Google Workspace Updates: April 2019

New adaptive meeting layouts in Hangouts Meet

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Tiled
The tiled layout shows up to four participants on the screen to make your meetings feel more inclusive. This will be the default for smaller meetings when there is no presentation.

Side by side
The side by side layout shows up to three speakers in a larger format next to the presentation. This allows you to continue to see the presenter as they speak. This is the default when there’s a presentation and there are active speakers with video on.

Sidebar
The sidebar layout improves on the existing Meet layout by showing several additional participants in the same vertical space and using rectangular feeds to avoid participants on the edge being cropped out. This will be the default for larger meetings when there is no presentation.

In addition to seeing these layouts automatically used depending on the meeting needs, users can select a preferred layout from the Change layout dialog.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

These new layouts provide the user with a more inclusive and collaborative view of the meeting, allowing for easier interaction with remote participants while still maintaining focus on the content being presented.

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users: You’ll see the new layouts in your next Hangouts Meet meeting once the feature has rolled out to you.

Additional details

The new layouts are available on Hangouts Meet web clients and Hangouts Meet hardware.

Helpful links

To learn more about layouts in Hangout Meets, see our Help Center.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 30, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting no earlier than May 14, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

The new layouts are replacing the existing layout and will be enabled by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

What’s changing

Hangouts Meet is launching adaptive layouts that automatically adjust to give you the best view of the people and presentations in your meeting:

Spotlight
The spotlight layout keeps the focus on the presentation or a single speaker. It’s used when you’re in a meeting with just one other participant, when you pin someone, and when there’s a presentation but no active speakers with video on.

Tiled
The tiled layout shows up to four participants on the screen to make your meetings feel more inclusive. This will be the default for smaller meetings when there is no presentation.

In addition to seeing these layouts automatically used depending on the meeting needs, users can select a preferred layout from the Change layout dialog.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users: You’ll see the new layouts in your next Hangouts Meet meeting once the feature has rolled out to you.

Additional details

The new layouts are available on Hangouts Meet web clients and Hangouts Meet hardware.

Helpful links

To learn more about layouts in Hangout Meets, see our Help Center.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 30, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting no earlier than May 14, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

The new layouts are replacing the existing layout and will be enabled by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Team Drives is being renamed to shared drives

Monday, April 29, 2019

This was incorrect — file paths must be renamed to "Shared drives".

What’s changing

The “Team Drives” feature of Google Drive will be renamed to “shared drives.” This will impact:

Drive on web and mobile: Timing may vary depending on the specific platform. See below for more info.
Drive File Stream: Beginning on May 31, 2019, with the Drive File Stream version 31 release, “Team Drives” will be renamed to “shared drives” in the Drive File Stream navigation. This may require you to update settings on your devices (see below for more info).

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s changing

This change will not impact Team Drives functionality; it is simply a name change. Our users have told us that they use Team Drives for a lot more than sharing within teams, so “shared drives” makes it easier to understand how you could use them.

How to get started

Admins: If your organization currently relies on file paths of content linked from Drive File Stream—like shortcuts, scripts, etc.—you will need to update your file paths to “Shared drives” as soon as possible after May 31, 2019 to avoid broken paths.

End users: In Google Drive, in the left hand side panel, “Team Drives” will be renamed to “Shared drives.” Any desktop shortcuts that link to content inside of shared drives will need to be updated.

Additional details

On mobile, Android users will see this change beginning on May 28, 2019. iOS users will see this change beginning on May 21, 2019. See below for rollout details for Drive for web.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on June 3, 2019 for Drive on the web.
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on June 19, 2019 for Drive on the web.

G Suite editions

This change will impact all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default. All features will stay the same, only now references to Team Drives will read as “shared drives” across Drive File Stream, and Drive for web and mobile.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Update (June 19, 2019): There has been a change to the rollout for this feature to scheduled domains:

There will be a full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) beginning on June 24, 2019.

---
Update (June 11, 2019): There has been a delay in the rollout for this feature to scheduled domains.

This will now be a full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) for scheduled domains beginning on June 19, 2019.
---

Update (June 7, 2019): We previously stated that file paths would need to be renamed to "shared drives" to avoid broken paths.

This was incorrect — file paths must be renamed to "Shared drives".

What’s changing

The “Team Drives” feature of Google Drive will be renamed to “shared drives.” This will impact:

Drive on web and mobile: Timing may vary depending on the specific platform. See below for more info.
Drive File Stream: Beginning on May 31, 2019, with the Drive File Stream version 31 release, “Team Drives” will be renamed to “shared drives” in the Drive File Stream navigation. This may require you to update settings on your devices (see below for more info).

