Google Workspace Updates: Groups

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - February 14, 2025

Friday, February 14, 2025

4 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.

2.0 Flash is now the default model in the Gemini app and Gemini Advanced for Workspace users The Gemini app is now operating on 2.0 Flash, which features improved response quality, speed, and efficiency. This update is applicable when using Gemini or Gemini Advanced on web or mobile. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available to all Google Workspace users accessing the Gemini app or Gemini Advanced. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about accessing the Gemini app with your Workspace account.

Pin conversations on your Google GroupUsers can already star, mark as read/unread, report, delete, or lock a conversation in a Google Group. Today, we’re excited to reintroduce the ability to pin a conversation, which can be useful to highlight a conversation for other users in a group. The ability to pin messages is limited to users who have permissions to “moderate” a group. | Rollout to Rapid Release domains is complete; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for February 18, 2025. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about pinning conversations.

pinning a conversation to your google group

Managing bills & finances using summary cards in the Gmail mobile app Following last month's announcement of event summary cards, we're excited to introduce updated summary cards that enable you to view and pay bills, or set a reminder to pay later using Google Tasks. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains on Android and iOS devices. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using summary cards in Gmail.

summary cards that enable you to view and pay bills, or set a reminder to pay later using Google Tasks

Now generally available: migrate messages from Microsoft Teams to Google Chat In December 2024, we introduced the ability for Google Workspace admins to migrate conversations from channels in Microsoft Teams to spaces in Google Chat in open beta. Beginning today, this functionality is generally available for all Google Workspace customers, making it easier for organizations to onboard and deploy Chat in their organizations. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available for all Google Workspace customers. | For detailed information, please refer to our original announcement, as well as our Help Center.

Example of a completed migration

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.

Google Meet Learning Tools Interoperability™ update: control when meeting recordings are shared with a new toggle

Instructors using Meet LTI™ to create and host meetings can control how meeting recordings are shared. | Learn more about Google Meet Learning Tools Interoperability™.

Create and vote on polls directly in Google Chat

In order to provide users with an easy way to gather feedback directly in their Google Chat conversations, we’re introducing a new Poll app. | Learn more about the poll app.

Improving the cover images experience in Google Docs

We’re introducing improvements to adding and working with cover images in Google Docs. | Learn more about the cover image improvements.

Data classification labels in Gmail are now available on all Android and iOS devices

In November 2024, we launched an open beta for data classification labels in Gmail. Beginning this week, data classification labels will be available when using the Gmail app on mobile Android and iOS devices. | Learn more about Data classification labels in Gmail.

Create names for group direct messages in Google Chat

Users can now create names for existing and new group direct messages. | Learn more about naming group messages in Chat.

Introducing the board tab in Google Chat

In our continuing effort to improve the ways Google Chat helps teams communicate and collaborate, we’re excited to introduce board in Google Chat. This feature, which can be thought of as a virtual bulletin board, organizes important information and helps keep your team on the same page. | Learn more about board in Chat.

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:

Easily convert data to people chips and update chip format in Google Sheets (People chip formats only)

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).

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 20, 2024

Friday, December 20, 2024

3 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.
Introducing instant video playback after uploads in Google Drive Following up on the recent announcement of a smoother, more modern video player in Google Drive, we’re excited to share that you can now watch videos the moment you upload them to Drive on web. This highly-requested feature eliminates wait times between upload and playback, while ensuring your videos still get fully processed. | Rollout to Rapid Release domains is complete; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for January 2, 2025. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about storing & playing video in Google Drive.

instant video playback after uploading video to Google Drive

Updated keyboard shortcuts for Google Groups

Google Groups is designed to work with keyboards, screen readers, braille devices, screen magnification, and more. We’re excited to improve the accessibility of Groups by introducing updated keyboard shortcuts. Over the coming weeks existing keyboard shortcuts will be replaced by new shortcuts. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains, with expected completion by January 13, 2025. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using keyboard shortcuts in Google Groups.

SOC 1 compliance for Gemini

We’re pleased to announce that the Gemini app on web and mobile has achieved SOC 1 compliance. This latest certification is in addition to SOC 2 and SOC 3, which the Gemini app achieved on web and mobile earlier this year. | SOC 1 is available now for Google Workspace customers with a Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Education Premium add-on. Also available for Google Workspace customers accessing the Gemini app as a core service with a qualifying edition. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about how Google Workspace satisfies certification and compliance standards and about turning the Gemini app on or off for your users.

