Google Workspace Updates: August 2024

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 30, 2024

Friday, August 30, 2024

2 New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.
The AppSheet Admin Console is now available in public previewFor the first time, Workspace admins will have visibility into the users, apps and licenses associated with their AppSheet users via the AppSheet Admin Console. Previously, these advanced monitoring capabilities were limited to AppSheet Enterprise customers. Now all Workspace admins with the AppSheet service privilege can use this data to gain a deeper understanding about how their users are interacting with AppSheet. With the AppSheet Admin Console, you can view all the app users across any of your organization’s apps, review the most popular apps and creators, and more. Admins can also take actions like exporting a list of accounts, users, apps, and licenses for their organization or set the role of users in their organization. Eligible customers can access the AppSheet Admin Console using this direct link or clicking out from Apps > Google Workspace > Settings for AppSheet in the Workspace Admin Console. | The open beta for the AppSheet Admin Console is available now for AppSheet Enterprise customers and AppSheet Core entitled customers. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using the AppSheet Admin Console.

Google Workspace for Education users can now set and share personal pronouns and name pronunciation

Google Workspace for Education admins of K-12 and higher education institutions can now give their students the option to set their pronouns from their Google Account at aboutme.google.com. This option is OFF by default and can be enabled for all users or a subset of them (such as for a specific ___location or class). User-defined pronouns will appear in personal information cards displayed when hovering over or clicking someone’s profile photo across Workspace apps like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, and Drive. Pronouns will also appear in Google Contacts, accessed by clicking “Open detailed view” from the personal information cards. | Pronouns are rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | The ability to add name pronunciation will be available by the end of Q4, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace for Education customers. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about allowing Directory users to change their pronouns and changing pronouns in your Google Account settings.

EDU - personal pronouns and name pronunciation

Previous announcements

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

Automate your workflows on Google Chat with IFTTT and UKG Flow integrations

Following the announcement at Google Cloud Next 2024, we’re excited to introduce Google Chat integrations with IFTTT and UKG Flow. | Learn more about Chat integrations with IFTTT and UKG Flow.

Picture-in-picture in Google Meet will now open automatically when switching tabs

Picture-in-picture mode will now automatically trigger when you switch tabs during a meeting. | Learn more about picture-in-picture in Meet.

Business Starter customers will soon have access to shared drives

Business Starter will officially have access to shared drives starting mid-September. When shared drives are made available to Business Starter customers, all users will be able to create shared drives by default. If this default behavior is undesired, admins can update their settings before Business Starter users gain access to the feature starting on September 23, 2024. | Learn more about shared drives for Business Starter.

Reply to emails in Gmail faster on Android devices

You can now reply to emails directly from the bottom of the conversation, without opening a new screen, making it easier to reference the email you’re replying to. | Learn more about replying to emails on Android.

Upload additional types of documents to Gemini (gemini.google.com) for insights and analysis

Google Workspace users with a Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education or Education Premium license can now upload a variety of files from Google Drive or locally from your device into Gemini. | Learn more about document upload with Gemini.

“Take notes for me” in Google Meet is now available

“Take notes for me” is an AI-powered feature in Google Meet that automatically takes notes, allowing you to focus on discussion, collaboration, and presentation during your meetings. | Learn more about “Take notes for me”

Google Meet provides consolidated email for all meeting artifacts

Currently, Google Meet sends an email for each type of meeting artifact initiated in a meeting, including meeting recordings, meeting transcripts, Gemini notes with “take notes for me,” live streams and more. Going forward, you’ll receive one email consolidating these artifacts. | Learn more about Meet’s meeting artifacts.

Customize Gemini (gemini.google.com) for your specific needs with Gems

Gems are now available to Google Workspace customers with a Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium add-on. | Learn more about Gems.

Gmail Q&A: A new way of searching your inbox with Gemini on Android devices

Gmail Q&A feature is rolling out now on Android devices and coming soon to iOS. | Learn more about Gemini in Gmail.

