Google Workspace Updates: June 2023

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 30, 2023

Friday, June 30, 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 customers.
Revamping the "First Open Experience" in Sheets and Slides on Android foldable and tablet devicesIn addition to the recent announcement that documents on tablet and foldables will now be in paginated mode upon first open, there will now be a more creation-focused experience when first opening the Sheets and Slides apps on Android devices. For example:
In the Sheets app, there will be larger tap targets and tapping once exposes the formula bar, tab bar, and a contextual formatting toolbar.

Revamping the "First Open Experience" in Sheets

In the Slides app, you will now see the filmstrip on the left-hand side and selecting an object exposes the contextual toolbar and an on-screen keyboard.

Revamping the "First Open Experience" in Slides on Android devices

Paste HTML into document on Android In continuing our mission to provide a top-class user experience on large screen devices, we’re introducing the ability for users to paste copied HTML elements into a document on Android. You can now copy HTML elements to clipboard and paste the elements into a Doc, all while maintaining the formatting elements.

Easily duplicate groups and objects in Google Sites Currently, Google Site editors can duplicate a section of their Site, and the duplicated section appears directly below the section it was duplicated from. Starting this week, we’re extending the duplicate feature by enabling you to easily duplicate objects (images, buttons, text boxes) and groups when editing a Site. | Learn more about adding or editing text & images in Google Sites.

Easily duplicate groups and objects in Google Sites

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.

Quickly access more features during meetings, available for Google Meet on the web We’ve introduced a new quick action to access popular features in Google Meet. By hovering the mouse on top of your own video feed, you can access video effects such as immersive backgrounds or fun filters to bring more fun to your meetings and a reframing option to improve your visibility. | Learn more about features in Google Meet.
Apply background blur when joining a call using a virtual desktop If you’re using a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to join a Google Meet meeting, you can now use background blur and light adjustment. Background blur will intelligently separate you from the background, blurring your surroundings while keeping you clear and in focus. | Available to Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Individual customers only. | Learn more about background blur in Google Meet.
Google Sheets now integrated with mail merge in Gmail Mail merge will support Google Sheets in the web version of Gmail. This integration will allow you to link a Sheet with up to 1,500 recipients and use any data column from your Sheet as a mail merge tag. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers and Nonprofits only. | Learn more about mail merge with Sheets in Gmail.
Simplified access controls coming to Google Meet beginning July 17, 2023 We’re introducing simplified controls for meeting access in Google Meet. These will replace the existing Quick access meeting settings and the admin setting to turn Quick access on or off by default will be removed. This update will begin rolling out on July 17, 2023. | Learn more about access controls coming to Google Meet.
Use polls or Q&As during Google Meet live streams If you’re live streaming a video meeting, meeting hosts can now enable the Q&A and poll features, which previously were only offered in traditional Meet meetings. Expanding these features to live streamed meetings will help take your meetings to the next level with a more feature-rich, collaborative experience. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning upgrade customers. | Learn more about polls and Q&As during Google Meet live streams.
Making focus time more productive with new Google Calendar setting To increase concentration and bridge the gap between do not disturb and focus time, you can now mute notifications for the duration of your focus time directly in Calendar. | Available to Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Nonprofits only. | Learn more about the new Google Calendar setting.
See read receipts for messages in Google Chat group direct messages We’re introducing read receipts in group direct messages. With this feature, you can now quickly identify if other members of a group have read your latest message within a Chat stream. | Learn more about read receipts in Google Chat.
Improvements for client-side encryption in Gmail We’ve introduced two new features for client-side encryption in Gmail which will help you quickly identify ineligible recipients and any attachments that may be blocked. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers. | Learn more about client-side encryption in Gmail.

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:

Add or remove client-side encryption from a Google Sheets and Google Slides files

Scheduled Release Domains:

Introducing new keyboard shortcuts in Google Sheets

Additional updates for the Google Docs, Sheets and Slides apps on Android devices (Vertical context menu in Docs and Slides)

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

Improvements for client-side encryption in Gmail

Friday, June 30, 2023

What’s changing We’re introducing two new features for client-side encryption in Gmail which will help you quickly identify ineligible recipients and any attachments that may be blocked:

When you’re composing a Gmail message using client-side encryption, any recipient who is not able to receive encrypted messages will be denoted with a red chip. The email will not be able to be sent until those recipients are removed.