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.

Available in open beta: migrate messages from Microsoft Teams to Google Chat

We're expanding our data migration experience to include the ability for Google Workspace admins to migrate conversations from channels in Microsoft Teams to spaces in Google Chat, making it easier for organizations to onboard and deploy Chat. | Learn more about migrating messages from Microsoft Teams to Google Chat.

Available in open beta: Set up Single-Sign On with custom OpenID Connect profiles

Via open beta, admins now have the option to set up a custom OpenID Connect (OIDC) profile for single sign-on (SSO) with Google as their Service Provider. | Learn more about Single-Sign On with custom OpenID Connect profiles.

Now generally available: Monitor and manage AppSheet usage in your organization with the AppSheet Admin console

All Google Workspace Admins with the AppSheet service privilege can access the AppSheet Admin Console. | Learn more about the AppSheet Admin console.

Control whether your users can add account recovery information with two new admin settings

We’re launching two new settings that will allow admins to control whether their users can add recovery email information and phone information to their Google Workspace account. | Learn more about the new admin settings.

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.

Scheduled Release Domains:

New design and accessibility improvements for embedded Google Calendars
New density setting in Google Chat
Use Gemini in Google Docs to create unique images for your documents
Add multiple multimedia files to a single message in Google Chat

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).

Now generally available: the Groups Editor & Groups Reader roles can now be provisioned for specific group types

Thursday, December 12, 2024

What’s changingAt the beginning of the year, we launched the ability to assign the Groups Editor and Groups Reader roles for security groups or non-security groups in open beta. Beginning today, this feature is now generally available. Groups Admins have access to all groups. The new roles of Groups Editor and Groups Reader offer delegated admin permissions for groups, and can use conditions to limit access to sensitive groups as needed.Getting started:

Admins:

You can assign a group as a security group through the Cloud Identity Groups API or the Admin Console, and then manage these groups through the Admin SDK Groups API, the Admin console, or the Cloud Identity Groups API. See our API documentation to learn how to update a Google Group to a security group.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about assigning specific admin roles and prebuilt administrator roles.

End users: There is no end user action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on December 12, 2024

Availability

Available to Google Workspace:

Enterprise Standard and Plus
Education Plus and Education Standard

Resources

Available in open beta: prevent sensitive changes by locking Groups

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

What’s changingAdmins can now label a Google Group as “Locked,” which will heavily restrict changes to group attributes (such as group name & email address) and memberships. This will help admins who sync their groups from an external source and want to prevent getting out of sync, or who want to restrict changes to sensitive groups. This feature will be available in open beta, which means no additional sign-up is required.

The Group Details page in the Admin console shows a “Locked” label on the group, with the message “You can’t update this group - it might be managed by an external identity system.”

Who’s impactedAdminsWhy it’s importantIf you use third-party tools, like Entra ID, to manage group synchronization, you may encounter inconsistencies when modifications are made to these groups, like adding or removing members, for example. To help address this, we’re introducing the option to “lock” a group, which will prevent modifications within Google Workspace and help maintain synchronization with the external source. When a group is locked, only certain admins* can modify:

The group name, description, email, and alias(es)

Group labels

Memberships (adding or removing members) and member restrictions

Membership roles

Delete the group

Set up a new membership expiry

When a group is locked, access and content moderation settings are not affected, this includes:

Who can post

Who can view members

Who can contact members

Membership removals due to an existing membership expiry

Access or content moderation settings

*Super Admins, Group Admins, and Group Editors with a condition that includes “Locked Groups”

Additional details

By default, the changes listed above will be restricted from end users, including group owners and managers of a locked group. If you want to also restrict some admins from making these changes in the Admin Console or APIs, you can assign them the Group Editor role with a condition that excludes locked groups.

The ability to lock or unlock a group using the “Locked” label is available to Super Admins, Group Admins, or a custom role with the “Manage Locked Label” privilege. Lock a group using the “Locked” group label in the Admin Console, or the Cloud Identity Groups API.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about locking groups and assigning the Group Editor role with conditions. Use our developer documentation to learn more about managing locked groups with the Cloud Identity Groups API (beta version).
End users: There is no end user action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 10, 2024

Availability

Available for Google Workspace:

Enterprise Standard and Plus
Enterprise Essentials Plus
Education Standard and Plus
Also available to Cloud Identity Premium customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Lock groups to keep data in sync
Google Workspace Admin Help: Prebuilt Administrator Roles
Google Workspace Admin Help: Assign specific admin roles
API Documentation: Group Labels
API Documentation: Role Assignment

Available in open beta: the Groups Admin role can now be provisioned for specific group types

Monday, February 26, 2024

What’s changingThe Groups Admin role can now be assigned for security groups or non-security groups. Previously, those with the Groups Admin role had access to all groups within an organization. This change gives administrators more granular delegation of group admin responsibilities, helping limit access to the most sensitive groups to only those who absolutely need it.

