Google Workspace Updates: April 2022

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 29, 2022

Friday, April 29, 2022

New updates Updated rollout schedule for additional Calendar statuses in Google Chat We’d like to provide updated rollout information for additional Calendar statuses in Google Chat, previously announced on March 14, 2022:

Rollout for Rapid release domains will be complete on Wednesday, May 5, 2022.
Rollout for Scheduled release domains will begin on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 and is expected to be complete by Tuesday, May 24, 2022.

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.

Easily manage storage related activity and policies through new storage management tools in the Admin console In the Admin console, storage related activities can now be accessed and managed from a single source. | Learn more.

Quick access to additional actions when composing a message in Google Chat on iOS When using Google Chat on iOS, you can now easily take additional actions by hovering over the plus (“+”) icon next to the compose bar. You’ll see a variety of options such as:

Sharing a Google Meet link
Creating a meeting in Calendar
Accessing Google Drive Text formatting options and more.

Learn more.

Enhanced menus in Google Docs improves findability of key features on desktop We’re updating the menus in Google Docs 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

Learn more.

Warning banners alert users of suspicious Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides files on web Previously, we announced warning banners for potentially malicious or dangerous files in Google Drive. We’re extending these warnings at the file-level — going forward, if you open a Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file on the web, you’ll see these warnings. | Learn more.

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

Warning banners alert users of suspicious Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides files on web

Wednesday, April 27, 2022

Quick summary Previously, we announced warning banners for potentially malicious or dangerous files in Google Drive. We’re extending these warnings at the file-level — going forward, if you open a Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides file on the web, you’ll see these warnings.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about advanced phishing and malware protection.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how Drive protects your privacy.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 27, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Enhanced menus in Google Docs improves findability of key features on desktop

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

What’s changing We’re updating the menus in Google Docs 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

Who’s impacted End users Why it’s important The new design improves findability of key features, making it quicker and easier to use Docs. Note that existing functionality isn't changing with this launch. For features that have been reorganized, we hope that their new menu location will be more intuitive and make it easier and faster to navigate the product. In particular, Apps Script-related functionality is now grouped under the new “Extensions” menu. This includes access to the Apps Script IDE as well as management of add-ons. Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.

End users: This feature will be available by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Docs

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout with anticipated completion by end of May

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:Using Google Docs

Quick access to additional actions when composing a message in Google Chat on iOS

Monday, April 25, 2022

Quick launch summary When using Google Chat on iOS, you can now easily take additional actions by hovering over the plus (“+”) icon next to the compose bar. You’ll see a variety of options such as:

Sharing a Google Meet link
Creating a meeting in Calendar
Accessing Google Drive
Text formatting options and more.

We hope this makes it easier to do your best work and collaborate when using Google Chat on your mobile device.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin action required.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to use Google Chat.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 25, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Easily manage storage related activity and policies through new storage management tools in the Admin console

Monday, April 25, 2022

What’s changing We’re rolling out new storage management tools to give our customers additional visibility, control, and insights into storage usage across users, groups, and their entire organization.

In the Admin console, storage related activities can now be accessed and managed from a single source. Using these new storage management tools, admins can quickly and easily:

View a storage usage summary for their entire organization
View storage used by specific products like Drive or Gmail
View the top users of storage in their organization
View shared drives with the most storage used in your organization
Manage and delete shared drives based on storage use, including the ability to sort and delete individual or multiple shared drives
View storage limit warnings Access detailed reports on storage usage Apply storage limits for users

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important Admins can use these new tools to see how much storage is being used across their organization and view how close their organization is to reaching their storage limit.

In Storage Settings you can manage storage limits in Google Workspace across your organization. You’ll see the storage limit settings for your entire organization, which you can customize for specific organizational units and groups. Please visit the Help Center for more details on how storage is being used—and how you can manage it—across your organization.

This setting is turned OFF by default - when it’s turned on, you can create individual storage limits.

Easily modify storage privileges At launch, only super admins will have access to the storage management tools. Over the coming months, access will expand to delegated, user, and reseller admins. When available, admins can control all previously implemented storage policies, allowing them to control defaults and create custom roles to manage storage policies for their organization or users in specific organizational units or groups.

