Admins can now set client-side encryption as the default mode for users on both web and mobile that regularly handle sensitive data. This allows organizations the flexibility to meet their compliance and regulatory requirements and reduce the burden on change management programs. Each new email, event and uploaded file on mobile is automatically client-side encrypted with customer managed keys meaning the user is compliant with their org’s policy from the outset. For organizations with strict regulatory or sovereignty requirements, this can help them close compliance gaps by defaulting users to the preferred mode for handling sensitive data while on the go.
Google Workspace Assured Controls is available as an add-on to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers only. For more information, contact your Google account representative.
Using the Endpoint Education Upgrade, admins can configure a wide range of account and device management features, helping to make your organization's data more secure across your users' mobile devices, desktops, laptops, and other endpoints. For example, you can:
Control what Android & iOS app can be installed on a device, who can log into it (for domain owned devices), and where it can access your data.
Protect devices from loss or theft with admin rules for alerts, location tracking, access restrictions, and remote data wipes.
Manage company-owned devices or set up Android work profiles, so users can safely access your school account on the go.
The Endpoint Education Upgrade will be available for purchase through your current Google Workspace for Education reseller and select channel partners on February 29, 2024. If you do not currently have a Google Workspace for Education reseller, you can find one here.
Availability
Endpoint Education Upgrade is available by user based license or device based license (coming soon) — it is not a domain wide license. You can purchase Endpoint Education Upgrade licenses through your current Google Workspace for Education reseller and select channel partners.
If you have Education Fundamentals and wish to upgrade instead of purchasing individual Endpoint Education Upgrade licenses, you can easily upgrade to Education Standard or Education Plus.
1:1 cloud-encrypted video calling in the Meet mobile app makes it easier to connect with others by significantly reducing the need to create meeting links ahead of time. We’re expanding these 1:1 cloud-encrypted calls to allow users outside of your domain to initiate 1:1 calls, making it easier to connect with your external partners and stakeholders. However, to ensure external contact is appropriate, admins can turn this functionality on or off for their users.
By default, users can receive calls only from contacts and other users in the organization. You can use the new admin switch to enable calls from outside your domain at the OU level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about restricting who can call users in your organization with Google Meet.
Note: This setting affects only Google Meet calling, not legacy services (formerly known as Duo) or calling in Google Chat. This also does not affect the ability to join meetings. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Meet legacy calling on or off for your users. Note that If you have legacy calling enabled for your users, they will have access to features previously found in Duo (group calls, messages, moments, family mode, etc.) if they have not upgraded to the new Meet app.
End users:
Meet calls do not include legacy calling features previously found in Duo (group calls, messages, moments, family mode, knock knock) but those continue to be available if your admin has legacy calling turned on and if the person you’re interacting with is using a personal Google account.
[May 8, 2024] Rollout to rapid release domains is complete. See the Rollout section below for more details on scheduled release domains.
[April 24, 2024] We have updated the rollout information for this feature. See the Rollout section below for more details.
What’s changing
We’re excited to announce a new feature, markups in Google Docs, which gives you more flexibility when providing feedback in a document. The new markups experience lets you add handwritten annotations to documents with a stylus or your finger when using an Android device.
Markups can be useful in numerous scenarios, such as:
Colleagues giving each other handwritten feedback on diagrams, charts, reports or proposals.
Educators giving students feedback on their essays, reports, short stories and more.
A homeowner providing ideas or updates on construction plans from their contractor.
In order to add annotations, you must use an Android device. From there, you can:
Enter the markups mode and annotate using pen or highlighter tools
Hide/show markups
Erase markups
Insert suggested markups
On iOS devices, you can:
View a document with markups
Delete markups
Hide/show markups
On desktop, you can:
View a document with markups
Delete markups
Hide/show markups
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: To turn on markups, open a document > select the markups tool from the contextual toolbar > draw with your finger or stylus. Visit the Help Center to learn how to use drawings & markups.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 27, 2024, with expected completion by May 8, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on May 20, 2024
Availability
Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts
Today, we’re continuing our enhancements across Chat by improving the in-line threaded experience in spaces. With multiple threads across numerous spaces, we know it can be difficult to identify which unread threads are most relevant to you. In order to provide you with more context upfront, you will now see participant avatars for unread threads in the conversation view. Without having to click to open the thread side panel, it will now be much easier to decide which threads to read and reply to.
