Author Archives: G Suite Updates

Summary: Next 2019 announcements

Google Cloud Next 2019 is happening now in San Francisco. To learn more about the event and tune into sessions, click here.

For a summary of the announcements from the event, see our Cloud blog posts about how we’re helping businesses work faster, smarter and more collaboratively in G Suite, and increasing trust in Google Cloud with visibility, control and automation.

For details of the announcements, see the posts on this blog:

Keep an eye on the G Suite Updates blog for more announcements throughout the event.

More collaboration insights in the Activity dashboard

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

Quick Launch Summary 

We’re introducing two new features to the Activity dashboard in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides:

Sharing history
Sharing history provides users with granular visibility into how your document is being shared with others across your organization and elsewhere. You’ll now see who shared access with who and what level editing access they’ve been granted.



Comment trend 
Comment trend will help users visualize the conversations in a particular document, showing the number of comments, suggestions, and replies created per day. A graph will display the number of new comment threads, replies, and unresolved comments over the lifetime of a document.



These updates add more context to the Activity dashboard, a feature we launched last year to help users see who’s viewed a particular document and viewer trends. These additions will further flesh out the Activity dashboard, making it a centralized hub where document owners and editors can see how other collaborators are engaging with their content.


Availability 

Rollout details 

G Suite editions 
  • Available to all G Suite editions. 
On/off by default? 
  • This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Summary: Next 2019 announcements

Google Cloud Next 2019 is happening now in San Francisco. To learn more about the event and tune into sessions, click here.

For a summary of the announcements from the event, see our Cloud blog posts about how we’re helping businesses work faster, smarter and more collaboratively in G Suite, and increasing trust in Google Cloud with visibility, control and automation.

For details of today’s announcements, see the posts on this blog:

Keep an eye on the G Suite Updates blog for more announcements throughout the event.

New security assessment program for apps on G Suite Marketplace

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

We’re starting the G Suite Marketplace (GSM) security assessment program, which will enable developers to optionally submit their GSM apps for review by a third-party security firm. The assessment includes penetration tests, a deployment review, and a policy and procedure review. Apps that pass the security assessment will display a security badge on their Marketplace listing.

You may notice:

  • A “Security Assessment’ badge on marketplace listings. 
  • A “Security Assessment” badge on app detail pages. 
  • A “Security Assessment” section on the app detail page. 


We’re opening the program for developer submissions now. Monitor the G Suite Updates blog for ongoing updates on the program. Find out more about the security assessment program here.


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it 

By highlighting apps that have been assessed to meet certain security standards, we hope it will be easier for you to find apps that may meet your specific organizational policies. This means you can more quickly identify and assess apps that you can whitelist for your users to help them be productive.

How to get started 


  • Admins: Find out more about the program and what to look for here.  
  • End users: No action needed 


Helpful links 




Availability 

We’re opening the program for developer submissions now. Monitor the G Suite Updates blog for more details on the program. Find out more about the security assessment program here.

The “Security Assessment” badge will indicate apps that have passed the assessment



Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Summary: Next 2019 Announcements

Google Cloud Next 2019 is happening now in San Francisco. To learn more about the event and tune into sessions, click here.

For a summary of the announcements from the event, see our Cloud blog posts about how we’re helping businesses work faster, smarter and more collaboratively in G Suite, and increasing trust in Google Cloud with visibility, control and automation.

For details of today’s announcements, see the posts on this blog:

Keep an eye on the G Suite Updates blog for more announcements throughout the event.

Gmail making email more secure with MTA-STS standard

What’s changing

SMTP MTA Strict Transport Security (MTA-STS) is a new internet standard that improves email security by requiring authentication checks and good encryption for email in transit.

Gmail will start enforcing this standard in beta, which you can read more about on the Google Security blog. For G Suite admins:

  1. Security health within the security center for G Suite will start including recommendations about MTA-STS policies for your domain.
  2. G Suite admins can choose to set up MTA-STS policies and reporting for incoming mail in their DNS server. While admins could do this previously, it will become more impactful now that Gmail is enforcing the MTA-STS policies.

