection. Gemini DLP restricts Gemini’s ability to access Drive data based on content conditions and labels, with support for additional services coming soon. Agent DLP will support restrictions on Studio flow execution, including blocking or enforcing end-user review, based on conditions of the sourced data, utilized data, and data visibility of the output.



Studio DLP

Rollout pace

Admin console settings

End-user visible features

(Beta) Identity attribution

Getting started

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

* Gemini DLP, and DLP for Studio are available only for Frontline Standard and Frontline Plus; Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus; Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, and Education Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus

Administrators using Drive Inventory Reporting in Google BigQuery can now access granular external sharing fields designed to simplify complex permission structures. By automatically consolidating direct permissions, group memberships, and public links into clear signals, this update helps organizations easily identify external exposure across their Drive environments.

Administrators can now distinguish between human users, service accounts, and files published to the web, as well as cross-reference sharing attributes with existing Data Loss Prevention (DLP) metadata to prioritize remediation for high-risk data.

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled via the "External sharing calculations" setting under Drive inventory report settings in the Google Admin console. Note that for organizations with large Google groups, enabling this calculation may extend processing time and impact report delivery schedules.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Enterprise: Enterprise Standard, and Plus
  • Education: Education Standard, and Plus
  • Other Editions: Frontline Plus; Enterprise Essentials Plus; Cloud Identity Premium

Resources

Improved file importing in Google Sheets with tables and linked pivot tables

We’re introducing two key improvements in Google Sheets that preserve formatting and linked data when converting files from Microsoft Excel. First, Excel tables will now seamlessly import as Sheets tables. Second, Sheets now fully supports importing Excel pivot tables that are backed by table ranges. | Learn more.

New usability features in Connected Sheets

Google Workspace is introducing two usability enhancements to Connected Sheets to improve data presentation and give more flexibility when analyzing BigQuery data. | Learn more.

Use Sheets canvas to visualize data in custom, interactive mini-apps

We’re excited to launch Sheets canvas, a new Gemini-powered capability that transforms your spreadsheets into custom, interactive, read-write applications using simple natural language prompts. It acts as a dynamic visualization layered directly on top of your spreadsheet data, allowing you and your team to work in layouts that best fit your workflows. | Learn more.

Take Notes for me for in-person meetings is now available

We know that balancing active participation with note taking during face-to-face discussions can be a challenge. You shouldn't have to choose between staying present in the moment and capturing critical context for later. We’re excited to start rolling out a new way to make Google Meet the home for all of your meetings, expanding beyond just video calls to support your in-person collaboration.  | Learn more.

New admin controls for adding invitations to Google Calendar

Google Calendar users have three options for how event invitations are added to their calendar: auto-add invitations from everyone, auto-add invitations from known senders only, or add invitations only after the user responds in email. To date, administrators can only choose the default value for users in their organization. | Learn more.

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

Google Calendar users have three options for how event invitations are added to their calendar: auto-add invitations from everyone, auto-add invitations from known senders only, or add invitations only after the user responds in email. To date, administrators can only choose the default value for users in their organization.

With this release, we’re expanding Calendar settings in the Admin console to offer organizations more granular controls on invitations.  Administrators can now determine the invitation options available to end users, providing organizations more control over inbound event invitations from unknown senders and minimizing potential security risks from the content contained within them.


Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources

We know that balancing active participation with note taking during face-to-face discussions can be a challenge. You shouldn't have to choose between staying present in the moment and capturing critical context for later. We’re excited to start rolling out a new way to make Google Meet the home for all of your meetings, expanding beyond just video calls to support your in-person collaboration.



“Take Notes” button in Meet on Web


Take Notes button in Meet on Mobile

Start Taking Notes: Launch a session directly from the Google Meet home screen on web or mobile by selecting the "Take notes" button. Once recording begins, Gemini actively captures notes for your in person meetings.

Review the Artifacts: When your meeting finishes, press the button to conclude audio capture. Gemini automatically compiles a structured notes summary, action items, and complete transcript into a Google Doc, saved directly to Google Drive, and emails the link to you.