This feature is available in open beta, which means no additional sign-up is required to use the feature.Getting started

Admins:

End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

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

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 15, 2023

Friday, December 15, 2023

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.
We have begun enforcing 2-step verification for all admin accounts Two-step verification (2SV) is a critical security measure that has been proven to reduce password-based hijacking by more than 50%. We are committed to protecting the security of our users and are taking additional steps to help customers guard against data compromise and prevent account takeovers.
We have begun enforcing 2SV for all admin accounts and will continue this enforcement on an ongoing basis. As of December 2023, this change is already in effect for some customers. When this goes into effect for your organization, you will receive the following notifications:

30 days prior to enforcement in your ___domain: Super admins will receive various email and in-app notifications informing them of the forthcoming enforcement, encouraging them to verify their admins’ 2SV status.
Once enforcement goes into effect in your ___domain: All admins will receive email and in-app notifications upon signing into their accounts for the next thirty days. If they do not enable 2SV within this time period, they will be locked out and will need to follow these steps to recover an administrator account.

We highly encourage all administrators to turn on 2SV as soon as possible. Visit the Help Center for more details and further guidance.

Dynamic groups limit increased to 500 We’re increasing the number of dynamic groups a customer can have from 100 to 500. Dynamic groups are defined as groups whose membership is managed automatically based on specific criteria, such as a user’s department or ___location. This increase gives admins more flexibility to create dynamic groups as needed and cuts down on manual group management tasks that would otherwise be required. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains at a gradual pace (up to 15 days for feature visibility). | Available for Google Workspace Frontline Standard, Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Learn more about dynamic groups.

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

Meet Add-ons SDK available in Developer Preview

The Google Meet Web Add-ons SDK is available through our Developer Preview Program. Developers can use the SDK to bring their app experience right into Meet. End users can install, open, and collaborate in apps right inside a meeting, either as the meeting focal point, or in the sidebar — all without ever leaving Meet. | Learn more about Meet Add-ons SDK .

Huddly cameras bring continuous framing to Google Meet Series One room kits

As part of our initiative to bring adaptive framing to Google Meet meeting rooms, we’re proud to announce that you can now access Huddly’s continuous framing capability available as part of the Series One room kit hardware devices. | Available to all Google Workspace customers using Google Meet Series One room kits only. | Learn more about Google Meet Series One.

Record and share your name pronunciation across Google Workspace products

From your Google account settings, you can now record your name and share its pronunciation with other users. The pronunciation can be played from your profile card across various Google Workspace tools such as Gmail or Google Docs on web or mobile devices. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more about name pronunciation.

Easy access to people, documents, building blocks and more in Google Docs

When moving to a blank line within your Doc, you will see an “@” button with the option to select, search and insert smart chips, such as people, dates, timers, or files, building blocks, calendar events, groups and more. | Learn more about bringing smart canvas features to the forefront of your workflow.

Excuse assignments in Google Classroom

Teachers can mark an assignment for a particular student as “Excused” instead of giving it a 0-100 score. This will exclude that particular assignment from the student’s overall grade. | Learn more about excusing assignments.

Introducing interactive questions for YouTube videos in Google Classroom

Educators can now turn any YouTube video into an interactive lesson by adding questions for their students to answer throughout the video. | Available to Education Plus and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade only. | Learn more about interactive videos.

Introducing the Bitbucket app for Google Chat

We’re adding Bitbucket for Google Chat. Bitbucket is a Git-based code and CI/CD tool optimized for teams using Atlassian’s Jira. | Learn more about Bitbucket app for Google Chat.

Use “Profile Discovery” to display basic information only in search results, available in open beta

Google Workspace admins can now turn on “Profile discovery” for their users. When turned on, users can customize how they appear across Google products to people who search for them by their phone number or email. Specifically, you can choose how you want your name to be displayed and how your profile picture will be displayed. | Learn more about Profile Discovery.

