Author Archives: Jane Smith

Google Calendar automatic room suggestions available on mobile

Quick launch summary

Last year, we released automatic room suggestions in Google Calendar on the web. We’re now bringing that feature to Android and iOS devices.

This feature, using Google AI, suggests the rooms for your meetings based on the locations and preferences of the guests.

To enable this feature, structured resource information and users’ work locations are required to be set.


Availability

Rollout details


G Suite editions

  • Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default?

  • This feature is ON by default and immediately visible when resources are structured and user locations are set.

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Disable SMS or voice codes for 2-Step Verification for more secure accounts

What’s changing 

We’re adding an option for admins to disable telephony options as 2-Step Verification methods for G Suite accounts in their domain. This option will prevent their users from using SMS and voice codes for 2-factor authentication.

Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

There are many forms of 2-Step Verification—from text (SMS) message codes, to the Google Authenticator app, to hardware second factors like security keys. And while any second factor will greatly improve the security of your account, we’ve long advocated the use of security keys for those who want the strongest account protection.

As awareness of the potential vulnerabilities associated with SMS and voice codes has increased, some admins asked us for more control over the ability to use phone-based 2-Step Verification methods within organizations. The present release does just that - admins get a policy that can enforce the use of multi-factor authentication without permitting SMS and voice verification codes. 

This new policy gives admins more control over the security methods used in their domain, and increases the security of user accounts and associated data.

How to get started 


  • Admins: Apply the new policy by changing the setting at Admin console > Security > Advanced security settings > Allowed two step verification methods. 
  • End users: No action needed unless admin changes configuration. 

2-factor authentication options in the G Suite Admin console 


Additional details


How users can configure 2-Step Verification once the policy is enforced 
Users with the new policy applied will not be able to add SMS or voice based codes as an option - either when enrolling in 2-Step Verification for the first time or later at myaccount.google.com. A user enrolling in 2-Step Verification for the first time will see the screen below. This first provides an option to set up Google Prompt, as well as ‘Choose another option’ which will let them add a Security Key instead.


Avoid user sign-in issues 
Users affected by the new policy who have SMS/Voice as the only 2SV method on their account will not be able to sign in. To avoid this lock-out situation, see our Help Center to get tips for how to ensure a smooth transition to an enforcement policy.

Helpful links 



Availability 

Rollout details 
G Suite editions 
Available to all G Suite editions

On/off by default? 
The new policy is not enabled by default. Admin needs to explicitly choose to apply this policy on a OU / Group basis, like the other existing 2SV enforcement policies.

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Manage Google Group members and settings more easily in the Admin console

What’s changing 

We’re making it even easier to manage Google Groups through the G Suite Admin console. The new improvements include:

  • A new settings card: When you create a group, this card will help you quickly view and customize group settings. 
  • A new hover menu: When viewing the list of Groups, you can use this menu to get quick access to member management and group settings. 
  • Pop-up controls: Using pop up controls, you will be able to add members, manage members, edit settings, and delete groups without leaving the Groups list page. 

These build on other recent improvements to group management in the Admin console. See below for images of these new settings and options.

Who’s impacted 

Admins only

Why you’d use it 

Groups can improve communication and collaboration in your organization. You can use Groups to create mailing lists, web forums, and collaborative inboxes for your team, and also to control access to documents and Google services.

However, it’s important to include the right people in each group, and apply the right settings so groups are secure. By giving admins easy-to-use controls for groups details, we hope to make it easier to share and use information.

How to get started 




New hover menu gives quick access to member management and group settings 


Easily add members without leaving the list page 


Quickly see and edit group settings in-line 


When you create a new group, this settings card can help make sure the right settings are applied 

Helpful links 

Help Center (Admin): Use Groups in your organization

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

Google Drive is getting a new look on iOS and Android

What’s changing  

Google Drive is getting a new look and feel on iOS and Android, making it easier to communicate and collaborate across files in Drive on mobile devices.



This Material redesign is part of a larger effort to bring the look and feel of our G Suite apps together as a whole, with ease-of-use in mind.

Some improvements you’ll see include:
  • New Home tab and bottom navigation 
    • Similar to Drive on the web, the Home tab will surface the files that are most important to you, based on things like: 
      • The last time you accessed or edited a file 
      • Who specific files are frequently shared with 
      • What files are used at specific times of day.
  • A more intuitive bottom navigation bar that features options to switch between Home, Starred, files shared with you (Shared), and all files (Files), allowing for quicker access to your most important items.

  • Expanded search bar 
    • The search bar is now more accessible across the application, including from the Team Drives page.
  •  My Drive, Team Drives and Computers in Files view 
    • Team Drives will be now be displayed as a tab next to My Drive in the Files view. Users will also see a Computers tab if they have backed up content from a local machine to their account. 

    •  New account switching experience 
      • The feature to switch accounts is moving from the left navigation menu to an icon in the top right.


