We hope this design will make it quicker to navigate around the Admin console, easier to find items you need to manage, and simpler to understand how Google Workspace is deployed within your organization.
The new admin console home page
The old Admin console home page
Getting started
Admins: You’ll see the new interface when you log into the Admin console. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using the Admin console.
This will make writing academic papers easier, since you won’t have to copy citations from other tools. The four new citation source types come in addition to the types you already have available, including books, websites, journal articles, and newspaper articles.
Adding a film as a citation source
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
Google Workspace Frontline can help open up communication and collaboration channels between frontline workers and corporate teams in a way that’s safe and secure, even from their own personal devices. It’s a custom solution that includes communication and collaboration apps like Gmail, Chat, Meet, Docs, Drive, and more, as well as business-grade support and security features like advanced endpoint management that help keep a company’s data secure.
Additional details
With Google Workspace Frontline, your employees will have access to:
Gmail
Google Calendar
Google Chat
Google Meet
Google Docs
Google Sheets
Google Slides
Google Sites
In addition, you’ll get 2GB Drive storage per user and the ability to view content in shared drives. This offer also includes business-grade support and security features like advanced endpoint management, which enables admins to require strong mobile passcodes, set up work profiles for Android devices, manage apps forAndroid and iOS devices, and wipe devices remotely if needed.
Notify always: You’ll receive a notification for every message and new messages will be badged.
Notify less: You’ll receive notifications and badges for direct mentions, @all mentions, and followed threads. Additionally, there is an option to be notified about new threads in threaded rooms.
Notifications off: You will receive no notifications, but you’ll see a badge if you’re directly mentioned.
For existing Rooms, the notification setting may default to a state where you receive more notifications. To review and update your notification settings, simply select the three-dot overflow menu in each room.
Who’s impacted
End users
Why you’d use it
These additional notification settings give you more control over the amount of notifications you’ll receive based on your level of engagement or involvement in specific conversations. We hope that by giving the ability you adjust your notifications as needed, you can stay on top of need-to-know conversations without being overwhelmed by notifications.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the changes outlined in these Help Center articles and let your users know about the changes they can expect:
The new interface is similar to that of Chat in Gmail, giving users a consistent and predictable Chat experience no matter where they are. We’ve also added some new integrations to help your users be more productive. See Additional details below for more information.
Additional details
In addition to the visual interface updates, you’ll also see the following changes on Chat on the web:
In Chat rooms, you can now access shared files and tasks via tabs at the top of the room
We’ve added the quick access side panel on the right side, like in Gmail, to provide access to apps like Calendar, Keep, Tasks, and Maps
Search for existing conversations or for people to start new conversations is now under the “+” on the left-side navigation.
You can use the search bar at the top to look for content across all rooms and direct messages (DMs). To search for content within each room or direct message, click on the search button at the top right corner of the room/DM first and then proceed to search for content in the search bar.
The “Chat” and “Rooms” sections on the left-side navigation bar are static, allowing you to scroll more easily within each section. You can readjust the height of each of the sections based on your preference.
Feature to toggle between full screen view and pop-up view for both rooms and DMs, allowing easier multi tasking between conversations.
Integration with Google Meet so you can join or start a call directly from Chat
Pinned chats and rooms are now at the top of the Chat and Rooms sections instead of in a separate Pinned section. Users can unpin any unused pinned conversations to reduce clutter in these sections.
chat.google.com will now redirect to mail.google.com/chat. However, users can continue to use chat.google.com to access Chat.
Note that these changes will only impact domains with the Gmail service turned on. We’ll launch these changes to domains with Gmail turned off in the coming months.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for these changes.
End users: These changes will take place automatically at chat.google.com and in the Chat PWA.
“from:” will now return files shared with you by the specified email address. Previously, it would have returned files owned by that email address.
“to:” will now return files that you have shared with the specified email address. Previously, it would have returned all files that the email address had permissions to view, comment, or edit.
“sharedwith:” is a new search operator which will return files that the specified email address owns or has permission to view, comment or edit.
“owner:” returns files owned by the specified email address. There is no change to this operator, but you can use it to return the results you would previously have used the “from:” operator for.