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be controlled by existing Google Meet notes settings.
  • End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains:
    • Android with extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 11, 2026
    • Web with extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting no sooner than August 14, 2026
    • iOS with extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting no sooner than August 31, 2026

Availability

  • Business: Business Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise: Enterprise Standard, and Plus
  • Consumer: Google AI Pro, and Ultra
  • Other Editions: Frontline Plus
  • Education Add-ons: Google AI Pro for Education

Resources

We’re excited to launch Sheets canvas, a new Gemini-powered capability that transforms your spreadsheets into custom, interactive, read-write applications using simple natural language prompts. It acts as a dynamic visualization layered directly on top of your spreadsheet data, allowing you and your team to work in layouts that best fit your workflows. 

Whether you need to coordinate cross-functional deliverables or present core insights from dense data to an executive team, Sheets canvas can deliver the visual tool for the job. Key capabilities include: 

  • End-to-end creation: Build an advanced visualization with a single natural language prompt without requiring coding, formulas, or third-party tools. 
  • Fully read-write: Changes made in the canvas, such as dragging task cards or adding new entries, instantly update your source sheet. Likewise, any updates to the source sheet reflect in your canvas in real time. 
  • Flexible adjustments: Continue to polish and refine your Sheets canvas by prompting Gemini to make edits to layout, design, functionality, and more. 
  • Familiar sharing tools: Because Sheets canvas is built directly inside Google Sheets, it inherits the same sharing settings as your spreadsheet, making it effortless to collaborate in real time. 
For example, if you’re a financial analyst working out of a budget spreadsheet, you can ask Gemini to “Build an interactive dashboard that helps me analyze how different cost drivers impact a quarterly budget.” If you’re an operations lead overseeing logistics, you can simply prompt Gemini to “Create a custom tracker to visualize regional field assignments.” 

Users can build a wide variety of applications with Sheets canvas. Here are just a few examples:


Kanban board: Group tasks by workflow stage, and drag and drop cards to update progress in real time 


Dashboard: Create a financial forecasting model with dynamic scenario planning


Whiteboard: Conduct a virtual brainstorming session with sticky notes 

Note: This feature is currently only available on the web to accounts with language set to English.

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 10, 2026 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 31, 2026 

Availability 

  • Business: Business Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise: Enterprise Standard and Plus 
  • Consumer: Google AI Pro and Ultra Education 
  • Add-ons: Google AI Pro for Education AI Add-ons: AI Expanded Access 
Note: Creating and editing Sheets canvases is subject to per-user usage limits. See the Help Center for more information. 

Resources 


Google Workspace is introducing two usability enhancements to Connected Sheets to improve data presentation and give more flexibility when analyzing BigQuery data. 

List parameters: When writing a query, users can reference multiple values in a single list parameter by selecting a grid range in a sheet. Each cell will function as a unique value in the list. This enables more flexible or robust querying based on values already in the sheet. For example, this feature allows data admins and power users to configure input sheets that allow collaborators or end users to easily select options via drop-down or in the sheet for advanced filtering without needing to modify the underlying query. As a result, more users can independently self-serve insights and interact with Connected Sheets. 

Column aliasing: Users can create aliases for BigQuery column names directly within the Connected Sheet. Database column names can sometimes be unwieldy or lack contextual information for broader audience readability. Aliasing provides a way to substitute presentation-ready labels in the Connected Sheets interface without altering the underlying database reference. Users can continue to refer to columns by either the new alias or the original name in formulas and inputs.





Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

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

Resources 

We’re introducing two key improvements in Google Sheets that preserve formatting and linked data when converting files from Microsoft Excel. First, Excel tables will now seamlessly import as Sheets tables. Second, Sheets now fully supports importing Excel pivot tables that are backed by table ranges.

Previously, when converting Excel files, Excel tables did not import as Sheets tables, causing users to miss out on the structural and formatting benefits of tables, and pivot tables linked to tables were replaced with static grids. These updates ensure your data structures remain intact and beautifully formatted upon import. Most importantly, your imported spreadsheets will be ready to use right away, no manual reconstruction needed.



