Google Workspace Updates: Google Vault

Admins in Google Vault can now export hyperlinked Google Drive content from Gmail messages

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

What’s changing Starting December 8, 2023, admins can export Drive files hyperlinked in Gmail messages directly in Google Vault. When admins select “export linked Drive files”, Vault will look for Drive hyperlinks in the body of the emails being exported from Gmail. If Drive hyperlinks are found, a separate export of Drive files will also be created.

Toggle “Export linked Drive files” on or off

In the “Exports” tab, Drive exports will be grouped with their corresponding Gmail export — you can select the arrow icon to open the collapsible menu.

Admins will be able to find their exported hyperlinked Drive content nested under the corresponding Gmail export in the “Export” tab. Vault admins can find the association between the Gmail export and Drive link export in the export file names and metadata.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why it matters Vault is critical for retaining, holding, searching, and exporting users’ Google Workspace data. This update reduces the need for admins to manually find and extract Drive files hyperlinked in Gmail messages.
Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about supported services and data types in Vault.

Rollout pace Vault user interface updates

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 4, 2023

API updates

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting December 4, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license

Resources

Google Vault Help: Supported services and data types

Access Google Vault audit logs alongside other Workspace audit logs

Monday, December 4, 2023

What’s changingWe’re excited to announce the general availability of an improved Google Vault audit log experience. As a result of this change, you can now find Vault audit logs in the Admin console alongside other Google Workspace apps like Gmail, Google Drive, and more. Beginning in January, Vault audit logs can be accessed by the Reports API, which you can use to actively monitor your domain’s Vault usage. We’ll share more information here on the Workspace Updates blog when this functionality becomes available.Aligning the location and functionality of Vault audit logs with other Workspace apps creates a consistent experience for admins and reduces the need to search for information in various locations. It also enables audit logs in the admin console to be compliant with our new regionalized data processing capabilities.Additional detailsThe duration, access and visibility of Vault audit logs will remain the same and will continue to require the “manage audits” permission. The Vault audit logs can be accessed through the Vault reports and matter audits links as well as from the Admin Console. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up Vault privileges.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about Vault log events.
End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 4, 2023

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license

Resources

Google Vault now supports Google Calendar

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

What’s changing Google Vault now supports Calendar, which means customers can take the following actions around Calendar data:

Manage retention with default and custom rules.
Search and preview events with a number of filters, such as keyword search across description, title, guests, locations and invite response status which can be used to quickly refine your search.
Search for historical versions of events, which allows Vault Admins to search and export events as they appeared on a specific date.
Export data in multiple formats, including ICS, PST (MSFT format) and CSE-decryptable formats.
Apply holds to prevent purging of data which must be retained for legal purposes.

Selecting Calendar as a service from the Vault user interface

Who’s impacted

Admins

Why it matters

Vault is an information governance and eDiscovery tool for Google Workspace. Now customers’ Calendar events can be retained, held, searched, and exported. This integration makes it easier for customers to comply with regional and legal mandates surrounding Calendar data, all from a central tool.

Vault’s integration with Calendar rounds out support for critical Workspace apps such as Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat and Meet, providing customers with a consistent experience across all products that are managed within Vault.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Vault to search Google Calendar, placing Google Calendar data on hold, and retaining Google Calendar data with Vault.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 29, 2023.
Updates for the API rollout will immediately follow the Vault user interface updates.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus customers or customers with the Vault add-on license.

Resources

Enhancing Google Vault file retention capabilities using Google Drive Labels

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

What’s changingGoogle Drive labels are metadata your organization defines to help organize, find, and apply policies to files in Drive. As an administrator, you can create labels to apply to files stored in Drive. Starting today, Google Vault now supports custom retention rules based on Drive labels.
With this update, Vault users can set fine-grained file-level retention policies with configurable label conditions (e.g. "label is," "label is not," "label date is before"). Additionally, you can have a label with multiple options (sub labels) and have nested and conditional application of overlapping and distinct rules.

Who’s impacted Admins

Why you’d use it Record retention management is a critical activity for organizations looking to maintain various compliance requirements. With file-level policy administration, label-based retention enables organizations to now be much more targeted in their retention management.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about getting started as a Drive labels admin, applying classification labels to new files automatically, and setting up Drive retention rules that use labels.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 20, 2023

Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 20, 2023

Friday, January 20, 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 and G Suite customers.

Google Vault support for client-side encrypted emails

Vault now supports retention, search, and export of client-side encrypted emails. Note that admins can't preview the email body and attachments, including inline images — they’ll only be able to see the subject line, sender, and receiver.

Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between our customers and Google facilities. Client-side encryption helps strengthen the confidentiality of your data while helping to address a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs. Visit the Help Center for more information on client-side encryption and our original announcement regarding client-side encryption for Gmail.

Admins can use the Help Center to learn more about client-side encryption and encrypted emails in Vault. End users can use the Help Center to learn more about setting up client-side encryption for Gmail.

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

Set and share personal pronouns across Google Workspace products

Google Workspace admins can now give their users the option to set their pronouns and choose who can see them from their Google Account at aboutme.google.com.

This is opt-in only and can be enabled for all users or a subset of them (such as for a specific location or department). Admins can use this Help Center article to learn more about enabling this feature for their users.

User-defined pronouns will appear in personal information cards displayed when hovering over or clicking someone’s profile photo across Workspace apps like Gmail, Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Chat, and Drive. Support for pronouns in Google Meet will roll out in the coming months. Pronouns will also appear in Google Contacts, accessed by clicking “Open detailed view” from the personal information cards. If enabled by their admin, end users can use this Help Center article to learn more about changing their pronouns in their Google Account settings.

If enabled by the admin, users can set pronouns from aboutme.google.com and specify who they are visible to.

Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers only.

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.

New beta to move folders from My Drive to shared drives now available Following the announcement of an improved admin experience for moving folders from My Drive to shared drives, we’ve introduced a beta that will allow end users to move folders from My Drive into shared drives. | 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, and legacy G Suite Business customers only. | Learn more.

New built-in interoperability between Google Meet and Zoom As previously announced in October, we’re introducing video conferencing device interoperability for Google Meet with Zoom, which will allow you to join Zoom Meetings from Google Meet hardware devices and join Google Meet meetings from Zoom Rooms. | Zoom interop on Google Meet hardware is available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers with Google Meet hardware. | Learn more.

Completed rollouts

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

Rapid Release Domains:

[Weekly Recap] Easily share files in Google Meet chat on web
View speaker notes while presenting Google Slides in Google Meet

Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains:

Updated experience for exporting your organization’s data (Google Workspace Enterprise Plus only)
Increasing efficiency through better meeting room management with room release (Admin setting)
[Weekly Recap] Find apps and app commands in Chat with a new Integration Menu
Beta Application for New beta to move folders from My Drive to shared drives now available
For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).

Google Vault support for client-side encrypted emails

Tuesday, January 17, 2023

What’s changing Vault now supports retention, search, and export of client-side encrypted emails. Note that admins can't preview the email body and attachments, including inline images — they’ll only be able to see the subject line, sender, and receiver.

Google Workspace already uses the latest cryptographic standards to encrypt all data at rest and in transit between our customers and Google facilities. Client-side encryption helps strengthen the confidentiality of your data while helping to address a broad range of data sovereignty and compliance needs. Visit the Help Center for more information on client-side encryption and our original announcement regarding client-side encryption for Gmail.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about client-side encryption and encrypted emails in Vault.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up client-side encryption for Gmail.

Rollout pace

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

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, 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 legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources

Gmail exports in Vault now include a new CSV metadata file

Monday, May 24, 2021

Quick SummaryNow when you create Gmail exports in Google Vault, you will get a new CSV-formatted file of the export metadata in addition to the XML file you currently receive. This can make export processing and review easier and may save legal costs. This change improves interoperability with third-party applications.

Getting started

Admins: This feature will be ON by default. Admins automatically receive the XML file when they create a Gmail export.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.

Rollout pace

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

AvailabilityBusiness Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, available as an add-on to Frontline, available to domain-verified Enterprise Essentials, GSuite Business.

ResourcesGoogle Help: Review Vault export files

Google Vault now supports Google Sites

Tuesday, April 27, 2021

What’s changingGoogle Vault now supports new Google Sites. You can use Google Vault to set retention policies for Google Sites, perform searches of Google Sites data, and export Google Sites content. If you already use Vault to hold Google Drive files, sites files will now be covered by those holds. You can set Sites-specific retention rules if you want to manage sites retention.
Who’s impactedAdminsWhy it mattersThis provides you with expanded control over your organization’s data, and can help you meet regulatory or legal obligations for your Google Sites data.
If you have Drive retention rules set to purge data after a retention period, sites will be purged according to those rules.
Getting started

Admins: Visit the Help Center to learn more about supported Sites data, how to Retain Google Sites data with Vault, use Drive search to find sites, and work with sites in Drive export files.