Getting started

Super Admins: The new storage landing page can be accessed via:

The “Storage” option in the left-hand navigation menu.
A new “Storage” card on the Admin console homepage.
Or by navigating to Account > Settings > Storage.

Google Workspace customers: Visit the Help Center to learn more about storage in Google Workspace and managing shared drive users and their activity.
Google Workspace for Education customers: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Google Workspace for Education storage.
Important Note: At launch, super admins will have access to the storage management tools. We will share an update regarding access for delegated, user, and reseller admins on the Workspace Updates Blog once available.
End users: No action required.

Availability

Available for all Google Workspace super admins, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business super admins

Resources

Admins can now specify how individual Android apps update within the Admin console

Thursday, April 21, 2022

What’s changing Google Workspace admins can now specify how Android apps update, giving them greater control over how Android apps are deployed within their fleet. Specifically, admins can specify whether apps are updated right away or postponed. Further, admins can set these policies on a group level within their organization. See below for more information.

Who’s impacted Admins
Why it’s important Previously, the default behavior for app updates in managed Google Play was contingent on the device being connected to a Wi-Fi network, to be charging, and not being actively used. This behavior is not always suited to the needs of our customers and admins need more granular control over how apps are updated.
With this update, Admins can now set specific criteria for when Managed Play apps update:

High priority mode: the app is updated immediately after the developer publishes a new version. Note that for high priority, app updates will also still be issued when the default update criteria is met.
Postponed mode: the app will not be automatically updated during the 90 days after a new version is released. After this 90-day period, the newly available version of the app is automatically installed when a device is connected to Wi-Fi, charging, and the app is not in use. Note: users can still manually update the app via the Play Store.

Additionally, Admins can apply these configurations on a Group level within their organization, giving admins even greater granular control.
Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 21, 2022

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Education Plus, Frontline, legacy G Suite Business and Basic, and Cloud Identity premium customers.
Not available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Essentials, Nonprofits customers, and Cloud Identity Free customers

Resources

Create dynamic groups by querying custom user attributes

Thursday, April 21, 2022

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

Getting started

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

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

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

Resources

Set up host controls and assign co-hosts ahead of meetings in Google Calendar

Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Quick summaryIn addition to setting up Google Meet breakout rooms in advance in Google Calendar, meeting organizers can also:

Turn meeting safety features on or off, such as chat lock, present lock, and more.
Designate co-hosts before the meeting.

We hope that by allowing meeting hosts to pre-configure additional settings and assign co-hosts, meetings can flow more smoothly.
Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 20, 2022

Availability Moderation Settings

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

Co-host settings

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Manage Meet safety settings

Refreshed ASUS Google Meet Hardware kits available now

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

What’s changing Asus have refreshed their Google Meet hardware kits to give you powerful, easy to deploy solutions suited for hybrid work.

Who’s impacted Admins
Why it matters
New hardware elements improve in-room experience Debuting with the Asus hardware kits is the newly designed Google Speaker Mic for Google Meet (2nd gen). It provides excellent audio performance for your rooms with a sleek 30% smaller industrial design. It also comes with a magnetic table mount for easy installation.

Another part of the Asus hardware kits for Google Meet is “Myst Capture,” the new touch controller from Mimo. The Mimo Myst Capture features a refreshed industrial design which will give your conference rooms a more modern look. The new controller features standard HDMI and USB-C connectors and a USB-A connector for the speaker mic. Together with the included five-meter USB A-C cable, the new kit offers faster, simpler, and more reliable installations.

Getting started

Admins: The updated Asus Google Meet hardware kits for Google Meet are available today. Contact your reseller to learn more.
End users: No end user action required.

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers, with Google Meet hardware devices

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Where is Google Meet hardware sold and supported?

Improved Admin experience for moving folders from My Drive to shared drives

Tuesday, April 19, 2022

What’s changing Previously announced in beta, several improvements for moving folders from My Drive to shared drives are now generally available for admins and delegated admins. These improvements include:

Retaining folder IDs (“copyless moves”) to reduce disruption due to the move
Preventing moves that would exceed any shared drive limits
Creating shortcuts for any items that can’t be moved, preserving the existing hierarchy as a reference

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it’s important Shared drives are a powerful way to empower teams and organizations to store, access, and collaborate on files. These improvements will help admins confidently migrate folders from My Drive to shared drives by providing them with more context on the changes they’re making.

