Visitor sharing was previously available in beta, and will replace the current admin setting to allow users in your organization to send sharing invitations. '
We’ll introduce the new feature according to this timeline:
August 31, 2020: The setting to control sharing with people who are not using a Google account will begin to appear in the Admin console. This setting may be on or off by default depending on your current settings. See “Getting started” below to learn more. This setting will not start taking effect for users until September 8, 2020 (for Rapid release domains) or September 28, 2020 (for Scheduled release domains).
September 8, 2020: Users in Rapid Release domains will be able to use the new feature, if enabled by their admin.
September 28, 2020: Users in Scheduled Release domains will be able to use the new feature, if enabled by their admin.
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why you’d use it
G Suite customers often work with partners outside of their company. These external users, or “visitors,” don’t always have Google accounts, making it more difficult for G Suite and non-Google users to collaborate seamlessly and securely.
This new feature will help ensure smooth and secure collaboration with visitors through:
Rich collaboration—including comments, edits, and more—with anyone you need to work with, regardless of whether they have a Google account.
Audit logging for collaboration with visitors, so that all interactions are monitored and recorded.
Ability to revoke access and remove collaborators as needed.
Reduced need to download, email, or create separate files to work with external users who don’t have Google accounts.
If the visitor chooses to create a G Suite account with their email address, their collaboration and activity history will be preserved after the account is created.
Additional details
Visitor sharing will not be supported for Cloud Identity users. With this launch, Cloud Identity users will only be able to share with non-Google recipients by sending invites that allow users to preview file contents in a read-only mode without signing in to Google accounts.
Getting started
Admins:
Sharing outside of your organization to users with non-Google accounts will be ON by default if you currently allow users in your organization to send sharing invitations to people outside your organization who are not using a Google account.
Visitor sharing will be controlled by new settings at Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Sharing Settings. See image below. The new settings can be controlled at the domain or OU level.
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 8, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 28, 2020
Availability
Available to G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and G Suite Essentials customers
Not available to G Suite Basic, Cloud Identity customers, or users with personal accounts
You can use the new Ctrl+Alt+H (CMD+Option+H on Mac) shortcut to toggle braille support in Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
When you use shortcuts to navigate, we now announce where your cursor moves to, including comments, headings, misspellings, and suggestions.
We improved the reliability of navigating through lengthy documents and lists.
Images, misspellings, and grammar errors are now verbalized directly by assistive technology.
We’ve improved navigation and selection verbalizations when moving through tables and when selecting content, including announcing the entire cell’s contents.
Please make sure to update to the latest versions of your assistive technologies and browsers to fully benefit from these improvements.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default for users with braille support turned on. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to use a braille display with Docs editors, and make sure to update to the latest versions of your browser and screen reader to use all features.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting August 31, 2020
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting September 17, 2020
Availability
Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts
Add service accounts from primary and secondary domains without turning the “Allow external members in the group” setting on.
See the service account member type on the Groups page and audit logs in the Admin console.
Add, remove, and manage service account membership via the Admin console and Cloud Identity Groups API.
Who’s impacted
Admins and developers
Why it’s important
Groups are a critical tool for customers to manage their G Suite deployment. Many customers use service accounts with Groups to automate user management, manage migrations, and integrate G Suite with other apps, tools, and services.
Until now, it was difficult to use service accounts in groups due to limitations in the functionality. This launch fixes many challenges and makes it easier to use service accounts with groups while increasing security and transparency.
Use a service account with group owner or manager role (non-admin) to manage groups via the Cloud Identity Groups API.
See accurate audit logs with service accounts as the actor.
Who’s impacted
Admins and developers
Why it’s important
Using service accounts with Groups can help provide sufficient data access for business apps and enable the automation of various admin tasks.
Previously, you had to use domain-wide delegation and admin impersonation to provide service accounts with sufficient data access. This was a cumbersome process, which could result in overly broad privileges for the service account and audit logs that were hard to interpret.
By enabling direct API access, we’re making it easier to use service accounts to enable critical business apps and processes while making it easier to maintain a strong security and compliance posture.
API role assignments: This feature is available now for all users
Admin console roles page updates: Rapid and Scheduled release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2020
Service account API access: This feature is available now for all users
You can start casting before you join a meeting or anytime during a meeting.