Table with linked pivot table imported into Google Sheets

Getting started

Rollout pace

Table imports

Linked pivot table imports

Availability

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

Resources

Provide more clear, contextual feedback with timestamped comments in Google Drive videos

We are introducing timestamped comments for videos in Google Drive on the web. Users can now anchor comments to a specific time mark in a video, making video collaboration more direct, precise, and contextual. | Learn more.

Visual screenshots now included in Google Meet meeting notes

We’re improving the ‘Take notes for me’ feature in Google Meet by giving you the ability to automatically capture and include screenshots of presented content directly in the meeting notes document. | Learn more.

Gemini in Google Classroom is expanding to users of all ages, with contextualized Gemini starter prompts for students

Last year, we launched Gemini in Google Classroom to help educators save time on planning and create more engaging lessons, and later expanded Gemini in Classroom to higher education students 18 years of age and older to help them study and learn. Starting August 10, 2026, Gemini in Classroom will also be made available to K-12 and higher education students of all ages who have already been granted access to Gemini in Classroom, Gemini and Gemini Notebook by their admin, offering a guided space to interact with these tools.  | Learn more.

Streamlining rubric generation in Google Classroom with Gemini

To make it easier to create rubrics and grade in Google Classroom, educators can now instantly generate a new Classroom-ready rubric during their assignment creation workflow, using context from their assignment.  | Learn more.

Automatically add sources to your Gemini Notebooks in Workspace Studio

Historically, keeping Gemini Notebooks up to date would require you to manually add sources one by one. Now, this new integration lets you automate adding sources to your Gemini Notebooks as part of a recurring workflow. You can use the new Add a source to Gemini Notebook step to add text, links to Drive files, or generic Youtube or web URLs as sources to your notebooks to ensure your notebooks are always up to date on the latest content. | Learn more.

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

Historically, keeping Gemini Notebooks up to date would require you to manually add sources one by one. Now, this new integration lets you automate adding sources to your Gemini Notebooks as part of a recurring workflow. You can use the new Add a source to Gemini Notebook step to add text, links to Drive files, or generic Youtube or web URLs as sources to your notebooks to ensure your notebooks are always up to date on the latest content.



Use Add a source to Gemini Notebook to automatically keep your notebooks up to date

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Business: Business Starter, Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise: Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education: Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus
  • Education Add-ons: Google AI Pro for Education; Teaching and Learning
  • Other Add-ons: AI Expanded Access

Resources

To make it easier to create rubrics and grade in Google Classroom, educators can now instantly generate a new Classroom-ready rubric during their assignment creation workflow, using context from their assignment.

With this update, there will now be multiple ways to create and use rubrics in Classroom:

  • [New] Draft relevant Classroom rubrics from the assignment creation page: Within the “Rubrics” section, generate a new Classroom-ready rubric with help from Gemini based on their assignment. Educators can review and edit the proposed rubric criteria before adding it to the assignment, saving valuable prep time. 
  • Convert existing rubrics files from the assignment creation page: Within the “Rubrics” section, educators can select an existing rubric they have and instantly convert it to a Classroom-ready rubric.
  • Create rubric files from the Gemini tab: When planning their lessons, educators can collaborate with Gemini to draft a rubric based on information that they provide. They can then export the rubric to Sheets or Docs before attaching it to their class.

Note: This feature is only available for users over age 18.

Streamline grading setup by instantly generating custom rubrics directly within the assignment creation workflow.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Education: Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus

Resources

Last year, we launched Gemini in Google Classroom to help educators save time on planning and create more engaging lessons, and later expanded Gemini in Classroom to higher education students 18 years of age and older to help them study and learn. Starting August 10, 2026, Gemini in Classroom will also be made available to K-12 and higher education students of all ages who have already been granted access to Gemini in Classroom, Gemini and Gemini Notebook by their admin, offering a guided space to interact with these tools.

In Classroom, students can access the Gemini tab to transform their class materials into interactive experiences that help them study and learn. For example, students who have access to Gemini can select course materials to create flashcards or practice quizzes with Gemini that are tailored to their class. Students with Gemini Notebook access can also sync the materials provided by their teacher to Gemini Notebook, enabling them to create interactive study guides, audio overviews, infographics, and more.