Additional details In the coming months, we will introduce end user support for moving My Drive folders to shared drives. Additionally, based on your feedback from beta testing, we are adding the ability to generate a report with more details about unmovable items. We will provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog when these capabilities become available.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about moving folders from My Drive to shared drives.

Important note: We strongly recommend refreshing your browser before moving folders.
If you are currently participating in the beta for this feature, all admins and delegated admins in your domain have access to the new feature.

End users: There is no end user impact.

Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all admins and delegated admins.

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Move folders from My Drive to shared drives

Using document popularity in Cloud Search rankings

Monday, April 18, 2022

Quick Summary We’re improving search rankings in Cloud Search by taking into account document popularity. This means documents that have been clicked on by a large number of users will be prioritized in the overall search rankings. By surfacing popular and useful documents that match a user’s query, this feature will help reduce the effort and time required to find relevant documents.

Getting started

Admins: The feature is available by default. Use this guide to learn more about the use of Document Popularity in Cloud Search ranking. Note: You need to use the default redirect URLs for search results when using Cloud Search Query API for this feature to work.
End Users: No effort needed.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available now.

Availability

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

Resources

Developer Guide: Influencing ranking through item popularity

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 15, 2022

Friday, April 15, 2022

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.
Japanese grammar suggestions for Gmail
You'll now see grammar suggestions as you type in Japanese in Gmail. Grammar suggestions can help you write faster and more accurately. | Learn more.
Update to message ID in Google Chat audit logs
In order to make it easier for admins to quickly identify unique messages to take action on in the Security investigation tool, and chat audit logs. The “Message Id” field will now contain the Space ID and the topic ID. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education plus customers. | Learn more here.
Smart reply in Google Slides
In 2021, we introduced Smart Reply in Docs to save you time by suggesting quick responses to your comments, Now, Smart Reply in Google Slides saves you time replying to comments in Slides by suggesting relevant replies. Smart Reply suggestions appear below the reply box on comment threads in English. | Learn more.
Previous announcementsThe announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.
New beta for data loss prevention helps protect sensitive data when users upload files to external Google Forms
Previously, users in organizational units (OUs) or groups with active Drive Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies couldn’t respond to external forms with File Upload questions. Now, we’re launching a new beta that will allow users to respond to external forms that contain File Upload questions, while also helping to prevent the leak of sensitive and confidential information. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard and Education Plus customers | Learn more and apply for the beta here.
Use context-aware access to help protect Admin console access
You can now apply contextual access rules to the Admin console. This enables you to control access to the Admin console based on user and device context. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.
Additional one-click recommended actions in the Alert Center
In the Alert Center, Admins will see new “device wipeout” and “email quarantine” as additional one-click recommended actions.| Available to [list limited number of editions] only. | Learn more.
Join a Google Meet call from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides
You can now join a Google Meet call from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. In addition to the present to Meet option, you can select “Join the call” to quickly join and present a document, spreadsheet, or presentation to all attendees, allowing everyone in the meeting to collaborate while having a conversation. | Learn more.Additional functionality for the Apps Script Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Script Editor
We’re now adding several new features to the IDE to help achieve functional parity with the legacy IDE experience. These features are:

Script Properties

Add-on Testing

Time Zone Setting

Rhino Debugging

Learn more here.Build custom, integrated solutions across Google Workspace with the new AppSheet Apps Script connector
We’re introducing a new AppSheet and Apps Script connector which allows you to extend custom, no-code apps to integrate and automate workflows across Google Workspace. | Learn more. New port for Google Meet media and TLS support for Meet on mobile
Google Meet now supports SRTP in TLS on mobile, which increases overall compatibility and helps ensure a higher quality video meetings with Google Meet. In addition, Meet is introducing support to UDP port 3478 to deliver media (note that existing ports 19302–19309 deliver media as well). | Learn more.Intelligent corrections for formulas in Google Sheets
These intelligent, context-aware corrections help you improve and troubleshoot many different kinds of formulas. Some examples include:

VLOOKUP errors

Missing cells in range input

Locking ranges when applying formulas across cells

Learn more here.Specify which Google Chat notifications from Chat and Gmail to receive when your iOS device is in Focus mode
You can now specify which Google Chat and Gmail contacts you still want notifications from when your iOS device is in Focus mode. | Learn more.
For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Specify which Google Chat notifications from Chat and Gmail to receive when your iOS device is in Focus mode

Friday, April 15, 2022

Quick summary You can now specify which Google Chat and Gmail contacts you still want notifications from when your iOS device is in Focus mode. This is useful in situations where you need to limit screen time, but don’t want to miss an important message when other notifications are silenced.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Google Chat notifications on or off.

