Google Workspace Updates: Google Drawings

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 12, 2024

Friday, January 12, 2024

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.
Version history limits for Apps Script projects For all new scripts, you’ll be able to create and save up to 200 versions of your script. If needed, you can permanently delete a script version from the project history page. | This is available now to all Google Workspace customers. | Learn more using our developer documentation on working with Apps Script versions.

Share a link to a specific time in a Google Drive video We’re adding new functionality to the Drive sharing button that lets you share timestamped links to specific parts of a video. On web, simply navigate to drive.google.com > find and open a video file > play the video (you can pause the playback before performing the following steps) > select the dropdown on the “Share” button in the top-right corner > select “Copy link to this time” > send the link. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more about copying a specific time in the video.

Share a link to a specific time in a Google Drive video

Introducing dropdown options on the sharing button in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and DrawingsWe’re adding a new feature that ensures a seamless sharing experience across Workspace. In Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings, you will now see a dropdown on the Share button that surfaces quick actions, such as pending access requests and the “Copy link” option. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts.

Using functions in Connected Sheets for BigQuery Today, Connected Sheets for BigQuery supports 23 Sheets functions, such as AVERAGE and XLOOKUP. However, all of these functions behave somewhat differently than their native counterparts. Thus, to help Connected Sheets users write better functions, we now display context-aware Help Center content in Sheets. The ‘formula help’ shows descriptions for Connected Sheets functions when writing a formula that would query BigQuery, and otherwise shows descriptions of native Sheets functions. | This is available now to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more about the XLOOKUP function.

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

Updates to metrics in Google Drive Apps Reports and Reports API We’re making some updates to the Google Drive metrics in the Admin Console Apps reports and the Reports API. As a result of these improvements, admins who analyze metrics will have more reporting clarity and can better understand activity trends within their domain. | Learn more about metrics in Drive Apps Reports and Reports API.

Easily share Google Drive files to Google Calendar meeting attendees

We’re introducing the option to share any file with all meeting participants on a Google Calendar invite via the sharing dialog within a file. | Learn more about sharing Drive files to Calendar.

Google Meet is now available on Logitech Android appliances

Google Meet is now supported on Logitech’s Rally Bar and Rally Bar Mini Android-based appliances for collaboration rooms and spaces of just about any size. After initial setup, admins can easily enroll, manage, and monitor these devices using the Google admin console. Google Meet on Logitech Android-based devices is supported on CollabOS v1.11 as a video conferencing provider | Learn more about Meet on Logitech Android appliances.

Google Meet hardware devices from Poly now support interoperability with Cisco Webex and Zoom

We’re expanding the existing interoperability between Google Meet, Cisco Webex, and Zoom to include Android-based Meet hardware devices from Poly. Specifically, these devices include: Poly Studio X30, X50, X52, and X70. | Learn more about support interoperability with Cisco Webex and Zoom.

Extending Trusted Types to Gmail

We’re excited to announce the expansion of Trusted Types to Gmail. This will provide a defense against DOM XSS and further enhances our advanced data protection controls to keep users and data safe across more of the apps they use everyday. | Learn more about Trusted Types.

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:

Take Google Meet on-the-go with ease (iOS)
1:1 video calling in the Google Meet mobile app is now available (Android & iOS)
Streamlining the user experience in Google Chat to help you find what you need much faster
Star important messages in Google Chat
Additional enhancements to the search results page 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).

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - September 8, 2023

Friday, September 8, 2023

5 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.

Expanding autocorrect to Google Chat on web

Google Chat on web will now automatically correct misspelled words, making it easier to send messages without typos. Similar to functionality in Gmail and Google Docs, the corrected words are shown with a gray underline so you know when the auto-correction has occurred. | This feature is rolling out now to all English users.

Expanding autocorrect to Google Chat on web

Expanding streamlined file organization across Google Workspace

Earlier this year, we introduced streamlined file organization with the new Google Drive location picker. As a follow up, we're expanding this updated visual experience to Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Sites and Gmail. Users will now have access to helpful suggestions when moving files, adding shortcuts to files, or creating copies of files. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains at an extended pace (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility). | Learn more about how to use Google Drive.

Updated zoom in/out capabilities across Google Docs, Slides and Drawings

We’re introducing new zoom keyboard shortcuts in Google Docs and Slides on web to help you zoom in, zoom out, or scale to 100%. Additionally, you can now smoothly zoom in or out in Slides using the trackpad or mouse wheel with a modifier key (cmd/ctrl), making it easier to control your view of Slides. | Learn more about keyboard shortcuts for Docs and Slides.