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:

Filter by people or groups in Google Drive

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).

Create, modify, and insert email templates within Groups messages

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

What’s changing When you’re using Groups to send messages, you can save a composed message as a template to reuse in the future.

Directly in Groups, you can create and save messages as a template. Templates can also be deleted.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it We know users rely heavily on sending messages from Groups, and often these messages closely resemble one another with only specific information requiring updates. Now, instead of typing the same message from scratch, you can compose and save your reply as a template, saving you time and accelerating your workflows. Some examples include:

Saving time on a new lead introduction by filling in only critical details, such as the recipient name and one sentence pitch.
As a teacher, create a template to quickly share daily homework assignments day after day.
When sending project updates, use a template to avoid the trouble of creating status reports from scratch.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using email templates in Groups. Note that templates are specific to individual users and are not shared across other Group owners, managers, or members.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Groups Help: Create & respond to messages

New membership limits for Google Groups

Monday, May 15, 2023

What’s changingAs a security measure, the Google Groups for Business service has limits for message activity, group size, invitations, and membership. Starting today, we’re increasing the limits for the number of direct and indirect group memberships for which a user can have:

Direct: 3,000 memberships (increasing from 2,000)

Combined direct and indirect: 7,500 memberships (increasing from 5,000)

If you're the owner or manager of a group, it counts as two memberships—one as a group member and one as the owner or manager. A user is an indirect member of a group if they belong to a different group that's nested in the group. Visit the Help Center to learn more.Increasing these membership limits gives our customers more flexibility to scale and manage their use of Groups, especially those with complex group structures.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: This update is available now for all Google Workspace customers.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Understand Groups policies and limits

Assign admin roles to specific groups

Tuesday, April 18, 2023

What’s changing Scale and secure your role-based access controls (RBAC) practice on Workspace by leveraging a new capability for role assignments to groups. You can now assign admin roles to groups in addition to or instead of individual users. For example, you can assign the service admin role to an existing group that contains all of the IT admins in your organization.
Currently, there is a limit of 500 role assignments— since groups can contain unlimited members, this gives you more flexibility to manage roles as needed. This is particularly helpful for larger organizations, allowing them to pare down their role assignments without exceeding the limits.
Also, roles assigned to groups will automatically reflect changes in underlying membership of the group. This allows admins to manage role assignments at a higher-entity level vs adding/removing end-users one at a time to maintain updated privileges.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Available now.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to Google Cloud Identity Premium customers

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 12, 2022

Friday, August 12, 2022

You can now give an entire Google Group access to your Gmail account through mail delegation. With this feature, delegated users can read, send, and delete messages on the account owner's behalf. We hope this will enable teams to more effectively process incoming requests and tasks via a single shared email address. | Available to Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers only. | Learn more.

Granular controls for app allowlisting in the Google Workspace Marketplace

Admins can now choose which Google Workspace Marketplace apps are available to be installed by users in a particular department (OU) or group by managing Marketplace apps on their allowlist. Previously, admins could only manage the allowlist for an entire ___domain. Additionally, the Marketplace apps access settings, Allow all apps, Allow selected apps, and Block all apps, can now be set for your entire organization or for an OU or group. This new functionality provides a solution when only a subset of ___domain users need permissions to install certain Marketplace apps. Examples include Chat apps required for your Engineering organization and IT security group or Classroom add-ons required for high-school teachers. | Available to Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers only. | Learn more.

Seamlessly delete subsets of Sites

Site editors can now delete a page with subpages and delete pages that were copied into another site during a partial site copy. | Roll out to Rapid Release began August 8, 2022; launch to Scheduled Release planned for August 29, 2022. | Learn more.

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.

Office Building support for Working Locations

We’ve added the ability to select a specific office building as your working ___location. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Business customers only. | Learn more.

Improving data privacy with Client-side encryption for Google Meet

We’ve added Workspace Client-side encryption to Google Meet, giving customers increased control over their data. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers hosting client-side encrypted calls only. | Learn more.

Stronger protection for sensitive Google Workspace account actions

There are now stronger safeguards for sensitive actions taken in your Google Workspace account. These apply to actions that, when done by hijackers, can have far reaching consequences for the account owner or the organization it belongs to. | Learn more.