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it’s changing

How to get started

Admins: If your organization currently relies on file paths of content linked from Drive File Stream—like shortcuts, scripts, etc.—you will need to update your file paths to “Shared drives” as soon as possible after May 31, 2019 to avoid broken paths.

End users: In Google Drive, in the left hand side panel, “Team Drives” will be renamed to “Shared drives.” Any desktop shortcuts that link to content inside of shared drives will need to be updated.

Additional details

On mobile, Android users will see this change beginning on May 28, 2019. iOS users will see this change beginning on May 21, 2019. See below for rollout details for Drive for web.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on June 3, 2019 for Drive on the web.
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on June 19, 2019 for Drive on the web.

G Suite editions

This change will impact all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default. All features will stay the same, only now references to Team Drives will read as “shared drives” across Drive File Stream, and Drive for web and mobile.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

See a filterable, searchable list of the latest G Suite launches

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

We’ve just updated the “What’s new in G Suite?” Help Center article to include recent launches. The article has a list of all the G Suite launches from the past six months. You can filter by product or search by keyword to find and learn about any launch.

Feedback? Let us know.

Work anywhere with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in new offline mode

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Right click on Docs, Sheets, and Slides files from within Google Drive to make those files available offline.

You can preview which files are available offline using the Offline preview mode

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users.

Why you’d use it

We know it’s important for users to access and work on their files while traveling or when there’s low connectivity. With offline mode, it’s now possible to create, edit, and comment on Docs, Sheets, or Slides files. Any changes made to files while offline will then sync in Drive once the user is connected again.

How to get started

Admins: Admins can enable this feature for all or some users:

To let users enable offline access (recommended), go to Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs.
To enable offline access for specific devices, see this article in our Help Center.
Note: The default for this feature is that all users can enable offline access on any device they sign into, but it is not enabled automatically except on Chromebooks

End users: To work with your files while offline, you’ll need to enable offline access in your Drive settings:

From Google Drive, click the gear icon at the top right corner, select Settings > General and select Sync Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings files to this computer so that you can edit offline.
Once offline access is enabled, a checkmark icon will appear in the top right next to Settings (gear icon) and Support (question mark). When you click this icon, you can find the offline preview toggle.

Additional details

To make files available offline in Google Drive, right click on any file and toggle Available offline from the menu while connected.

When offline access is enabled, Google Drive also automatically and intelligently makes a certain number of Google Docs/Sheets/Slides files available offline based on how recently you accessed them. You can preview which files are already available offline automatically using the offline preview mode. You can also mark a file available offline, so that it always remains available offline, while in offline preview mode, as long as you are connected.

The Google Docs Offline extension, which is made available by default to all Chrome users, is still required.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 24, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 21, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default for users who already have offline enabled.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

What’s changing

It’s now possible for users to work on Docs, Sheets, and Slides files when your device is offline or have a bad internet connection within Google Drive. You can also preview which files are available offline with a new offline preview mode.

Right click on Docs, Sheets, and Slides files from within Google Drive to make those files available offline.

You can preview which files are available offline using the Offline preview mode

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users.

Why you’d use it

How to get started

Admins: Admins can enable this feature for all or some users:

To let users enable offline access (recommended), go to Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs.
To enable offline access for specific devices, see this article in our Help Center.
Note: The default for this feature is that all users can enable offline access on any device they sign into, but it is not enabled automatically except on Chromebooks

End users: To work with your files while offline, you’ll need to enable offline access in your Drive settings:

From Google Drive, click the gear icon at the top right corner, select Settings > General and select Sync Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Drawings files to this computer so that you can edit offline.
Once offline access is enabled, a checkmark icon will appear in the top right next to Settings (gear icon) and Support (question mark). When you click this icon, you can find the offline preview toggle.

Additional details

Helpful links

Admins: Set up offline access to Docs editors.
Use Google Drive files offline.
Work on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides offline.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 24, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 21, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default for users who already have offline enabled.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Work with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides in Dropbox with a new beta

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Create Docs, Sheets, and Slides from within Dropbox Web UI

Share Files and manage access:

Adding a Docs, Sheets, or Slides file to a shared Dropbox folder will automatically grant members access. You can also share files on a one-off basis without adding it to a shared folder by inviting people from Dropbox or creating a shareable link.

Whether sharing files directly from Dropbox or with a link, you can set edit or view-only access. You’ll also have the option to set permissions to team only when sharing within your organization or anyone when sharing files outside your organization.

Dropbox sharing modal overlaid on Slides presentation

Search your files: Docs, Sheets, and Slides files will show up when searching in Dropbox, including results from the content within your Docs, Sheets, and Slides in addition to file names.