Additional data protection in Gemini (gemini.google.com) when using a school account is now available

Earlier this year, we brought Gemini for Google Workspace to education communities with two new paid add-ons. At that time, we announced that educators and students 18 years and older who did not have a Gemini Education license would soon get added data protection when using Gemini (gemini.google.com) as an Additional Service with their school accounts. Beginning this week, that added data protection is now available — free of charge. | Learn more about data protection in Gemini.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains:

Scheduled Release Domains:

Google Meet annotation updates for mobile devices

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

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

Additional data protection in Gemini (gemini.google.com) when using a school account is now available

Friday, August 30, 2024

What’s changing Earlier this year, we brought Gemini for Google Workspace to education communities with two new paid add-ons. At that time, we announced that educators and students 18 years and older who did not have a Gemini Education license would soon get added data protection when using Gemini (gemini.google.com) as an Additional Service with their school accounts. Coming soon, we will have Gemini as an Additional Service with these added data protections available to teen students as well.

Beginning today, that added data protection is now available — free of charge. With added data protection, the data you share is only used for responses to your prompts and is not used to improve Gemini or other generative AI models. Added data protection is available to Google Workspace for Education users in every language and country where they can access Gemini.

Additional details

If you use gemini.google.com with a Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium license, it is covered by the Google Workspace for Education terms of service. Gemini Education licenses are available to users 18 years and older.
If you use gemini.google.com with a school account without a Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium license, it is covered under the Google Terms of Service as an Additional Service. This is available to users 18 years and older.
You can learn more about available pricing and discounts for the Gemini Education add-ons or contact your existing Google Workspace for Education reseller or a Google for Education sales specialist.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Gemini (gemini.google.com) on or off for your users. This setting will be rolling out over the course of the next several weeks.
End users: If enabled by your admin, visit the Help Center to get started with Gemini (gemini.google.com).

Rollout pace

Added data protection is available now.
Updates to the Gemini settings page in Admin Console to note the added data protection will be rolling out over the course of the next several weeks.

Availability

This update impacts Google Workspace Education Fundamentals, Standard, and Plus customers.

Resources

Gmail Q&A: A new way of searching your inbox with Gemini on Android devices

Thursday, August 29, 2024

What’s changingA few months ago, we announced the general availability of Gemini in the side panel of Gmail, which not only allows users to summarize and suggest responses to email threads, but also includes using Gemini in Gmail on web to ask questions and find specific information from emails within your inbox or from your Google Drive files. For example, you can ask Gemini to search your inbox for things like "What was the PO number for my agency?", "How much did the company spend on the last marketing event?", or “Catch me up on the emails about quarterly planning.”
Today, we’re excited to announce that the Gmail Q&A feature is rolling out now on Android devices and coming soon to iOS. Gmail Q&A offers similar functionality as the side panel on the web. You can ask Gemini questions about your inbox or to do things like find specific details in your emails, show you unread messages, view messages from a specific sender, or summarize emails about a topic in your inbox.

Who’s impacted End users
Why it mattersWe are excited to help users supercharge their productivity with the help of Gemini in Gmail. Users now have even more capabilities from Gemini to help users get more done during their day at their desks and now, on the go.
Getting started

Admins: To access Gmail Q&A on Android, users need to have smart features and personalization turned on. Admins can turn on default personalization setting for their users in the Admin console.
End users: Open Gemini in the Gmail app via the black Gemini star at the top right of your app or from a “summarize this email” chip. To start, Gmail Q&A can find information from your inbox. In the future, it will be able to find information from your Drive as well. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini in Gmail.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 29, 2024

Availability Available for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons:

Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium
Google One AI Premium

Resources

Customize Gemini (gemini.google.com) for your specific needs with Gems

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

[Update - October 15, 2024]: Gems are now available in all supported languages.

What’s changing

At Google I/O 2024, we pre-announced Gems, custom AI experts that you can build across a variety of topics. In a few easy steps, you can describe what you want your Gem to do and how you’d like it to respond — Gems will help complete specific goals, tasks, and workflows based on your inputs. Gems will remember the instructions you provide, and you can access them when needed to help save time on repetitive tasks or get deep expertise. Included are Premade Gems, which allow you to easily chat with an already built, topic-defined, Gem. Most premade Gems also allow you to customize them, serving as a template for creating new Gems.

Beginning today, Gems are now available to Google Workspace customers with a Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium add-on.