Expanded language support for captions in Google Meet

Captions in Google Meet allow you to view captions as everyone speaks during a meeting. Over the course of the next several weeks, you’ll be able to use captions in more languages:

Arabic (Arab Emirates) (Beta)

Arabic (Egypt) (Beta)

Arabic (Levant) (Beta)

Arabic (Maghrebi) (Beta)

Bengali (Bangladesh) (Beta)

Bulgarian (Bulgaria) (Beta)

Chinese (Simplified) (Beta)

Chinese, Mandarin (Traditional) (Beta)

English (UK) (Beta)

Gujarati (India) (Beta)

Hindi (Beta)

isiXhosa (South Africa) (Beta)

Kannada (India) (Beta)

Khmer (Cambodia) (Beta)

Kinyarwanda (Rwanda) (Beta)

Malayalam (India) (Beta)

Marathi (India) (Beta)

Northern Sotho (South Africa) (Beta)

Sesotho (South Africa) (Beta)

Swati (South Africa) (Beta)

Swedish (Sweden) (Beta)

Tshivenda (South Africa) (Beta)

Tswana (South Africa) (Beta)

Xitsonga (South Africa) (Beta)

Available now to all Google Workspace customers. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about using captions in Google Meet.

Dynamic groups now supports negation queries

You can now create or edit dynamic groups to use negation in membership queries. For example, you can opt to create a dynamic group that excludes all users from a particular sub organization or specific job title. There are a few limitations, however — any query using the “exists” macro and using the AND (&) operator or queries where the NOT operator is used inside of the “exists” macro will not be supported. | Rolling out to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains at gradual pace (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting September 11, 2023. | Available to Google Workspace Frontline Standard, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus and Cloud Identity Premium customers only. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about creating membership queries for dynamic groups and our Developer documentation for more information about formulating and testing a membership query.

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 branding and customization capabilities to Google Sites

You can now easily and quickly create with high-quality, pre-designed themes for Google Sites. | Available to Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus only. | Learn more about changing how your Google Site looks.

Introducing a new ultra-low latency viewer experience for in-domain live streaming in Google Meet

We are introducing a new ultra-low latency viewing experience for video meetings that are streamed within an organization. The new experience will be available to the first ten thousand viewers — all additional viewers will have the existing experience. | Learn more about in-domain live streaming in Google Meet.

More Google Meet features for Google Workspace Individual users

If you’re a Google Workspace Individual user, you can now take advantage of several new Meet features and enhancements. We hope these updates make it easier for you to connect and collaborate with your customers and stakeholders, continuing to drive your business forward. | Learn more about features for Google Workspace Individual users.

Lock files more easily in Google Drive

We’re adding the option to lock Drive files by right-clicking the file, selecting “File information”, and clicking “Lock”. Locking a file makes sure reviewers can’t change a file. Edits, comments and suggestions can't be added to locked documents. | Learn more about locking files in Drive.

Increased row limits in Connected Sheets for BigQuery We’re increasing the maximum number of rows of results returned from BigQuery for pivot tables and for data extracts. Pivot tables have been expanded to 50,000 rows (previously 30,000) and data extracts have been expanded to 50,000 rows (previously 25,000). | Learn more about Connected Sheets for BigQuery.

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:

Adding line numbers to Google Docs
Easily set up dropdown chips in Google Sheets with a new pre-fill feature

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

Get more granular views of Google Slides with new zoom settings

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

Adding Trusted Types to Google Workspace

Thursday, February 23, 2023

Update

[August 2, 2023] This feature has fully rolled out Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, Jamboard, Drawings and Drive.

[April 26, 2023] We have paused rollout for this feature for Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, Jamboard, Drawings and Drive while we evaluate performance and quality. We will provide an update once rollout resumes.

What’s changingWe’re improving the client-side security of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, Jamboard, Drawings, Drive, and Calendar with Trusted Types. This will provide an extra layer of protection around Document Object Model (DOM) APIs that are used by the apps listed above or third-party extensions.
This new enforcement mode will require third-party extensions to use typed objects instead of strings when assigning values to DOM APIs, and will begin rolling out on March 23, 2023. Once Trusted Types are fully enforced, the Trusted Types directive will be present in the Content Security Policy (CSP) header:

Who’s impactedDevelopers (relying on any Chrome extensions that modify DOM APIs.)