Additionally, starter prompts on the student Gemini tab can now use context from Classroom to tailor Gemini interactions specifically to students’ schoolwork. This update transforms the existing starter prompts into highly contextualized experiences, eliminating the need to go back and forth between Classroom and Gemini to get support relevant to what they’re learning in the classroom.

When a student clicks on one of these starter prompts, a new box now appears that allows them to select a specific class and assignment. The Gemini prompt will then incorporate the relevant title, assignment instructions, and curriculum materials as context directly from Google Classroom, ensuring that the resulting interaction is grounded in the student’s academic context.



If Gemini in Classroom and the Gemini app are enabled, students will also be able to access “Learn with Gemini” when they hover over any assignment in “Due Soon” on the redesigned Classroom homepage. “Learn with Gemini” helps students get guided help or create study guides, practice quizzes, and flashcards – all based on their class curriculum.



Access to the Gemini tab in Classroom is currently available globally in all Classroom-supported languages in which Gemini is also available.

Getting started

Admins:

  • Access to the Gemini tab in Classroom is On by default for teachers and students of all ages, and is controlled using the Gemini in Classroom control. If Gemini in Classroom is currently turned off for students, access will remain off for all students, including students younger than 18.
  • As an administrator of your organization's Google Accounts, you can control who is allowed to use Gemini in Google Classroom. The student capabilities are only available to users:
    • Whose role is defined as “Student” in Classroom
    • Who are in a group or OU with Gemini in Classroom set to On
    • Who are in a group or OU with Gemini Notebook set to On and/or Gemini set to On
Note: Users do not need to have both the Gemini app and Gemini Notebook set to On in order to see the Gemini tab. For example, if Gemini is set to Off, Gemini features will not be visible.


  • If you would like to disable Gemini in Google Classroom for users who are under 18 years old, you can create an OU with only those users and turn off access for that OU only. Visit the Help Center to learn about managing access to Gemini in Classroom, Gemini app, Gemini Notebook, and the option to turn these services on or off for users in your Admin console.
  • Ensure roles in Classroom are appropriately assigned to users. Learn more about teacher and student roles.

End users:

  • Navigate to the Gemini tab in the navigation bar in Google Classroom.
  • When using generated content, you should always review the outputs as AI can make mistakes and refine the output so that it fits your context and local policies.
  • Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini in Classroom and learn more about how to use generative AI for students.

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Education: Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus

Resources

We’re improving the ‘Take notes for me’ feature in Google Meet by giving you the ability to automatically capture and include screenshots of presented content directly in the meeting notes document.

While meeting transcripts capture what is said, they often miss critical visual context, like content that was presented. Without these visuals, notes can lack necessary detail or even be confusing if a speaker refers to a chart or diagram without describing it out loud.


Getting started

  • Admins: You can configure this feature in the Admin console to either always allow screenshots of presented content or only allow them when a recording is enabled. Visit the Help Center to learn more.
  • End users: When you begin presenting in a meeting where notes are being taken, you will see a notification alerting you that Gemini may capture screenshots of your presentation to add to the notes. This feature can be disabled from the notes panel.

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

We are introducing timestamped comments for videos in Google Drive on the web. Users can now anchor comments to a specific time mark in a video, making video collaboration more direct, precise, and contextual.

When reviewing a video file, users can choose between adding a timestamped comment or a general file-level comment using a split button in the commenting interface.  Each timestamped comment generates a visual marker directly on the video player timeline. Clicking a marker automatically jumps to that point in the video and highlights the associated comment, allowing reviewers and video owners to navigate feedback without manually scrubbing through media files. Standard commenting capabilities—such as editing, resolving, replying, and mentioning colleagues with @ notifications—remain fully supported and integrated with time-anchored notes.

This feature streamlines cross-functional workflows by eliminating the need to track timecoded feedback in separate documents, chat threads, or emails. Teams producing demos, training videos, marketing content, or recorded presentations can now conduct precise, asynchronous reviews directly within Drive. While timestamped comments must be created on the web, mobile users viewing videos on iOS or Android will still see these entries formatted as standard file-level comments.

Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be available by default for all users. There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about commenting on videos.

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources