The announcements below were published on the Workspace Updates blog earlier this week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.
Send group membership information in outbound SAML responses
Admins can now configure and send group membership information as part of SAML responses. | Learn more.
Add personal tasks from Google Chat
In Google Chat, you can now create personal tasks from individual or group messages. | Learn more.
Take action on multiple text selections in Google Docs
Using Google Docs, you can now make multiple text selections at once, and apply actions such as delete, copy, paste, or format to all selections. | Learn more.
Add shared drives to specific organizational units
Admins can now place shared drives into sub organizational units (OUs), enabling them to configure sharing policies, data regions, access management, and more at a granular level. | Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers only. | Learn more.
Embed content as a full page in new Google
Sites
Site editors using new Google Sites can now add content as a full page from the following sources: custom code, other websites, and Google apps, such as Maps and Docs. | Learn more.
Copy your client-side encrypted Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files
If you have client-side encryption enabled for Docs, Sheets and Slides, you can now make a copy of an existing encrypted document, spreadsheet or presentation. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.
Cut, copy and paste files using keyboard shortcuts in Google Drive Web
You can now use familiar keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + C (or ⌘ + C on Mac), Ctrl + X and Ctrl + V to copy, cut and paste Google Drive files in your Chrome browser. | Learn more.
Additionally, a link to the file and its title will also be captured when copying a file, which allows you to easily paste them into a document or an email.
To help you more easily organize files in multiple locations without necessarily creating duplicate files, Ctrl + C, Ctrl + Shift + V will create shortcuts.
Lastly, you can open files or folders in a new tab using Ctrl+Enter, so that you can easily view multiple files at once, or use different tabs to more easily organize files between two different folder locations.
In the above screencast, you can see opening a folder in a new tab, files moved between folders, shortcuts created, and file name and URLs pasted into a Google Doc.
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 26, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 9, 2022
Availability
Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: In a new Site, navigate to Pages > New page > Full page embed. Name the page and then add a URL, embed code, or embed content from another Google app. Visit the Help Center to learn more about adding Google files, video & more.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 24, 2022
This feature is available now as an open beta, which means you can use the feature without opting-in to a specific program.
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why it matters
Currently, all shared drives reside in the “root” OU. As such, all shared drives are subject to the same policies. This update gives admins the option to move shared drives to sub OUs within their organizations, such as Marketing or Legal, which allows for more control over the privacy and security of the shared drive's contents on a case-by-case basis. For example, admins can restrict sharing of a shared drive belonging to the legal department because it contains highly confidential information. Additionally, this also gives admins more flexibility over applying default sub OUs to newly-created shared drives, assuring each new shared drive subject to appropriate security policies.
With this update admins will have greater control and more options to control how their data is accessed and shared on a case by case basis.
Getting started
Admins: Admins can assign shared drives to various OUs using the new “Organizational Unit” column found in Apps > Google Workspace > Drive and Docs > Manage Shared Drives. Visit the Help Center to learn more about shared drives and managing shared drive users and activity.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature — the ability to access or share certain files contained in a shared drive will vary. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sharing files in Google Drive.
Availability
Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers
Not available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Frontline, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts
This feature allows you to more easily stay on top of tasks that come out of conversations with your coworkers via Chat. Once you’ve created a personal task, you can add a due date and description, then quickly navigate back to the conversation.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
Currently, you are able to configure SSO to send user attributes in the SAML response when a user logs in to an app using SAML SSO. With this launch, admins can configure SSO to send group membership information to the application. Apps can then use these attributes to assess user authorization and to implement other business logic.
There are no new updates to share this week. Please see below for a recap of published announcements.
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.
Migrate your classic Google Sites before December 1, 2022
We’re extending the previously announced timeline to give Google Workspace customers more time to migrate from classic Google Sites to new Google Sites:
Starting December 1, 2022 (previously June 1, 2022), you will no longer be able to edit any remaining classic Sites in your domain.
Starting January 1, 2023 (previously July 1, 2022), Classic Sites will no longer be viewable unless they are converted to new Google Sites.
New and updated third-party DevOps integrations for Google Chat, including PagerDuty
There are now a variety of additional DevOps integrations that allow you to act on common workflows directly in Google Chat. | Learn more.
Export log data in near-real time to BigQuery
Exported log data streams are now in near-real time (under 10 minutes), improving upon the previous process which returned log data that could be up to three days old. | Learn more here and here.
AppSheet Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus available as add-ons to Google Workspace editions
Google Workspace customers can now purchase AppSheet Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus as add-ons by contacting their Google Cloud sales representative or through the Google Workspace Partner network. | Learn more.
Use Connected Sheets with VPC-SC protected data, improved Cloud Audit Logs for Connected Sheets events
New banners in Google Chat protect against malicious links
In Google Chat, you can now see banners warning against potential phishing and malware messages coming from users with personal Google Accounts to help protect users against malicious actors, keeping data safe. | Learn more.