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

Rollout paceRapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 27.
Availability

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

ResourcesGoogle Workspace Admin Help: Supported services and data typesGoogle Help: Google Vault Help

Changes to Google Drive search operators may alter your Google Vault search results

Monday, March 22, 2021

Quick launch summaryWe’ve updated Google Drive Search operators to enable better results when searching for files in Google Vault. This includes changes to the behavior of the to: and from: operators, and a new sharedwith: operator.

Starting April 27, 2021, to: and from: won't match files shared before March 2021, but will better reflect actual sharing actions compared to the current logic. See this Help Center article for more information.

Before April 27, 2021, please check your saved Drive search queries in Google Vault and, if needed, make updates to ensure you get the results you expect:

If you search for files in Vault using the to: or from: Drive search operators, you might want to change to: to sharedwith: and from: to owner: to keep the current search behavior.
If you do not search for files in Vault using the to: or from: Drive search operators, no action is required.

Note, you’ll know when the new behavior is applied to your to: or from: Drive searches within Vault as you’ll see the below notification near the Terms field:

Getting started

Admins: To check your saved queries, go to vault.google.com > Matters > Click the matter that has the saved search query you want to review > Search > View Saved Queries. See full details of the changes to operators, and visit the Help Center to learn more about searching for files in Google Vault and using search operators to refine results in Google Vault.
End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: The change in search operators will take place automatically on April 27, 2021.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Business customers and customers with the Vault add-on license
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, and Business Standard customers, or G Suite Basic customers

Resources

New Google Vault interface will become the only experience starting on May 24, 2021

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Quick launch summary Last year, we announced a new interface for Google Vault. The new interface makes it easier to navigate Vault and includes new productivity features for faster task completion. See our beta blog post for more information on the improvements in the new interface.

While the new interface is the primary interface at vault.google.com, it is still possible to access the classic interface at ediscovery.google.com. Starting on May 24, 2021, the classic interface will redirect to the new interface, with no option to revert back. The new interface includes all the core functionality from the classic interface, and there will be no impact on your existing Google Vault setup.

Getting started

Admins: The new interface is available at vault.google.com. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Google Vault for your organization.
End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on May 24, 2021

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Business customers and customers with the Vault add-on license
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, and Business Standard customers, or G Suite Basic customers

Resources

Vault for Google Voice now generally available

Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Quick launch summary Google Vault now supports Google Voice. This means you can use Vault to retain, hold, search, and export Google Voice data including text messages, call logs, voicemails, and voicemail transcripts.
This provides you with expanded control over your organization’s data, and can help you meet regulatory or legal obligations for your Google Voice data.

Getting started

Example of creating a custom retention rule for Google Voice in the new Vault interface

Example of creating a custom retention rule for Google Voice in the classic Vault interface

Example of searching for Google Voice data in the new Google Vault interface

Example of searching for Google Voice data in the classic Google Vault interface

Rollout pace

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

Availability

Available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers with Google Voice standard and premier licenses

Resources

New interface for Google Vault

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Quick launch summary We’ve designed a new interface for Google Vault. The new interface makes it easier to navigate, and includes new productivity features for faster task completion. To use the new interface, visit vault.google.com and sign in with your Google Workspace admin account.
The new interface includes all the core functionality from the classic interface, and there’s no impact on your existing Google Vault setup. The main interface improvements include the following:

When you first sign in, you’re directed to a home page with up to three options (depending on your permissions): Retention, Matters, and Reporting.
When you set up retention rules and holds, step-by-step flows with more tooltips guide you through the process.
Custom retention rules, holds, and search results are listed in sortable, filterable tables. This helps you more easily understand the scope of your information governance policies and search results.
When you explore search results and hold reports, you keep your context. Clicking an item opens a side panel instead of taking you to a new page.

The classic interface is still available at ediscovery.google.com. Matters, retention rules, and audit log data will sync between the interfaces and be available in both places until ediscovery.google.com is shut down. We’ll provide more details regarding this turndown on the Workspace Updates blog at least three months in advance.

Getting started

Admins: The new interface is available at vault.google.com. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Google Vault for your organization. Note that users in the classic interface may see a banner inviting them to try the new interface starting on December 3, 2020.
End users: No end user impact.

When you first sign in, you’ll now see a home page with up to three options: Retention, Matters, and Reporting.

Custom rules are now listed in a sortable, filterable table.