      •  Revised actions menu 
        • A revised actions menu attached to every file and folder emphasizes the most frequently used actions at the top. Toggles for starred and offline are now changed to buttons.

        Who’s impacted 

        End users

        Why you’d use it 

        We know that mobile devices are critical to getting work done, whether it’s at our desk, in a meeting, sending an email, or collaborating. Drive is not just a way to backup files to the cloud, but a critical way to easily share work, make last minute changes to content, or review important content on the go. The Drive Mobile redesign aims to make these workflows easier.

        How to get started 

        • Admins: No action required. 
        • End users: You’ll see the new look coming your way soon. 

        Additional details

        iOS users will begin seeing the redesign starting on March 12, 2019. Android users will see the redesign starting on March 18, 2019.

        To help your users navigate this redesign, see this change management guide or download this PDF.

        Helpful links 

        View the change management guide for this update. Also available as a PDF.
        Using Google Drive on Android
        Using Google Drive on iOS 

        Availability 

        Rollout details 
        • iOS: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) rollout starting March 12, 2019.
        • Android: Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) rollout starting March 18, 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

        Simultaneously present and be seen with Hangouts Meet

        Quick launch summary

        Now, when you present your screen in a Hangouts Meet meeting, your camera’s video feed will remain visible. This allows other meeting participants to continue to see you while you present.

        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

        Five new third-party applications added to G Suite pre-integrated SAML apps catalog

        What’s changing 

        We’re adding SAML integration for five additional applications:
        • Clear Review 
        • Clubhouse
        • Dialpad Sandbox
        • HubSpot 
        • Workable

        Use our Help Center to see the full list of SAML apps and find out how to configure SAML applications.

        Who’s impacted 

        Admins only

        Why you’d use it 

        With Single-Sign-On (SSO), users can access all of their enterprise cloud applications—including the Admin console for admins—after signing in just one time. Google supports the two most popular enterprise SSO standards, OpenID Connect and SAML, and there are already many applications with pre-integrated SSO support in our third-party apps catalog.

        How to get started 

        • Admins: You can find our full list of pre-integrated applications, as well as instructions for installing them, in the Help Center.
        • End users: No action needed.

        Additional details 

        Note that apart from the pre-integrated SAML applications, G Suite also supports installing “Custom SAML Applications,” which means that admins can install any third-party application that supports SAML. The advantage of a pre-integrated app is that the installation is much easier. Use out Help Center to learn more about installing Custom SAML Applications.

        Helpful links 

        Help Center: Using SAML to set up federated SSO 
        Help Center: Set up your own custom SAML applicationAvailability 

        Rollout details 

        G Suite editions 
        Available to all G Suite editions.

        On/off by default? 
        This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the OU level.

        Stay up to date with G Suite launches

        Recurring Calendar meetings will migrate to Hangouts Meet video calling

        What’s changing

        As part of the migration from classic Hangouts to Hangouts Meet that we announced last year, we’ll now begin migrating the video conferencing for your recurring Calendar events from classic Hangouts to Meet. Previously, we made the change so that new events scheduled in Calendar will use Meet. Now this change is to update previously scheduled events in Calendar as well.

        Who’s impacted

        End users

        Why we’re migrating

        We've built Hangouts Meet to have a fast, simple interface with enterprise grade meeting functionality such as livestreaming and meeting with up to 100 people. To ensure you get the best-in-class experience we’re migrating the remainder of your existing recurring Calendar events. This will happen gradually in an effort to limit any disruption and ensure that you can focus on what’s important: meetings where people can be as productive as they are when they’re face-to-face.

        How to get started


        • Admins: No action needed.
        • End users: When you join a recurring Calendar event on classic Hangouts, you will see a banner that future occurrences of this meeting will be on Meet.

        Additional details

        Migrating existing Calendar events
        This change will take place gradually as users join affected meetings. They will see a migration banner notifying them future occurrences will be on Meet. After the end of the call, all participants will get an updated event information with the new meeting details. Single instance (non-recurring) Calendar events will remain unchanged.

        If your meeting doesn’t migrate
        Some of your meetings may not automatically update to Meet. When this happens, you’ll see a banner in the video call notifying end users to update the Calendar event to Meet. This may happen for complex Calendar event setups, such as if different events have the same video link.

        Helpful links

        Help Center: Migration FAQs

        Availability

        Rollout details

        • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 11, 2019
        • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 25, 2019

        G Suite editions
        Available to all G Suite editions

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

        Stay up to date with G Suite launches

        Delete your conversation history in Hangout Chat

        Quick launch summary

        You’ll now be able to delete your conversation history of 1:1 direct messages in Hangouts Chat. These deletions apply to 1:1 conversations between classic Hangouts and Hangouts Chat in both directions. Please note, you’re only deleting your copy of the conversation history. Other users will still be able to see the chat.