In Gmail, warning banners are displayed when responding to emails sent from outside of your organization. Now, Android warning banners are also displayed as you add new external recipients. Admins can turn these specific warning labels on or off for their organization.
We’ve also made improvements to the Connected Sheets logging in the Cloud Audit Logs. See the “Additional details” section below for more information.
Who’s impacted
Admins and end users
Why you’d use it
This change gives VPC Service Controls Admins and Editors the ability to allow members of your organization to access, collaborate on, and generate insights from VPC Service Controls protected data via Connected Sheets.
Additional details
By default, Connected Sheets cannot access BigQuery data that is protected by VPC Service Controls; however, VPC Service Controls perimeters can now be configured to allow queries issued through Connected Sheets to succeed. This configuration can only be changed by VPC Service Controls Admins and Editors.
Improved Connected Sheets logging
Whenever BigQuery data is accessed in Connected Sheets, entries are recorded for who accessed the data and when in Cloud Audit Logs.
Now, the Cloud Audit Logs additionally includes the ID of the spreadsheet that generates the BigQuery data access. Every spreadsheet has a unique ID containing letters, numbers, hyphens, or underscores, which can be found in the Google Sheets URL. Use this documentation to learn more about where to find this additional information in the Cloud Audit Logs.
End users: When configured properly as described above, Sheets users can query VPC Service Controls-protected BigQuery data via Connected Sheets just like they ordinarily would query non-VPC Service Controls-protected data. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Connected Sheets with BigQuery data.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 19, 2022
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 30, 2022
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers
Available to users with personal Google Accounts
Not available to legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
AppSheet allows users to maximize Google Workspace by building custom applications on top of Google Workspace and other services in their environment, all without writing any code. With AppSheet Enterprise, customers can enable advanced scenarios, adding advanced connectivity, more scale, and strengthened governance.
Partners can use the Partner Sales Console, Reseller APIs, and Rep-Assisted Buy Flows to add AppSheet Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus to their customers Workspace editions.
Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers.
Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts
Apps such as Google Cloud Build, Asana, GitHub, Jenkins and more, have been updated with new functionality:
Using Slash commands for quick actions such as creating a new Asana task or triggering a build in Jenkins or Google Cloud Build.
Ability to use Dialogs for important flows such as setting up the app, or entering detailed info such as creating a GitHub issue.
Operations and incident response professionals can use the new PagerDuty integration to take action on PagerDuty incidents from Chat. From Chat, you’ll be able to:
Receive notifications of PagerDuty incidents right from Google Chat.
Take action, including acknowledging and resolving incidents without leaving the conversation.
We hope these additional third-party integrations within Chat help you collaborate and get work done faster by eliminating the need to switch between various apps and browser tabs.
Additional details
We plan to introduce the ability to create dedicated spaces to collaborate with teammates on important incidents to resolve them quickly, with the right people. We will provide an update on the Workspace Updates blog when that functionality becomes available.
End users: If allowed by your admin, you’ll be able to install Google Chat apps using the “New chat” button in Google Chat . The apps you install will appear in the Google Chat conversation list.
After January 1, 2023, we will replace each remaining classic Site with a Takeout archive and will attempt to convert each classic Site to a new Site. Review your domain’s settings prior to January 1, 2023 to ensure a successful migration.
You will be notified once all the sites on your domain have been migrated. This may take multiple months for your domain, depending on the number and complexity of your sites. In the meantime, you can check the status of your sites in the Classic Sites Manager. After migration, your classic Sites will no longer be available.
To ensure a smooth transition, we recommend the following best practices when migrating your sites:
Create an archive of your classic Sites using the bulk “Download” functionality in the Classic Sites Manager so that you can refer to them later, if needed.
Since sharing settings work differently in new Sites than in classic Sites, always check your sharing settings after conversion:
Check that you are sharing with the desired audience before publishing.
Control whether collaborators can share your site with other users or publish the site in sharing settings. By default, all converted sites now have this setting disabled.
Note that the timeline for this transition is different for users with personal Google accounts — see this article in the Help Center for more information. There are no changes to the timeline for users with personal Google accounts.
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
In Google Chat on web and Chat in Gmail, you'll see an orange clock badge for users that were recently active in Chat, but aren't currently active. We hope this makes it easier to determine the best time to connect with your colleagues. Visit the Help Center to learn more about availability statuses in Google Chat.
Changes to the default Host Management controls in Google Meet for users with personal accounts
The default setting for Host Management controls is changing for users with personal Google accounts. Previously, Host Management controls were ON by default — going forward, this setting will be OFF by default for new meetings. There are no changes to the behavior for Google Workspace customers or Google Workspace Individual users.
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.
Improved user interface for sharing your working location in Google Calendar
This update improves the working location feature by offering the same functionality for easily entering and updating location information in a more compact format that uses screen space more efficiently. | Learn more here and here.
Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Business customers.