In addition, we know how important it is to be able to easily find files shared with others while collaborating in Google Workspace. Our user research suggests that this is actually one of the most memorable aspects to use when finding a file. These updates to our search operators will enable more specific searches to find files shared with you and by you, and will help you find those files more quickly using more memorable details about the file.
Additional details
Searches for from: and to: will not return files that were shared prior to February 2021.
Vault admins have been notified separately about their changes.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: The updates to search operator behavior will take place by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about advanced search features in Google Drive.
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:
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
Google Workspace Add-ons allow you to use third-party applications within Google Workspace. These integrations between Google Workspace and other productivity applications allow work to happen more seamlessly across platforms, helping you get work done faster without switching from one app to another.
Previously, developers had to write Add-ons in Apps Script. With this launch, developers can write them in whatever language, and on whatever infrastructure, they want. This change enables developers to use the tools and systems they’re used to, making it quicker and easier to create and publish high-quality Add-ons.
End users: If allowed by your admin, you’ll be able to install Google Workspace Add-ons using the “+” button in the Google Workspace quick access side panel or via the Google Workspace Marketplace. The add-ons you install will appear in the side panel across Google Workplace apps.
Rollout pace
This feature is available now for all users.
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
When you share your calendar with others, they have the option to subscribe to changes you make on your calendar. In order to increase transparency to calendar owners on who can access this information, we'll inform them via email if someone subscribes to be proactively notified about upcoming events or any changes to existing and new events on their calendar.
We'll let you know when someone subscribes to any of these notifications about your calendar
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing Calendar permissions.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 22, 2021
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 6th, 2021
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Live captions can help users easily participate in meetings who may speak a different primary language, are in loud noisy environments, are deaf or hard of hearing, or have other disabilities that make listening difficult.
Getting started
Admins: No action required
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about using captions in Meet. Note: your language preference will be saved for future meetings.
Unmanaged accounts are users with consumer Google accounts that share your organization's email address. The API will enable you to manage these accounts at scale, and automate sending of invites to these users to transfer their account to a managed state. to a managed state.
The User Invitation API is initially available as an open beta, which means you can use it without enrolling in a specific beta program. See our documentation to learn more about how to use the API.
Who’s impacted
Admins
Why you’d use it
Unmanaged accounts occur when a user registers for a personal Google account using an email address that matches your domain. These accounts generally exist because a user has previously signed up for a personal Google Account using their work or educational email address.
If your organization then signs up for Google Workspace or Cloud Identity and attempts to provision a managed account with the same primary email address, the conflict needs to be resolved.
Previously, you could only manage these existing accounts via the Admin console. The User Invitation API provides another option which can help automate resolution of these conflicts, and can make it easier to manage these conflicts at scale.
We hope that by displaying this information in a single location, Admins will have greater visibility into critical actions carried out by their users on their own accounts, without having to switch between multiple places in the Admin console.
Enterprise plus and Education Plus Super Admins can also use the security investigation tool (Admin console > Security > Investigation Tool > User Log Events) to view more detailed information and take action on suspicious login activity.
You can now snooze Google Calendar desktop notifications—directly from this notification.
A few things to keep in mind:
You must have desktop notifications enabled and Calendar open in a tab to see notifications on your desktop.
You can only snooze notifications on Chrome browsers.
Users with desktop notifications enabled may see the promo below in the coming weeks.
Users with Calendar desktop notifications enabled may see this one-time promo in the coming weeks.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default if you have desktop notifications enabled. You cannot remove the option to snooze notifications, but you can change the timing of snoozed notifications. Visit the Help Center to learn more about changing and turning off Calendar notifications.
You can change the timing of snoozed notifications in your Calendar notifications settings menu.
See all your notifications in one place, even without device notifications enabled
Choose filters to control the types of notifications you get
Delete and dismiss notifications you don’t want
Take actions like share files directly from notifications
Show more file information directly from the notification
Who’s impacted
End users
Why it’s important
Today, many people rely on email to keep track of important activity on their files in Google Workspace. At times, this may include searching your inbox, setting up filters, or addressing unrelated and urgent emails. The Drive notifications center saves time finding your most important notifications and makes it easier to keep track of things to do from within Google Drive.