Customize Gemini (gemini.google.com) for your specific needs with Gems

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use them Gemini.google.com can help you speed up time-consuming tasks, generate fresh ideas and more. With Gems, you can further leverage the power of Gemini in a way that’s customized to your needs more efficiently by minimizing repetitive prompting. We’ve provided a few premade Gems to help you get started, like a Writing editor, Coding partner, and Learning coach, and you can build your own Gems to:

Gain valuable insights: Gather targeted feedback on your new product or service from different personas or audience segments (i.e. Urbanites, Tech Enthusiast, etc.).
Streamline copy editing: Get feedback and suggestions on your copy ensuring it’s clear, accurate and consistent with your desired brand, tone, and voice.
Scale your marketing: Generate a prescribed set of marketing materials (emails, social media, etc.) that meet style guidelines, character limits, and more, from a single campaign brief.
Stay ahead of the curve: be informed about the latest industry trends and competitive news that interest you with summaries of relevant articles, blogs, and newsletters.
Elevate your instruction: Gamify your lesson plans or brainstorm creative learning experiences to boost student engagement and bring learning to life.

Additional details

Gems are not available to Google Workspace users accessing Gemini as an additional Google service

Getting started

Admins: Gems will be available in Gemini (gemini.google.com) by default to all Gemini Enterprise, Business, Education and Education Premium users. There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Gems.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons:

Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium

Resources

Google Meet provides consolidated email for all meeting artifacts

Wednesday, August 28, 2024

What’s changing

Google Meet provides consolidated email for all meeting artifacts

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: You’ll begin receiving these consolidated emails automatically.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers. Note that your Google Workspace edition will determine which meeting features are available to you.
“Take notes for me” requires one of the following Gemini for Google Workspace add-ons:

Gemini Enterprise
Gemini Education Premium
AI Meetings & Messaging

Resources

“Take notes for me” in Google Meet is now available

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

What’s changingToday, we’re pleased to announce that “take notes for me” will begin rolling out to Google Meet for select Google Workspace customers. “Take notes for me” is an AI-powered feature in Google Meet that automatically takes notes, allowing you to focus on discussion, collaboration, and presentation during your meetings. After the meeting, the notes document is attached to the calendar event where participants internal to your organization can access them. At launch, this feature will be available when using Google Meet on a computer or laptop, and meetings must be conducted in spoken English.

Select the pencil icon in the top right corner of the screen to start taking meeting notes.

All meeting participants will see a blue pencil icon on their screen and a notification that notes are being taken. They can click on the pencil to see the meeting notes taken so far.

After the meeting ends, the meeting organizer and whoever turned on the feature will receive an email with a link to the generated meeting notes document. The notes document will also be attached to the calendar event, where internal meeting participants can access it.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

It can be challenging to stay on top of and engaged with meeting discussions while also trying to keep a record of the meeting and subsequent follow-ups. This is where “take notes for me” can help. When turned on, the feature will do the following:

Automatically capture meeting notes in Google Docs and save it to the Google Drive of the meeting owner.
Catch you up during the meeting with “summary so far” if you join late.
Send an email with a link to the recap after the meeting. This email goes to the meeting organizer and whoever turned on the feature.

This will help you be more present and engaged during your meetings, while still ensuring important information is captured for record-keeping and follow-up. If users also turn on meeting recordings and transcripts, those will be linked within the notes document.

Additional details

Notes documents will be stored in the meeting owner’s drive folder and will follow the Meet retention policy that your organization has configured. If you are currently testing this feature in Workspace Labs and Alpha, your experience will change from respecting the Drive retention policy to respecting the Meet retention policy.

Getting started

Admins: Take notes for me will be ON by default and can be configured at the OU and Group level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about allowing Google Meet AI to take notes for my users.
Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > Gemini Settings > Gemini AI note-taking

End users: Once enabled by your admin, you can use this article in our Help Center to learn more about “take notes for me” in Google Meet. You can also turn this feature on in advance from the Calendar invite — visit our Help Center to learn more about enabling meeting records to start automatically.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 27, 2024 with expected completion on September 10, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons:

Gemini Enterprise
Gemini Education Premium
AI Meetings & Messaging

Use this link to learn more about Gemini for Google Workspace and how you can get started today with a no-cost trial.