Email recipients who cannot receive encrypted messages will be highlighted in red.

Gmail blocks attachments that may spread viruses, like messages that include executable files or scripts. If you receive a client-side encrypted message in Gmail, we’ll automatically check if any attachments are blocked file types. If there are blocked file types, you’ll see a warning banner and you won’t be able to download the file.

You'll see a warning banner if you receive an email with a blocked attachment type

For more information on client-side encryption in Gmail, check out the Workspace blog and our original announcement.
Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up client-side encryption for your organization.
End users:

If enabled by your Workspace admin, to add client-side encryption to any message, click the lock icon and select additional encryption, and compose your message and add attachments as normal.
If you include a recipient in the “To” or “CC” fields who cannot receive an encrypted message, their email address will appear as a red chip.
Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gmail Client-side encryption and blocked file types in Gmail.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 30, 2023

Availability

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

Resources

See read receipts for messages in Google Chat group direct messages

Thursday, June 29, 2023

What’s changingFollowing the recent updates in Google Chat that add context without breaking the flow of conversations and enable you to declutter your chat conversations, we’re introducing read receipts in group direct messages.
With this feature, you can now quickly identify if other members of a group have read your latest message within a Chat stream.

Who’s impacted End users

Why it’s important Many users rely on Chat for immediate communication with their colleagues, and it’s sometimes difficult to keep up with the number of messages sent and received throughout the day. Knowing which of your colleagues have read your message can help set expectations for a response.
Whether you’re waiting for a colleague to read your message or you want to ensure high visibility of a topic in a group direct message, we hope this highly requested feature helps you communicate more effectively in Chat.

Additional details Read receipts will only be shown in Chats of 20 people or less, and will not be shown in spaces.

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature and it cannot be toggled ON or OFF. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending a message in Google Chat.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 29, 2023

Availability

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

Resources

Google Help: Send a message in Google Chat

Making focus time more productive with new Google Calendar setting

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

What’s changingIn 2021, we introduced the option to reflect time set aside for focus in Google Calendar with the focus time entry type. When coupled with the do not disturb setting in Google Chat, users are able to protect their time for heads-down individual work without distractions.
To increase concentration and bridge the gap between do not disturb and focus time, you can now mute notifications for the duration of your focus time directly in Calendar.

Calendar Focus time integration with Chat DnD

Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: To mute Chat notifications when adding a Focus time Calendar entry, check the "Do not disturb" box. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using focus time in Google Calendar.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 28, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 12, 2023

Availability

Available to Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Nonprofits

Resources

Google Help: Use focus time in Google Calendar
Google Help: Change your availability status and mute notifications in Google Chat
Google Workspace Updates Blog: Set aside time for focus in Google Calendar

Use polls or Q&As; during Google Meet live streams

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

What’s changing If you’re live streaming a video meeting, meeting hosts can now enable the Q&A and poll features, which previously were only offered in traditional Meet meetings. Expanding these features to live streamed meetings will help take your meetings to the next level with a more feature-rich, collaborative experience.

Q&A in Meet offers an easy way to better engage audiences and help them get their questions answered, both at work and in school. Educators can use Q&A as a structured way for students to ask questions on class content and get answers from teachers. Businesses can use Q&A to help make meetings more inclusive, giving everyone the opportunity to ask questions. Participants can submit and upvote their favorite questions without disrupting the flow of the call.

Using Q&A's during a live stream

Polls are a great way to quickly gauge the pulse of your audience. You can use polls to identify topics that need more discussion or test understanding of the meeting content. This means business users can easily get real-time feedback from their colleagues, teachers can quiz remote students to ensure they’re absorbing the material, and sales teams can make their sales presentations to prospective customers more engaging and interactive.

Using polls during a live stream

Getting started

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 28, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning upgrade customers

Resources

Simplified access controls coming to Google Meet beginning July 17, 2023

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

What’s changing We’re introducing simplified controls for meeting access in Google Meet. These will replace the existing Quick access meeting settings and the admin setting to turn Quick access on or off by default will be removed. This update will begin rolling out on July 17, 2023.
From a Google Calendar invite or Google Meet itself, meeting organizers will now be able to pick from the following three levels of access:

Open:

Anyone with a meeting link will be able to join your meetings.
No one will have to ask to join.
Anyone can dial in.

