Google Workspace Updates

Improving multiple domain setup in the Admin console

Friday, December 4, 2020

Quick launch summary We’ve improved the interface you use when you set up multiple domains via the Admin console. Multiple domains can be set up as secondary domains or domain aliases, and can help you manage multiple businesses or brands, each with their own domain. With this launch, we’ve redesigned the interface and setup flow to make it easier and quicker to verify multiple domains.

An example of the new interface Getting started

Admins: You’ll see the new interface when you go to Admin console > Domains and add a domain/domain alias. Visit our Help Center to learn more about how to add multiple domains or domain aliases.
End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 4, 2020

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Workspace Admin Help: Add multiple domains or domain aliases

New interface for Google Vault

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Quick launch summary We’ve designed a new interface for Google Vault. The new interface makes it easier to navigate, and includes new productivity features for faster task completion. To use the new interface, visit vault.google.com and sign in with your Google Workspace admin account.
The new interface includes all the core functionality from the classic interface, and there’s no impact on your existing Google Vault setup. The main interface improvements include the following:

When you first sign in, you’re directed to a home page with up to three options (depending on your permissions): Retention, Matters, and Reporting.
When you set up retention rules and holds, step-by-step flows with more tooltips guide you through the process.
Custom retention rules, holds, and search results are listed in sortable, filterable tables. This helps you more easily understand the scope of your information governance policies and search results.
When you explore search results and hold reports, you keep your context. Clicking an item opens a side panel instead of taking you to a new page.

The classic interface is still available at ediscovery.google.com. Matters, retention rules, and audit log data will sync between the interfaces and be available in both places until ediscovery.google.com is shut down. We’ll provide more details regarding this turndown on the Workspace Updates blog at least three months in advance.

Getting started

Admins: The new interface is available at vault.google.com. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Google Vault for your organization. Note that users in the classic interface may see a banner inviting them to try the new interface starting on December 3, 2020.
End users: No end user impact.

When you first sign in, you’ll now see a home page with up to three options: Retention, Matters, and Reporting.

Custom rules are now listed in a sortable, filterable table.

You’ll see a new interface for creating and managing rules.
Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus customers, G Suite Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofit customers, and customers with the Vault add-on license
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, and Business Standard customers, as well as G Suite Basic customers.

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Using Google Vault
The new Google Vault interface: vault.google.com

Control access to AppSheet with a new Admin console setting

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

What’s changing On December 14, 2020, Google Workspace admins will begin seeing a new control for AppSheet in the Additional Google services section of the Admin console.
AppSheet is available to all Google Workspace customers; this new setting simply gives admins the ability to enable or disable user access to AppSheet at the domain, organizational unit (OU), group, or level.
Who’s impacted Admins
Why you’d use it AppSheet allows users to maximize the power of Google Workspace by building custom applications on top of Workspace applications and other services and applications in their environment, all without writing any code.
Read more about using AppSheet to build solutions for your workflows.
Additional Details Disabling AppSheet If your users are already using AppSheet, turning the additional service off will disable access for all app creators and users, and will stop applications from running.
To find out who in your organization is using AppSheet, use the Token Audit Log in the Admin console at Reports > Audit Log > Token. Select “+ Add a filter” and choose “Application name,” then enter “AppSheet”. You’ll then see a list of users in your organization who have used AppSheet.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about using AppSheet in your organization.
Getting started

Admins: In the Admin console, go to Apps > Additional Google services > Settings for AppSheet. There, you can enable or disable AppSheet for your entire organization or specific OUs, groups, or users. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning AppSheet on or off for your organization.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the AppSheet Help Center to learn more about getting started with AppSheet.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 14, 2020

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Use AppSheet in your organization
Google Workspace Admin Help: How the organizational structure works
Google Workspace Admin Help: Customize access to Google Workspace services using access groups
Cloud Blog: Introducing Google Workspace
Cloud Blog: Google acquires AppSheet to help businesses create and extend applications—without coding

Improving originality reports in Google Classroom and Assignments to better detect potential plagiarism

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Quick launch summary Originality reports in Google Classroom and Assignments are now better at detecting potential plagiarism by alerting you when a document contains symbols from different alphabets or other writing systems.
Students sometimes swap out specific characters with similar looking symbols in order to trick plagiarism detection technology. For example, if the letter “a'' is replaced with the Greek symbol “⍺” or Cyrillic symbol “α,” a plagiarized assignment may not be detected as such.
Originality reports will now alert you when a document contains symbols from another alphabet or writing system. Educators can then review it and determine whether the student had a legitimate reason for using those different symbols. Note that students who use originality reports will not see this feature.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be automatically available to educators when originality reports are turned on for an assignment. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using originality reports.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 2, 2020

Availability

Available to G Suite for Education and Enterprise for Education customers, as well as standalone Classroom and Assignments users
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Customize text style and appearance in Google Sites

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Quick launch summary You can now adjust text size, color, font, spacing, and more while typing in a text box in Google Sites. This significantly expands control over how individual words, paragraphs, pages, and sections look. We hope this will help you make your site look and feel just the way you want it to.
In 2021, we will add the ability to create themes, which will allow you to easily set fonts, colors, and styles across your whole site. We'll announce on the Google Workspace Updates blog when that's available.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will become available automatically. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to change how your site looks.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 1, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on January 5, 2021

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Google Help: Change how your site looks

New comment interface for Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides rolling out to more devices

Tuesday, December 1, 2020

Quick Summary We’re updating the user interface for comments and action items in the Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps for iOS. These improvements include:

Larger, clearer interface to make it easier to see comments and their context in a document.
Shortcuts and gestures to help you quickly scroll through and respond to multiple comments.
Quick access button to reply, “@” mention someone, and assign action items.

These updates were previously made available on the Docs, Sheets, and Slides Android apps; they’re now rolling out to the Drive Android app and the Docs, Sheets, and Slides iOS apps.

They’ll be made available on the Drive iOS app in the future. See below for more details on the rollout.

Getting started

Rollout pace Docs, Sheets, and Slides on iOS

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available with the latest version of the Docs, Sheets, and Slides iOS apps.

Drive Android app

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available with the latest version of the Drive Android app.

Drive iOS app

Stay tuned to the Workspace Updates blog for information on when this will launch to iOS devices.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Google Help: Use comments & action items

Improvements to PDFs imported to Google Docs

Monday, November 30, 2020

Quick launch summary We’re making a range of updates that will make PDFs converted into Google Docs better. Specifically, you may notice improvements in:

Image imports, including the image itself and text wrapping related to images.
Text styles and formatting, such as importing underline and strikethrough, background color, and more fonts.
Layout conversion, including support for multi-column layouts, custom page sizes, tables with borders, and improved content ordering.

Importing PDFs into Google Docs now supports more formatting options.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about converting PDF and photo files to text.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on November 30, 2020

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Google Help: Convert PDF and photo files to text

Useful Links

Updates

Improving multiple domain setup in the Admin console

New interface for Google Vault

Control access to AppSheet with a new Admin console setting

Improving originality reports in Google Classroom and Assignments to better detect potential plagiarism

Customize text style and appearance in Google Sites

New comment interface for Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides rolling out to more devices

Improvements to PDFs imported to Google Docs

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