Rollout pace

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

Availability

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

Resources

Intelligent corrections for formulas in Google Sheets

Thursday, April 14, 2022

Quick Summary Last year, we launched formula suggestions in Sheets, which recommend formulas for specific cells based on the data you are analyzing. Now, you can write formulas faster and with higher confidence with formula corrections. These intelligent, context-aware corrections help you improve and troubleshoot many different kinds of formulas. Some examples include:

VLOOKUP errors

Missing cells in range input

Locking ranges when applying formulas across cells

Whenever you insert a formula that Sheets detects may be improved, a suggestion box will appear with details on a new version that can replace the current formula, including the ability to accept or reject it.

For example, the above correction helps users when writing VLOOKUP functions, which only return values to the right of the matched cell. The correction suggests a combination of INDEX and MATCH functions to reverse the column order in the formula. Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for these features.

End users: This feature will be available by default and can be disabled by going to Tools > Enable formula corrections or from the three-dot menu of the suggestion dialog box. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using formulas and functions in Google Sheets.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 14

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Add formulas & functions

Cloud Blog: Transforming collaboration in Google Workspace

Cloud Blog: Building the future of work with Google Workspace

Cloud Blog: Unleash collaboration with new experiences in Google Workspace

New port for Google Meet media and TLS support for Meet on mobile

Thursday, April 14, 2022

Quick launch summary Google Meet now supports SRTP in TLS on mobile, which increases overall compatibility and helps ensure higher quality video meetings with Google Meet.

In addition, Meet is introducing support for UDP port 3478 to deliver media (Note that existing ports 19302–19309 deliver media as well).

Getting started

Admins: If you already use Meet today, configure your network to support Meet on port 3478. Note: If the port is blocked, Meet will fallback to port 19302–19309. If you use DPI technology on port 443, add the corresponding user SNIs to the allowlist:

Google Workspace admins: Meet traffic over TLS and port 3478 will use the same fixed IP range dedicated for Google Meet in Google Workspace domains.
Non-Google Workspace admins: Meet traffic over TLS and port 3478 will use the fixed IP range dedicated for non-Google Workspace users.

End users: No end-user impact.

Rollout pace Meet traffic over TLS

This feature is available now.

Meet traffic over port 3478:

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) beginning on April 26, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Admin Help: Optimize your network for Meet

Build custom, integrated solutions across Google Workspace with the new AppSheet Apps Script connector

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

What’s changing We’re introducing a new AppSheet and Apps Script connector which allows you to extend custom, no-code apps to integrate and automate workflows across Google Workspace.

The Apps Script Connector will be available for users in the AppSheet Core plan and above, which is available to users of the Google Workspace Enterprise edition. Users in the AppSheet Starter plan can test the feature. Learn more from AppSheet documentation.

Who’s impacted Admins, end users, and developers

Why it matters AppSheet is Google’s platform for building no-code custom apps and workflows to automate business processes. AppSheet works well with mixed data sources, even if customer data is stored across Sheets, CloudSQL, or on-premise databases.

Apps Script is Google’s hosted JavaScript platform that makes it easy to build solutions that integrate, automate, and extend Google Workspace. Apps Script is integrated with Google Workspace APIs and includes native integrations to Google services such as YouTube, Google Analytics, and BigQuery.

You can use the AppSheet Apps Script connector to extend custom no-code apps to integrate and automate workflows across Google Workspace. This is useful in a variety of scenarios, such as use cases in the retail, manufacturing or public sector. For example, you could use the connector with your AppSheet app to:

Receive employee travel requests via the web, and when a request is made, it can look up the requestor’s manager and send a chat or email notification for approval.
Allow workers to capture photos from their mobile device for on-site inspections, and upload images and media to Google Drive and adjust Drive sharing settings to ensure auditors have access.
Manage shift schedules and appointments through a simple web interface, and when a time slot is booked, create an event on Google Calendar with the requestor invited.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 13, 2022

Availability

The Apps Script Connector will be available for users in the AppSheet Core plan and above (available to Google Workspace Enterprise, see AppSheet pricing). Users in the Starter plan can test the feature.