Trusted:

Anyone within the meeting hosts’ organization will be able to join without having to ask to join (AKA knocking).
Anyone outside the organization but invited via a Google Calendar event, or anyone invited from within the meeting, will also be able to join without having to ask to join.
Anyone can dial in.
Everybody else will have to ask to join.

Restricted:

Only someone who is invited via a Google Calendar event or someone invited from within the meeting by a host will be able to join.
Everyone else will have to ask to join, including participants inside a host’s organization who aren’t included on the invite, and those dialing in.

Additionally, meeting hosts can configure whether guests can join the meeting before hosts.

See below for more information regarding how the new behavior will be applied to new and existing meetings:

Workspace Edition

New Meetings

Existing Meetings with Quick Access “OFF”

Existing Meetings with Quick Access “ON”

Business users

If you use Meet with a paid work account then by default all your new meetings will be set to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

Meetings will default to RESTRICTED and your guests won’t be able to join your meetings until you join

Meetings will default to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

Education users

If you use Meet with a paid school account then by default all your new meetings will be set to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

Any meetings created via Google Classroom will be set to RESTRICTED and your guests won’t be able to join before you.

Meetings will default to RESTRICTED and your guests won’t be able to join before you.

Meetings will default to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

Workspace Individual, Google One Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

New Meetings

Existing Meetings

By default all your new meetings will be set to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

Anyone who is invited to a meeting via a Google Calendar invite will be considered as “trusted”.

For any meetings previously created by you, those will also default to TRUSTED and your guests will be able to join before you.

You won’t see an option to create Restricted meetings.

Who's impacted

Admins and end users

Why it matters

To help ensure your meetings run as smoothly as possible, we made the decision to replace the Quick access settings with a more intuitive and explicit set of controls for meeting organizers and hosts.

Getting started

Admins:

As part of this update, we will be removing the Quick access setting in the Admin console.
You can follow this post in our community forum to stay on top of the latest news regarding this update.

End users:

You can follow this post in our community forum to stay on top of the latest news regarding this update.
We recommend familiarizing yourself with the chart above, which explains more about the new default access settings, so you can adjust your settings as needed.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 17, 2023

Availability

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

Google Sheets now integrated with mail merge in Gmail

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

What’s changingLast year, we made it easier to send individual emails to many recipients with the launch of multi-send in Gmail, and introduced the ability to personalize multi-send emails with mail merge tags like @firstname and @lastname.
Today, we’re excited to announce that mail merge will support Google Sheets in the web version of Gmail. This integration will allow you to link a Sheet with up to 1,500 recipients and use any data column from your Sheet as a mail merge tag.

Google Sheets now integrated with mail merge in Gmail

Who’s impacted End users
Why it’s important With mail merge you can send more personalized and engaging emails to large audiences from web Gmail.
Additional details With this update, mail merge will fully replace multi-send. We’re also moving the icon for mail merge from the main compose toolbar at the bottom of your email draft to the top-right corner of your compose window. You can still use mail merge without linking a Sheet, using the built-in merge tags: @firstname, @lastname, @fullname, and @email.
Like multi-send, mail merge emails contain a unique unsubscribe link for each recipient by default. Recipients who unsubscribe from your emails are automatically excluded from future mail merge emails you send.
Learn more about mail merge in Gmail.
Getting started

Admins:

End users:

To link your Sheet to a draft in Gmail:

Turn on mail merge using the icon in the top-right corner of a new compose tab.
Click Add from a spreadsheet and select which Sheet you want to use for recipient data.

The Sheet must contain at least one column of email addresses and one column with recipient names.

Note: Your recipient data must be in the first tab of the Sheet.
Note: Users are limited to 1,500 mail merge recipients or messages per day, and you can't use Cc or Bcc when recipients are added from a Sheet.

Next, you will see a Finish linking spreadsheet dialog:

Choose the columns that contain recipients’ email addresses and names.

To insert merge tags to your draft:

Type “@” in your draft to show a list of available merge tags.
Every valid column in the first tab of your Sheet should be available as a merge tag.
Insert the desired merge tag by pressing Enter or by clicking on the tag.
Note: Merge tags can’t be used in the subject line or in links.