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Let Google Meet AI take notes for my users
Google Help: Take notes with Gemini in Google Meet

Upload additional types of documents to Gemini (gemini.google.com) for insights and analysis

Tuesday, August 27, 2024

What’s changing Beginning today, Google Workspace users with a Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education or Education Premium license can now upload a variety of files from Google Drive or locally from your device into Gemini (gemini.google.com):

Document and text files, such as TXT, DOC, DOCX, PDF, RTF, DOT, DOTX, HWP, HWPX and Google Docs
Data Files, such as XLS, XLSX, CSV, TSV and Google Sheets

Gemini can use uploaded files to gain context and analyze your content. In turn, this can help enhance your understanding, research, and writing through summarization of complex subject matter, identification of trends and insights, and recommendations for improving writing and document organization. Uploading a document can also help give you more personalized and relevant responses.

Additional details

Getting started

Admins:

End users:

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 27, 2024

AvailabilityAvailable for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons:

Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium

Resources

Google Help: Upload and analyze files in the Gemini web app
Google Help: Use extensions in Gemini with a work or school Google Account
Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn Workspace extensions in Gemini on or off (Beta)
Google Workspace Admin Help: Turn Gemini on or off as a core service
Google Workspace Admin Help: Gemini for Google Workspace

Reply to emails in Gmail faster on Android devices

Monday, August 26, 2024

Update

[October 11, 2024] We have completely rolled back this feature for Workspace Customers while we evaluate performance and quality. We will provide an update once rollout resumes. Please note, this experience is still available for users with personal Google accounts.

What’s changingWe’re making it easier to respond to emails in the Gmail app on your Android device with a new quick reply experience.
Previously, there were only options to Reply, Reply all or Forward a message when in the conversation view of an email on your Gmail app. Upon selecting one of those options, you’d be directed to a full screen compose view to send your reply.
Starting today, you can reply to emails directly from the bottom of the conversation, without opening a new screen, making it easier to reference the email you’re replying to. We know this new option is best for quick, lightweight responses, so for longer, more formal responses, you can simply expand the text box to access more formatting options.

Additional details This feature will be available on iOS devices later this year.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Using the Gmail app on your Android device, open an email > click into the text box at the bottom > type your reply > tap the send icon. Clicking the “Expand to full screen” icon allows you to switch to the full screen compose view. Visit the Help Center to learn more about replying to messages in Gmail.

Rollout pace Workspace Customers:

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

Users with personal Google accounts and Workspace Individual Subscribers:

This feature is available now.

Availability

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

Note: Individuals who are testing gen AI features in Workspace Labs will not immediately get access to this new quick reply experience.

Resources

Google Help: Reply to messages in Gmail

Business Starter customers will soon have access to shared drives

Monday, August 26, 2024

What’s changingLast year, we announced that we’re updating the storage model in Business Starter from per-user storage to pooled storage. Today, we’re excited to share that organizations with Business Starter will officially have access to shared drives starting mid-September.

With this change, Business Starter users will be able to create shared drives and add members, files, and folders. Please note that certain admin-level and security controls—like the ability to control access to the items in a shared drive—will not be included in the fundamental version of shared drives for Business Starter.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important Part of empowering our customers to do their best work means reducing the friction around file sharing and collaboration. Shared drives are a key tool for collaboration—users can store, search, and access their team's files instantly. Additionally, they offer benefits such as:

Easy discoverability: Less time spent requesting access to files and searching for relevant documents with all of your team’s files in one place.
Files are forever: All content stays put — even when collaborators or team members leave, your content won’t.
Easy collaboration: Every member of a shared drive can explore and collaborate in the same files. You can also add users outside your team or organization.
Accessible anywhere: Regardless of ___location or device, you can always access the files you need most.

Additional detailsWhen shared drives are made available to Business Starter customers, all users will be able to create shared drives by default. If this default behavior is undesired, admins can update their settings before Business Starter users gain access to the feature starting on September 23, 2024. To restrict this, go to the Admin console > Menu > Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Sharing settings > Shared drive creation > turn on “Prevent users in [___domain] from creating new shared drives.”

Getting started

Admins:

When shared drives are available to Business Starter, admins can use the Admin console to:

Add and remove members
Change access level of members
Restrict moving content externally

The following features aren't available for shared drives in Business Starter:

Admins cannot set default settings
Business Starter users cannot change settings

Visit the Help Center to learn how to set up shared drives for your organization and then allow users to create shared drives. If you need more storage for your organization, consider purchasing additional pooled storage or upgrading your Google Workspace edition to a plan with more storage.

Note: Resold customers should contact their reseller to purchase more storage or upgrade their edition.

End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about shared drives.