By viewing your Meet on Cast, you can turn any room in your house into your own personal conference room. Whether you want to step away from the notifications on your laptop or phone to be more present in a meeting or you’re on mute in a larger meeting and want to concentrate on your task at hand, casting to your TV can help you be more productive and stay focused.
Meet and Cast can also pair up to simplify distance learning. Students can view their classmates and lesson plans on the big screen while working from their laptops, and teachers can get a broader view of their students on a call.
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: To get started, you‘ll need to have a Google account, update to the latest version of Chrome, and ensure that your Chromecast device has the latest firmware installed. Google Cast functionality is available for all Meet users, and casting works on Chromecast, TVs with built-in Chromecasts, and Nest displays. Check out the Help Center to learn more.
Sheets mobile apps, to view Connected Sheets on Android and iOS.
Who’s impacted
Developers and end users
Why you’d use it
Sheets Macro recorder
You can use the macro recorder to record when to create, edit, delete, and refresh Connected Sheets objects. This generates macros which you can then directly run in Sheets to refresh the data. This can automate common tasks, saving time and reducing errors.
Apps Script and Sheets API
You can use these APIs to write scripts and applications that automate tasks. For example, you can automate CRUD functions for Connected Sheets objects, including sheets, formulas, pivot tables, and extracts. Additionally, you can use the APIs to refresh these objects, as well as to refresh charts.
Mobile app support
You can now view Connected Sheets on mobile devices. You can also copy and paste data from Connected Sheets using the mobile apps. At this stage, you can’t create, edit, or refresh data in Connected Sheets on mobile.
Sheets Macro recorder: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 26, 2020.
Apps Script: Available now for all users.
Sheets API: Available in September.
Android app: Gradual rollout (up top 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 17, 2020. To get access, update to the latest version of the Sheets Android app.
iOS app: Gradual rollout (up top 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 24, 2020. To get access, update to the latest version of the Sheets iOS app.
Availability
Connected Sheets is available to G Suite Enterprise, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite Enterprise Essentials customers
Connected Sheets is not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, G Suite for Nonprofits, and G Suite Essentials customers
Now, we want to share three updates to our plans for shortcuts and file locations:
Expanding use of shortcuts: Removing some specific actions which still created multiple locations for files.
A migration update: More details on migration of existing multiple-location files to shortcuts.
Improving file management and reducing “unorganized” files: Ensuring files which have their last location removed are now placed in the owner’s My Drive folder. See more details below.
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why it’s important
Expanding the use of shortcuts will increase the consistency of behavior and make it easier for users to understand how their Drive is structured.
Additional details
Expanding use of shortcuts
After launching shortcuts, there were still some ways for users to add files to multiple locations. We’re now stopping some of those to create a more consistent experience across different platforms and ways of using Drive. Specific changes include:
When using Drive on the web, the keyboard shortcut Shift+Z on a shared file used to place the file in multiple locations. Now, when a single file or multiple items are selected, Shift+Z will create a shortcut instead. However, if a single folder is selected, Shift-Z will still add another location for the folder to ensure continued compatibility with offline access via Backup and Sync.
When using Drive on the web, making someone else the owner of a file used to create multiple locations for the file. Now, if the new owner can see the file’s existing location, it will remain there. If the new owner can’t see the existing location, it will be moved from its current location to the My Drive folder of the new owner, and a shortcut will be created in its place
In our original announcement, we mentioned that we would be migrating existing files in multiple locations to shortcuts. We’d like to share more details on these plans:
We will start this migration some time in 2021. We’ll announce the migration on the G Suite Updates blog and with an in-product notification banner at least 2 weeks before it starts.
The migration will remove all but one location of files that currently are in multiple locations, and will replace the removed files with shortcuts.
The migration heuristics will be based primarily on original ownership, but will also take signals about access and activity on other parent folders into account, to ensure the least possible disruption for collaboration.
File access and ownership will not be impacted.
The migration will be automatic and won’t require manual work from users or admins.
Improving file management and reducing “unorganized” files
A file can become unorganized when its last previous location is removed. For example, this could happen if you had added a file to a shared folder that was later deleted by the owner of the shared folder.