Collaborate: You’ll be notified of any comments or edits made on your Docs, Sheets, and Slides files in your Dropbox notifications, so you can easily stay on top of what’s happening with your files.

We hope this feature will streamline workflows by reducing the time spent switching between multiple tools helping you use data more effectively.

How to get started

Admins: To learn more about and sign up for the beta, click here.
End users: Once you have access to the Beta, you’ll be able to work with G Suite content much like you would in Google Drive, including creating files, searching for files, and collaborating on files.

Additional details

Dropbox users on desktop, web, and mobile can view, comment, search, move, copy, and delete files. Note that mobile users will not be able to edit files.

Helpful links

For more details and how to apply for the beta, see here.

Availability

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

What’s changing

This Dropbox beta will allow Dropbox users to work with Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly in Dropbox.

G Suite admins with a Dropbox Business subscription for their organization can find more details and apply for the beta here.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users.

Why you’d use it

When users are signed in to both their Google and Dropbox accounts, they can create and store Docs, Sheets, and Slides files in any Dropbox folder, alongside traditional files. You’ll be able to:

Create and edit web-based files:

You can start a shared Docs, Sheets, or Slides file right from dropbox.com or from apps on Windows and Mac, and have it stored in Dropbox. When you open files, you’ll be taken straight to familiar Google editors within Dropbox.
You can also open .docx, .xlsx, or .pptx files from Dropbox in Docs, Sheets, or Slides, and save them back to Dropbox in their original format.

Create Docs, Sheets, and Slides from within Dropbox Web UI

Share Files and manage access:

Adding a Docs, Sheets, or Slides file to a shared Dropbox folder will automatically grant members access. You can also share files on a one-off basis without adding it to a shared folder by inviting people from Dropbox or creating a shareable link.

Whether sharing files directly from Dropbox or with a link, you can set edit or view-only access. You’ll also have the option to set permissions to team only when sharing within your organization or anyone when sharing files outside your organization.

Dropbox sharing modal overlaid on Slides presentation

Search your files: Docs, Sheets, and Slides files will show up when searching in Dropbox, including results from the content within your Docs, Sheets, and Slides in addition to file names.

Collaborate: You’ll be notified of any comments or edits made on your Docs, Sheets, and Slides files in your Dropbox notifications, so you can easily stay on top of what’s happening with your files.

We hope this feature will streamline workflows by reducing the time spent switching between multiple tools helping you use data more effectively.

How to get started

Admins: To learn more about and sign up for the beta, click here.
End users: Once you have access to the Beta, you’ll be able to work with G Suite content much like you would in Google Drive, including creating files, searching for files, and collaborating on files.

Additional details

Dropbox users on desktop, web, and mobile can view, comment, search, move, copy, and delete files. Note that mobile users will not be able to edit files.

Helpful links

For more details and how to apply for the beta, see here.

Availability

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

New email alerts and location for easier alert center management

Friday, April 19, 2019

Email notification options for more alerts

We’re adding an option to get email notifications for several existing alerts that previously didn’t have the option to receive emails.
These alerts include:

Domain data export initiated
Phishing message detected post-delivery
Spike in user-reported spam, and others

For each alert, you can choose whether to turn them on or off, and to specify which email address the alerts should go to.
The email alerts will be on by default. To change or turn off email alerts, they can be adjusted at Admin console > Security > Alert center (gear icon), or directly access the new System defined rules section.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: These features are already available for all domains.
Scheduled Release domains: These features are already available for all domains.

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?
These features will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

What’s changing

We’re making some improvements to the alert center for G Suite. Specifically we’re:

Moving the location of alert management for predefined admin alerts in the Admin console to the system defined rules section.
Adding optional email notifications for more alerts.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

We hope that this will help you identify and take action to resolve potential issues affecting your domain. To get the most out of the alert center, you could also sign up for our recently announced beta, which will help you collaborate and track the status of alerts within your domain, as well as triage faster with insights from related alerts.

How to get started

Admins:

To see predefined admin alerts, go to Admin console > Security > Alert center > Settings (gear icon), or directly access the new System defined rules section.
Use our Help Center to find out how to set up and configure administrator email alerts.

End users: No action needed.

Additional details

Moving alert management location

The alert management controls for predefined alerts could previously be found at Admin console > Reporting > Alerts. They will now be at Admin console > Security > Alert center > Settings (gear icon).
These predefined admin alerts include:

User granted Admin privilege
New user added
Email settings changed
And other administrator email alerts

There will be no change to any settings (whether email alerts are on or off, or the email subscriber list for any alerts) or the content of the alerts. We’re just moving where you should go to manage them. There will also be no change to the location of custom alerts. For the moment, they will still be at Admin console > Reporting > Alerts.