You’ll see a new interface for creating and managing rules.
Rollout pace

This feature is available now for all users.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus customers, G Suite Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofit customers, and customers with the Vault add-on license
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, and Business Standard customers, as well as G Suite Basic customers.

Resources

Changes to Google Chat group conversations and classic Hangouts coming December 3, 2020

Monday, November 30, 2020

What’s changingStarting December 3, 2020, we’ll make three changes to how group conversations work in Google Chat:

Add and change members. You’ll be able to add and change members of new group conversations.
Different Google Vault retention policy. If you have a Vault retention policy set, the updated group conversations will respect a different retention policy.
Compatibility with classic Hangouts. Group conversations in Hangouts will begin to appear in Google Chat over the coming weeks.

See below for more information on each of these updates.
Who’s impactedAdmins and end users
Why you’d use itAs we announced earlier this year, starting in the first half of 2021, everyone can begin upgrading from Hangouts to Chat. To ensure a smooth transition, we will help automatically migrate your Hangouts conversations and saved history. These changes further ensure compatibility between classic Hangouts and Chat to make migrating your users as seamless as possible.
Additional detailsUpdated group conversationsWhen a new member is added to a group conversation, all members will see a message announcing the new member. The new member will be able to see the entire conversation, even messages sent before they entered, allowing them to catch up easily.

If you have a group conversation created before December 3, you can easily create an updated conversation with the same people using the “Start a new chat” option in the conversation settings menu.

History and retention settingsWhile end users can toggle history on and off at the conversation level, admins can control whether to keep chat history for users in their organization. They can set the default and also let users change their history setting for each conversation.
Note that these updated group conversations will also respect a different retention policy in Vault. If you set custom Chat retention rules in Google Vault, the scope of coverage will change. Rules set for “All Chat Spaces” (previously known as “All Rooms”) will apply to existing chat rooms, plus updated group messages and group messages that synchronize between Chat and Hangouts. Visit the Help Center for more details.
Compatibility with classic HangoutsGroup conversations in Hangouts—beginning with conversations, followed by message history—will begin to appear in Google Chat over the coming weeks. This will allow your users to move from Hangouts to Chat without losing context. In addition, 1:1 messages, updated group conversations, and unthreaded rooms from Chat will begin to appear in Hangouts (Note: this change will only be available for users with Hangouts enabled).Getting started

Rollout paceUpdated group conversations

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 3, 2020

Compatibility with classic Hangouts

Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 3, 2020

Availability

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

Resources

Use the Count API to estimate Vault API export sizes

Thursday, October 15, 2020

Quick launch summary We’re adding a Count API to the Vault API. The Count API enables you to see the number of messages, files, or other data items that match a search query.

You can use the number of items to estimate the size of the export, and then choose to proceed with the export or adjust the query to retrieve fewer items. This can help ensure a successful export by reducing the likelihood of export errors due to size.

Getting started

Admins: Visit the API documentation to learn more about the Count API and review an example.
End users: No end user impact.

Rollout pace

Rapid and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 15, 2020

Availability

Available to Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise for Education, G Suite Business, as well as other customers with the Vault add-on license
Not available to Essentials, Business Starter, and Business Standard customers, as well as G Suite Education, Nonprofits, and Basic customers

Resources

Count API reference
Count API example

Roadmap

This feature was listed as an upcoming release.

Ensure that Google Vault captures all emails in your domain

Monday, October 28, 2019

What you should know

To ensure that copies of all sent or received messages in your domain are stored in the associated users' Gmail mailboxes, you should set up comprehensive mail storage in the Admin console. This is not a new setting, but we’ve learned that some G Suite admins don’t realize it’s disabled by default.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

Storing these emails in Gmail mailboxes means that your Vault retention policies and holds, as well as searches and exports for Gmail, will include these emails. Examples of emails sent or received in your domain include mail sent from Calendar and Drive and other G Suite services.

How to get started

Additional details

One example of email captured by comprehensive mail storage is email written in Calendar. For instance, it’s sometimes useful to email all or a subset of the people in a meeting invite. If you click the "Email Guests" icon, it will send an email from your email address. You have the option to email all guests, target people based on RSVP status, and/or send a copy to yourself. There are no CC, BCC, or attachment options, but the details of the calendar event will be included in the email.

If you uncheck “Send copy to me” and the comprehensive mail storage option is disabled in your domain, a copy of the sent message will not be stored in any Gmail mailbox. If comprehensive mail storage is enabled in your domain, a copy of the sent message will be stored in your Sent mailbox.