Use our Help Center to learn more about how to use the MTA-STS standard.

Who’s impacted

Admins only

Why you’d use it

MTA-STS is a new internet standard that will increase email security by acting as a deterrent against pervasive monitoring of email traffic and protecting against man-in-the-middle attacks. You can make your email communications more secure by setting MTA-STS policies and ask the organizations with which you communicate to also set MTA-STS policies for their mail servers.

How to get started



Additional details

Option to set up a MTA-STS policy
G Suite admins can choose to set up a policy for incoming mail with their DNS server. See the Help Center for details and instructions on how to set up an MTA-STS policy for your domain.

Possible email bouncebacks
While we don’t anticipate significant increase in bouncebacks, there are two aspects of the new standard which could result in bouncebacks:

  • TLS enforcement with certificate validation will prevent bad actors from intercepting emails in transit just like HTTPS does it for web traffic.If a bad actor tries to intercept the email, as Gmail enforces MTA-STS, it will now bounceback, preventing the intercept.
  • As Gmail will honor policies set by servers you are sending mail to, there’s a possibility that they have misconfigured policies or their servers, and that we will not deliver emails as a result. In this case, users will get an email bounceback with details.

New security center MTA-STS recommendations for your domain
If you go to the security health section of the security center for G Suite (Admin Console > Security > Security Health, available to G Suite Enterprise and Enterprise for Education domains only) you’ll see a new “MTA-STA” suggestion. It will tell you whether you have a policy set up, as well as highlighting misconfigurations in policies.

Helpful links



Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions

  • All G Suite customers can define MTA-STS policies.
  • MTA-STS policy suggestions in the security center are available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers only.

On/off by default?

  • MTA-STS policies for your domain will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the domain level.
  • MTA-STS policy suggestions in the security center will be ON by default.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Get more done in less time with G Suite Add-ons beta

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing

We’re announcing G Suite Add-ons, a new cross-suite platform that connects G Suite to your favorite workplace apps, in a beta program.


Last year we announced a new feature that gives users quick access to Calendar, Hangouts, and Keep from an embedded side panel in G Suite. Today we’re announcing that the side panel is now open for third-party developers.

Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why you’d use it

Add-ons help you complete tasks directly from the G Suite app you're using, rather than needing to toggle from one app to another.

G Suite Add-ons also surface relevant information and suggest actions based on what you’re working on. For example, a salesperson can find customer info from their CRM tool while drafting a strategy in Docs, an engineer can add tasks to their project management app directly from Gmail, and a recruiter can consult their hiring pipeline while scheduling interviews in Calendar. Once enrolled in the beta, users in the domain will have access to new add-ons from Copper, Box, Workfront, Asana, Evernote, and Cisco, among others.

How to get started


  • Admins: Express interest in the G Suite Add-ons beta. Once your organization joins the beta program, you can also install chosen G Suite Add-ons for your entire domain via the G Suite Marketplace.
  • End users: Once your organization is in the beta program, you’ll be able to install G Suite Add-ons from the “+” button in the G Suite quick access side panel.The G Suite Add-ons you install will appear in the side panel across G Suite apps and help you complete entire workflows without the need to switch back and forth between multiple apps.

Helpful links



Availability

G Suite editions

  • All G Suite editions are welcome to apply to this program.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Increase trust in cloud data security with Access Transparency

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

We’re making Access Transparency for G Suite generally available. Access Transparency enables you to get more visibility into actions taken by Google staff related to your data. You can view the reason for each access, including references to specific support tickets where relevant, which may help you support your audit requirements.

Access Transparency is available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education customers only.

Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

At G Suite, we work hard to earn and maintain trust with our customers. Access Transparency supports this commitment to customer trust by giving you fine grained logs of actions taken by Google staff and the reason for each access, including references to specific support tickets where relevant.

Access Transparency may help you:
  • Verify why Google is accessing your data, such as fixing a fault or attending to your requests. 
  • Bring your audit controls closer to what you can expect on premise. 