Email notification options for more alerts

We’re adding an option to get email notifications for several existing alerts that previously didn’t have the option to receive emails.
These alerts include:

Domain data export initiated
Phishing message detected post-delivery
Spike in user-reported spam, and others

For each alert, you can choose whether to turn them on or off, and to specify which email address the alerts should go to.
The email alerts will be on by default. To change or turn off email alerts, they can be adjusted at Admin console > Security > Alert center (gear icon), or directly access the new System defined rules section.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?
These features will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Duplicate larger sites in new Google Sites

Friday, April 19, 2019

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 17, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 17, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Quick launch summary

Previously, we made it possible to copy a site in new Google Sites. Based on user feedback, we’re improving site copy by making it easy to copy much larger sites — see here for supported sizes. We hope this feature helps site editors with large sites efficiently copy their existing sites, allowing them to back up their work, iterate on previous sites, or create ‘templates’ to start new sites.

To make a copy with the improved site copy, open a site in the new Google Sites, click the More menu > Duplicate site. See our Help Center to learn more about copying a site.

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Work smarter in Sheets with several new features for objects

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Enhanced pivot table insertion

When adding a new pivot table, you’ll now have the option to either place it in a new sheet or in a custom location on an existing sheet.

To create a new pivot table, go to Data > Pivot Table and select a data range.
In the dialogue box, under Insert to, select New sheet or Existing sheet, and click Create. Note that if you select existing sheet, you’ll have to select a specific cell location for the pivot table.

Copy and paste images into Sheets

Recently, we made it easier to add images to your spreadsheet by inserting images into cells. Now, you can copy images from other websites and paste them directly into your sheet.

Simply right click on an image and hit copy, then in Sheets right click and hit Paste to insert the image over the grid.

Formula backed charts inserted from Answers

Now, when you use Sheets Explore to create charts, the charts you insert from the Q&A feature (Answers) will be backed by formulas. This means that charts will automatically update if the underlying data changes, ensuring you always have a fresh chart with the latest information.

Helpful links

To learn more about charts and graphs in Sheets, see here.
To learn about adding and editing a chart or graph, see here.
To learn about adding an image to a spreadsheet, see here.
To learn about creating and using a pivot table in Sheets, see here.
To learn about editing and formatting a spreadsheet, see here.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 18, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on May 2, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

These features will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Update (April 30, 2019): We previously stated that a full rollout for these features would begin on May 2, 2019 for Scheduled domains.

This was incorrect — Scheduled domains will follow the same track as Rapid domains, meaning these features began rolling out gradually (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 18, 2019.

What’s changing

We’re launching several new features and tools that will help you create more compelling and stylized reports in Sheets:

Guides
Multi-Selecting Objects
Enhanced Pivot Table Insertion
Copy and paste images into Sheets
Formula backed charts inserted from Answers

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

We hope these tools will help you make more engaging and informative reports by making it easier and faster to format charts, pivot tables, images, and more.

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users: See below for how to use each new feature in Sheets.

Additional details

Guides

You can use guides to help you align, size, and position various objects within your sheets. Guides are also helpful in making sure multiple objects within the same sheet are in proportion to one another.

Multi-selecting objects

To select multiple charts, drawings, and images to move, resize, or delete in bulk, hold down the Control or Shift key and select.

Enhanced pivot table insertion

When adding a new pivot table, you’ll now have the option to either place it in a new sheet or in a custom location on an existing sheet.

To create a new pivot table, go to Data > Pivot Table and select a data range.
In the dialogue box, under Insert to, select New sheet or Existing sheet, and click Create. Note that if you select existing sheet, you’ll have to select a specific cell location for the pivot table.

Copy and paste images into Sheets

Recently, we made it easier to add images to your spreadsheet by inserting images into cells. Now, you can copy images from other websites and paste them directly into your sheet.

Simply right click on an image and hit copy, then in Sheets right click and hit Paste to insert the image over the grid.

Formula backed charts inserted from Answers

Now, when you use Sheets Explore to create charts, the charts you insert from the Q&A feature (Answers) will be backed by formulas. This means that charts will automatically update if the underlying data changes, ensuring you always have a fresh chart with the latest information.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

These features will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Save time with new scheduling features in Calendar

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

People-first scheduling makes it quick and easy to find time with others. You can add rooms, a location, a video conference and add a meeting description without having to click into “More options.”

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users: No action required. This new creation flow will automatically appear in Calendar on the web.