Visit the Help Center to learn more about mail merge in Gmail.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 27, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on July 19, 2023

Availability

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

Resources

Apply background blur when joining a call using a virtual desktop

Monday, June 26, 2023

What’s changing If you’re using a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) to join a Google Meet meeting, you can now use background blur and light adjustment. Background blur will intelligently separate you from the background, blurring your surroundings while keeping you clear and in focus. Light adjustment automatically detects when you appear underexposed and enhances the brightness to improve your visibility. Note that these effects will only be applied once you join a call, they cannot be previewed in the greenroom.

For admins, this optimization will help cut down on the demand put on your VDIs, such as CPU, GPU, and memory usage while helping to improve meeting quality and performance. For this reason, you may consider removing GPU resources from your VDIs for cost savings.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about allowing users to apply backgrounds & special effects and preparing your network for Meet meetings.
End users: If enabled by your admin, you’ll be able to select background blur from the Meet green room or during the meeting and turning on automatic video lighting adjustment.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on June 26, 2023

Availability

Available to Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Individual customers

Resources

Quickly access more features during meetings, available for Google Meet on the web

Monday, June 26, 2023

Quick summary We are introducing a new quick action to access popular features in Google Meet. By hovering the mouse on top of your own video feed, you can access video effects such as immersive backgrounds or fun filters to bring more fun to your meetings and a reframing option to improve your visibility.

Quick action from your own video feed

You can also turn off the video feed from other participants using the quick action on their video. This can be helpful in situations where you want to focus your meeting view to just the presenter or hide participants with distracting video feeds.
Getting started

Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: The feature is available to all users. Visit the Help Center to learn more about changing your audio and video settings, changing your background or applying visual effects, and pinning or muting meeting participants.

Rollout pace

Availability

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 23, 2023

Friday, June 23, 2023

2 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 customers.

Adding flexibility to email collection in Google Forms

Previously, when creating or modifying a Google Form and editing the “Responses” section, form creators only had the option to toggle the "Collect email addresses" option on or off. If enabled, this meant when users filled out the form, their email was automatically collected with their form submission. To add flexibility, we’ve introduced the ability to choose between the following email collection options:

Verified email collection (previously known as automatic email collection)
Responder input (previously known as manual email collection)
Do not collect

The verified collection option will now require a user to click a checkbox to confirm which email address is being collected upon submission. | Learn more about viewing & managing form responses.

Adding flexibility to email collection in Google Forms

Gain consensus from collaborators quickly with voting chips in Google Docs You can now add smart chips that contain emojis to use as voting indicators in Google Docs. This feature helps teams express themselves while they’re collaborating in Docs by allowing you to rank or compare ideas. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus customers and Nonprofits only. | Learn more about inserting smart chips & building blocks in your Google Doc.

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.

Launching in beta: programmatically write working locations with the Calendar API Available now in beta through our Developer Preview Program, you can write a user’s working location using the Calendar API. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more about writing working locations with the Calendar API.
Enhancing Google Vault file retention capabilities using Google Drive Labels Google Vault now supports custom retention rules based on Drive labels. | Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about Vault file retention using Google Drive Labels.
Respond to access requests for Google Workspace files more efficiently Users can now review and respond to requests from within the file. Approvers will see a notification dot on the “Share” button if they have a pending access request and a new banner at the top of the sharing dialog. | Learn more about responding to access requests.
Monitor additional Google Meet hardware issues in the Admin console You can now use the Admin console to detect and monitor additional Meet hardware issues, such as: missing display, missing controller, missing default camera, missing default microphone, missing default speaker, and missing default whiteboard camera. | Learn more about monitoring Google Meet hardware issues.
Use companion mode to check-in to a Google Meet conference room, so everyone can know you by nameIf you’re joining a meeting from a conference room, you can use companion mode on your personal device to check in to that specific room. Room check-in allows everyone on the call to easily identify who is in the conference room, rather than simply seeing the conference room name. | Learn more about companion mode check-in with Google Meet.

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.

