This official feed from the Google Workspace team provides essential information about new features and improvements for Google Workspace customers.
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Earlier this year we launched AI avatars in Google Vids to streamline video creation, and today we’re excited to announce that our avatars are now powered by Veo 3.1, Google’s state-of-the-art video generation model. 

This upgrade is so powerful that in evaluations, people prefer Vids avatars five times more often than those on other platforms. Now our avatars are: 

  • More realistic and natural: Avatars deliver heightened expression, smoother lip-syncing, and steadier framing, resulting in a truly professional look.
  • Faster to create: Generate high-quality avatars faster than ever, at no additional cost.
   

Avatars help improve viewer watch time and engagement without the need for cameras or re-recording. Use avatars in scenarios like:

  1. Training videos: Upskill your workforce with guided speaking.
  2. Internal announcements: Announce updates with a consistent character.
  3. Custom support walkthroughs: Quickly make engaging walkthroughs to solve common user issues.

Vids avatar creation experience

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more.
Note: Workspace customers will get promotional access to higher usage limits of Veo 3.1 avatars in Vids for at least 30 days, allowing users to experiment with these features. Per-user usage limits will apply afterward; we’ll provide more information in a future update prior to any changes.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available for Google Workspace: 

  • Business Starter **, Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Starter **, Standard and Plus 
  • Essentials, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus 
  • Nonprofits**
  • Education Plus** and Teaching and Learning add-on**
Also available to:

  • Google AI Pro and Ultra
  • Google AI Pro for Education
**For a limited time, at least through May 31, 2026, Business Starter, Enterprise Starter, Nonprofit, Education Plus, and Teaching and Learning add-on accounts can access generative AI features in Vids. Learn about Google Vids availability. 

Resources

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What’s changing

We’re introducing a new setting in Google Chat that gives users more control over who can invite them to 1:1 conversations and spaces. While the default setting allows invitations from anyone, users can now choose to restrict incoming requests to known senders only. This restriction can be done for 1:1 conversations, spaces, or both. 

If a user restricts this setting, they can only be contacted by someone outside their organization if they’ve previously interacted with that person or if the person is in their contacts. Invitations from users who do not meet this criteria will be sent to spam. 

Note that this setting has no impact on messages between users of the same domain; these invitations will not be sent to spam regardless of whether the users have had prior conversations. 

Getting started

Block messages from unknown senders in Google Chat

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

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We’re excited to introduce the new Feeds app for  Google Chat. This app makes it simple for teams to bring important, real-time external updates—such as news, blog posts, and industry research from any Atom or RSS feed—directly into their group conversations and spaces.

The goal is to eliminate the need for context switching to monitor external information sources. By connecting an RSS/Atom feed, new posts are automatically sent to a designated space in Chat, keeping all team members up-to-date in the context of ongoing project discussions.

Key features include:

  • Automatic content delivery: New posts from the subscribed feed are delivered directly as messages in Chat.
  • Add multiple subscriptions: Users can add and manage multiple feeds using the app settings panel.
  • Configurable by space: Subscriptions are managed per-space, and only the user who created a subscription can edit or delete it.

Updates from your subscriptions are posted directly in the conversation of your choice

Manage your subscriptions via a command in the integration menu

Manage your subscriptions via a command in the integration menu

Getting started

Rollout pace

  • Available now

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers that have enabled Chat apps in their domain, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

Resources

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What’s happening

Sharing your screen is an essential part of collaborating and presenting in Google Meet. Often, you may also want to share audio as part of your presentation. We’re excited to announce that you can now share your device audio when presenting a specific window or your entire screen. Previously, you could only share audio from the specific tab you were presenting. 

This highly requested feature makes it seamless to present videos and other content with audio from any application or source on your computer, such as a presentation from a Media Player application or third-party presentation software. This will help to create a more immersive experience for your audience, while removing potential for any echoes, ensuring your presentations are clear and professional.

Please note the software requirements below.

  • Operating system must be macOS 14.2 or newer or Windows 11 or newer.
  • Browser must be Google Chrome 142 or newer.
Share your device’s audio when presenting in Google Meet

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control to enable or disable this feature. Admins can only enable or disable screen sharing in general.
  • End users: This feature will be OFF by default. When you go to present and select either "A window" or "Your entire screen," you will see a new option to also share your device audio. Simply flip the toggle to include audio in your presentation. On macOS, using the feature for the first time you will see a permission prompt from the operating system. Please approve it to use the feature.  Note the following:
    • This feature is not available for users whose audio is merged with other devices using adaptive audio. These users can continue to share audio when presenting a Chrome tab. 
    • For a seamless audio experience, set Meet audio output to use the system default output device.

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 changing

Presenters will now be able to share stereo sound when presenting content with stereo audio in Google Meet. During virtual meetings, presenters often share content with audio, such as music before a meeting starts, videos for review or discussion during the meeting, and more. Now, if the audio is originally in stereo (with separate left and right audio channels), the stereo sound will apply to the audio presented via Meet as well. 

This can help make a more natural and immersive listening experience, improving the quality of the sound for all attendees. 

Additional details:

  • Only users on the web will be able to send stereo audio.
  • Only Chrome and Firefox browsers will be able to receive stereo audio.

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 when applicable content is shared via screen sharing. Visit the Help Center to learn more about presenting in Google Meet. 

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

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Useful Links

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Learn about more Google Workspace launches

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