Previously, in those situations you would only have been able to find the file by specifically searching for it, not by browsing for it. This led to some instances where it appeared a file was lost. Now, we will add these items to the owner’s My Drive. This change will make it easier to locate files which have had their locations removed.
API updates reminder
Earlier this year, we announced changes to the Drive API which would support the transition to file shortcuts. These changes will start to go into effect on September 30, 2020. Read more details about the API changes here.
Getting started
Admins: There are no admin controls for the expanded use of shortcuts in Drive.
Previously, admins could choose to allow users to link-share files to either their entire domain or anyone with the link. Target audiences allow admins to define and recommend more granular link-sharing options for users.
This means that admins can prevent oversharing without hampering collaboration—since target audiences are defined and recommended by their admins, users can be confident that sharing files with a target audience is appropriately broad and secure. It can also help users share files more quickly, as target audiences allow for the ease of link-sharing, but with more specific audiences. This can reduce the need for users to manually add specific users and groups and respond to individual access requests.
For example, an admin could set up an audience of all finance team members. When someone on that team enabled link sharing for a file, they’d see an option to allow link-sharing to anyone on the finance team. Members of the team could access the link immediately, while anyone outside of the team would have to ask permission before they could view the file.
Getting started
Admins: Find Target audience settings at Admin console > Directory > Target audiences. You can assign target audiences on the group or OU level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing target audiences for your organization.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. If enabled by an admin, users will see target audiences available to them as link-sharing options for Drive, as indicated in the image above.
Admins can create a target audience in the Admin console
These features were available in classic Groups, but until now were not available in new Groups. We hope that adding them to the new experience will enable more users to use the new and improved interface in Groups.
Additional details
Collaborative Inboxes
Using Groups as a Collaborative Inbox can be useful if you want to use a group as a mailing list for a team, where different team members can see, manage, and respond to messages sent to the group. For example, you could have a Collaborative Inbox for your support team, so the team could all see inquiries to your support email address. Once inquiries are received, team members can assign each other tasks, categorize topics with labels, and mark topics as resolved. Collaborative Inboxes in new Groups enables:
Advanced search, including for conversation status
Filtering, including quick filters for conversation status or to help users find conversations assigned to themselves, others, or that are unassigned
Existing collaborative inboxes will be accessible in the new Groups experience. New and existing groups can be changed to a Collaborative Inbox via Groups settings.
Labels is a replacement for tags and categories in classic Groups. Any tags currently used in classic Groups will be migrated to new Groups as labels, and the feature will be turned on automatically. Tags that are created under categories will also be migrated over if the Labels feature is enabled in new Groups. Note, categories will not be migrated.
When a message is posted to a group, group owners or managers can label conversations. Labels will appear in the left navigation panel of a group, and any users viewing the group can then search and filter conversations by those labels. This can make it easier to find messages, to see grouped related messages, or to manage workflows within Collaborative Inboxes.
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: These features will be OFF by default, but can be turned on for each group by group owners or managers. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Collaborative Inboxes and labels.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 25, 2020.
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on September 1, 2020.
Availability
Available to all G Suite customers and to users with personal Google Accounts
Last year, we removed a photo setting in Gmail that allowed users to set a different profile photo in Gmail than their Google Account. Starting today, users who still have two different profile photos will be migrated to a single profile photo. No action is needed by users, the current Google Account photo will become their only profile photo. This will ensure users are seen and recognized consistently across different products and interfaces.
We’re also giving admins the ability to set the single Google Account profile photo for users. You can add, replace, or delete an existing profile photo for users through the Admin console or through the Admin SDK Directory API.
Previously set Google Account profile photos are kept in a user’s Album Archive, available at get.google.com/albumarchive. New profile photos set by users or admins will also be stored here.
Note that if a user updates their photo, the photo will be visible to everyone, across Google products. If an admin adds a photo to a user’s account, it will only be visible to users within their organization and external users they interact with. Learn more about what information others can see across Google services.
Groups are an important tool to manage communication, access, and security for organizations. Adding the ability to create and manage groups via an API can help make group management more scalable and efficient.
Additional details
Available to admins, developers, and end users
Business teams can create and manage groups they own without being granted admin permissions, preventing them from managing additional, unnecessary groups and saving the admin team time. This allows teams to manage their work more efficiently without creating any security risks from assigning admin permissions when they are only needed for this specific task.