Helpful links

Help Center: Set up comprehensive mail storage

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

Comprehensive mail storage is available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits.
Vault is available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and any G Suite users with add-on Vault licenses.

On/off by default?

Comprehensive mail storage is OFF by default and can be enabled at the OU level.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email
See the G Suite launch release calendar
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Google Vault API updates to replace Team Drives fields

Monday, August 26, 2019

What’s changing

We recently updated the Vault API to reflect the renaming of “Team Drives” to “shared drives.” You can see more details on the name change here.

The new fields in the API are detailed below. Currently, both the old and updated fields are available. However, we will stop supporting the old fields in the API on June 1, 2020. You will need to migrate any app(s) that use the affected fields before June 1, 2020, to make sure they continue to work.

The specific changes to the API are:

In DriveOptions, "includeTeamDrives" is replaced with "includeSharedDrives".
In HeldDriveQuery, "includeTeamDriveFiles" is replaced with "includeSharedDriveFiles".
In SearchMethod, “TEAM_DRIVE” is replaced with “SHARED_DRIVE”.
TeamDriveInfo has been replaced by SharedDriveInfo.

Who’s impacted

Admins and developers only

Why you’d use it

Google Vault is the eDiscovery and compliance solution for G Suite, allowing customers to retain, hold, search, and export their data. The API means you can programmatically manage your organization's eDiscovery operations. If you’ve developed apps that use the API, you may need to make minor updates to make sure they keep working as intended.

How to get started

Admins: See the documentation for the Vault API here.
End users: No action needed

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

New “shared drives” fields are available today.
We will stop supporting the old “Team Drives” related API fields on June 1, 2020.

G Suite editions

Google Vault is available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, Education, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as other G Suite customers with the Vault add-on license.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Search and export new Sites with Vault beta

Thursday, June 6, 2019

What’s changing

You can use Vault to search and export content in new Google Sites with a new beta program. Note that the beta will only support Vault’s search and export functionality, it will not support Vault’s holds and retention functionality.

Use our Help Center to find out more, or apply to join the beta here.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

Customers that sign up for the beta will be able to find content in new Sites, preview and navigate through the site in the Vault interface, and export sites for further analysis. This can expand your organization’s archiving and eDiscovery by adding content from new Sites.

How to get started

Additional details

Details of actions available in the beta

Search for content in new Sites. You can search for Sites alongside other Drive content, or use the operator type:site to target just Sites data in Google Drive.

Find specific sites by their published URLs. Use our Help Center to learn more about searching for Sites data in Vault.

Preview and navigate through the site in the Vault interface, and export sites for further analysis.

Scope of functionality available through the beta:

Vault only supports content in new Sites. Classic Sites content is not supported.
Only the most recent version of the draft site will be available for search and export in Vault.
This could be different from the published version of the site, as unpublished changes would be included.
This beta program only provides access to search and export functionality for new Sites, and does not include retention or hold functionality.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as other G Suite customers with the Vault add-on license

On/off by default?

This feature will be OFF by default. Customers can apply to join the beta here.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get G Suite product update alerts by email
See the G Suite launch release calendar
Subscribe to the RSS feed of these updates

Apply to be a part of the Hangouts Chat Accelerated Transition Program

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing

We’re announcing an Accelerated Transition Program to give a first wave of organizations a head start on migrating to Hangouts Chat and get early access to new features.

Additionally, we've heard your feedback, and we want to give you early access and more time before the general availability of these features. Therefore, we’re extending the previously announced timelines to give you more time to manage change in your organization. See below for more information.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you should apply to the Accelerated Transition Program

Simplify communications by disabling classic Hangouts apps and migrating all users to the newest enterprise-grade Chat product on a faster timeline. As a part of this program, you’ll receive early access to new Chat features such as Chat integration with Gmail and the ability to chat with external users.

For more information about the additional benefits of this program, check out the Accelerated Transition Program Help Center.

How to get started

Upcoming changes to the Chat and Vault transition schedule

Some changes originally scheduled to happen starting on April 16, 2019, such as Chat retention rules and holds applying to your messages in Hangouts Classic, and enabling Chat for all users that are using classic Hangouts, will now take place over the next few months. We'll also be giving you more time before we transition all domains from classic Hangouts to Chat. More notices and details will be shared on the G Suite Updates blog as they approach.

Note: If you are a Google Vault customer, you still must set Chat retention rules and holds before April 16, 2019. You must continue to create new holds in both Mail and Hangouts Chat if you need to preserve chat messages during this migration period.