Scheduled Release Domains:

Complete data-driven tasks faster with new smart chip data extraction in Google Sheets

Improved experience for admitting or denying join requests in Google Meet

Enhancing our web onboarding experience in Google Chat to help users get started quicker

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

See the top search results first in Gmail on mobile
Declutter your conversations in Google Chat
Plan, organize, and analyze assignments and grades with grading periods in Google Classroom
Simplify and strengthen sign-in by enabling passkeys for your users, available now in open beta
Write messages faster and easier with smart compose in Google Chat
Visit a class using new option in Google Classroom
Enhanced experience for picture-in-picture for Google Meet in Chrome
View more insights and take quick action via the Chrome Browser Cloud Management home card in the Admin console
Pull rich data from apps directly into Google Docs with third-party smart chips
Expanding Google Drive log events to additional Google Workspace editions
Expanding originality reports Google Classroom to Microsoft Word files
Adding rich text formatting to comments in Google Classroom
Launching in beta: programmatically write working locations with the Calendar API

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

Use companion mode to check-in to a Google Meet conference room, so everyone can know you by name

Thursday, June 22, 2023

What’s changing One of the challenges of joining a virtual meeting from a conference room, is that the people in the room are identified by the name of the conference room rather than as individuals. But that’s changing today with the new companion mode check-in feature in Google Meet. If you’re joining a meeting from a conference room, you can use companion mode on your personal device to check in to that specific room. Room check-in allows everyone on the call to easily identify who is in the conference room, rather than simply seeing the conference room name.

You’ll be prompted to check into a room after joining companion mode on your personal device.

Checked-in participants will appear under the conference room

Checked-in participants will be grouped under the conference room in the people panel

Room check-in will be available by default, but admins can turn this feature off for specific Meet hardware devices or specific users. For more information, see the “Additional details” section.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

Rather than being represented in a meeting just by the conference room you’re in, room check-in helps ensure everyone in the meeting can see your name and be aware of your presence.

If you turn on your personal video tile in companion mode, it along with the conference room name, will be shown while you’re presenting.

You’ll notice the same experience when using hand raise as well.

If your personal video tile is turned off, we’ll display the hand raise icon next to your name in the conference room view.

The conference room name is visible when using your personal tile & the hand raise feature.

Combined, this helps boost individual representation, making meetings more equitable, inclusive, and collaborative.

Additional details

Admin controls for room check-in

Admins can turn off room check-in for specific Meet hardware devices within an organizational unit in the Admin console under Admin Console > Devices > Google Meet hardware > [Organizational Unit] > Device Settings > Room Check-In > Uncheck “Users can check in to this device’s meeting room.” This can be particularly useful in instances where the check-in feature should not be used on dedicated executive devices or in large meeting rooms.

Admins can also turn this feature off for specific users within an organizational unit. Admins can use this option to slowly rollout room check-in department by department, for example. To turn room check-in off for specific users, navigate to Apps > Google Workspace > Google Meet > [Organizational Unit] > Meet Video Settings > Room Check-In > Uncheck “All users can check in to eligible rooms” in the admin console.

Device Support

This feature is only available for Google Meet hardware devices; interop devices are not supported at this time.

Getting Started

Admins:

This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at organizational unit level for specific hardware devices or users. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Meet settings.

End users:

If enabled by your admin, room check-in will be available for all users joining companion mode from meet.google.com, or by using g.co/companion. Check-in by selecting the Google Meet hardware device on the call. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Companion mode for hybrid learning & collaboration, as well as this video guide.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 22, 2023
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) July 24, 2023

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace customers with Meet Hardware devices

Resources

Useful Links

Join the official community for Google Workspace administrators

In the Google Cloud Community, connect with Googlers and other Google Workspace admins like yourself. Participate in product discussions, check out the Community Articles, and learn tips and tricks that will make your work and life easier. Be the first to know what's happening with Google Workspace.

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Learn about more Google Workspace launches

On the “What’s new in Google Workspace?” Help Center page, learn about new products and features launching in Google Workspace, including smaller changes that haven’t been announced on the Google Workspace Updates blog.

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Updates

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 30, 2023

Improvements for client-side encryption in Gmail

See read receipts for messages in Google Chat group direct messages

Making focus time more productive with new Google Calendar setting

Use polls or Q&As; during Google Meet live streams

Simplified access controls coming to Google Meet beginning July 17, 2023

Google Sheets now integrated with mail merge in Gmail

Apply background blur when joining a call using a virtual desktop

Quickly access more features during meetings, available for Google Meet on the web

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - June 23, 2023

Use companion mode to check-in to a Google Meet conference room, so everyone can know you by name

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