Why it’s importantTrusted Types is a feature that further enhances our advanced data protection controls to keep users and data safe across more of the apps they use everyday.

Additional details Screen readers, braille devices, and screen magnification will not change with Trusted Types. However, we recommend admins and developers check third party extensions for Trusted Types violations. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Accessibility for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, & Drawings.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
Developers:

To make code Trusted Types compliant, signal to the browser that data being used within the context of these DOM APIs is trustworthy by creating a Trusted Type special object.
There are several ways to be Trusted Types compliant, such as removing the offending code, using a library, or creating a Trusted Types policy. To ensure a seamless experience for users, these techniques can be employed before Trusted Types enforcement is rolled out.
Visit the Chrome DevTools engineering blog to learn more about implementing CSP and Trusted Types debugging in Chrome DevTools.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 23, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 24, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Implement CSP and Trusted Types debugging in Chrome DevTools
Google Help: Accessibility for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, & Drawings

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - February 3, 2023

Friday, February 3, 2023

3 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.

In-line replies for email notifications in Google Classroom

We’re making Classroom email notifications more functional and easier to use. With in-line replies for comments, teachers and students will be able to easily stay up to date and respond to communication within Classroom. Public and private comment notifications will have the freshest information, like the latest comment threads, and you can now easily respond to comments within the email itself. This will enable teachers to quickly reply to their students without having to switch back and forth between their email and Classroom. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains began January 30, 2023 and is expected to be completed by February 20, 2023. | Learn more.

Expanding color options in Google Slides, Docs, Sheets and Drawings

In Google Slides, Docs, Sheets and Drawings, you can now select colors in the color palette tool by using RGBA values. In addition, you can also customize colors by using an eyedropper tool and selecting any color on your screen within the color palette. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for February 15, 2023. | Learn more.

More ways to work with BigQuery data in Google Sheets

We’re expanding your ability to access, analyze, visualize, and share billions of rows of BigQuery data from Google Sheets:

Connected Sheets users will now be able to include JSON columns from a BigQuery connection in their formulas, pivot tables, charts, extracts, and filters.
We are introducing support for 4 new Sheets functions that allow you to have a single source of truth of your data within BigQuery:

Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts only. Not available to legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers.

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 Sheets adds powerful new functions for advanced analysis

We announced 11 additional functions that will introduce new concepts, provide you with more efficient functions, and help with more advanced analysis | Learn more.

Explore Looker data using Connected Sheets

We added the ability to interactively explore modeled data from Looker, Google Cloud’s modern business intelligence platform, using Connected Sheets. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as users with personal Google Accounts only. | Learn more.

Completed rollouts

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

Rapid Release Domains:

Scheduled Release Domains:

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

[Weekly Recap] Display space names when granting access to files

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

Enhanced menus in Google Slides and Drawings improves findability of key features

Monday, October 17, 2022

What’s changing We’re updating the menus in Google Slides and Google Drawings to make it easier to locate the most commonly-used features. In this update you’ll notice:

Shortened menus for better navigation
Reorganization for more intuitive feature location
Prominent icons for faster recognition

This new design improves findability of key features, making it quicker and easier to use Slides and Drawings.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default and cannot be disabled. Use the menus as you would regularly. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Slides.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 17, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 31, 2022

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: How to use Google Slides

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 19, 2022

Friday, August 19, 2022

New updates
There are no new updates to share this week. Please see below for a recap of published announcements.

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.

Improved quality and performance for Google Meet effects on the web Background effects are now more accurate for Google Meet users on the web. This allows you to experience more accurate background blur, background replace, and immersive background and styles. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus customers, and Workspace Individual users on eligible devices in eligible countries (Northern America, Europe, Northern Africa, Central Asia, Southeastern Asia). Visit the Help Center to learn more about availability. | Learn more.
More control over accessibility preferences in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings You’re now able to set preferences for Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings individually, rather than having the same accessibility settings apply across these products. | Learn more.
Updated user interface for managing email quarantines In the coming weeks, you will see a new user interface when using the email quarantine tool. This brings the email quarantine experience inline with other tools in the Admin console, making it more intuitive to navigate and use. | Learn more.
See how much noise is being removed during Google Meet video calls Google Meet can now remove background noises such as typing, construction sounds, or background chatter. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Workspace Individual customers only. | Learn more.
Conveniently connect site visitors with social channels in new Sites Site editors can now insert stylized social media links into pages within their site, enabling you to more conveniently connect site visitors with additional information and content on your social channels. | Learn more.
Enhancements to the “Frame people” feature on Google Meet hardware devices We’ve introduced two enhancements on Google Meet hardware devices for the “Frame people” feature:

The “Frame people” feature is now more easily discoverable and can be accessed in a meeting from the touch panel in fewer steps.
A solution to a recent bug impacting the auto framing capability for some Google Meet hardware devices. The auto framing functionality has been restored to impacted devices with improved reliability and performance.

