Google Workspace Updates: July 2016

Announcing Android add-ons for Docs and Sheets

Thursday, July 28, 2016

(Cross-posted on the Google for Work blog)

We know many of you consider your mobile device as your primary tool to consume business information, but what if you could use it to get more work done, from anywhere?

We’re excited to introduce Android add-ons for Docs and Sheets, a new way for you to do just that—whether it’s readying a contract you have for e-signature from your phone, or pulling in CRM data on your tablet for some quick analysis while waiting for your morning coffee, Android add-ons can help you accomplish more.

Get more done with your favorite third-party apps, no matter where you are

We’ve worked with eight integration partners who have created seamless integrations for Docs and Sheets. Here’s a preview of just a few of them:

DocuSign - Trigger or complete a signing process from Docs or Sheets, and save the executed document to Drive. Read more here.

DocuSign lets you easily create signature envelopes right from Google Docs

ProsperWorks - Import your CRM data to create and update advanced dashboards, reports, and graphs on Sheets, right from your device. Read more here.

AppSheet - Create powerful mobile apps directly from your data in Sheets instantly—no coding required. Read more here.

Scanbot - Scan your business documents using built-in OCR, and insert their contents into Docs as editable text. Read more here.

You can find these add-ons and many more, including PandaDoc, ZohoCRM, Teacher Aide, EasyBib, and Classroom in our Google Play collection, as well as directly from the add-on menus in Docs or Sheets.

Try them out today, and see how much more you can do.

Please note that Android add-ons will the respect same administrative controls as web add-ons. For more information on enabling and deploying add-ons within your organization, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Enable add-ons in Google Docs editors
Help Center: Use add-ons & Apps Script

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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What’s new with Chrome devices for meetings?

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

With the recent release of Chrome OS 52 stable, the Chrome for Work team is excited to announce the following updates:

Timed reboot
We have improved the scheduled reboot feature in the Admin console to allow domain administrators to set a more specific schedule for rebooting their devices. Until now it was only possible to apply a general schedule that allowed you to specify the number of days before a reboot.

Promoting the present short link feature on CfM home screen
Presenting wirelessly without a cable is a great Hangouts feature, but many users are not aware that it exists. We are featuring a promotion that highlights the g.co/present short link functionality on the home screen of Chrome devices for meetings.

Launch Details
Release track:
All features launched to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Better group chat controls are coming to Google Hangouts

Monday, July 25, 2016

Many organizations use group chats in Google Hangouts to manage projects, plan events, and participate in other chat and collaboration tasks. We're happy to announce that in the coming weeks several features are coming to Google Hangouts to make it more easy and useful to use group chats at work:

Share your group chats with short links

Group chat participants can now share a link to invite others to join the chat. This is particularly useful for onboarding new team members to a project, or to reach everyone in a mailing list. Rather than adding everyone at once, people can opt-in to the group chat.

Search for groups from your Google Hangouts contacts list

In order to make it easier to get to your group chats, you can also easily find your group conversations by searching for the group name or participant name.

Additional controls to manage group chat access

When team members leave a project, it may be necessary to remove them from group chats. Now, anyone who is directly invited to a chat will be able to remove others from the group chat, removing that person’s access to the chat history and notifying the group participants. Only by being directly invited back by someone already in the group, can the former member rejoin the chat.

Note for Administrators

These Google Hangouts changes to group chats will continue to follow the administrative controls you’ve set in the Admin console. You can learn more in this Help Center article.

Link sharing and removing from groups on Google Hangouts is now available on all platforms. Group search is already available on Android and will be coming to the web and iOS soon. Finally, we’re looking at additional ways to make group conversations even better in the future, so please stay tuned.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Start a group Hangout
Help Center: Administrator settings

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Launch detail categories
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Google Drive shared folders are now easier for recipients to use

Monday, July 25, 2016

Many Google Apps customers use Drive shared folders to collaborate on projects, keep historical records, or complete tasks with their team. Starting today, we’re rolling out several improvements to Google Drive’s shared folders to make them more actionable and useful to the recipients they’re being sent to.

Shared content now behaves like the content that you own

Signed-in recipients of Google Drive shared folders will now be able to access the contents in Drive (without having to add to My Drive) and will see the full functionality of Drive when receiving shared folders. This includes adding and modifying files, creating new folders, changing your notification subscriptions, and more. Just like how you’re used to in My Drive, you have the ability to modify the files directly from the landing page.

We’re also looking to further improve shared folder collaboration in the future. We hope this starting point makes collaborating with others simpler for you and your teams.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in 2 weeks

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Announcing Training for Google Apps

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Whether you’ve just gone Google or have been using Google Apps for years, IT departments always have a need to train new users and keep them up to date on the latest technologies. In a perfect world, each employee would have helpful IT staff by their side to guide them every step of the way, but that’s not always possible, nor is it really practical. That’s why we are excited to announce Training for Google Apps, the newest training resource available to all Google Apps organizations.