End users: End users can use the API within the scope they have to create and manage groups. See our developer documentation for more details on how to use the Cloud Identity Groups API.
Rollout pace
This feature is available now for all users in beta.
Finding groups by browsing, searching, or going to favorite groups
Managing your membership settings for a group
Reading conversations within a group
Note that not all group interactions are available on mobile. For example, you can’t post to a group or reply to a conversation on mobile. For full functionality, please use groups on a desktop device.
End users: This feature is ON by default as long as your organization has not turned new Groups off for its users. To see it, go to groups.google.com via a web browser on a mobile device. Visit our Help Center to learn about new Groups on mobile.
Browse, sort, and search for groups on mobile
Read conversations within a group on mobile
Manage group membership and browse for groups in the main menu
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on August 17, 2020.
Scheduled Release domains: Full rollout (1-3 days for feature visibility) starting on August 25, 2020.
Availability
Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal Google Accounts
This reduces downtime for users, allowing them to start making calls more quickly and ensuring they don’t miss incoming calls once the port is complete.
Numbers can also be assigned to auto attendants and ring groups ahead of time allowing a seamless transition once the port is complete.
Search for and assign numbers that are in the process of being ported.
Review number assignments for users
Getting started
Admins: This feature will be ON by default. During number porting, we’ll inform admins that numbers are available for immediate assignment. Visit the Help Center to learn more about porting business numbers to Voice.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Users will automatically get welcome info once the port completes.
We recently announced a new integrated workspace that brings your favorite G Suite apps closer together. We’re now rolling out this workspace to Gmail on the web and Android. Stay tuned to the G Suite Updates blog for information on the timing of the launch to iOS.
Gmail will now feature four distinct components:
Mail, which has not changed and is the same Gmail experience users know and love.
Chat, which allows users to message individuals and small groups directly.
Rooms, which are spaces that include shared chat, files, and tasks to help groups more easily work on projects.
Meet, which features upcoming meetings that you can view and join.
Mail,Chat Rooms and Meet tabs Gmail on mobile
With this launch, you’ll also be able to open and co-edit a document with your team without leaving Gmail. This will make it easier for you to collaborate directly within the context of where you’re doing your work at that moment.
In addition, we’ve introduced several new tools to help you prioritize and stay focused. You can now:
Assign group tasks.
Get notified about task updates in rooms.
Pin important rooms so they’re easier to find and access.
Set your availability to “Do not disturb."
Better protect your time with status notices in Chat like “Out of office.”
See files shared in a room.
See integrated search results and toggle between Email and Chat results on the web.
Start a new meeting or see your upcoming meetings under “Meet” on the web.
We hope this new integrated experience in Gmail helps you stay focused, be productive, and collaborate more effectively—no matter what your workspace looks like.
Note, certain features included in this launch require specific services to be enabled in the Admin console. Visit the Help Center for more information about ensuring you have these services properly configured.
New to-do widgets: We’re adding a to-do widget for students and a to-review widget for teachers to help keep track of work in Google Classroom. Learn more.
Join classes via link: Teachers can now send out links to classes, which students can join with a single click. This can help educators share classes anywhere they communicate with students, including in messaging platforms. Learn more.
Student information systems (SIS) grade export: You can now export grades from Gradebook to your SIS. This can make it easier to keep track of grades in one central location. Learn more.
Support for new languages: We’re launching Classroom in 10 additional Indian languages. Soon, Classroom will support over 54 languages globally.
In addition to these improvements, we’re also making other changes:
Assignments now generally available: Assignments will move from beta to general availability. Learn more.
Applied Digital Skills integration: You can now connect your Google Classroom account with Applied Digital Skills to import classes, student rosters, and assign Applied Digital Skills lessons more seamlessly. Learn more.
You can use G Suite for Education tools to optimize your assignment workflows, including:
Distributing personalized Google Drive templates and worksheets to students
Enabling students to submit Google Drive files as assignments
Analyzing student work for plagiarism and fostering authentic writing with originality reports
Providing feedback and grades which sync to your LMS gradebook
See the Google for Education blog for more information on how Assignments brings the G Suite experience to your LMS.