Who’s impacted
End users
Why you’d use it
Being able to see the participant avatars for unread threads makes it easier to identify whether a thread is relevant to you.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
Additional Excel and tabular file types are not supported.
During import, unsupported Excel features in Sheets will be ignored.
The maximum file size is 100MB.
The maximum number of cells that can be imported is 10 million.
Getting started
Admins: Client-side encryption can be enabled at the domain, OU, and Group levels (Admin console > Security > Access and data control > Client-side encryption). Visit our Help Center to learn more about client-side encryption.
We’re introducing a new feature in Google Docs that utilizes smart canvas to boost productivity and streamline your workflow. Starting this week, you will see suggestions for email autocomplete, followed by a people chip conversion option using the Tab key. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for March 7, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about and inserting smart chips in your Google Doc.
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.
Updates to the Google Workspace Marketplace
End users can now discover and install Google Chat apps from the Google Workspace Marketplace. Additionally, users can now open the Google Workspace Marketplace directly from within Chat. | Learn more about Workspace Marketplace and Chat apps.
Introducing Gemini for Google Workspace, plus more AI offerings to better meet your business needs
On February 8, we announced the next chapter of our Gemini era. As part of this change, starting today, the Duet AI for Google Workspace Enterprise add-on is now called Gemini Enterprise.We’re also introducing Gemini Business, which is available to new and existing Google Workspace customers (see the availability section below for more details). Gemini Business is a Workspace add-on subscription which provides a subset of the generative AI features available in Gemini Enterprise, subject to monthly usage limits. | Learn more about Gemini for Google Workspace.
Updated user interface for signing in to or signing up for your Google Account
We’re updating the look and feel of our sign-up and sign-in pages with a more modern look, which is in-line with the Material Design across our other products. You'll see the updated interface across web and mobile devices. | Learn more about the updated interface.
The Google Meet API is now generally available
In November 2023, we announced the availability of the Google Meet API through our Developer Preview Program. Beginning this week, the Google Meet API is generally available. | Learn more about the Google Meet API.
Check in to your meeting room directly from the Google Meet green room
One of the challenges of joining a virtual meeting from a conference room, is that the people in the room are identified by the name of the conference room rather than as individuals. Google Meet’s room check-in feature helps ensure everyone in the meeting can see your name and be aware of your presence. | Learn more about Google Meet’s room check-in.
Checking in from the green room ensures that everyone in the meeting can see your name when you join
Getting started
Admins: This feature will be ON by default and can be disabled at organizational unit level for specific hardware devices or users. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Meet settings.
Integrating the Meet API in your product with the Google Meet API streamlines workflows and provides your product with Meet information that easily enhances your product offering. For example, partners such as Hubspot, Outreach, Salesforce, and Salesloft currently integrate the Meet API into their solutions to pull meeting recordings and artifacts into their conversational intelligence tools for analysis and sales coaching.
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: There is no end user setting for this feature — users see these improvements automatically. Visit the Help Center to learn more about the new Google sign-in page.
We’re also introducing Gemini Business, which is available to new and existing Google Workspace customers (see the availability section below for more details). Gemini Business is a Workspace add-on subscription which provides a subset of the generative AI features available in Gemini Enterprise, subject to monthly usage limits. With tools to enhance productivity, boost creativity, and save you time, Gemini Business is a good option for businesses looking to get started with generative AI.