Rollout pace Admin setting:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2024

Shared drives enabled by default:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 23, 2024

Availability

This update impacts Google Workspace Business Starter customers.

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Set up shared drives for your organization
Google Workspace Admin Help: Allow users to create shared drives
Google Workspace Learning Center: What are shared drives?
Google Workspace Updates Blog: Bringing pooled storage and shared drives to Business Starter

Picture-in-picture in Google Meet will now open automatically when switching tabs

Monday, August 26, 2024

Update

[November 15, 2024]: Rollout is complete.

What’s changing Have you ever lost your video screen after switching to another tab? Google Meet’s picture-in-picture feature helps to solve that problem, but now we’ve made it even easier. Picture-in-picture mode will now automatically trigger when you switch tabs during a meeting. Previously, you had to manually turn on this feature during a meeting. This simple, yet impactful update, will help ensure your meeting stays visible and accessible if you need to switch tabs to take notes, view meeting related documents, and more. Note that picture-in-picture is only available with Google Chrome on a computer.

Picture-in-picture in Google Meet will now open automatically when switching tabs

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: You can turn this feature off from your Google Chrome settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using picture-in-picture with Google Meet.

You can turn this feature on and off by selecting the “View site information” icon in the Chrome URL bar and turning “Automatic picture-in-picture” off.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 8, 2024, with expected completion by November 30, 2024

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Use picture-in-picture with Google Meet

Automate your workflows on Google Chat with IFTTT and UKG Flow integrations

Monday, August 26, 2024

What’s changing Following the announcement at Google Cloud Next 2024, we’re excited to introduce Google Chat integrations with IFTTT and UKG Flow.
The IFTTT integration enables users to automate Chat with 1,000+ of today's most popular apps. For example, Chat users can now set up workflows, like sending an onboarding email to a customer that’s added as a new member to a space, or sending a message to a space when a new file is added to a Google Drive, Dropbox, or Box folder. Using the integration, Chat users can also stay up-to-date on all of their communities by having new Discord, X, and Facebook mentions or tags automatically posted to a space.

Using the UKG Flow app, users and employees can perform common UKG actions, such as those included in the Timekeeping & Scheduling functionalities of UKG Pro WFM.

With these integrations, users can accomplish more in their workday by completing common tasks using daily productivity apps, without ever leaving Chat.
Getting started

Rollout pace

These integrations are available now.

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 23, 2024

Friday, August 23, 2024

1 New updateUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.

Send emails about your files to collaborators using the sharing dialog in Workspace apps

Once a file is shared, you have the option to “notify” someone when they’ve been added to view, comment on, or edit a file. We’re building upon this by introducing the ability to send an email to any collaborator if you are a file owner or editor. This is especially useful if you’ve recently made updates to the content or if you’d like to pose a question to the group. To email collaborators, click “Share” > click on the “Email people on this file” icon next to “People with access” > select the email recipients and add a custom message. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for August 26, 2024. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing files from Google Drive.

Previous announcements

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

Expanding multi-party-approvals to ___domain-wide-delegation actions

We’re expanding multi-party approvals to include ___domain-wide-delegation. Domain-wide-delegation is a powerful feature which allows admins to grant third-party applications permission to access your Workspace users’ data. | Learn more about ___domain-wide-delegation actions.

Introducing Student Groups in Google Classroom

There is a new feature in Google Classroom that enables teachers to create groups of students to make assigning differentiated content easier. | Learn more about student groups in Classroom.

Refine emails faster with updates to Help me write in Gmail

We’ve introduced two new Gemini in Gmail updates to help you draft emails even faster: 1) a new option for Help me write that polishes emails drafts on web and mobile devices and 2) Help me write and Refine my draft shortcuts on Android and iOS devices. | Learn more about Help me write in Gmail.

Google Meet increases ultra-low latency live streaming support to 100,000 viewers in distributed audiences

For select Google Workspace editions*, we’re pleased to announce that the Google Meet ultra-low latency viewing experience for live streamed meetings will now support up to 100,000 viewers. In addition, the Google Meet ultra-low latency viewing experience for live streamed meetings is now available also from Google Meet room hardware. | Learn more about Meet ultra-low latency live streaming.

Third-party smart chip resource creation now available in Google Docs

We’re enabling third-party partners, such as Lucidspark, Lucidchart, and Zoho Projects, to create smart chips or resources like tasks or flowcharts that end users can add and edit in their Google Docs. | Learn more about third-party smart chips in Docs.

