Google Workspace Updates: November 2022

Improved meeting quality when joining on virtual machines

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

What’s changingIf you use a Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) such as Citrix or VMWare to join Google Meet calls, you’ll notice an increase in video and audio quality. Meet will now detect whether you’re joining from a VDI and automatically adjust for the best performance. This optimization will also help cut down on the demand put on your VDIs, such as CPU, GPU, and memory usage, helping improve meeting quality and overall performance.

Getting started

Admins: Ensure Google Meet can detect that it’s running inside a virtual machine (VM) by enabling the Enterprise Hardware Platform API policy in Chrome. Visit the API page and the Help Center to learn more about how to set Chrome policies for users or browsers and use VDIs with Google Meet.
End users: There is no end user action required — Google Meet will automatically optimize your experience when using a VDI.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 30, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Using VDI

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 25, 2022

Friday, November 25, 2022

We’re excited to announce a requested feature that allows you to resize the pivot table editor side panel when creating or editing a pivot table. This functionality is especially useful when the names of columns or fields are too long and you want to see the text in its entirety. | Learn more.

Improved search results based on recent search activity in Gmail

In July, we announced better search and suggestion options in Gmail. Now, when using Gmail on the web, this also includes better search results based on your recent search activity in Gmail. This enhancement to Gmail search makes results more relevant and contextual. | Learn more.

Share Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files in Google Meet chat

Earlier this year, we announced the ability to join or present to a Google Meet call from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides. Now, if you are presenting or joining a meeting from a file, you can easily share that file with meeting attendees through in-meeting chat. With this update you’re able to grant access to a document, spreadsheet, or presentation to all or select meeting attendees, allowing everyone in the meeting to collaborate while having a conversation. | Learn more.

Previous announcements

There are no previous announcements to share this week. 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 - November 18, 2022

Friday, November 18, 2022

Improving drag & drop on the Google Drive Android appEarlier this year, we launched drag & drop in Drive, allowing you to quickly upload files by dragging and dropping them into the app. This week, we’re improving this feature by enabling you to also drag & drop files and folders around in your Drive to move their location as you see fit. This can be done either in the two-window view or in the single app view. | Learn more.

Full mouse support now available on Google Docs Android App

Expect full mouse support while using Google Docs on Android that will mirror mouse behavior on the web. For example, clicking and dragging across text will now select that specific text instead of panning the entire document.

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.

Concentrate or disconnect with scheduled Do Not Disturb on Google Chat

You can now set a recurring schedule so you are not disturbed by Chat notifications on web, Android, and iOS. | Learn more.

Use Access Approvals to control data access during support or maintenance This week, we introduced Access Approvals, which builds on Access Transparency and Access Management. Access Approvals allows customers to explicitly approve or deny Google employees access to data during support and general maintenance. Access approvals will be rolling out over the course of the next several weeks. | Access Approvals is part of Google Workspace Assured Controls, which is available as an add-on for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative. | Learn more.

New Consolidated Controls Page for Google TakeoutBeginning November 15, 2022, admins can manage Takeout settings from a new consolidated controls page, located at Admin console > Account > Google Takeout > User access to Takeout for Google services. We anticipate the new page to be fully rolled out within the next few weeks. | Learn more.

Sharing suggestions in Google Drive make collaborating easierWe've made it easier to share files with the people you typically share with in Google Drive. With this feature, suggested recipients will appear in the sharing dialog to speed up collaboration across your organization. | Learn more.

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

Sharing suggestions in Google Drive make collaborating easier

Wednesday, November 16, 2022

What’s changingStarting today, we’re making it easier to share files with the people you typically share with in Google Drive. With this feature, suggested recipients will appear in the sharing dialog to speed up collaboration across your organization.

Getting started

Admins: Sharing suggestions will be ON by default and will always comply with your organizational sharing policy. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning sharing suggestions on or off for users.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing files from Google Drive and sharing folders in Google Drive.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

New Consolidated Controls Page for Google Takeout

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

What’s changing Beginning November 15, 2022, admins can manage Takeout settings from a new consolidated controls page, located at Admin console > Account > Google Takeout > User access to Takeout for Google services. We anticipate the new page to be fully rolled out within the next few weeks. Once the new page is fully available, the previous Takeout settings page—located at Admin Console > Apps > Additional Google Services > Google Takeout—will no longer be available.

Once the rollout is complete, admins can modify Takeout settings from the new consolidated controls page, as well as from additional service setting pages for services with an individual Takeout control (see here for a list of those services: Allow or block Google Takeout for users).

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it matters Admins can now specify which services users are allowed or not allowed to export data from via Google Takeout all from one place in the Admin Console.