Easily search for Google Meet content in Google Drive
In Google Drive, you can now use app:”Google Meet” to easily find and organize Meet content such as Meet recordings, meeting transcripts, and more. | Learn more.
Import existing custom themes to new Google Sites
You can now import a custom theme from one new Google Site to another. | Learn more.
Create Spaces and Add Members with the Google Chat API, available in Developer Preview
Require email verification to book appointments in Google Calendar
When using appointment scheduling in Google Calendar, you can now opt to have users verify their email before booking an appointment. When enabled, the user must be signed into a Google account or validate their email address using a PIN code to complete the booking. | Learn more.
Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers.
New delegated VirusTotal privilege in the Alert Center
In 2021, we announced an integration between the Alert Center and VirusTotal. At that time, any admin who had the Alert Center privilege could access all VirusTotal reports. Now, we’ve added the ability for admins to control who can view VirusTotal reports. | Learn more.
Available for Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus.
Set up SSO profiles for multiple third-party identity providers with the Multi-IdP SSO beta launch
You can further customize authentication by setting up single sign-on (SSO) profiles for multiple identity providers and then configuring authentication for each group or OU. This feature is available beginning today as an open beta, which means you can use it without enrolling in a specific beta program. | Learn more.
Now, you can further customize authentication by setting up single sign-on (SSO) profiles for multiple identity providers and then configuring authentication for each group or OU. This feature is available beginning today as an open beta, which means you can use it without enrolling in a specific beta program.
You can now set up SSO profiles for multiple third-party identity providers
Who’s impacted
Admins
Why you’d use it
Currently, you can configure SSO with a third-party identity provider to apply to your entire domain and then require a subset of your users, such as vendors or contractors, to authenticate with Google instead. However, if you have more than one identity provider, you might require greater customization of authentication options. For example, your company might be migrating from one provider to another, or it might have acquired another company that uses a different provider.
The Multi-IdP SSO beta lets you set up SSO profiles for each of your third-party identity providers, giving you the flexibility to specify the authentication method for various users in your organization as needed.
Getting started
Admins: In the Admin console, navigate to Security > Settings > Set up single sign-on (SSO) with a third party IdP > Manage SSO Profile assignments. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up SSO for your organization.
Go to the Security settings to set up SSO profiles for third-party identity providers
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature.
Rollout pace
This feature is available now for all users.
Availability
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 legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Available to all Cloud Identity customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts
Important note: Once this feature is rolled out in your domain, some admins may lose access to VirusTotal. If so, super admins will have to re-provision access by going to Admin Privileges > View VirusTotal Reports.
Who’s impacted
Admins
Why you’d use it
This change will help ensure only those with proper privileges can view VirusTotal reports regarding sensitive data. The VirusTotal integration provides an added layer of investigation on top of existing alerts, empowering admins to take deeper look into threats and potential abuse, helping them better protect their organization and data. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using VirusTotal reports in the Alert Center.
Additional details
VirusTotal provides an investigation layer on top of alerts but isn’t being used directly for detection or alerting. No customer information is shared from Google to VirusTotal.
Available to Google Workspace Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals and Education Plus customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
This setting is off by default and is “sticky”. This means that if you turn it on or off, the configuration will be saved for any new appointment scheduling series.
We hope this feature helps ensure you’re protected against potentially malicious actors.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, Education Plus, the Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Nonprofits customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Frontline, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
While it’s easy to create new Spaces and add members directly in Google Chat, there are cases where Spaces can be filled with many topics and side conversations, making it difficult to keep track of important information. Using the new API functionality, you can set up new spaces that focus on a specific topic, team, or project. For example, an on-call app can automatically create a space when an outage has been detected.
We hope this update makes it easier for you to quickly and efficiently find files related to Meet events in Drive. For example, you can search for Meet transcripts by the words they contain instead of their file format, Meet videos based on what folders they may be in (such as My Drive), or Meet recordings based on the date they were recorded.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: When searching for Meet related files in Drive, use app:“Google Meet” in your query.
Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Business customers
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Education Fundamentals, Frontline customers as well as G Suite Basic customers
Not available to users with personal Google Accounts
Use new table templates and dropdown chips in Google Docs to create highly collaborative documents
We’re introducing two new enhancements for our flexible, smart canvas for collaboration: dropdown chips and table templates in Google Docs. | Learn more.
Share your video feed when using Companion mode in Google Meet
When using Companion mode in Google Meet, you can now turn your camera on and share your video feed with all other participants. | Learn more.
Set recurring task end options directly in Google Tasks
You can set the end option for a recurring task (never, on a certain date, or after X occurrences) directly in Google Tasks. | Learn more.
Space managers can now delete messages in Google Chat
This feature will allow Space managers to easily moderate their spaces and remove any content that is irrelevant or inappropriate in the space. | Learn more.
Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Education Standard, and the Teaching and Learning Upgrade
Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: These options will be available when creating or editing a task in Tasks. Visit the Help Center to learn more about setting up repeating tasks.
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.