New host controls for add-ons in Google Meet

We’re giving meeting hosts and co-hosts the ability to control the use of add-ons during meetings* with a new setting. | Learn more about host controls in Meet.

Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.

Rapid Release Domains:

Manage all Calendar interop settings from the Admin console

Scheduled Release Domains:

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

Admins can now centrally set default grading settings for teachers in their district (Grading Categories and Grading Scales)
“Take notes for me” in Google Meet is rolling out soon; pre-configure access with a new admin setting (Admin setting)
Save time managing your Meet Hardware fleet with new device filters
Save files scanned in the Google Drive Android app as a .JPEG
Google Meet on Android is now available for Logitech Rally Bar Huddle
Expanding multi-party-approvals to ___domain-wide-delegation actions
Introducing Student Groups in Google Classroom
Refine emails faster with updates to Help me write in Gmail
Google Meet increases ultra-low latency live streaming support to 100,000 viewers in distributed audiences
Third-party smart chip resource creation now available in Google Docs

Paused rollouts

We have paused the rollout for this feature while we evaluate performance and quality. We will provide an update with new rollout information as soon as possible.

Use intelligent suggestions for table conversion in Google Sheets

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

New host controls for add-ons in Google Meet

Friday, August 23, 2024

What’s changing We’re giving meeting hosts and co-hosts the ability to control the use of add-ons during meetings* with a new setting. We hope this new setting helps keep meetings on task and productive by allowing hosts to control access to add-ons as they deem appropriate. Note that this setting does not impact single participant add-on experiences.
The setting will be ON by default, which means all meeting participants can start an add-on activity.

To configure this setting, from the bottom right of your screen select Host Controls (lock icon) > Meeting Activities > Let contributors share add-on activities

When the setting is turned OFF, only the hosts can start an add-ons and ask meeting participants to join the add-on activity. If other participants try starting a collaboration with an add-on, they will get an error.

*Soon you’ll be able to configure this setting from the Calendar event — we’ll share more information here on the Workspace Updates blog when that becomes available.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin impact or action required.
End users:

Rollout pace

Availability

Available for all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Google Help: Use add-ons with Google Meet

Third-party smart chip resource creation now available in Google Docs

Thursday, August 22, 2024

What’s changing Last year, we introduced the ability to pull rich data from apps directly into Google Docs with third-party smart chips. Today, we’re taking this a step further by enabling third-party partners, such as Lucidspark, Lucidchart, and Zoho Projects, to create smart chips or resources like tasks or flowcharts that end users can add and edit in their Google Docs.
To access third-party smart chips, an admin or user must first install a partner’s add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace and then users can search for items to create using the @ menu in Docs. After the item is selected, a creation form will appear that includes text input fields relevant to the type of resource being generated. Once the third-party smart chip is inserted, users can hover over it and view a preview of the content.

Seamless linking between Zoho Projects and Google Docs

Who’s impacted Admins, end users and developers (partners)

Why you’d use it This feature expands upon your ability to add, view and engage with critical information from third party apps by letting you create third-party resource content.

Additional details Other third-party partners, such as Jira & Confluence, plan to add resource creation to their existing third-party smart chip add-ons in the Google Workspace Marketplace later this year.

Getting started

Rollout pace

The Lucidspark, Lucidchart, and Zoho Projects features are available now in the Google Workspace Marketplace

Availability

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

Resources

Google Meet increases ultra-low latency live streaming support to 100,000 viewers in distributed audiences

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

What’s changingFor select Google Workspace editions*, we’re pleased to announce that the Google Meet ultra-low latency viewing experience for live streamed meetings will now support up to 100,000 viewers. This gives organizations the flexibility to reach a wider audience with improved user experience at lower bandwidth consumption. In order to receive the ultra-low latency experience, no more than 25,000 viewers can be connected to a single regional data center at a time.
Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important Live streaming is a critical tool for large audiences, such as town-halls or keynote events. Increasing support for the low-latency live streaming experience from 25,000 viewers to 100,000 users helps our customers reach a wider audience, while their users benefit from several functional and quality improvements, such as:

A virtually lag-free experience
Significantly increased speaker video resolution (up to 720p per speaker)
Shared content and presentations shown up to 2880x1800
Improved automatic camera cuts that focus on the most relevant speakers & content
Audience interaction through emoji reactions, polls and Q&A, and more.