Helpful links

Help Center: Create an event

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 16, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 29, 2019

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

What’s changing

We’re updating the creation flow for meetings in Calendar to help you save time with an easier way to schedule.
You’ll see several changes when creating a meeting such as:

Peek at calendars and automatically add guests: Now, when you add a calendar in the “Search for people” box, you can temporarily view coworkers’ calendars. Creating a new event then automatically adds those people as guests to your meeting and might suggest a title for the meeting.
More fields in the creation pop-up dialog: The Guests, Rooms, Location, Conferencing, and Description fields are now editable directly in the meeting creation pop-up dialog. Once you add your coworkers’ calendars, they’ll load right in the background, making it even easier and faster to find an available time for everyone.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users: No action required. This new creation flow will automatically appear in Calendar on the web.

Helpful links

Help Center: Create an event

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Improvements to organizing and finding Team Drives

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Search for files located in a Team Drive

People can search for My Drive files by owner, but Team Drive files are owned by the team. This makes them harder to search for. Now, you can search by “creator” for files located in a Team Drive.

Often you remember the name of the person that created the content, instead of where it might be located. Search by “creator” will fulfill this need. To learn more about finding files in Google Drive, see here.

Helpful links

To learn more about finding files in Google Drive, see here.
To learn more about sharing files with Team Drives, see here.
To learn more about Team Drives limits, see here.
To learn more about known issues with Team Drives, see here.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 7 days for feature visibility) beginning on April 16, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) beginning on April 22, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education and G Suite for Nonprofits.
Not available to G Suite Basic.

On/off by default?

These features will be ON by default

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

What’s changing

As a result of your feedback, we are introducing improvements to how you organize and find files in Team Drives. These improvements include the ability to:

Hide Team Drives on web and mobile
Search by Team Drive file creator

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

These improvements allow you to quickly access the Team Drives or files within Team Drives that are most important to you by:

Slimming down your list of Team Drives by hiding and unhiding as needed.
Searching for items that have been created by a user in a Team Drive, similar to the search by owner in My Drive.

How to get started

Hiding Team Drives

See our Help Center for details on how to hide and unhide Team Drives
You can select more than one Team Drive to hide on web

Search by Team Drive file creator

On the web: to search for files originally created in a Team Drive by a specific user, use “creator: email address.”

Additional details

Streamline your list of Team Drives by hiding inactive or irrelevant Team Drives
You may have a long list of Team Drives in your Drive left hand panel. Now, you can hide a Team Drive for a completed project or that isn’t relevant to you. Hide individual Team Drives as needed, or select multiple Team Drives and hide all at once. Hiding Team Drives is available on web and mobile.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 7 days for feature visibility) beginning on April 16, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) beginning on April 22, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education and G Suite for Nonprofits.
Not available to G Suite Basic.

On/off by default?

These features will be ON by default

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Avoid double-booking rooms in Calendar

Monday, April 15, 2019

What’s changing

Rooms will no longer accept two Calendar events that overlap in time.

Previously, if an event was created directly on a room’s calendar by someone with manage permissions for the resource, the room would accept this meeting even if another event had already added this room for that same time period.

Now, if the room has already accepted another meeting, creating a new event at the same time directly on the room’s calendar will result in a room decline of this conflicting meeting.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why this matters

This means that you’ll no longer have to scramble to find an alternative room if your meeting room was double-booked.

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users: No action required, this behavior will happen automatically.

Additional details

This change in behavior only impacts future room bookings. Existing events will not be impacted.

Workarounds

Option 1: Long room hold
For situations where you’d like a long room hold (such as an all day event) where you’d like to schedule individual sessions in the same room, we recommend the following work around:

Create a long hold booking of the desired room.
Create the individual sessions, where you write in the location field or description the room location; for example. “Room A [Separate room hold].”

Manually overwrite the Hangout information for the individual sessions with the Hangout ID of the long hold.

Option 2: Manually accept all room bookings and double bookings
Should you require double bookings for a particular use case, you can turn-off the room’s auto-responder completely. This will mean all invitations are added on a room’s calendar awaiting response. Room admins with manage permissions can manually accept or decline all invitations including accepting of double-bookings.

In Calendar, hover over the room’s calendar in your calendar list
Open the Calendar Settings by clicking on the three-dot menu and selecting Settings
Go to the section “Auto-accept invitations”
Select Automatically add all invitations to this calendar

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions.

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

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Easily customize theme colors in Slides

Monday, April 15, 2019

Note: These changes will only apply to the current theme and will not create a new theme.

We hope this new feature will help you customize your presentations in Slides, especially when it comes to incorporating your company’s brand colors.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 15, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 15, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Quick launch summary

You can now edit the theme colors for your presentations in Slides, making it easier to set up a new theme, or apply bulk color changes to existing presentations. Previously, we only supported custom colors that were not linked to the presentation theme.