What is Training for Google Apps?

Designed to be simple and efficient, Training for Google Apps is a new interactive in-app learning experience to help users get quickly up and running with Google Apps. Built on the Google Cloud Platform, Training for Google Apps acts like a virtual coach inside of the Google Apps interface. Users have access to voice and text interactive modules that are searchable by topic within any of the Google Apps products, which includes Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Google+, and even Classroom.

Modules are available in Japanese, German, Chinese, English, French, and more.

How can Training for Google Apps help me?

Based on our customer studies, we’ve seen that organizations that deploy Training for Google Apps see an average of 35 percent higher adoption across Apps products. Here are a few examples of things you can quickly get your admins and end-users trained on:

Setting up your email signature
Recovering Deleted Email
Set Expiring Dates for Shared Documents
And hundreds more

Learn about key features right inside the app!

Whether it’s to master Google Apps, Google Classroom or the Google Apps Admin console, Training for Google Apps can help your entire organization.

Here’s how to get started

Training for Google Apps can be deployed quickly and easily to all your Chrome and ChromeOS users, all from the Google Apps Admin console. You can use Chrome Management (available to all Google Apps customers) to centrally manage installation of the extension. Please see our Help Center article for more information.

We look forward to hearing how you’ll use Training for Google Apps to help your users with the critical task of change management and application support.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users (if deployed by Administrator)

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI
(Resources provided below in the Help Center.)

More Information
Help Center: Training for Google Apps Overview
Chrome Webstore: Training for Google Apps

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Easily prepare financial statements with a new Google Sheets template from Xero

Tuesday, July 19, 2016

Financial statements are a crucial means by which businesses report their profits, losses, assets, and expenditures. Today, with accounting software company Xero, we’re making it easier for organizations to create financial statements in Google Sheets on the web and mobile.

Simply access the Financial statements template from the Sheets homescreen, and get started by entering and categorizing your business transactions. The template will automatically update charts and graphs illustrating your company’s sales, expenses, revenue, and more. For more information, check out this video.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Docs, Sheets, and Slides templates
Video: Financial Statements template | Xero

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Choose a file’s folder location when you make a copy in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Monday, July 18, 2016

Previously, when you made a copy of a Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file, that copy would be automatically added to your My Drive folder—instead of the original file’s folder as most people would expect. Going forward, when you make a copy of a Docs, Sheets, or Slides file on the web, you’ll be able to choose which folder to place the file in. This should reduce confusion and make it easier to organize your Docs, Sheets, and Slides files.

Update (August 5th, 2016): Please note that this feature is only available when making copies in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides; the option does not appear in Google Drive.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to Rapid release, with Scheduled release coming in two weeks

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Delegated admins can now use the Google Admin app on Android devices

Monday, July 18, 2016

Google recognizes that delegated admins have highly important responsibilities at many organizations, from creating users to managing Google Groups to turning services on and off. And we understand that it’s important for them to perform as many of these functions as possible from anywhere, at any time. That’s why, starting today, we’re granting access to the Google Admin app on Android to all delegated admins (previously, only super admins could use the app).

Delegated admins can download the app from the Google Play Store. Once downloaded, those admins will only have access to those features that correspond to their delegated responsibilities. For instance, an admin who does not have permission to manage Google Groups will not see the Groups option in their app.

For more information, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Manage Google Apps from an Android device

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Launch detail categories
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Automatically provision users with SCIM 2.0

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

In the past year, we’ve launched support for single sign-on for dozens of third-party applications, including Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, Workday, and Dropbox, making it easier for end users to sign into these services and for Apps admins to manage their end users’ IDs and passwords. The process of creating, modifying, and deleting end user identities in third-party applications, however, has remained manual, time-consuming, and prone to human error. Starting today, we’re using SCIM 2.0 to make those processes simpler and quicker for admins.

Following this launch, admins will be able to set up automated user provisioning and deprovisioning for Salesforce.com and other apps (with support for more applications coming soon). Once auto-provisioning is enabled for a third-party application, an admin will be able to add, modify, or delete a user in the Admin console, and that user’s info will be added, modified, or deleted from the third-party application as well. Admins will also be able to check the status of and pull reports on user provisioning for all configured apps.

Admins will have even greater control when deprovisioning these apps. For instance, an admin will be able to specify how many days after a user’s Google account is deleted that their third-party application account should be suspended and deleted as well. This configurability will allow admins to remove a user’s access immediately, while also providing them the time necessary to review an account and save or transfer any important data.