Getting started
Admins: Assignments works as a Learning Tools Interoperability (LTI) tool integrated within your LMS. It must be installed or configured in your school's LMS before any instructor or user can start using it. Visit our Help Center to learn more about how to set up Assignments for your organization.
Instructors and end users: No action needed until Assignments is enabled by an admin. Once enabled, use our Help Center to learn more about how Assignments works.
Available to G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers
Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, G Suite for Nonprofits, G Suite Essentials, and G Suite Enterprise Essentials customers
First, if a meeting moderator rejects a knock twice from the same participant, the participant will be blocked from knocking again. This means the moderator won’t see any additional knocks from that user for the duration of the existing meeting.
Second, if the moderator ejects a participant, that participant will be unable to:
Rejoin the existing meeting (even if they are in-domain or on the calendar invite).
Knock to request rejoining the existing meeting.
Previously, when disruptive members were ejected from a meeting, they were able to continue disrupting the meeting by either re-joining or continuously knocking.
Note, if the moderator mistakenly ejects a participant, they can still add that participant to the meeting by manually inviting them. They can use the add person button in the people panel.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
Available to G Suite for Education and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers
Not available to G Suite Essentials, G Suite Enterprise Essentials, G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise and G Suite for Nonprofits customers
A ring group is a way for a team to intelligently route incoming calls to the correct person or device. This means that groups within your organization, like sales or customer service teams, can easily triage and take quick actions on ongoing calls (such as transferring to a team member or another device).
Additional details
Admins can customize several aspects of ring groups, including:
Simultaneous or random order call routing
Who in the ring group can make outbound calls and use the ring group number(s) as caller ID
Timeline to fully transition to new Sites by end of 2021
Here’s a detailed look at the expected timeline for the transition from classic Sites to new Sites:
Currently available - Classic Sites Manager, a tool which can help admins and users manage the transition to new Sites. See more details below.
Starting August 13, 2020 - New Sites will become the default option for website creation. See more details below.
Starting May 2021 - New website creation will no longer be available in classic Sites. This means that any new websites created in your organization will only be in new Sites.
Starting October 2021 - Editing of any remaining classic Sites will be disabled.
Starting December 2021 - When users try to visit a classic Site, they will no longer see the website content. Any remaining classic Sites will automatically be:
Downloaded as an archive.
Replaced with a draft in the new Sites experience for site owners to review and publish.
If you haven’t done so already, we recommend that you enable new Sites for all user groups that don’t already have access within your domain, and disable creation of new classic Sites. This will help reduce the number of classic Sites which get created and then need to be migrated. Your users will still be able to view and edit existing classic Sites as needed. Use our Help Center to learn more about turning on new Sites for your users.
New Classic Sites Manager tool now available
A new tool, Classic Sites Manager, is now available. It provides a view of your classic Sites, the ability to export a summary to Google Sheets for project management, options to convert classic Sites, and take bulk actions to archive or delete sites. Currently, super admins will be able to see and manage all classic Sites in their domain, and users will be able to see and manage classic Sites they own. Use these guides to learn more about how to use the Classic Sites Manager tool: guidance for G Suite admins, guidance for end users.
New Sites the default option starting on August 13, 2020
Starting August 13, 2020, new Sites will become the default option for website creation. This means that if you have both classic Sites and new Sites enabled, when users go to sites.google.com, they’ll be redirected to sites.google.com/new. From there, users can see and manage new Sites, as well as create sites with new Sites. Users will still be able to use classic Sites easily by clicking the “back to classic Sites” button on the new Sites homepage.
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why you’d use it
Since launching new Sites, we’ve listened to and incorporated your feedback, and top requests are now included in the new Sites experience. These include:
Admin permissions that allow you to control your users’ ability to edit and create sites within your domain.
As a result of these improvements, new Sites offers powerful features and a simple user experience so users can create websites without designer, programmer, or IT help. For example, you can learn about how customers are using Sites to support remote work and learning. Use our Help Center to learn more about how G Suite admins can use the new Google Sites.
Getting started
Admins:
New Sites default: This change will take place by default if you have both classic Sites and new Sites enabled. You can turn new Sites on or off for users at the OU or group level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to enable new Sites.
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.
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.