How to get started 




A Sample view of the new report for G Suite Access Transparency 

Additional details 

Access Transparency will allow admins to:

  • View the reason for data access, including references to specific support tickets where relevant. 
  • Verify why Google staff is accessing your data, such as fixing a fault or attending to your requests. 
  • View and download logs to help you support your regulatory audits or data archival needs, showing extensive information such as accessor location, access justification, and the action taken on a specific resource. 


Helpful links 




Availability 

Rollout details 

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (longer than 15 days for feature availability) starting on April 20, 2019. 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (longer than 15 days for feature availability) starting on April 20, 2019. 


G Suite editions 

  • Available to G Suite Enterprise and G Suite Enterprise for Education edition only. 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic, G Suite Business, G Suite for Education, and G Suite for Nonprofits 


On/off by default?

  • This feature will be ON by default.


Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Google Voice for G Suite: Cloud telephony with the intelligence and security of Google Cloud

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.

What’s changing 

Google Voice is now generally available as an add-on to G Suite. Voice for G Suite is a cloud-based phone system that’s optimized for businesses of all sizes. G Suite customers can use it to deploy and manage phone numbers at scale with the intelligence and security of Google Cloud. Google Voice offers:

  • Smart cloud telephony for end users 
  • Simple provisioning and management for admins 
  • Easy adoption and migration at scale 


Google Voice is available to all G Suite customers through an additional licence. Find more information about Google Voice availability and pricing here.

Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

Google Voice integrates with Hangouts Chat and Hangouts Meet to provide a complete solution for communication with colleagues, customers, and partners from anywhere at any time. Specifically, Google Voice adds:

Smart cloud telephony for end users 

  • Get a phone number that works from anywhere, on any device, so you can place and receive calls wherever you’re doing work. 
  • Use intelligent capabilities to transcribe voicemails and block spam calls to help minimize unwanted distractions. 
  • Increase efficiency through integrations with other G Suite products, like Calendar, Contacts, Hangouts Chat, and Hangouts Meet. 

Simple management for admins 

  • Use one place - the Admin console - to manage Voice global users, numbers, porting, and billing. 
  • Set up new phone numbers as easily as adding a user to G Suite. 
  • Easily provision and deploy via simple administration tools 

Scalable adoption and migration 

  • Migrate smoothly with integrated number porting to help prevent interruption of key business processes. 
  • Leverage Google’s text-to-speech technology to automatically create call menus in nine languages to manage and route callers without worrying about recordings or translations. 
  • Give users permission to choose a number and set up their service independently without admin involvement. 

How to get started 



Availability 

Google Voice is available to all G Suite customers through an additional licence. Find more information about Google Voice availability and pricing here.



Stay up to date with G Suite launches

Live captions in Hangouts Meet

This announcement was made at Google Cloud Next ‘19 in San Francisco. Check out Next OnAir to tune into the livestream or watch session recordings following the event.


What’s changing

We’re making meetings more accessible for deaf and hard-of-hearing users by launching live captions in Hangouts Meet.

Who’s impacted

End users

Why you’d use it

Live captions help make your meetings more accessible by reducing barriers to holding meetings between users of different hearing abilities, regardless of whether they are participating remotely or in person.

How to get started


  • Admins: No action required.
  • End users:
    • On the web and on Chromebase for meetings touchscreen devices, navigate to the triple-dot menu at the bottom right corner of your screen and select the option to turn on captions.
    • On devices with a Mimo touchscreen and Chromebox for meetings with the remote, you can find the toggle to turn on captions in the Settings menu.

Additional details

Live captions is available across different Hangouts Meet-compatible platforms, such as on the web, devices with a Mimo touchscreen, Chromebox for meetings with the remote, and on Chromebase for meetings touchscreen devices.

When you turn on captions, they will be visible on that particular device. In order for other participants in the meeting to see captions, they’ll have to turn it on for their devices as well.

Currently, live captions is only available in English. Additionally, captions will not appear in a recording of a meeting.

Helpful links



Availability

Rollout details

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 10, 2019
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on April 10, 2019

G Suite editions
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?
This feature will be ON by default.

Stay up to date with G Suite launches