Additional details

Enterprise Content Delivery Network (eCDN) for Google Meet

If large groups of your audience are connecting from a single network ___location or a shared gateway, you may benefit from using eCDN for Meet to get full media quality with substantial network bandwidth savings. For more information on eCDN, see this post on the Workspace Updates blog and visit our Help Center.

Viewers can now join ultra-low latency live streams from Google Meet room hardware

The Google Meet ultra-low latency viewing experience for live streamed meetings is now available also from Google Meet room hardware. Live streaming is a critical tool for large audiences, such as town-halls or keynote events. Support for room hardware means that users can join and watch live streams together in smaller or larger groups. To view a live stream via Google Meet hardware, invite the room to a view-only calendar event granted that your host has allowed guests to modify events. When the event is about to start, the live stream will be visible with its name as an upcoming event in the room agenda. Join the live stream by tapping it on the touch screen.

Meeting hosts and meeting organizers can invite rooms directly in view-only calendar events — visit the Help Center to learn more about live streaming a video meeting. If the calendar event is locked for editing, individual users can also duplicate the event and create their own view-only copy with the rooms they want to add as viewing locations. Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing a live stream.

Getting started

Admins:

End users:

There is no end user action required. Live stream hosts with an eligible license can start to invite larger audiences to their live-streamed meetings with a regional spread across data centers.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Enterprise Essentials Plus customers*

*Note: The ultra-low latency live streaming experience is rolling out at a slower pace for some customers. Once you receive the experience, you’ll be able to take advantage of these updates.

Resources

Refine emails faster with updates to Help me write in Gmail

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

What’s changing Building upon our popular Help me write feature in Gmail and the recent launch of the summarization feature in the Gmail mobile app, we’re excited to introduce two new Gemini in Gmail updates to help you draft emails even faster:

A new option for Help me write that polishes emails drafts on web and mobile devices
Help me write and Refine my draft shortcuts on Android and iOS devices

When using Gemini to refine emails, users can choose from the following options: Formalize, Elaborate and Shorten. We recently added the Polish option to web and mobile, which can effortlessly refine your emails, saving you time. For example, if you enter rough notes into a draft, Gemini can turn the content into a completely formal draft, ready for you to review in one click.

On mobile, when an email draft is empty, the “Help me write” shortcut now appears in the body of the email and when selected, it will open the full Help me write experience. When 12+ words are present in an email draft, the “Refine my draft” shortcut will be shown below the email content to indicate that there are options available to Polish, Formalize, Elaborate, or Shorten your draft, or Write a new draft. The menu can be triggered simply by swiping right on “Refine my draft”.

refine my email draft on Gmail using Gemini

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be ON by default and there is no admin control for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini for Google Workspace.
End users: This feature will be ON by default and cannot be disabled by the user. Visit the Help Center to learn more about drafting emails with Gemini in Gmail.

Rollout pace

The option for Help me write to polish email drafts is available now on web, Android and iOS.
The Help me write and Refine my draft shortcuts are available now on Android and iOS.

Availability Available for Google Workspace customers with these add-ons:

Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, Education Premium
Google One AI Premium

Resources

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

In the Google Cloud Community, connect with Googlers and other Google Workspace admins like yourself. Participate in product discussions, check out the Community Articles, and learn tips and tricks that will make your work and life easier. Be the first to know what's happening with Google Workspace.

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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.

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Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 30, 2024

Additional data protection in Gemini (gemini.google.com) when using a school account is now available

Gmail Q&A: A new way of searching your inbox with Gemini on Android devices

Customize Gemini (gemini.google.com) for your specific needs with Gems

Google Meet provides consolidated email for all meeting artifacts

“Take notes for me” in Google Meet is now available

Upload additional types of documents to Gemini (gemini.google.com) for insights and analysis

Reply to emails in Gmail faster on Android devices

Business Starter customers will soon have access to shared drives

Picture-in-picture in Google Meet will now open automatically when switching tabs

Automate your workflows on Google Chat with IFTTT and UKG Flow integrations

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 23, 2024

New host controls for add-ons in Google Meet

Third-party smart chip resource creation now available in Google Docs

Google Meet increases ultra-low latency live streaming support to 100,000 viewers in distributed audiences

Refine emails faster with updates to Help me write in Gmail

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