The updated notifications center can be accessed by going to Priority or Home
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: Open the Google Drive app, navigate to “Priority” (or “Home” if you’re not a Google Workspace customer) and find the “Notifications” tab on the top part of the screen. All available notifications will be here, even if you don’t opt-in to device notifications. Use our Help Center to learn more about Google Drive notifications.
Each rule that DLP recommends is a fully realized, ready-to-use rule that is preconfigured to warn users on sharing sensitive data. You can use the rules as they are, or edit the rules to customize them for your organization. The rules will only be enforced when you choose to activate them.
Who’s impacted
Admins
Why it’s important
Protecting your company’s confidential data is critical. DLP rules can give you control over what users can share, and helps prevent the unintended exposure of sensitive information. Your data protection insights report can help identify priority areas to address, but creating, testing, and implementing rules can be time consuming.
By generating fully realized, ready-to-use rules recommended based on your organization’s specific situation, we aim to make it easier to add controls and help protect sensitive information within your organization.
The DLP rule performance charts can help you understand rule performance so you can make any necessary adjustments, and help identify where additional investigation is needed, with one-click integration to the investigation tool where available.
See recommended rules at Admin console > Security > Data protection
Getting started
Admins:
To see the recommended rules, go to Admin Console > Security > Data Protection. To view the data protection insights report you must be a DLP admin or an admin that received an email invitation to view the report.
Rule suggestions will be enabled by default for all organizations with data protection insights report, but rules will not be enforced unless you choose to activate them. Recommended rules will not be available if data protection insights reports are turned off.
Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus customers.
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
The chat will be visible ten minutes prior to the 1:1 meeting and ten minutes after the meeting ends. We hope this feature makes it easier to share information and files before a meeting begins, let meeting attendees know you’re running late, or share quick follow-ups once a meeting has concluded.
The three-dot overflow menu, which will open options for opening speaker notes, auto play, caption preferences, and more.
Additionally, we’ve reduced the size of the trigger zone for the presenter bar in order to minimize distractions or obstruction of your content.
We heard from our customers that the old presenter toolbar in Google Slides was getting in the way of content and creating a distraction for presenters and their audience. As a result, we have condensed the presenter toolbar down to the controls you need most so that now you can present with confidence, We hope these improvements help you present and engage with your audience more confidently, without worrying about potential disruptions.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about presenting in Google Slides.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) starting on March 15, 2021
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 26, 2021
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) in progress now for iOS, with rollout to Android to begin around the end of March. In the coming weeks, keep an eye on the Workspace Updates Blog for more information.
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and G Suite Business customers. Also available if you're using Google Meet with a personal Google account.
This is the same behavior you’re familiar with from other Google Workspace products, like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Version history makes it easy to see changes to a Jam and who made them. This is particularly useful in education settings, allowing teachers to view and track student changes to Jam files. Additionally, you can name different versions of your Jam files, so you can quickly revert to them when needed.
Last year, we introduced a new Google Chat standalone app. The app is a Progressive Web Application (PWA), which provides a fast, reliable, and engaging way to use Chat on any desktop device with the Google Chrome web browser.
End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to upgrade from the old to the new Chat app. The new desktop Chat app will retain all conversation history, so you and your users can start where you left off.
Rollout pace
The new Google Chat app is available now to all users.
Availability
Applicable to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
When turned on, students can record meetings the same way other users can today. This can be helpful for students who want to review a lesson or class presentation later on. Once turned on, meeting recordings will be automatically saved to the student’s Google Workspace for Education Drive account.
Available to Google Workspace Education Plus (formerly G Suite Enterprise for Education) Customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 8, 2021
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 22, 2021
Availability
Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Nonprofits and Education Plus as well as G Suite Business customers, Teaching and Learning upgrade (launching in April)
Not available to Google Workspace Business Starter and Education Fundamentals, as well as G Suite Basic customers
Enable users to dial out to more than 100 countries directly from a Meet call. This is currently only available to 2 countries.