The Google Meet and Google Duo app icons are changing, additional information for Google Workspace users

As part of the announcement that we are upgrading the Duo experience to include all Google Meet features, users will now begin to see their app name and icon update to Google Meet. | Learn more.

Better ___location context for events and RSVPs in Calendar

We’ve made it even easier to use RSVPs in Google Calendar and let others know how you’re planning to join a meeting. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, Teaching & Learning Upgrade, Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Business customers only. | Learn more.

Improved notifications when editing Microsoft Office files in Docs, Sheets, and Slides

We’ve rolled out a series of improvements to the notifications you see when editing a Microsoft Office-formatted file with Office editing mode. | Learn more.

Unified experience for Gmail logs in BigQuery, configure your existing Gmail logs to route to Workspace logs

In the coming months, we will move the ___location of the existing Gmail logs in BigQuery to Google Workspace logs and reports in BigQuery. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Education Standard customers only. | Learn more.

Google Meet call control for USB peripheral devices

We've introduced additional call control for Google Meet which will allow you to toggle between mute and unmute using headsets, speaker microphones, and other USB peripheral devices. | Learn more.

Control visibility of admin alerts with admin role privileges

There is a new control that allows super admins to create a custom rule which ensures only admins with the DLP privilege can see DLP alerts. | Learn more.

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

Create dynamic groups by querying custom user attributes

Thursday, April 21, 2022

Quick summary Dynamic groups can now be defined by querying custom user attributes, allowing for more definitive group definitions based on user directory information. Admins can define memberships using a variety of conditions, such as a users:

Country
Domain
Department
Language and more.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about dynamic groups, managing memberships automatically with dynamic groups, and membership query examples for dynamic groups.
End users: There is no end user impact.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 17, 2021

Friday, December 17, 2021

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.

Prevent unwanted invitations from being added to your calendar

We've improved the "Automatically add invitations" setting to help prevent unwanted invitations from being added to your calendar. You can choose to either: always have invitations automatically added or only have them automatically added if you have RSVP’d in the email event invitation. | Learn more here.

Easily see which account you’re currently using in Google Calendar on mobile

We’ve added account profile pictures in the top corner of Google Calendar on mobile so you can confidently tell which account you’re currently using and easily toggle between accounts. | Learn more.

Automatically move breakout room participants back to the original meeting

Google Meet costs and co-hosts can now automatically move break out room participants back to the main meeting room. Additionally, we’ve added better visual indicators for breakout room participants to indicate this movement. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Nonprofits and Education Plus as well as G Suite Business customers. | Learn more.

Use your Google Meet hardware-connected displays as digital signage

Admins have several new options to control how screen savers are displayed on their Google Meet hardware devices. | Learn more.

Expanded occupancy detection capabilities for Google Meet hardware devices
We’ve significantly expanded our occupancy detection capabilities on Google Meet hardware devices beyond Series One devices. Additionally, we have made improvements to the Room insights dashboard in the Admin console. | Learn more.

Configure member restrictions for groups, now generally available

In October 2021, we announced an open beta for group level controls that allow admins and end users who are group owners to restrict group memberships based on internal or external members and member type. This feature is now generally available. | Learn more.

Making dynamic groups more powerful with custom user attributes and OrgUnit queries

We’re further expanding the functionality of dynamic groups: dynamic groups can now be defined by querying custom user attributes and can also be defined based on users’ membership in Organizational Units (OUs). | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more.

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

Making dynamic groups more powerful with custom user attributes and OrgUnit queries

Thursday, December 16, 2021

What’s changing Google Groups are a convenient way for Workspaces users to collaborate and a powerful tool for admins to apply consistent security and access policies to sets of users or devices. Dynamic groups further enhance this functionality by allowing group membership to be automatically updated based on parameters such as ___location, department, or job title.
Today we are further extending the functionality of dynamic groups in two important ways:

First, dynamic groups can now be defined by querying custom user attributes. This functionality is available as an open beta (no sign up required).
Second, dynamic groups can also be defined based on users’ membership in Organizational Units (OUs). This feature is now generally available.

Who’s impacted Admins only

Why you’d use it Dynamic groups can be used for email distribution lists, access control, group based policy, and more. Compared to regular Google Groups they have the added benefit that memberships are automatically kept up-to-date. Automating membership management increases security, reduces errors, and alleviates user frustration while minimizing the burden on admins.
These new features expand the utility of dynamic groups for organizations that take advantage of custom user attributes and organizational units. They can further tailor dynamic groups to meet the specific needs of their organization. For example these organizations could now:

Create a dynamic group for all users of a subsidiary (an organizational unit) based in a particular city or state.
Create a dynamic group with all users with a custom attribute of a “job_skill” or “speciality”.

