Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to all Cloud Identity customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials customers
We’re adding five new immersive backgrounds for Google Meet on the web. The backgrounds feature subtle animation that give your background life or change your lighting. Cafe and condo interiors will have various iterations, such as snowy or rainy weather, which will help dispersed teams better represent their current time zone and climate.
Various lighting and weather effects will be available
Additionally, we’re giving you more options to customize your video with various light and color filters and more stylized backgrounds.
The new backgrounds and styles are available on Google Meet on the web and can be added before joining a call or during a call using the recently launched effects settings panel.
Getting started
Admins: To enable or disable immersive backgrounds and styles, go to Admin console > Apps > Google Workspace > Settings for Google Meet > Meet video setting. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to control whether users can change their backgrounds in Meet.
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout to eligible devices (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 17, 2021
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout to eligible devices (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on December 2, 2021
Availability
There are three immersive backgrounds available to all Google Workspace customers, G Suite Basic and Business customers, as well as users with personal Google Accounts
Five additional immersive backgrounds, along with several new light & color filters and stylized backgrounds are available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.
To insert a people chip, type “@” in any cell to search your directory or by selecting Insert > People chip.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be available by default. To insert a smart chip in a cell, press “@” or by selecting Insert > People Chip. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using smart chips in Google Sheets.
We anticipate that this feature will be available for all Google Workspace editions in 2022. We’ll provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog when that becomes available.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin setting for this feature
End users: This feature will be available by default. To delete a space, from the dropdown menu press "Delete Space". Only the creator of the room has this ability and will delete the space for everyone.
Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, G Suite Basic and Business Starter customers
Not available to Google Workspace, Google Workspace Essentials, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as Business customers
We hope that by increasing the meeting size, it will be easier to connect and collaborate with your colleagues, clients, and customers.
Getting started
Admins: No action required.
End users: No action required. The new participant limits will occur automatically for all meetings in your domain. If you need to host an even larger meeting, you can enable live streaming, allowing up to 100,000 viewers to watch at once.
Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, Nonprofits, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, or G Suite Basic and Business customers
Alerts: showing recent account-specific alerts from the alert center
These new cards help organizations stay up to date with the latest Google Workspace product updates and improvements along with easy access to new administration and security notifications— bringing together critical information for a more dynamic and insightful landing page experience.
Admin console home page, now with Product updates and Alerts cards
Who’s impacted
Admins
Why you’d use it
Previously, updates on new Google Workspace feature releases and updates were only accessible by visiting or subscribing to the Google Workspace Updates blog, but now you can directly access recent posts from the Admin console.
Before this change, to see the latest alert center notifications, you would have needed to navigate to the alert center to check for new notifications. Now these notifications will be visible directly from the homepage as well.
We hope these cards make the Admin console an even more centralized location for all the information you need to best manage your organization.
Additional details
Google Workspace Updates Card
This card will display the latest blog posts from the Google Workspace Updates blog.
Clicking on an announcement will open that blog post for more information
Clicking on ‘View all’ will open the Google Workspace Updates blog.
Please note that this card is currently only available in English.
New Product updates card
Alerts card
This card will automatically update with the latest alerts from the Admin console alert center.
Clicking on an individual alert will open the details of the alert
Clicking on ‘View alert center’ opens the alert center for a more robust view of open alerts
Note that the card will only display open alerts with “Not started” or “In progress” status. “Closed” alerts will not be displayed, but can be accessed in the alert center by using the status filter for closed.
Admins: The Product update card is available for all admins and can be expanded or collapsed. The Alerts card is only available for admins with alert center privilege with the same expand or collapse options. Visit the Help Center to learn more about alert center privileges.
End users: There is no end user impact for this feature.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 15, 2021
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
With these RSVP options, you can indicate how you plan to join a meeting—in the meeting room, or virtually. Then, both the organizer and guests will be able to see how attendees are planning to attend the meeting in the event detail. This will help meeting attendees know what to expect when joining a meeting, and prepare accordingly.
Note that if you select the new RSVP options, the join method details (e.g. “joining virtually”) are not shared with contacts on other platforms, such as Microsoft Outlook.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
The transformation report is a free tool designed to help quantify your organization’s Google for Education implementation across our products and programs. Semester-based reports track usage trends over time and make it easy to understand how your organization is using Google Workspace for Education, Chromebooks, and progressing through Certification programs.
Based on usage information and survey responses, you’ll receive tailored recommendations and resources from Google for Education to help you drive more impact across your organization.
You’ll be able to make adjustments to your report any time between November 2, 2021 and December 10, 2021, after which the report will be locked for editing.
Take and share the transformation survey [optional]
Survey participation is optional, but we encourage you and your leadership team to complete the survey at least once a year to reflect on your digital transformation and receive customized feedback.