In addition, customers of Gemini Enterprise and Gemini Business can now chat directly with Gemini through a new standalone experience (gemini.google.com).This experience, which starts rolling out today, is built on our 1.0 Ultra model*, and provides enterprise-grade data protections and admin controls. Gemini can be a starting point for work and a better way to research, brainstorm, and analyze information—all with the capability to double check responses with confidence. With a Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise plan, your conversations are not used for advertising purposes, reviewed by human reviewers, nor used to improve generative machine-learning technologies. For more information, see the latest on the Workspace blog and our previous post on how we’re protecting your Google Workspace data in the era of generative AI. Roll out of Gemini starts today for Gemini Enterprise and Gemini Business customers and will continue over the next several days.
Who’s impacted
Admins
Why it’s important
With these new offerings, businesses will have greater access to our robust suite of AI-powered features, which can be used to:
Research, brainstorm and analyze information in Gemini (gemini.google.com), with access to Google’s 1.0 Ultra and enterprise-grade data protections
Double-check responses to validate information in Gemini (gemini.google.com)
Chat with Gemini (gemini.google.com) to get the words and visuals just right and easily bring the output from Gemini to your new or existing document, presentation, or email
Help you write and refine emails in Gmail—even on the go from your mobile device
Help you write, refine, and proofread content in Google Docs
Generate original images for your presentations directly in Google Slides
Create plans for projects in Google Sheets with just a simple prompt
Look your best in Google Meet with studio look
Generate background images in Google Meet
Use translated captions in Google Meet
Gemini Business is a great option for organizations looking to get started with generative AI. Gemini Enterprise will be the right choice for organizations that want to ensure full access to generative AI features from Google. Customers are able to have both Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise licenses in the same domain, providing flexibility in how they roll out generative AI in their organization.
Additional details
Gemini Enterprise is now available for Google Workspace Nonprofits
Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons can now be purchased by non-profits customers with a Google Workspace for Nonprofits subscription. Use this link to learn more about Gemini for Google Workspace.
Gemini Business is available as an add-on for Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Starter, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, and Google Workspace for Nonprofits.
We're working to bring Gemini for Workspace to our education customers, and we look forward to sharing more about this in the coming weeks.
*Gemini (gemini.google.com) is not currently available to Gemini Enterprise and Gemini Business users working in Hong Kong, France, or French territories. However, all other Gemini for Google Workspace features are supported in these locales.
Gemini for Google Workspace features are only available for users over the age of 18.
Additionally, users can now open the Google Workspace Marketplace directly from within Chat. This will include an enhanced browsing experience with curated app categories such as “Intelligent apps”. Lastly, developers can start publishing Chat apps on the Google Workspace Marketplace, allowing users to more easily discover, install and use the apps.
Who’s impacted
Admins, end users and developers
Additional details
Chat app users can now leave reviews and flag any inappropriate Chat apps directly from the Marketplace app listing.
New formatting sidebar in Google Docs, Slides and Sheets apps on Android Tablets
This week, we’re further improving the Google Workspace experience on large screen Android devices by adding a new formatting sidebar in Google Docs, Slides and Sheets. In addition to meeting the Google Material Design 3 guidelines, this new sidebar reduces the number of taps needed to navigate to formatting options, enabling you to more easily arrange text, tables, images and more. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for March 6, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.
New sidebar experience in Google Docs on an Android tablet
Easily drag and drop an image to replace the background in Google Slides
Hovering over the border of an empty slide before dropping in an image (from your desktop, Content Library or another webpage) will now set the image as the background in Google Slides. Dropping the image anywhere else will simply insert the image onto the slide. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for February 26, 2024. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Learn more about changing the theme, background, or layout in Google Slides.
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.
Google Meet “companion mode” is now supported on your mobile device for great hybrid meetings
Beginning this week, you’ll be able to use companion mode with your Android and iOS devices. | Learn more about Google Meet companion mode.
Creating more immersive presentations in Google Slides
Starting this week, Speaker spotlight in Slides, an experience that lets presenters insert their video feed directly into their Slides content, is generally available for select Google Workspace editions. With Speaker spotlight, you can deliver your message with greater impact by embedding your camera feed directly into your Slides presentations. This feature helps keep your audience focused on you and can help make your content more compelling. | Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more about speaker spotlight.