Getting started

Super Admins and Service Settings admins: This feature will be available to admins with the services permission. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to Allow or block Google Takeout for users.
End users: For services where Takeout is allowed by your admin, learn more about downloading your Google Data.

Rollout pace

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

Availability

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

Resources

Use Access Approvals to control data access during support or maintenance

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

What’s changing Today, we’re introducing Access Approvals, which builds on Access Transparency and Access Management. Access Approvals allows customers to explicitly approve or deny Google employees access to data during support and general maintenance. Access approvals will be rolling out over the course of the next several weeks.

We’ve designed our systems to limit the number of employees that have access to customer data and to actively monitor the activities of those employees. Access Approvals allows our customers to set up granular controls—at an organizational unit or admin group level—to require explicit permission for Google to access covered content for a limited time period.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important Access Approvals provides admins granular control over how Google accesses that data when support requests are initiated or maintenance is being performed. Critically, this gives customers the ability to approve or decline access on individual requests.

We know it’s essential that our customers have visibility and control over their systems and how they’re accessed by Google. This update, along with Sovereign Controls for Google Workspace, Client-side encryption, data regions, and Access Management capabilities, provide solutions for our customers to reach their digital sovereignty goals.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Access Approvals, Access Management and Access Transparency.

Rollout pace

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

Availability

Access Approvals is part of Google Workspace Assured Controls, which is available as an add-on for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative.

Resources

Concentrate or disconnect with scheduled Do Not Disturb on Google Chat

Tuesday, November 15, 2022

What’s changingIn addition to setting a custom duration for “Do Not Disturb” in Google Chat, you can now set a recurring schedule so you are not disturbed by Chat notifications on web, Android, and iOS.
This is useful when you want to mute notifications during your regular lunch break, or have “Do Not Disturb” set automatically over the weekend while away from your desk. We hope this feature enables you to better concentrate without Chat distractions or help you disconnect entirely from work when needed.

Getting started

Rollout pace Web:

Android & iOS:

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 21, 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: Change your availability status and mute notifications in Google Chat

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 11, 2022

Friday, November 11, 2022

New updates Unless 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.

Easily assign Tasks from Google Docs on mobileEarlier this year, we made it easier for you to assign Tasks from Google Docs. This enables you to assign a checklist item to yourself or a colleague that will then show up in the assignee’s Tasks list. When edits are made to an assigned item in Tasks, such as a change to the title, due date or completion state, those updates will show in the Doc, and vice versa. We’re excited to announce that this is now available on the Docs Android and iOS apps. | Learn more here and here.

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.

The new Gmail user interface is becoming the standard experience

At the beginning of 2022, we announced a new user interface and a customizable, integrated view for Gmail, bringing critical applications like Gmail, Chat, and Meet in one unified location. Starting this month, this user interface will become the standard experience for Gmail, with no option to revert back to the “original view.” With the new UI, users are still able to change their Gmail theme, inbox type, and more through quick settings. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers only. | Learn more.

Trust rules in Google Drive now generally available

In July 2022, we announced an open beta for trust rules in Google Drive. Beginning today, this feature will become available for eligible Google Workspace customers. Trust rules give admins more control over how files can be shared, both within and outside of their organization. For example, admins can limit what specific departments can access versus other parts of their organization. See our original announcement for more information. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers only. | Learn more.

Use Key Migration to change or add key services for Client-side encryptionAs we continue to expand Client-side encryption (CSE) across Google Workspace products, we’re introducing Key Migration which allows admins to enable additional key services or change their existing key service. In both cases, built-in controls ensure key migrations are performed safely, with support for backup key services and potential roll backs. These ensure encrypted data remains inaccessible to Google and fidelity is maintained through the migration process. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.

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

Use Key Migration to change or add key services for Client-side encryption

Thursday, November 10, 2022

What’s changing As we continue to expand Client-side encryption (CSE) across Google Workspace products, we’re introducing Key Migration which allows admins to enable additional key services or change their existing key service. In both cases, built-in controls ensure key migrations are performed safely, with support for backup key services and potential roll backs. These ensure encrypted data remains inaccessible to Google and fidelity is maintained through the migration process.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important Client-side encryption gives admins direct control of their encryption keys and the identity service that they choose to authenticate for those keys. Google never has access to the keys, rendering the data indecipherable, which may help organizations meet regulatory compliance in many regions.

This update gives admins the flexibility to perform key rotations that best suit their organizational policies—including having different key services —or resolve key service availability issues. Customers can add a new key, assign it to an organizational unit or group and migrate any content encrypted by the previous key to be encrypted by the new key. During this migration process the new key is backed up by an existing key as a safeguard mechanism. Once customers are confident in their new key and have completed any migrations they can remove the backup key.