Available to all supported Google Meet hardware devices that have not yet reached their auto-update expiration date. | Learn more.
New color categorization in Calendar to better understand how you’re spending your time You can now categorize your time by naming and assigning a corresponding color label to an event within Time Insights in Calendar. | Available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.
Easily assign Tasks from Google Docs In Google Docs, you can now assign a checklist item to yourself or a colleague that will then show up in the assignee’s Tasks list. | Learn more.

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

More control over accessibility preferences in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

Monday, August 15, 2022

Quick summaryOver the years, we’ve launched features to support our ongoing accessibility efforts to ensure our products work well for everyone. For users of screen readers, braille devices, screen magnifiers, and more, we're improving the ability to adjust your accessibility preferences for Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings separately.
Rather than having the same accessibility settings apply across these products, you’re now able to set preferences for each product individually. We expect this change to make it easier to ensure accessibility settings are personalized to best meet each user’s needs.

Accessibility settings can now be personalized for Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: In your document, spreadsheet, slide deck, or drawing, navigate to Tools > Accessibility > select your preferred settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Accessibility.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 15, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 29, 2022

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Embed linked Google Forms charts into Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Drawings

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Quick summary You can now embed linked response charts from Google Forms into a Google Doc, Google Slides presentation, or a Google Drawing. When new form responses are received, anyone with the proper permissions can refresh an embedded chart by simply clicking the "Update" button. This eliminates the need to re-copy the chart from the form. This feature is useful for sharing real-time responses to polls or surveys and for incorporating Forms responses data into presentations or reports.

Embedding a form chart
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about viewing and managing form responses.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 1, 2022

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: View and Manage Form responses.

Smart Compose now available in comments for Google Slides, Sheets, and Drawings

Monday, August 2, 2021

Quick launch summaryLast year, we announced Smart Compose in Google Docs, a feature that helps you compose high-quality content faster and more easily. Smart Compose saves you time by cutting back on repetitive writing, reducing the chance of spelling and grammatical errors, and suggesting relevant contextual phrases.
Now, Smart Compose is available in comments for Google Slides, Sheets, and Drawings.

Image of Smart Compose offering a suggestion in a comment

Smart Compose offering a suggestion in a comment.

Getting started

Admins: This feature can be controlled via Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Features and Applications > Smart Compose. Visit the Admin Help Center to learn more about turning Smart Compose on or off for users in Google Docs.

End users: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled by going to Tools > Preferences and unchecking “Show Smart Compose Suggestions.” When enabled, you’ll automatically see Smart Compose suggestions. To accept a suggestion you like, press “tab” or press the right arrow key. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Smart Compose in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Frontline, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Nonprofits, Cloud Identity Free, Cloud Identity Premium

Resources

Changes to Google Workspace storage policies timeline

Monday, April 5, 2021

Update[January 13, 2022]: We have extended the previously announced timeframe for the Google Workspace storage policy changes. Beginning May 2, 2022, any newly created Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard files will count toward storage. See below for more information.
What’s changingWe’re extending the previously announced timeframe for upcoming changes to the Google Workspace storage policy. The updated timeline is:

June 1, 2021: High-quality photos will count towards Drive quota beginning June 1, 2021. There is no change to this timeline.
May 2, 2022: Any newly created Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard files will count toward storage. Existing files within these products will not count toward storage, unless they’re modified on or after May 2, 2022. Read more in our Help Center.

Note that there are no changes to the previously announced dates for personal Google accounts.
Who’s impactedAdmins and end users. Storage limits differ across Google Workspace and G Suite editions, but we estimate that the majority of users will not be affected by these changes. See “Getting Started” below for more information on determining storage usage across your organization.
Why it’s importantPeople are uploading more content than ever before—in fact, more than 4.3 million GB are added across Gmail, Drive, and Photos every day. These changes to our storage policy are necessary to provide our users with a great experience and to keep pace with the growing demand.