Assign mobile device management admin privileges based on organizational unit
We’re giving admins more granular control over how mobile device management privileges are delegated. Specifically, admins can be assigned privileges for specific organizational units (OUs). | Learn more about mobile device management.
Sort, filter and manage comments faster in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides
We’re introducing an improved comments experience in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides to help you find and take action on comments easier than ever before. While you will continue to see and interact with the comments experience you’re familiar with, you’ll also notice updates to our comment cards, icons, and more. | Learn more about comments across Workspace.
You can explore new and familiar ways to interact with comments by going to View > Comments and selecting:
Show all comments: opens up a full-length view to deep dive into multiple comments more easily in Docs, Sheets or Slides. Now you can use updated search and filter functionality to focus on the most relevant comments. You will also notice a curated ‘For you’ list, which surfaces all the comments you need to take action on.
Expand comments (in Google Docs and Slides): shows comments next to the document or presentation content so you can review comments and content together.
Minimize comments (in Google Docs and Sheets): reduces comments to icons so you can have a more focused view of your work in Docs and Sheets. This setting provides a quick preview with high level information about who is commenting when you hover over the minimized icons.
Hide comments: hides comments from view when you want to focus solely on the content in Docs, Sheets or Slides.
Who’s impacted
End users
Why you’d use it
With this update, you can now find and organize comments more easily, enabling seamless collaboration with others on Google Docs, Sheets and Slides.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users: This feature will be ON by default and cannot be disabled. To open the full-length panel, go to View > Comments > Show all comments. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using comments, action items, & emoji reactions
With speaker spotlight, you can deliver your message with greater impact by embedding your Meet video feed directly into your Slides presentations. This feature helps keep your audience focused on you and can help make your content more compelling.
Users can insert a variety of speaker spotlight shapes directly into their slides and then format them to their liking. Once in slideshow mode, your camera feed will appear in that shape so you can deliver a captivating presentation. Speaker spotlight also integrates seamlessly with Meet and Slides Recordings for more engaging virtual or recorded presentations.
Who’s impacted
End users
Why it’s important
Speaker spotlight helps you better connect with audiences using video during live presentations, which is especially useful when working in a hybrid environment.
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users:To add the spotlight shape into Slides, go to Insert > speaker spotlight or click the speaker spotlight button in the toolbar. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using speaker spotlight.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 15, 2024
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 6, 2024
Availability
Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus
Using Companion mode from your mobile device is a quick, light-weight way to participate in meetings without opening a laptop. This can be particularly useful in meeting spaces where room for a laptop is limited, or as an easy, discreet way to participate during large in-person meetings, such as all hands or town halls.
Specifically, you can use companion mode to:
Check-in to the room to be identified by name.
Share an emoji reaction without interrupting the speaker.
Raise your hand to indicate that you’d like to speak.
Turn on captions to view subtitles as everyone speaks during a meeting.
Exchange chat messages with other meeting participants.
View and zoom in on presented content to easily follow along with the presenter on your own device.
You can also use the room check-in feature on mobile as well, making it easier for other attendees to see your name alongside the conference room you’re joining from.
Share an emoji reaction without interrupting the speaker.
Raise your hand to indicate that you’d like to speak.
Turn on captions to view subtitles as everyone speaks during a meeting.
Exchange chat messages with other meeting participants.
View and zoom in on presented content to easily follow along with the presenter on your own device
Getting started
Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
End users:
This feature will be available by default. You can join a meeting using companion mode from the green room before your meeting. Use this Help Center article and video guide to learn more about using companion mode in Google Meet.
Note: Your audio and mic will automatically be muted—we recommend using meeting room hardware for audio and video to avoid feedback.
Rollout pace
Rapid Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 12, 2024.
Scheduled Release domains: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 27, 2024
Note that the following minimum builds are required:
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.