Resources

Additional functionality for the Apps Script Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Script Editor

Wednesday, April 13, 2022

What’s changing In December 2020, we announced a redesign of the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for Google Apps Script. The modern and simplified development experience makes it quicker and easier to build solutions that make Google Workspace apps more useful for your organization.

We’re now adding several new features to the IDE to help achieve functional parity with the legacy IDE experience. These features are:

Script Properties
Add-on Testing
Time Zone Setting
Rhino Debugging

See below for more information.

Who’s impacted Admins and developers

Why it’s important Apps Script is a rapid application development platform that makes it fast and easy to create custom business solutions that integrate with Google Workspace and that increase the power of apps including Calendar, Docs, Drive, Gmail, Sheets, and Slides. For more information, see the original announcement on the Workspace Updates Blog.

This launch ensures Apps Script users can utilize the legacy features in the new environment:

Script Properties: Allows you to store simple data in key-value pairs scoped to one script. Script properties are typically used to store developer configuration data. The new IDE has now integrated the interface to edit, delete and create up to 50 new script properties.
Add-on Testing: Allows add-on developers to test their add-ons before publishing them broadly.
Time Zone Setting: Allows you to update the time zone of the script and its executions.
Rhino Debugging: Adds the ability to debug Rhino subroutines on V8 debugger, without migrating to V8. If the code is not V8 compatible, users will get a warning message.

We hope these additional features empower you to create solutions and integrations for Google Workspace applications faster and easier.

Getting started

Admins and developers: This feature will be ON by default for all users using the new IDE experience. Use our developer documentation to learn more about working with Apps Script, setting a time zone for a project, adding script properties, testing add-ons, and using the debugger.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 13, 2022

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Google Apps Script
Developer Guide: Set the time zone for a project
Developer Guide: Add Script Properties
Developer Guide: Testing Editor Add-ons
Developer Guide: Use the debugger and breakpoints

Join a Google Meet call from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

What’s changing You can now join a Google Meet call from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. In addition to the present to Meet option, you can select “Join the call” to quickly join and present a document, spreadsheet, or presentation to all attendees, allowing everyone in the meeting to collaborate while having a conversation.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important To help teams do their best work in the hybrid work world, as many of us begin a return to office, we continue to make enhancements to Google Meet to help ensure that video meetings are inclusive and collaborative no matter the location or device preference.
We hope this feature makes it easier for everyone in the meeting to collaborate in real-time while having a conversation—all from the same tab.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

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

Resources

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Additional one-click recommended actions in the Alert Center

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Quick summary In the Alert Center, Admins will see new, additional one-click recommended actions for certain events:

Device wipeout: for “device compromised” and “suspicious device activity” alerts. If the admin feels blocking the device is not sufficient to protect the data at risk, they can can remotely wipe out the data of the device.
Quarantine email: for alerts such as malware detected post delivery, user phishing reported, suspicious message reported, and more. Once in quarantine, admins can take additional actions such as delivering the message to the intended recipient or denying message delivery.

Recommended actions help Admins quickly triage, take action, and remedy various incidents without leaving the Alert Center. To learn more about recommended actions, use this article in our Help Center and see this post on the Google Workspace Updates blog.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

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

Resources

Use context-aware access to help protect Admin console access

Monday, April 11, 2022

Quick summary You can now apply contextual access rules to the Admin console. This enables you to control access to the Admin console based on user and device context. For example, you can enable restrictions based on IP, minimum device operating system version, and more. This can improve your security posture and reduce the risk of incorrect access to your Admin console.

Getting started

Admins: Use our Help Center to see a context-aware access overview and learn more about managing context-aware access to the Admin console.
End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 11, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

New beta for data loss prevention helps protect sensitive data when users upload files to external Google Forms

Monday, April 11, 2022

What’s changing Previously, users in organizational units (OUs) or groups with active Drive Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies couldn’t respond to external forms with File Upload questions.

Now, we’re launching a new beta that will allow users to respond to external forms that contain File Upload questions, while also helping to prevent the leak of sensitive and confidential information. This beta will apply your domain’s existing Drive DLP policies to files that your users submit to Google Forms, without creating new rules or updating any existing ones.