We recently announced changes to the pooled storage policy for Workspace for Education customers. As a part of these updates, to empower Google Workspace admins to adapt to this model and optimize their storage, we will provide new admin tools to identify and manage how storage is used and allocated before the policy goes into effect. We’ve decided to delay the count of Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, or Jamboard files count toward storage quotas until that tooling is in place.
Getting started

Admins: Check out the Apps usage user report (see General > Photos and Drive sections) for a comprehensive look at storage usage across your organization. To understand how much storage you’re allocated on your current plan, see the Usage and support section of the Help Center for Business editions, Enterprise editions, Education editions, and G Suite editions. If you’re not sure which edition you’re using, visit the Billing page in the Admin console.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn how to manage files in your Google Account storage.

Rollout paceHigh-quality photos

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: These policies will go into effect on June 1, 2021

Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drawings, Forms, and Jamboard

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: These policies will go into effect on May 2, 2022

Availability

These changes will apply to all customers with Google Workspace and G Suite licenses.

Resources

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

New document save status and offline indicator for Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Monday, June 8, 2020

Quick launch summary

We’re updating the interface which tells users about the file save status and whether they’re working online or offline in Google Docs editors and Drawings. The changes will help users understand where the file is saved, whether they’re connected to the network, and if the file is available to edit offline.

This is an update to the interface only - there are no changes in the underlying functionality. The changes you may notice include:

A new location for document save status next to the document name.
More descriptive text to indicate whether a document is saved to the cloud (when online) or to the device (offline).
A new way to enable offline by clicking on the document status icon. Previously, you had to go to File > Make available offline.

For users in domains where admins have turned off Docs editors offline access, we will adjust the message shown to users in order to minimize confusion regarding settings controlled by their admin.

See images below for more details.

Getting started

The saved file indicator is now next to the document name and features more descriptive text

You can enable offline by clicking the document status icon

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Already available to Rapid Release domains
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 8, 2020

Availability

Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts.

Resources

Embed Google Drawings in Google Docs

Monday, January 7, 2019

What’s changing

Now you can embed Google Drawings files saved in Drive into Google Docs and update the content of linked drawings embedded in Docs. When the source file is updated, you’ll see an “Update” button in the upper right hand corner of the embedded drawing.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Instead of having to create drawings manually in a document, you can embed drawings from Drive in a document and refresh the content to keep it current. When you embed a drawing, the drawing is placed in the document, but linked to the original in Google Drawings. By using the “Update” button, you can update the drawing’s content with one click if changes are made to the source file. You can also choose to unlink drawings at a later date.

How to get started

Helpful links

Help Center: Create, insert & edit drawings

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

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Now your Activity Dashboard is one click away in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

We’ve made it easier for you to open the Activity dashboard directly from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides and Drawings. You’ll now see the Activity dashboard icon (a jagged arrow pointing upward) next to the comments button in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Clicking on the icon opens the dashboard, where you can analyze time statistics and adjust privacy and document settings. This gives you instant access to the Activity dashboard information you’re seeking. Hovering over the icon enables you to view the information others can see about you in the Activity dashboard. To learn more about seeing the view history of your Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files, consult the Help Center.

Launch Details

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: See the view history of your Google Docs, Sheets & Slides

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
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Use quick-access side panel to do more from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, and more

Wednesday, August 22, 2018

We’re adding a quick-access side panel to the Docs editors and Google Calendar to help you quickly access other G Suite products without leaving what you’re working on. A similar side panel has been a popular feature of the new Gmail, and we hope that this integration will help you work more efficiently within and across G Suite.

You’ll be able to access three G Suite products from Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings:

Google Calendar: Quickly reference, create or edit invites.
Google Keep: Easily take notes, create lists, and see your other content.
Google Tasks: Manage your tasks and to-dos.

You’ll also see the side panel in Google Calendar, where you’ll be able to use Keep and Tasks.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Use Google products side-by-side
The Keyword: With new security and intelligent features, the new Gmail means business

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

Improving the menus in Google Docs editors

Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Based on usage data and your feedback, we’re making some changes to the menus in the web versions of the Google Docs editors. These are similar to the changes we made in December and in January and will make it easier to find certain items.

Changes that affect all Docs editors menus (including Google Docs, Slides, and Sheets):

In the Tools menu, “Spelling” will be renamed “Check Spelling.”
In the Edit menu, “Select none” will be removed.
Items in the File, Edit, and Tools menus will be reordered.

Changes that only affect Google Sheets menus:

In the Data menu, “Filter” will be renamed “Create a filter.”
In the Data menu, “Validation” will be renamed “Data validation.”
Items in the Data menu will be reordered.
Items in the Format menu will be reordered.