Helpful links

Accelerated Transition Program information
Help Center: Accelerated Transition Program

Availability

G Suite editions

All G Suite editions are welcome to apply to this program.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Use Vault for Gmail confidential messages and Jamboard files

Thursday, March 7, 2019

What’s changing

Google Vault is adding support for two new types of content:

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

Google Vault lets you retain, hold, search, and export data to support your organization’s retention and eDiscovery needs. This launch adds support for new data types so that you can comprehensively govern your organization’s data.

How to get started

Admins: Use our Help Center to find out more about retention and Google Vault.
End users: No action needed.

Additional details

Support for Gmail confidential mode emails
Gmail confidential mode lets users restrict recipients' access to sensitive email content. This feature is available to G Suite domains through our Gmail confidential Beta program.

Vault and confidential messages sent by members of your organization - Vault can hold, retain, search, and export all confidential mode messages sent by users in your organization. Messages are always available to Vault, even when the sender sets an expiration date or revokes recipients' access to confidential messages.

Here’s an example of what admin@ink-42.com will see in Vault when they search for sam@ink-42.com and preview this email sent by lisa@ink-42.com.

Vault and confidential messages received from external senders - Your users might receive confidential mode messages from external parties such as other G Suite customers and from personal Gmail accounts. You can hold, retain, search and export message headers and subjects of external confidential messages. However, you can't search or export message content or attachments from external confidential messages.

Here’s an example of what admin@ink-42.com will see in Vault when they search for sam@ink-42.com, and preview this email sent by an external domain (ben@imfl.com).

See our Help Center for more information on Vault and Gmail confidential mode. You can also see how to protect Gmail messages with confidential mode.

Support for Jamboard files (“jams”) stored in Google Drive

With this launch, you’ll be able to manage Jamboard files that have been saved to a user’s Google Drive:

See our Help Center for to see how to set retention rules for Drive, which will also apply to jams.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Vault support for Jamboard

Vault support for Gmail Confidential in beta is completely rolled out to all domains.

G Suite editions
Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as G Suite users with the Vault add-on license

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON.

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Easily copy your Gmail holds to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault

Wednesday, February 20, 2019

What’s changing

As we previously announced, beginning on April 16, 2019, Mail retention rules and holds will stop protecting chat messages in classic Hangouts. Instead, Hangouts Chat retention rules and holds will protect chat messages in both classic Hangouts and Chat. To continue to preserve messages in classic Hangouts, before April 16, 2019, you must copy any existing Mail holds (that apply to messages in classic Hangouts) to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault. Today, we’re launching a new feature in Vault to help you copy your holds from Mail to Hangouts Chat, with a few clicks.

Who’s impacted

Vault Admins only

Why you’d use it

This feature helps you ensure all your messages in classic Hangouts and Hangouts Chat are preserved by the same Vault policies as your classic Hangouts messages are today.

How to get started

Admins: In Vault,

From the list of Vault matters, click on any matter that may contain Gmail holds. When viewing the list of holds in this matter, you can select multiple Mail holds at once.
Select the Mail hold(s) and click Copy holds to Hangouts Chat.

End users: No action required

Additional details

Note that Hangouts Chat doesn’t support holds based on date ranges or search terms, so they won’t be copied with the hold. You can also choose to extend these holds to cover conversations associated with these custodians in rooms.

Additionally, if you have a large number of holds in place, you can also use Vault APIs to duplicate your holds in bulk.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 20, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on February 20, 2019

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as G Suite users with the Vault add-on license.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

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

Admins in Google Vault can now export hyperlinked Google Drive content from Gmail messages

Access Google Vault audit logs alongside other Workspace audit logs

Google Vault now supports Google Calendar

Enhancing Google Vault file retention capabilities using Google Drive Labels

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap - January 20, 2023

Google Vault support for client-side encrypted emails

Gmail exports in Vault now include a new CSV metadata file

Google Vault now supports Google Sites

Changes to Google Drive search operators may alter your Google Vault search results

New Google Vault interface will become the only experience starting on May 24, 2021

Vault for Google Voice now generally available

New interface for Google Vault

Changes to Google Chat group conversations and classic Hangouts coming December 3, 2020

Use the Count API to estimate Vault API export sizes

Ensure that Google Vault captures all emails in your domain

Google Vault API updates to replace Team Drives fields

Search and export new Sites with Vault beta

Apply to be a part of the Hangouts Chat Accelerated Transition Program

Use Vault for Gmail confidential messages and Jamboard files

Easily copy your Gmail holds to Hangouts Chat in Google Vault

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