Getting started

Admins: To take advantage of this new dynamic group functionality, you will need to have already defined custom user fields or organizational units.

Once this is in place you can test membership queries and then create / update dynamic groups to take advantage of them.

End users: Not available to end users.

Rollout pace

Custom user attribute queries are available now for all users in open beta (no sign up required)
Organizational unit based dynamic group queries are now generally available for all users.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Configure member restrictions for groups, available in open beta

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

What’s changing We’re adding group level controls that will allow admins to restrict group memberships based on:

Internal or external members,
Member type (service account, user, group)
This feature is available as an open beta, which means you can use it without enrolling in a specific beta program.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users who are group owners and managers

Why it’s important This feature helps ensure Groups are properly configured and stay within the confines of specific restrictions. For example, if an Admin configures a group to exclude service accounts, that restriction will be preserved and enforced for all future group changes.
Once a restriction is in place, we’ll indicate whether there are violating memberships and suggested actions to resolve the discrepancy. Further, this feature will prevent any new changes from violating the current setting, ensuring the group remains secure.

Additional details Important note: Group owners and managers cannot remove restrictions once they’re applied, but may be able to add additional restrictions. For example, If a group is configured to contain individual users and groups, the group owner could further restrict it to only users. However, the group owner could not change a group which is set up to only contain individuals to allow both individuals and groups. Use our Help Center to learn more.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about applying member restrictions on groups and use our API documentation to learn more about managing group restrictions with the Cloud Identity API.
Group owners and managers: Use this guide to learn more about setting and viewing Group restrictions using the Cloud Identity API.
End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 5, 2021

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Use the “Inspect Groups” function to view a users direct and indirect group membership

Friday, September 3, 2021

What’s changing You can now quickly surface information regarding specific users and the groups they are part of directly in the Admin console.

View direct and indirect members of a group: Enables you to see an expanded view of all memberships in a group. This allows to see a single view of all memberships for a nested group structure
Check Membership: This allows you to validate whether a user is a member of a particular group.
List all groups for a member: You can view a list of all groups a user is a member of, the email address or addresses associated with the group, and the group relation (indirect, direct, or both). See below for more information.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important In order to manage access to content and resources within their organization, Admins use numerous groups to ensure proper access for their users. This also involves nesting groups, adding another layer of complexity.
This feature will give Admins a clear understanding of the group structures for any user in their organization, all in one place. We hope this feature makes it easier for Admins to take action on managing their users by providing all the necessary information, such as all groups a user is part of and their membership status.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be available by default and can be accessed in the Admin console by going to Groups > Inspect Groups and Groups > Select Group > Members > Direct and Indirect Members. Visit the Help Center to learn more about tracking group information in the Groups list and viewing a group's members.
Developers: See our developer documentation for more details on the Cloud Identity Groups API and the Membership Hierarchy and Visibility API Guide.
End users: No action required.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Security groups are now generally available

Tuesday, August 24, 2021

What’s changingIn 2020, we launched security groups to beta. Beginning today, this feature is now generally available. Security groups help you easily regulate, audit, and monitor groups used for permission and access control purposes. They enable admins to:

Apply a label to any existing Google Group to distinguish it from email-list groups.

Provide strong guarantees that:

External groups (owned outside your organization) and non-security groups cannot be added as a member of a security group.
Security labels, once assigned to a group, cannot be removed. This ensures that once a group is used for security purposes, it will remain in that state.

Why it’s important

Groups are used in a variety of ways. This can include groups that help teams communicate and collaborate, as well as groups that control access to important apps and resources. Security groups can help customers manage these categories of groups differently to increase their overall security posture.

For example, if you have compliance or regulatory requirements for managing access control, you may have set up naming conventions to keep track of which groups were used for this purpose. With security groups, you can now assign a security label to these groups and more easily manage them without having to use workarounds like naming conventions.