For specific details on how to set up auto-provisioning, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: User provisioning

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
Get these product update alerts by email
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Reminder: Turn down of Google Drive web hosting coming soon

Tuesday, July 12, 2016

(Cross-posted on Google Apps Developer Blog)

Posted by Hodie Meyers, Product Manager, Google Drive and Steve Bazyl, Developer Programs Engineer, Google Apps

Last year, we announced the deprecation of Google Drive web hosting for users and developers, and that the service will be shut down on August 31, 2016. We’d like to remind remaining users that websites hosted via googledrive.com/host/[id] will become unavailable from that date.

For those who haven’t switched yet, please consider the following alternatives.

Google Drive API: If you’re using the web hosting feature to provide logged-in users access to public Drive items, you can use the API instead.
Firebase Hosting: If you’re using the web hosting feature to provide users access to static web pages whose content lives on Drive, you can migrate to Firebase by uploading the content to Firebase and serving pages via Firebase-specific URLs. Please see this video to learn more!
Google Cloud Platform: If you’re already a Google Cloud Platform customer, we recommend migrating to Google Cloud Platform static-website hosting.

Gmail API: New endpoints for settings

Thursday, July 7, 2016

(Cross-posted on Google Apps Developer Blog)

Posted by Brandon Jewett-Hall, Software Engineer, Gmail and Wesley Chun, Developer Advocate, Google Apps

If you've been pining for a way to update your users' email signatures with a different inspirational quote each day or enable "Out of Office" auto-replies when their calendars are marked as busy, then you're in luck. Today, we're extending the Gmail API with new endpoints for managing settings. These new endpoints cover the following features:

Filters
Forwarding addresses and auto-forwarding
IMAP and POP settings
Send-as aliases
Signatures
Vacation responder

With this update, we're equipping developers with some new tools that have never been available in any previous Google API. These include the ability to:

Retrieve and update signatures for send-as aliases
Configure forwarding to external addresses
Configure send-as aliases that send mail through external providers
Use HTML in vacation messages
Manipulate settings for gmail.com accounts

Over time we'll continue to expand the API with additional settings features such as support for managing mailbox delegates, so stay tuned for more announcements.

Get started now

Most of the settings endpoints are available for any Google Apps or Gmail account, but a few sensitive operations, such as modifying send-as aliases or forwarding, are restricted to service accounts with domain-wide authority. See the reference docs for more details and to get started.

What about the existing Email Settings API in the Admin SDK?

This update to the Gmail API effectively replaces the older Email Settings API, so we're also announcing its deprecation today and will turn it down fully on July 7, 2017. We've put together a migration guide to assist clients in porting their existing integrations over to their newer counterparts in the Gmail API. If you have any issues, check out the gmail-api tag on StackOverflow.

We look forward to seeing what you build with these new features in the Gmail API!

Check the real-time status of a user’s enrollment in two-step verification

Thursday, July 7, 2016

In order to deploy two-step verification (2SV) to your organizations, you need to have insight into which end users have and have not enrolled for the feature. Starting today, you can view the real-time status of an individual user’s enrollment in 2SV directly from the user list in the Admin console. To get started, you’ll need to add the 2-step verification enrollment column to the Users page.

For more details and instructions, check out the Help Center.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: View user security settings and revoke access

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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What's New in Google Apps newsletter - June 2016

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Check out the latest "What's New in Google Apps" newsletter [pdf] for a roundup of all Apps launches from June 2016.

Newsletter Archive & Translated Versions (coming soon for June issue)

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Updated version (v1.6) of Google Apps Password Sync (GAPS)

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Google Apps Password Sync (GAPS) version 1.6 is now available for download:

What’s New

Added support for Windows Server Core 2008 and 2012 installations.
Added Service Account support for Google Apps authentication. This is required for Core Server installations and is optional on non-Core Server installations.
GAPS can now be installed and configured from the command line.
LDAP configuration can now use the GAPS service security context removing the need to provide Active Directory administrator credentials.
Improved error messages in the configuration wizard.
Added crash reporting. These are stored on the GAPS server and not transmitted to Google.
Windows Server 2003 is no longer supported.

What’s Fixed

The GAPS UI now correctly displays an egg timer icon while performing tasks triggered by other actions such as the user pressing the Previous, Next and Authorize Now buttons.
GAPS will retry network timeouts and 5xx server errors encountered when trying to refresh its OAuth access token.
Users who are not Windows domain admins can no longer start the GAPS configuration wizard. Previously, they could open the wizard but receive an error when trying to save the configuration.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid release and Scheduled release

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action required (download the latest version)

More Information
Help Center

Note: all launches are applicable to all Google Apps editions unless otherwise noted

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Useful Links

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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.