Google Workspace Weekly Recap – September 18, 2026

Set up sharing boundaries for Google Drive with unified data protection rules

We’re introducing a new capability that allows Google Workspace administrators to configure audience sharing and sensitivity-based data conditions in a single, unified rule. This unified rule flow helps organizations elevate their security posture to proactively mitigate insider risks, prevent data exfiltration, and safely unblock collaboration for high-sensitivity environments. | Learn more.

Gmail Search’s AI Overviews now available globally

Starting today, we are expanding access to AI Overviews in Gmail search to global users (with paid plans) who have their Gmail language set as English. Previously, this was only available to users in the US with their language set as English. | Learn more.

Connect to more tools with Gemini in Google Workspace

Users will now be able to use Gemini in Workspace to directly interact with Asana, Atlassian Rovo, HubSpot, Intuit Mailchimp, Intuit QuickBooks, Monday, and Salesforce through Model Context Protocol (MCP) integrations. This will enable them to access information directly without needing to switch tabs, download files, or interrupt workflows across our Google Workspace apps including Sheets, Gmail, Drive, Docs, Chat, and more. | Learn more.

Connect to Google Meet hardware with room codes now generally available

Google Meet users can now connect to nearby conference room hardware by entering a 5-character room code on their personal device. Building on the recent Connect Room launch that uses proximity-based detection to identify nearby hardware, this update provides a reliable manual fallback when ultrasound is unavailable or disabled. | Learn more.

Data regions support for Google Apps Script now generally available

Data regions are critical for helping organizations meet internal compliance, legal, regulatory, and data sovereignty obligations by controlling the geographic location of covered data at rest and through data processing. Expanding these controls to Apps Script allows organizations—including those in highly regulated industries and the public sector—to build, deploy, and automate enterprise workflows with confidence that their script data and executions remain within designated geographic boundaries. | Learn more.

View conference room and meeting location details directly on the Google Meet homepage

Starting today, we’re enhancing the Meet homepage experience by displaying conference room and physical meeting locations directly on upcoming meeting cards. For in-office users this update allows them to see where they need to go directly on their Meet landing page, streamlining their workflow before and between meetings. | Learn more.

Introducing Expert Intelligence in Gemini Notebook

We’re introducing Expert Intelligence, a cross Google initiative that helps users engage with trusted sources through Google AI products, starting with Gemini Notebook. Featuring more than 100,000 books from major publishers, employees and students can now incorporate insights from leading authors, publications, and domain experts directly into Gemini Notebook. | Learn more.

Automate workflows with custom starters and steps, third-party integrations, and webhooks in Workspace Studio

To expand the capabilities of Workspace Studio and help teams build powerful, custom automations, we are introducing four new features for flows in Workspace Studio: custom starters, custom steps, third-party (3P) integrations, and webhooks. These new capabilities empower users to seamlessly connect custom Google Apps Script functions, integrate third-party services, and trigger external webhooks directly within flows in Workspace Studio. | Learn more.

Notebooks in Gemini: a dedicated workspace for focused, organized work, now for schools and organizations

In April, we announced notebooks in Gemini as a dedicated, focused space for individual users to organize their projects and conversations. Now, students of all ages, educators, and professionals can access notebooks to keep conversations about a topic organized in one place. | Learn more.

New back-to-school features and learning tools available in Gemini Notebook

We’re introducing several updates to Gemini Notebook that give users a more personalized and powerful learning experience. | Learn more.

The announcements above were published on the Workspace Updates blog over the last week. Please refer to the original blog posts for complete details.

Chrome Dev for Desktop Update

The Dev channel has been updated to 156.0.8063.3 for Windows, Mac and Linux.

A partial list of changes is available in the Git log. Interested in switching release channels? Find out how. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug. The community help forum is also a great place to reach out for help or learn about common issues.

Chrome Release Team
Google Chrome

New back-to-school features and learning tools available in Gemini Notebook

We’re introducing several updates to Gemini Notebook that give users a more personalized and powerful learning experience.

  • Audio recorder: Users can now use a new audio recorder in the Gemini Notebook mobile app (Android/iOS) to capture lectures or record thoughts on the go, with these notes living directly alongside their sources for easy citation and ongoing edits.



  • Real-time conversation with notebooks: Users 18 years or older can now have a real-time conversation with their notebooks using the Gemini Notebook mobile app (Android/iOS) in nearly 100 languages. Because every response is grounded in their sources, users can get step-by-step guidance, ask questions, and interrupt at any time just by speaking.



  • Interactive learning overviews: To help users maintain focus during study sessions, we’re introducing interactive learning overviews under Reports, which weave together summaries and studio outputs like quizzes, flashcards, and mind maps.
  • Improved exam prep tools: We’re expanding exam prep tools with the following updates:
    • New quiz formats include short answer, multiple choice, and fill in the blank.
    • Users can chat with their notebook about their performance on the most recently completed  quiz and flashcard set to help determine where to focus their attention next.
    • Quizzes and flashcards can be customized by adding or editing questions.

  • Short Video Overviews for learning: Users can also create engaging Short Video Overviews in more than 80 languages and even share them with classmates or other people. These bite-sized ~60-second videos combine narrative overviews with educational animations to help make complex formulas, diagrams, and scientific concepts easier to digest.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts

Resources


Why client SDK generation belongs in the open

Google has partnered with Speakeasy to open-source their OpenAPI code generation suite under the AGPLv3 license, a strategic move prompted by the sudden shutdown of Google's previous proprietary SDK provider. The newly open-sourced suite equips developers with deterministic, multi-language SDK generators that natively support strict typing and SSE streaming, alongside tools for compiling agent-native CLIs and documentation MCP servers. Engineering teams can now safely integrate this robust tooling directly into their CI pipelines to automatically generate reliable client libraries for their own APIs, all while retaining complete licensing control over the output code.

Chrome for Android Update

    Hi, everyone! We've just released Chrome 153 (153.0.8010.52) for Android. It'll become available on Google Play over the next few days. 

This release includes stability and performance improvements. You can see a full list of the changes in the Git log. If you find a new issue, please let us know by filing a bug.


Android releases contain the same security fixes as their corresponding Desktop releases (Windows 153.0.8010.52/.53) unless otherwise noted.

Harry Souders