Now, users can easily customize the color palette associated with a theme. To do this, go to any color picker dropdown and click the edit button for your Theme color palette. In the Theme color sidebar, select a color from the dropdown to begin editing.

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Summary: Next 2019 announcements

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Google Cloud Next 2019 is happening now in San Francisco. To learn more about the event and tune into sessions, click here.

For a summary of the announcements from the event, see our Cloud blog posts about how we’re helping businesses work faster, smarter and more collaboratively in G Suite, and increasing trust in Google Cloud with visibility, control and automation.

For details of the announcements, see the posts on this blog:

Keep an eye on the G Suite Updates blog for more announcements throughout the event.

More collaboration insights in the Activity dashboard

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Quick Launch Summary

We’re introducing two new features to the Activity dashboard in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides:

Sharing history
Sharing history provides users with granular visibility into how your document is being shared with others across your organization and elsewhere. You’ll now see who shared access with who and what level editing access they’ve been granted.

Comment trend
Comment trend will help users visualize the conversations in a particular document, showing the number of comments, suggestions, and replies created per day. A graph will display the number of new comment threads, replies, and unresolved comments over the lifetime of a document.

These updates add more context to the Activity dashboard, a feature we launched last year to help users see who’s viewed a particular document and viewer trends. These additions will further flesh out the Activity dashboard, making it a centralized hub where document owners and editors can see how other collaborators are engaging with their content.

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 16, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on May 7, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

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.

Quick Launch Summary

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 16, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on May 7, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to all G Suite editions.

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

New security assessment program for apps on G Suite Marketplace

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

By highlighting apps that have been assessed to meet certain security standards, we hope it will be easier for you to find apps that may meet your specific organizational policies. This means you can more quickly identify and assess apps that you can whitelist for your users to help them be productive.

How to get started

Admins: Find out more about the program and what to look for here.
End users: No action needed

Helpful links

Availability

We’re opening the program for developer submissions now. Monitor the G Suite Updates blog for more details on the program. Find out more about the security assessment program here.

The “Security Assessment” badge will indicate apps that have passed the assessment

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

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 starting the G Suite Marketplace (GSM) security assessment program, which will enable developers to optionally submit their GSM apps for review by a third-party security firm. The assessment includes penetration tests, a deployment review, and a policy and procedure review. Apps that pass the security assessment will display a security badge on their Marketplace listing.

You may notice:

A “Security Assessment’ badge on marketplace listings.
A “Security Assessment” badge on app detail pages.
A “Security Assessment” section on the app detail page.

We’re opening the program for developer submissions now. Monitor the G Suite Updates blog for ongoing updates on the program. Find out more about the security assessment program here.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

How to get started

Admins: Find out more about the program and what to look for here.
End users: No action needed

Helpful links

Availability

We’re opening the program for developer submissions now. Monitor the G Suite Updates blog for more details on the program. Find out more about the security assessment program here.

The “Security Assessment” badge will indicate apps that have passed the assessment

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Gmail making email more secure with MTA-STS standard

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Helpful links

Help Center: About MTA-STS

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 10, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on April 10, 2019

G Suite editions

All G Suite customers can define MTA-STS policies.
MTA-STS policy suggestions in the security center are available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers only.

On/off by default?

MTA-STS policies for your domain will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain level.
MTA-STS policy suggestions in the security center will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

What’s changing

SMTP MTA Strict Transport Security (MTA-STS) is a new internet standard that improves email security by requiring authentication checks and good encryption for email in transit.

Gmail will start enforcing this standard in beta, which you can read more about on the Google Security blog. For G Suite admins:

Security health within the security center for G Suite will start including recommendations about MTA-STS policies for your domain.
G Suite admins can choose to set up MTA-STS policies and reporting for incoming mail in their DNS server. While admins could do this previously, it will become more impactful now that Gmail is enforcing the MTA-STS policies.

Use our Help Center to learn more about how to use the MTA-STS standard.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

MTA-STS is a new internet standard that will increase email security by acting as a deterrent against pervasive monitoring of email traffic and protecting against man-in-the-middle attacks. You can make your email communications more secure by setting MTA-STS policies and ask the organizations with which you communicate to also set MTA-STS policies for their mail servers.

How to get started

Admins: Use our Help Center to define MTA-STS policies for your domain.
End users: No action required.

Additional details

Option to set up a MTA-STS policy
G Suite admins can choose to set up a policy for incoming mail with their DNS server. See the Help Center for details and instructions on how to set up an MTA-STS policy for your domain.

