Google Workspace Updates: Google Photos

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - September 15, 2023

Friday, September 15, 2023

4 New updates Unless 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.

Insert links in the Google Sheets app on iOS devices

We’re adding the ability to insert a hyperlink into a cell in the Google Sheets iOS app by selecting a cell > clicking “+” in the top left corner > Insert > Link. If a cell contains a link, you’ll see options to edit or remove the link. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about working with links & bookmarks.

Insert links in the Google Sheets app on iOS devices

Enhanced spam protection through automatic labeling of suspected spam messages in Google Voice

If you're using Google Voice, you're familiar with our suspected spam caller warnings. We're extending this feature to SMS messages on Android and iOS devices. You'll see these labels within the message, and you can either:

Confirm a suspected spam message, which causes future messages from that number to go directly into the spam folder.
Mark a labeled message as not spam, after which the suspected spam label is never displayed for that number again.

Available to Voice Starter, Standard, and Premier customers, as well as users with personal accounts in the US. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains at an extended pace (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility).

Enhanced spam protection through automatic labeling of suspected spam messages in Google Voice

Birthday decorations for people cards

In Google Contacts and across various Google Workspace products, you’ll begin to notice birthday decorations when hovering over another user’s people card. This small change can have a big impact on building deeper connections with your colleagues and stakeholders. Birthday decorations will be displayed on your birthday if you’ve added your birthday to your Google Account profile and you’ve set the information to be visible to others. | Available now for all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about your Google Account profile and what information others can see.

Add an organizational unit as an attribute in your external directory

When using Directory Sync, you can now place users from the Azure Active Directory or Active Directory to a specific organizational unit on the Google Workspace side. To do so, you’ll need to add an organizational unit as an attribute in your external directory. This makes it easier to sync users who will be mapped to different organizational units on the Google Workspace side. | Directory Sync is available as an open beta to all Google Workspace customers. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up users to sync based on an organizational unit attribute.

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.

Dual Display on Poly Studio X Series Makes Video Meetings More Productive

We are excited to announce dual display support for Google Meet on the Poly Studio X Series to help make video meetings more productive. With dual displays, you can see more meeting participants, presentations, and documents at once, which can help you stay focused and engaged in meetings. | Available to Google Workspace customers with Poly Studio X50, X52, and X70 devices only. | Learn more about Dual Display on Poly Studio X Series.

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:

Find what you need faster with new Google Drive organizational options
Adding bulk conversion for place chips in Google Sheets
Import and convert sensitive Excel files into client-side encrypted Google Sheets
Lock files more easily in Google Drive
Evolving collaboration in Google Chat with smart chips
Expanding autocorrect to Google Chat

Scheduled Release Domains:

A new look for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides apps on Android devices

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

Introducing membership search and the option to add up to 50,000 members to spaces in Google Chat (Membership search on iOS)
See message view counts in Google Chat spaces (web)
Enhance your Google Keep notes on Android with rich text formatting
Filter by expression for Connected Sheets for Looker
Increased row limits in Connected Sheets for BigQuery
Expanded language support for captions in Google Meet
Dual Display on Poly Studio X Series Makes Video Meetings More Productive
Birthday decorations for people cards

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

Save photos from Gmail messages directly to Google Photos with a new “Save to Photos” button

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

What’s changingNow when you get a photo attachment in a Gmail message, you can save it directly to Google Photos with a new "Save to Photos" button. You’ll see it next to the existing “Add to Drive” button on the attachment and while previewing the image attachment. Currently, this is only available for JPEG images.

Save to Photos Button from a Gmail attachment

Use the Save to Photos option while previewing an image in Gmail

Who’s impacted
End users
Why you’d use it
This new feature frees you from having to download photo attachments from Gmail messages in order to then manually back them up to Google Photos.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

End users: This feature will be ON by default. For an eligible photo, you can choose the "Save to Photos" button which is alongside a similar option to "Add to Drive." Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to upload files and folders to Google Drive.

Rollout pace
Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 26, 2021

Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers. Also available to users with personal Google Accounts.
Resources

Google Drive Help: Upload files and folders to Google Drive

Changes to Google Workspace storage policies starting June 1, 2021

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

UpdateMarch 31, 2021: We've made some changes to the storage policy timeline. Please see this post for more information

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 - September 15, 2023

Save photos from Gmail messages directly to Google Photos with a new “Save to Photos” button

Changes to Google Workspace storage policies starting June 1, 2021

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