Getting started

Rollout pace

This feature is available now.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials and Frontline customers

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Provide more secure access to data & resources
Developers Guide: Updating a Google Group to a security group
Google Workspace Updates Blog: Security groups help manage groups used for security and access control
Google Workspace Updates Blog: Use dynamic security groups for group based policies

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - July 30, 2021

Friday, July 30, 2021

New updatesUnless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), 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), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.
Delegate Information is now available in Gmail Log Search
Email log search now indicates when an email was sent on behalf of the user by a delegate. In cases where a delegate sent the email, the delegate will be listed, along with the sender, in message details in email log search. Delegate information will only be available on emails sent after this change rolls out. | Available to all Google Workspace with Gmail enabled. | Learn more.
New font in Workspace improves accessibility for vision impaired
Now there's a new font in Workspace optimized for vision impaired users. When you create or want to read a document, set the font to Atkinson Hyperlegible for improved legibility.

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.

Improvements for braille mode in Google Docs provide a richer, more interactive experience

We've improved how suggestions are announced in braille mode in Google Docs. You’ll now hear detailed suggestion information inline with the rest of the text — this includes whether the suggestion is an insertion or deletion, and the author of the suggestion. | Learn more.

Disabling File Transfer in Google Chat

Admins can now disable or limit file sharing for their users in Chat. Specifically, admins

will be able to specify controls within and outside their organization, and will be able to choose between restricting all files, allowing images only, or allowing all files. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Enterprise Essentials | Learn more.

Alert Center enrichment with VirusTotal threat context now generally available

Earlier this year, we pre-announced an integration between the Alert Center and VirusTotal. Currently, the Google Workspace Alert Center provides admins with actionable, real-time alerts and insights regarding security-related activity in their ___domain. With the VirusTotal (now part of Google Cloud) integration, admins have the ability to dig into their alerts at a deeper level. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals and Education Plus customers. | Learn More.

Use dynamic security groups for group based policies

Google Workspace admins can now use dynamic groups to manage policies for their users in the Admin console. Previously, it was only possible to apply these policies to static groups and OUs. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.

Workspace for Education Plus now syncs Google Classroom courses and rosters with Student Information Systems

U.S. school districts with Google Workspace for Education Plus will be able to automatically set up Google Classroom courses and keep rosters in sync with their Student Information System (SIS). IT admins will do the setup via Clever, meaning teachers will no longer need to manually create classes and invite students to join them. | Learn More.

Enhancements to Google Voice

We’ve made several enhancements to Google Voice, including information and troubleshooting tips for missed calls, the ability to easily redial dropped calls, the ability to delete SMS messages in bulk, and an option to show your Google Voice number as the caller ID when forwarding calls. | Learn more.

Search within a folder in Google Drive on iOS

You can now search for content inside a specific folder in Google Drive on iOS. Simply navigate to the folder you want to search within and select the search bar — you’ll see a list of suggested folders, documents, and users to refine your search results. Select the folder chip before typing your search query. | Learn more.

Assign SSO profile to organizational units or groups with the new SAML Partial SSO beta

Currently, you can configure to authenticate your users using a third-party identity provider — this configuration applies to all users within your ___domain. Now, you have the option to specify groups or organizational units (OUs) to authenticate a subset of your users using Google. This feature is available as an open beta. | Learn more.

New enrollment privilege and naming updates for Google Meet hardware in the Admin console

We are making two improvements to the admin controls for Google Meet hardware: a new enrollment privilege admins and updates for hardware management in the Admin console. | Learn more.

Use the new Google Meet web app for better meetings on desktop devices

We’ve launched a new Google Meet standalone web app. This Progressive Web Application (PWA) has all the same features as Google Meet on the web, but as a standalone app it’s easier to find and use, and it streamlines your workflow by eliminating the need to switch between tabs. | Learn more.

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

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.

______________

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.

______________

Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - February 14, 2025

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 20, 2024

Now generally available: the Groups Editor & Groups Reader roles can now be provisioned for specific group types

Available in open beta: prevent sensitive changes by locking Groups

Available in open beta: the Groups Admin role can now be provisioned for specific group types

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 15, 2023

Create, modify, and insert email templates within Groups messages

New membership limits for Google Groups

Assign admin roles to specific groups

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 12, 2022

Create dynamic groups by querying custom user attributes

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - December 17, 2021

Making dynamic groups more powerful with custom user attributes and OrgUnit queries

Configure member restrictions for groups, available in open beta

Use the “Inspect Groups” function to view a users direct and indirect group membership

Security groups are now generally available

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - July 30, 2021

Filter by product

Filter by date

Subscribe by feed

Subscribe by email

Localized Google Workspace Updates

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

Learn about more Google Workspace launches