Additionally, this release provides more granular control for our customers in maintaining their encryption keys by accommodating situations where they may choose to switch key service providers, move from on-premise to a managed service, and migrate encrypted content.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on November 10, 2020

Availability

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

Resources

Trust rules in Google Drive now generally available

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

What’s changing In July 2022, we announced an open beta for trust rules in Google Drive. Beginning today, this feature will become available for eligible Google Workspace customers.
Trust rules give admins more control over how files can be shared, both within and outside of their organization. For example, admins can limit what specific departments can access versus other parts of their organization. See our original announcement for more information.

Getting started

Admins: Eligible Admins can enable this feature in the Admin console by going to the Rules > Turn on trust rules. Visit the Help Center to learn more about trust rules.

End users: Your Admin’s trust rules will determine who you can share and collaborate with on Drive files.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout will complete by November 8, 2022

Availability

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

The new Gmail user interface is becoming the standard experience

Tuesday, November 8, 2022

Update[December 13, 2022]:

Rollout is complete for Rapid release domains
Rollout for Scheduled release domains will now begin in January 2023. We will share an additional update on the Workspace Updates blog at that time.

What's changing

At the beginning of 2022, we announced a new user interface and a customizable, integrated view for Gmail, bringing critical applications like Gmail, Chat, and Meet in one unified location.

Starting this month, this user interface will become the standard experience for Gmail, with no option to revert back to the “original view.” With the new UI, users are still able to change their Gmail theme, inbox type, and more through quick settings.

The new Gmail interface updated with Material 3 look and feel

The integrated view with Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet on the left side of the window will also become standard for users who have turned on Chat. Through quick settings, you can customize this new interface to include the apps most important to you, whether it’s Gmail by itself or a combination of Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet. This makes it easier to stay on top of what’s important and reduces the need to switch between various applications, windows, or tabs. With Chat now available on the left, users will no longer have the option to configure Chat on the right side of Gmail.

Easily select the applications you want to use in Gmail
Visit the Help Center and The Keyword to learn more.

Rollout

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 8, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 29, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 4, 2022

Friday, November 4, 2022

New updates Unless 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.
Use smart chips in Google Sheets as links on mobile With smart canvas, you’re currently able quickly add people and files into Google Sheets with smart chips on the web. Starting this week on mobile, these chips are treated like linked text and will show relevant hovercards and context menu items.
Offline printing now available for Google Sheets We’ve launched offline printing to support users working in a Sheet with offline access. In addition, emojis and system fonts are now included in offline printing. This feature is only available to those using Google Chrome. As a reminder, your organization can encrypt Sheets files with Workspace Client-side encryption, an additional feature supported by offline printing. | 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.

Improved flow for expiring access controls in Google Drive You can now set expiring access when sharing files in My Drive. This update improves the existing expiring access capabilities by allowing you to add an expiration when sharing, as opposed to after a person already has access to the file. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, Education Standard, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.
Reminder to migrate your classic Google Sites before January 30, 2023 We’re extending the previously announced timeline to give Google Workspace customers more time to migrate from classic Google Sites to new Google Sites:

On January 30, 2023 (previously December 1, 2022): We will begin to turn off the ability to edit any remaining classic Sites in your domain. Your classic Sites will remain viewable until the automatic conversion.
After January 30, 2023 (previously January 1, 2023): We will begin to automatically convert all remaining classic Sites to new Sites drafts for site owners to review and publish, and export static archives to Google Takeout. Your classic Sites will be deleted after they are converted to new Sites. Note: Refer to the CSV file included with the export generated after your domain’s autoconversion completes for any classic Sites we were unable to convert. | Learn more.

Google for Education transformation reports window open for customers worldwide Google for Education transformation reports are available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide, at no cost. Note: transformation reports are only available in English at this time. | Available to K-12 Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers only. | Learn more.
Manage projects & tasks with a new timeline view on Google Sheets We’ve introduced an interactive timeline view that allows you to track projects in Google Sheets. This new visual layer displays project information stored in Sheets, such as the task start and end date, description, and owner. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.

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

Manage projects & tasks with a new timeline view on Google Sheets

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘22. Visit the Cloud Blog to learn more about the latest Google Workspace innovations for the ever-changing world of work.

What’s changingTo extend the power of smart canvas

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

The timeline view enables you to easily interact with project information and can help you manage things like marketing campaigns, project milestones, schedules, cross-team collaboration, and more.

Additional details

By clicking on a card within the timeline, you can view more information about the project in the sidebar. You can also view your timeline at various time intervals (day, week, month, quarters, year, and multiyear).