Transformation reports are available now for all users.
Availability
Available to K-12 Google Workspace for Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
Now, we’re enhancing this feature by also preventing notifications when there’s an @-mention between you and a blocked user in comments or action items on Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides. This block will apply to both email and in-app notifications. This will make the feature more predictable and comprehensive.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. Note that users can’t block users within the same domain or in trusted domains.
Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 9, 2021. Also available to users with personal Google Accounts.
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers.
Previously we launched a new beta that allows you to request and review formal approvals on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, and now we are rolling out that ability to more users. Once requested, approvers can approve, reject, add comments, or edit the document in response. All of this can be done without leaving the secure environment of Google Workspace.
Requesting an approval on a Google Doc
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why you’d use it
Securing document approvals can be difficult when collaborating with multiple stakeholders and competing priorities. This feature makes it easy to secure those approvals and see who has approved them.
This feature also ensures that when edits are made to a document, all reviewers are notified and the latest version of the document is re-approved. It also ensures that once all reviewers have provided their approval, the file locks and cannot be edited, securing the integrity of your document.
We hope this feature streamlines the workflow needed to secure approvals on contracts, legal documents, and other situations where formal approval is required.
Additional details
Once a document is sent for approval, reviewers get email, browser or Google Chat notifications, based on where they have selected in Google Drive’s web settings to receive notifications. They will then receive a link they can follow directly to the document.
If you set a due date, your reviewers will receive email reminders that their approval is needed or past due. You’ll also be able to prevent any user from editing the item’s content or leaving comments and suggestions by choosing to lock the document.
Note: Documents by default will remain unlocked until they are fully approved.
If you request approval from multiple people, the document is considered approved once all reviewers approve the file. If an edit is made during the approval process, all reviewers will need to re-approve the latest version of the file and will receive email notifications in those instances. The document approval request is rejected for all reviewers if a single reviewer rejects the file.
Once all reviewers approve the document, the file will be locked. Locked files can't be edited until they're unlocked or approved. Unlocking the file cancels the current approval request.
Getting started
Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at the domain level or managed per group/OU. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Managing Approvals
Enabling the approvals feature in the Admin console
End users: Users can manage Drive notifications in Approvals under Drive settings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Getting approvals on files in Google Drive.
Note: While the Admin console setting will be visible and configurable, your setting will not be enforced until November 15, 2021
End user feature
Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 15, 2021
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on November 24, 2021
Availability
Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Business, G Suite Enterprise, Drive Enterprise, G Suite for Education, G Suite Enterprise for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits
Not available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Frontline, and G Suite Basic customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts
More easily add citations in Google Docs with new search and automated entry function
When adding citations in Google Docs, you can now search for books and online sources, then automatically populate some attributes for those sources. | Learn more.
Refine search results in Google Drive with search chips, launching in beta
We’re launching a new beta for Google Drive that will help users refine their search and locate files faster using search chips. This beta will be available for all Google Workspace editions—eligible customers can use this form to express interest in the beta. | Learn more.
Enable advanced context-aware access to Google Workspace in the Admin console
You can now configure context-aware access (CAA) custom access levels using advanced attributes directly from the Google Workspace Admin console. You can use more advanced signals such as time/date restrictions, credential strength, Chrome browser attributes or verified ChromeOS as well as third-party signals via BeyondCorp Alliance partners. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus. Also available to Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.
Google Workspace Client-side encryption beta expanded to include Google Meet and Google Drive for desktop
We’re now expanding the client-side encryption beta to include desktop data for Google Meet and Google Drive. Additionally, key access service APIs are now publicly available for anyone to use. Lastly, we are adding two new Key access service partners (Fortanix, Stormshield) for customers looking for a dedicated partner that integrates with the key access service APIs. | Learn more.
Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus. Also available to Cloud Identity Premium customers.
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business, and Cloud Identity Free customers.
We’re launching a new beta for Google Drive that will help users refine their search and locate files faster using search chips. This is similar to functionality available in Gmail today.
See below for more information.
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why you’d use it
When searching in Drive, users often use a few key words to try and locate the file they’re looking for, such as “marketing plan” or “sales report,” which may return results that are too broad.
Now, after a query is entered, users can use search chips to surface more relevant results based on:
File type, such as a Google Doc, PDF, or image
People
Location, such as a shared drive or specific folder
When the document was last modified
File titles only
Shared drive labels
Tasks
We hope search chips in Drive make it easier to find relevant files faster, eliminating the need to perform multiple searches or sort through irrelevant results.
Getting started
Admins: This beta is now closed and will no longer be accepting new applicants.
End users: If accepted into the beta, search chips will be available by default to users in the Google group(s) provided at sign-up. Simply enter a search query and select one or multiple chips to further drill down results.
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business 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.