These changes will only affect the visual menu on the web version of these products. All options will still be available via keyboard shortcuts and the search box in the Help menu.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Docs
Help Center: Keyboard shortcuts for Google Sheets
Help Center: Docs editors homepage

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Improved accessibility for Google Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

We want to make sure our products work well for everyone. That’s why, as part of our ongoing accessibility initiatives, we’re launching new features for Google Sheets, Slides, and Drawings. Specifically, we’re adding Braille support in Google Sheets, and screen magnifier support in Google Slides and Drawings.

Use Google Sheets with Braille displays

You can already use Braille displays to read and edit text in Docs, Slides and Drawings. Now we’re adding Braille support to Sheets as well. You’ll be able to use a Braille display to read and edit cell contents as well as navigate between cells in a sheet. At the moment, Braille support in Sheets will only be available on Chrome OS with the ChromeVox screen reader. We’re working to add support for other platforms and screen readers.

See our Help Center to find out how to use a Braille display with Sheets.

Use screen magnifiers with Google Slides and Drawings

We recently added screen magnifier support to Docs and Sheets. Now screen magnifiers will also work with Slides and Drawings.

You can use screen magnifiers with Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings on Mac and Chrome OS devices. See our Help Center to learn how to use screen magnifiers with Google Docs editors.

Launch Details

Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information

Help Center: Accessibility for Docs editors
Help Center: Use a Braille display to read & enter text

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Insert images more easily in Google Docs, Slides, and Drawings

Monday, November 6, 2017

A picture is worth a thousand words... especially when you can add it to your document, presentation, or drawing quickly and easily. That’s why we’re making some improvements to the image insertion process in Google Docs, Slides, and Drawings.

Going forward, when you select Insert > Image or click the Image button in Docs, Slides, or Drawings on the web, you’ll see the following options:

Upload from computer
Search the web
Drive
Photos
By URL

If you select “Upload from computer,” you’ll be taken to your computer’s file manager, which many users are familiar with. If you select “Search the web,” “Drive,” or “Photos,” you’ll be taken to a menu on the righthand side of your screen that is easier to navigate and more intuitive to use. You can also drag and drop images directly from this menu into your document. If you select “By URL,” you’ll be given the option to input the specific URL for an image.

These options should make it easier to enhance your documents, presentations, and drawings with images.

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

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Insert or delete images or videos

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Web clipboard to be removed from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings on September 13th, 2017

Thursday, May 4, 2017

The web clipboard in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings was originally developed to improve the copy and paste experience in browsers with fidelity issues. As these issues have become less prevalent across many browsers, we’re looking to simplify the user experience by removing the web clipboard, which is rarely used, on September 13th, 2017. We’re also planning enhancements to the traditional copy and paste functionality in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings, so stay tuned for more info.

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Clearer indication of 'View' and 'Comment' access in Google Docs editors

Monday, July 20, 2015

In an effort to make it more clear when people using the Google Docs editors have only ‘View’ or ‘Comment’ access to a file―and to simplify the process of requesting edit access―we’re making some minor UI tweaks.

Starting today, those with ‘View only’ access to a document, spreadsheet, slide, or drawing will see a new blue button in the toolbar:

Those with ‘Comment only’ access to a spreadsheet, slide, or drawing will see a similar green button (in documents, the ‘Suggesting’ mode indication will remain in the right side of the toolbar):

Clicking on the button allows one to easily request edit access from the file owner:

Check out the Help Center for more information on file sharing.

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

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 12, 2024

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - September 8, 2023

Adding Trusted Types to Google Workspace

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - February 3, 2023

Enhanced menus in Google Slides and Drawings improves findability of key features

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - August 19, 2022

More control over accessibility preferences in Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

Embed linked Google Forms charts into Google Docs, Google Slides, and Google Drawings

Smart Compose now available in comments for Google Slides, Sheets, and Drawings

Changes to Google Workspace storage policies timeline

Changes to Google Workspace storage policies starting June 1, 2021

New document save status and offline indicator for Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Embed Google Drawings in Google Docs

Now your Activity Dashboard is one click away in Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

Use quick-access side panel to do more from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, Calendar, and more

Improving the menus in Google Docs editors

Improved accessibility for Google Sheets, Slides, and Drawings

Insert images more easily in Google Docs, Slides, and Drawings

Web clipboard to be removed from Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings on September 13th, 2017

Clearer indication of 'View' and 'Comment' access in Google Docs editors

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