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: To create a timeline, navigate to Insert > timeline > select a data range > configure the attributes in the timeline settings sidebar. Once created, you can view the timeline at different time intervals, jump to the current date, change the visual appearance of the timeline by adjusting spacing or using colors, and more. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Timeline View.

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers
Not available to Nonprofits, and legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Google Help: Timeline View
Cloud Blog: Introducing innovations in Google Workspace to help your organization thrive in hybrid work

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Google for Education transformation reports window open for customers worldwide

Wednesday, November 2, 2022

What’s changingGoogle for Education transformation reports are available for K-12 Google Workspace for Education customers worldwide, at no cost. Note: transformation reports are only available in English at this time.
The reporting window is open from Nov 2, 2022 through Dec 31, 2022. Workspace admins will benefit from:

Immediate access: Google Workspace for Education super admins can log in today and immediately view their custom report.
Realtime customization: You can adjust settings in realtime, including your two 12 week product data reporting windows and the numbers of teachers and students in your organization. (The report will be locked for editing after Dec 31, 2022.)

See below for more information on generating your custom transformation report.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why you’d use it The transformation report is a free tool designed to help quantify your organization’s Google for Education implementation across our products and programs. Semester-based reports track usage trends over time and make it easy to understand how your organization is using Google Workspace for Education, Chromebooks, and progressing through educator certification programs. Additionally, each report includes links to free resources aimed to support your Google implementation.

Find more information about Google for Education transformation reports here, and review frequently asked questions.

Getting started

Admins: Google Workspace for Education super admins can log in to the transformation report tool starting Nov 2, 2022 to view their custom report. Upon login, Admins should:

End users: No action required.

Rollout pace

Transformation reports are available now for all users

Availability

Available to K-12 Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources

Reminder to migrate your classic Google Sites before January 30, 2023

Tuesday, November 1, 2022

What’s changingWe’re extending the previously announced timeline to give Google Workspace customers more time to migrate from classic Google Sites to new Google Sites:

On January 30, 2023 (previously December 1, 2022): We will begin to turn off the ability to edit any remaining classic Sites in your domain. Your classic Sites will remain viewable until the automatic conversion.
After January 30, 2023 (previously January 1, 2023): We will begin to automatically convert all remaining classic Sites to new Sites drafts for site owners to review and publish, and export static archives to Google Takeout. Your classic Sites will be deleted after they are converted to new Sites. Note: Refer to the CSV file included with the export generated after your domain’s autoconversion completes for any classic Sites we were unable to convert.

Until January 30, 2023, admins and site owners can manually convert classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager or the conversion tool. Review your domain’s settings prior to January 30, 2023 to ensure a successful automigration.

You will be notified once all the sites on your domain have been migrated. This may take multiple months for your domain, depending on the number and complexity of your sites. In the meantime, you can check the status of your sites in the Classic Sites Manager.

Getting started

Admins and Google Workspace end-users:

To ensure a smooth transition, we recommend the following best practices when migrating your sites:

Create an archive of your classic Sites using the bulk “Download” functionality in the Classic Sites Manager so that you can refer to them later, if needed.
Since sharing settings work differently in new Sites than in classic Sites, always check your sharing settings after conversion.
Check that you are sharing with the desired audience before publishing.
Control whether collaborators can share your site with other users or publish the site in sharing settings. By default, all converted sites now have this setting disabled.
If your domain’s classic Sites sharing options are different from its Drive sharing permissions, confirm that access is correctly set for any users outside your domain.

Note that the timeline for this transition is different for users with personal Google accounts — see this article in the Help Center for more information.

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Manage users’ access in Sites
Google Workspace Admin Help: Transition from classic Sites to new Sites
Classic Sites Manager
Google Sites Migration | Guidance for Google Workspace End Users
Google Sites Migration | Guidance for Google Workspace Admins

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

Improved meeting quality when joining on virtual machines

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 25, 2022

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 18, 2022

Sharing suggestions in Google Drive make collaborating easier

New Consolidated Controls Page for Google Takeout

Use Access Approvals to control data access during support or maintenance

Concentrate or disconnect with scheduled Do Not Disturb on Google Chat

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 11, 2022

Use Key Migration to change or add key services for Client-side encryption

Trust rules in Google Drive now generally available

The new Gmail user interface is becoming the standard experience

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - November 4, 2022

Manage projects & tasks with a new timeline view on Google Sheets

Google for Education transformation reports window open for customers worldwide

Reminder to migrate your classic Google Sites before January 30, 2023

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Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

Learn about more Google Workspace launches