Possible email bouncebacks
While we don’t anticipate significant increase in bouncebacks, there are two aspects of the new standard which could result in bouncebacks:

TLS enforcement with certificate validation will prevent bad actors from intercepting emails in transit just like HTTPS does it for web traffic.If a bad actor tries to intercept the email, as Gmail enforces MTA-STS, it will now bounceback, preventing the intercept.
As Gmail will honor policies set by servers you are sending mail to, there’s a possibility that they have misconfigured policies or their servers, and that we will not deliver emails as a result. In this case, users will get an email bounceback with details.

New security center MTA-STS recommendations for your domain
If you go to the security health section of the security center for G Suite (Admin Console > Security > Security Health, available to G Suite Enterprise and Enterprise for Education domains only) you’ll see a new “MTA-STA” suggestion. It will tell you whether you have a policy set up, as well as highlighting misconfigurations in policies.

Helpful links

Help Center: About MTA-STS

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions

All G Suite customers can define MTA-STS policies.
MTA-STS policy suggestions in the security center are available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers only.

On/off by default?

MTA-STS policies for your domain will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain level.
MTA-STS policy suggestions in the security center will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get more done in less time with G Suite Add-ons beta

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Last year we announced a new feature that gives users quick access to Calendar, Hangouts, and Keep from an embedded side panel in G Suite. Today we’re announcing that the side panel is now open for third-party developers.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

Add-ons help you complete tasks directly from the G Suite app you're using, rather than needing to toggle from one app to another.

G Suite Add-ons also surface relevant information and suggest actions based on what you’re working on. For example, a salesperson can find customer info from their CRM tool while drafting a strategy in Docs, an engineer can add tasks to their project management app directly from Gmail, and a recruiter can consult their hiring pipeline while scheduling interviews in Calendar. Once enrolled in the beta, users in the domain will have access to new add-ons from Copper, Box, Workfront, Asana, Evernote, and Cisco, among others.

How to get started

Admins: Express interest in the G Suite Add-ons beta. Once your organization joins the beta program, you can also install chosen G Suite Add-ons for your entire domain via the G Suite Marketplace.

End users: Once your organization is in the beta program, you’ll be able to install G Suite Add-ons from the “+” button in the G Suite quick access side panel.The G Suite Add-ons you install will appear in the side panel across G Suite apps and help you complete entire workflows without the need to switch back and forth between multiple apps.

Helpful links

Availability

G Suite editions

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

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

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 G Suite Add-ons, a new cross-suite platform that connects G Suite to your favorite workplace apps, in a beta program.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

How to get started

Admins: Express interest in the G Suite Add-ons beta. Once your organization joins the beta program, you can also install chosen G Suite Add-ons for your entire domain via the G Suite Marketplace.

End users: Once your organization is in the beta program, you’ll be able to install G Suite Add-ons from the “+” button in the G Suite quick access side panel.The G Suite Add-ons you install will appear in the side panel across G Suite apps and help you complete entire workflows without the need to switch back and forth between multiple apps.

Helpful links

Availability

G Suite editions

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

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Increase trust in cloud data security with Access Transparency

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

At G Suite, we work hard to earn and maintain trust with our customers. Access Transparency supports this commitment to customer trust by giving you fine grained logs of actions taken by Google staff and the reason for each access, including references to specific support tickets where relevant.

Access Transparency may help you:

Verify why Google is accessing your data, such as fixing a fault or attending to your requests.
Bring your audit controls closer to what you can expect on premise.

How to get started

Admins: Admins with the Reports privilege can go to Admin Console > Reports > Access Transparency. Use our Help Center to learn more about Access Transparency.
End users: No action required

A Sample view of the new report for G Suite Access Transparency

Additional details

Access Transparency will allow admins to:

View the reason for data access, including references to specific support tickets where relevant.
Verify why Google staff is accessing your data, such as fixing a fault or attending to your requests.
View and download logs to help you support your regulatory audits or data archival needs, showing extensive information such as accessor location, access justification, and the action taken on a specific resource.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (longer than 15 days for feature availability) starting on April 20, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (longer than 15 days for feature availability) starting on April 20, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education edition only.
Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

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 making Access Transparency for G Suite generally available. Access Transparency enables you to get more visibility into actions taken by Google staff related to your data. You can view the reason for each access, including references to specific support tickets where relevant, which may help you support your audit requirements.

Access Transparency is available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers only.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

Verify why Google is accessing your data, such as fixing a fault or attending to your requests.
Bring your audit controls closer to what you can expect on premise.

How to get started

A Sample view of the new report for G Suite Access Transparency

Additional details

Access Transparency will allow admins to:

View the reason for data access, including references to specific support tickets where relevant.
Verify why Google staff is accessing your data, such as fixing a fault or attending to your requests.
View and download logs to help you support your regulatory audits or data archival needs, showing extensive information such as accessor location, access justification, and the action taken on a specific resource.