        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

        Use Vault for Gmail confidential messages and Jamboard files

        What’s changing 

        Google Vault is adding support for two new types of content:

        • Gmail confidential mode emails - If your users send or receive messages in Gmail confidential mode (currently available for G Suite as a beta program,) Vault will retain, preserve, search and export confidential mode messages as per the details below. 
        • Jamboard files stored in Google Drive - Vault will automatically retain and preserve Jamboard files (‘jams”) according to the retention rules and holds set for Google Drive, and let you search and export these files. 


        Who’s impacted 

        Admins only

        Why you’d use it 

        Google Vault lets you retain, hold, search, and export data to support your organization’s retention and eDiscovery needs. This launch adds support for new data types so that you can comprehensively govern your organization’s data.

        How to get started  




        Additional details 


        Support for Gmail confidential mode emails 
        Gmail confidential mode lets users restrict recipients' access to sensitive email content. This feature is available to G Suite domains through our Gmail confidential Beta program.

        Vault and confidential messages sent by members of your organization - Vault can hold, retain, search, and export all confidential mode messages sent by users in your organization. Messages are always available to Vault, even when the sender sets an expiration date or revokes recipients' access to confidential messages.

        Here’s an example of what [email protected] will see in Vault when they search for [email protected] and preview this email sent by [email protected].


        Vault and confidential messages received from external senders - Your users might receive confidential mode messages from external parties such as other G Suite customers and from personal Gmail accounts. You can hold, retain, search and export message headers and subjects of external confidential messages. However, you can't search or export message content or attachments from external confidential messages.

        Here’s an example of what [email protected] will see in Vault when they search for [email protected], and preview this email sent by an external domain ([email protected]).


        See our Help Center for more information on Vault and Gmail confidential mode. You can also see how to protect Gmail messages with confidential mode.

        Support for Jamboard files (“jams”) stored in Google Drive 

        With this launch, you’ll be able to manage Jamboard files that have been saved to a user’s Google Drive:

        • Retain Jamboard data through Vault with the same retention rules that you set for Google Drive. All your retention rules set for Drive will automatically apply to jams in Drive. 
        • Preserve Jamboard data through Drive holds. 
        • Search for Jamboard data in Vault, alongside other Drive files, or only search Jamboard files with the “type:jam” search operator. You can also preview jams and export them. 

        See our Help Center for to see how to set retention rules for Drive, which will also apply to jams. 

        Helpful links 




        Availability 

        Rollout details 

        Vault support for Jamboard 


        Vault support for Gmail Confidential in beta is completely rolled out to all domains.

        G Suite editions 
        Available to G Suite Business, Enterprise, and Enterprise for Education editions, as well as G Suite users with the Vault add-on license

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

        Stay up to date with G Suite launches

        Keep data secure with Gmail confidential mode (beta)

        What's changing

        We’re opening a beta program for Gmail confidential mode. With confidential mode, it’s easier to protect sensitive content in your emails by creating expiration dates or revoking previously sent messages, and removing options for recipients to forward, copy, print, and download.

        Who’s impacted

        Admins and end users

        Why you’d use it

        Built-in Information Rights Management (IRM) removes the option to forward, copy, download or print messages. This helps reduce the risk of confidential information being accidentally shared with the wrong people.

        In addition to protecting sensitive content in your emails by creating expiration dates, you can also require additional authentication via text message to view an email. This makes it possible to protect data even if a recipient’s email account has been hijacked while the message is active.

        How to get started

        • Admins: Gmail confidential mode Beta is available as an opt-in to all G Suite customers. Admins can opt-in to the beta by going to the Admin console and navigating to Apps > G Suite > Settings for Gmail > User settings. Here they will be able to select the option to Enable confidential mode.

          • End users: Once Gmail confidential mode is activated in the Admin console, users can send Gmail confidential mode emails. When they compose an email, there is a button to enable confidential mode for the email.


            If users click on the button, it opens the Gmail confidential mode user settings dialog box where they can modify the settings:



            Additional details

            At the beta launch, Gmail confidential mode will:

            1. Allow users to set an expiration date for messages or revoke access at any time
            2. Disable options to forward, copy, print, and download the email body and attachments
            3. Allow users to set SMS passcodes wherein recipients will get a passcode by text message to be able to access the email sent using confidential mode
            4. Let users choose to remove access early before the expiration date.
            Note: Although confidential mode helps prevent the recipients from accidentally sharing your email, it doesn't prevent recipients from taking screenshots or photos of your messages or attachments. Recipients who have malicious programs on their computer may still be able to copy or download your messages or attachments.

            Additionally, if your users send or receive messages in Gmail confidential mode, Vault will retain, preserve, search and export confidential mode messages. The message body of received messages will be accessible in Vault only if the sender of the message is from within your organization. Learn more about how Vault works for confidential mode messages here.

            Helpful links

            Help Center: About Gmail confidential mode:

            Availability


            G Suite editions

            • Available to G Suite editions.

            On/off by default?

            • This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled by the admin via the Admin console.

            Stay up to date with G Suite launches