Increase the number of countries users can dial in from to over 80, with more countries coming soon.
Make it easy for admins to monitor and audit call usage with the Google Voice audit log.
There is no subscription fee; you only pay for the calls your organization makes at the per-minute rate.
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why you’d use it
This new add-on subscription will help improve access to video calls by enabling outbound calls to global destinations and dial-in to meetings from more countries.
Once enabled, your users will be able to:
Quickly add a phone to a meeting by calling someone, or use the “Call Me” feature to use your phone for audio, now available in more than 100 countries.
Easily dial in to join a Meet call when you don’t have an internet connection, have limited bandwidth, or are joining from the road, in more than 80 countries.
In addition, the Google Voice audit log will make it easy for admins to see a breakdown of all your call costs across Meet and Voice in a single place.
Additional details
The Meet Global Dialing subscription is currently available to customers based in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Belgium.
Note that, if you purchase Google Workspace through a reseller, your reseller must also be based in one of those countries to be eligible for the subscription.
Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Nonprofits, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
In December 2020, we announced the availability of an admin control for AppSheet in the Additional services section of the Admin console. The rollout of this control is now complete. | Learn more.
Anchor image backgrounds in Google Sites
You'll now see an anchor icon in Google Sites when editing a section that includes a background image. When selected, you can choose what point to anchor the image on or if the image should be centered. | Rolling out to Rapid Release now; launch to Scheduled Release planned for March 17, 2021.
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.
Adding Google Chat, Google Calendar, and Jamboard to Google Workspace Essentials
We’re giving teams and organizations more ways to connect and collaborate by adding Google Chat, Google Calendar, and Jamboard to Google Workspace Essentials, all included at no additional cost. | Learn more.
Access to Google Workspace core services from Google Assistant
Over the next few weeks, we’ll begin making access to Google Workspace services from Google Assistant generally available to any customers with the “Search and Assistant” additional service enabled. This was previously available in beta. | Learn more.
Expanding data regions coverage to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides user indices
Data regions for Google Workspace allows customers to choose a specific geographic location—in the U.S., in Europe, or globally distributed—for their covered data at rest to help meet organizational or compliance needs. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.
New Assured Controls help support your information governance goals
Assured Controls for Google Workspace Enterprise Plus is an add-on that helps customers control cloud service provider access and attain their information governance goals. | Available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. | Learn more.
Join Google Meet calls from third-party video conferencing systems more easily
We’re making it easier to join Google Meet calls from third-party video conferencing systems. | Learn more.
Enhanced admin controls for Gmail IMAP
You can now enable Gmail IMAP and Gmail POP separately and enable access via IMAP on a per-app basis in the Admin console. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Nonprofits, Education, and Enterprise for Education customers only. | Learn more.
New Google Vault interface will become the only experience starting on May 24, 2021
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. | 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 only. | Learn more.
Add files owned by suspended accounts to shared drives
Until now, it was often not possible to move files originally created by users whose accounts are suspended, as suspended accounts can’t be added as members of a shared drive. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Business and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.
Sign in to RSVP via hyperlinks in Google Calendar email invitations
In order to prevent unauthorized users from responding on your behalf to Google Calendar event invitations, you’ll now be required to be logged in to use any of the RSVP hyperlinks in invite emails. | Learn more.
Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, and Nonprofits customers
However, until now it was often not possible to move files originally created by users whose accounts are suspended, as suspended accounts can’t be added as members of a shared drive. Admins can suspend an account to temporarily block a user's access to your organization's Google services (for example, you may suspend the account of a former employee).
With this launch, file editors can now add these files to shared drives. As long as admins choose to allow users to migrate files to shared drives, content created by a user whose account is suspended by their organization’s administrator will be eligible to be added to a shared drive.
Getting started
Admins: This feature is controlled by the more general setting at Admin console > Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Migration settings > Allow users to migrate files to shared drives. If this is turned on already, the feature will automatically become available to users when it rolls out. Use our Help Center to learn more about moving content to a shared drive.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.
Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, and Education Plus, as well as G Suite Business and Nonprofits customers
Not available to Google Workspace Business Starter and G Suite Basic customers.
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.
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
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.