Helpful links

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (longer than 15 days for feature availability) starting on April 20, 2019.
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (longer than 15 days for feature availability) starting on April 20, 2019.

G Suite editions

Available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education edition only.
Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits

On/off by default?

This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Live captions in Hangouts Meet

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Live captions help make your meetings more accessible by reducing barriers to holding meetings between users of different hearing abilities, regardless of whether they are participating remotely or in person.

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users:

On the web and on Chromebase for meetings touchscreen devices, navigate to the triple-dot menu at the bottom right corner of your screen and select the option to turn on captions.
On devices with a Mimo touchscreen and Chromebox for meetings with the remote, you can find the toggle to turn on captions in the Settings menu.

Additional details

Live captions is available across different Hangouts Meet-compatible platforms, such as on the web, devices with a Mimo touchscreen, Chromebox for meetings with the remote, and on Chromebase for meetings touchscreen devices.

When you turn on captions, they will be visible on that particular device. In order for other participants in the meeting to see captions, they’ll have to turn it on for their devices as well.

Currently, live captions is only available in English. Additionally, captions will not appear in a recording of a meeting.

Helpful links

Help Center: Use captions in a video meeting

Availability

Rollout details

Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 10, 2019
Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 10, 2019

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

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 making meetings more accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing users by launching live captions in Hangouts Meet.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

How to get started

Admins: No action required.
End users:

On the web and on Chromebase for meetings touchscreen devices, navigate to the triple-dot menu at the bottom right corner of your screen and select the option to turn on captions.
On devices with a Mimo touchscreen and Chromebox for meetings with the remote, you can find the toggle to turn on captions in the Settings menu.

Additional details

Helpful links

Help Center: Use captions in a video meeting

Availability

Rollout details

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

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

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Google Voice for G Suite: Cloud telephony with the intelligence and security of Google Cloud

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

What’s changing

Google Voice is now generally available as an add-on to G Suite. Voice for G Suite is a cloud-based phone system that’s optimized for businesses of all sizes. G Suite customers can use it to deploy and manage phone numbers at scale with the intelligence and security of Google Cloud. Google Voice offers:

Smart cloud telephony for end users
Simple provisioning and management for admins
Easy adoption and migration at scale

Google Voice is available to all G Suite customers through an additional licence. Find more information about Google Voice availability and pricing here.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

Google Voice integrates with Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet to provide a complete solution for communication with colleagues, customers, and partners from anywhere at any time. Specifically, Google Voice adds:

Smart cloud telephony for end users

Get a phone number that works from anywhere, on any device, so you can place and receive calls wherever you’re doing work.
Use intelligent capabilities to transcribe voicemails and block spam calls to help minimize unwanted distractions.
Increase efficiency through integrations with other G Suite products, like Calendar, Contacts, Hangouts Chat, and Hangouts Meet.

Simple management for admins

Use one place - the Admin console - to manage Voice global users, numbers, porting, and billing.
Set up new phone numbers as easily as adding a user to G Suite.
Easily provision and deploy via simple administration tools

Scalable adoption and migration

Migrate smoothly with integrated number porting to help prevent interruption of key business processes.
Leverage Google’s text-to-speech technology to automatically create call menus in nine languages to manage and route callers without worrying about recordings or translations.
Give users permission to choose a number and set up their service independently without admin involvement.

How to get started

Admins: Find more information about Google Voice here.
End users: No action needed.

Availability

Google Voice is available to all G Suite customers through an additional licence. Find more information about Google Voice availability and pricing here.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

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

Smart cloud telephony for end users
Simple provisioning and management for admins
Easy adoption and migration at scale

Google Voice is available to all G Suite customers through an additional licence. Find more information about Google Voice availability and pricing here.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

Get a phone number that works from anywhere, on any device, so you can place and receive calls wherever you’re doing work.
Use intelligent capabilities to transcribe voicemails and block spam calls to help minimize unwanted distractions.
Increase efficiency through integrations with other G Suite products, like Calendar, Contacts, Hangouts Chat, and Hangouts Meet.

Simple management for admins

Use one place - the Admin console - to manage Voice global users, numbers, porting, and billing.
Set up new phone numbers as easily as adding a user to G Suite.
Easily provision and deploy via simple administration tools

Scalable adoption and migration

Migrate smoothly with integrated number porting to help prevent interruption of key business processes.
Leverage Google’s text-to-speech technology to automatically create call menus in nine languages to manage and route callers without worrying about recordings or translations.
Give users permission to choose a number and set up their service independently without admin involvement.

How to get started

Availability

Google Voice is available to all G Suite customers through an additional licence. Find more information about Google Voice availability and pricing here.

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.

______________

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.

______________

Updates

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