Admins of eligible customers can express interest in the beta using this form.

Who’s impacted Admins and end users

Why it’s important With this launch, end users will be unblocked from responding to Google Forms with File Upload questions across domains. At the same time, DLP gives admins control over what their users can share, and prevents unintended exposure of sensitive information such as credit card numbers or personal identifiable information.

Getting started

Admins:

End users:

End users can respond to forms as usual, but can now respond to forms outside their domain, including forms that have File Upload questions.
If a form violates Drive DLP rules for their domain, end users may see warnings or be blocked from submitting.

Availability

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

Resources

Additional improvements for Google Meet

Thursday, April 7, 2022

What’s changing We’re introducing two improvements for Google Meet:

Prompts to exit meetings when you’re the only user in a meeting.
A centralized location for host management controls.

See below for more information.

Who’s impacted End users

Why you’d use it Leave empty call reminders Now, when you’re the only person in a meeting for ten minutes, you’ll receive a prompt asking whether you want to stay or leave the meeting. If you don’t respond after two minutes, you will automatically leave the meeting.

We hope that this feature will help prevent situations where your audio or video is unintentionally shared.

This feature will be available for Google Meet on desktop and iOS devices (this will launch on Android soon) — see below for availability.

Host Management controls update Currently, host and co-host controls can be found in multiple locations in Meet. For a more user intuitive experience, we’ve consolidated all host and co-host features in a single, central location under the “Host controls” menu. We hope this change makes it easier to manage your meeting settings by reducing the need to switch between various menus.
This update is specifically for Google Meet on desktop.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin action required.
End users: Leave empty call reminders: This feature will be ON by default and can be turned off by the user. Visit the Help Center to learn more.

Host management controls can now be found under the “Host Controls” button located in the bottom bar.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 11, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 18, 2022

Availability Meeting exit reminders

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

Host Management menu updates

The Host management menu updates are available for all users.

New Emoji reactions in Google Docs on web

Tuesday, April 5, 2022

Quick summary Giving and receiving feedback is a key collaborative workflow in Google Docs. The new emoji reactions feature provides a less formal alternative to comments to express your opinions about document content.We are making the following experiences available in Docs

Emoji set is updated to the latest version (Emoji 14.0), reflecting the latest emoji set with options to accurately reflect your identity

Gender-neutral options for gender-modifiable emojis

Emoji skin tone and gender preferences are saved per individual emoji

Getting Started

Admins:There is no Admin control for this feature

End users: This feature will be ON by default and can not be disabled by the user. To access reactions in Docs, hover over any message or an existing anchor and click on the “Add reaction” icon. Additionally, emoji preferences are shared with Google Chat, so any preferences set in one app will be reflected in the other. Both apps can be used to update emoji preferences via the picker. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using emoji reactions in Google Docs

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 5, 2022

Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 20, 2022

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Help: using emoji reactions in Google Docs

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 29, 2022

Warning banners alert users of suspicious Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides files on web

Enhanced menus in Google Docs improves findability of key features on desktop

Quick access to additional actions when composing a message in Google Chat on iOS

Easily manage storage related activity and policies through new storage management tools in the Admin console

Admins can now specify how individual Android apps update within the Admin console

Create dynamic groups by querying custom user attributes

Set up host controls and assign co-hosts ahead of meetings in Google Calendar

Refreshed ASUS Google Meet Hardware kits available now

Improved Admin experience for moving folders from My Drive to shared drives

Using document popularity in Cloud Search rankings

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - April 15, 2022

Specify which Google Chat notifications from Chat and Gmail to receive when your iOS device is in Focus mode

Intelligent corrections for formulas in Google Sheets

New port for Google Meet media and TLS support for Meet on mobile

Build custom, integrated solutions across Google Workspace with the new AppSheet Apps Script connector

Additional functionality for the Apps Script Integrated Development Environment (IDE) Script Editor

Join a Google Meet call from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides

Additional one-click recommended actions in the Alert Center

Use context-aware access to help protect Admin console access

New beta for data loss prevention helps protect sensitive data when users upload files to external Google Forms

Additional improvements for Google Meet

New Emoji reactions in Google Docs on web

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