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Google Voice gets support for three way calling and a refreshed in-call user interface

What’s changing

We’re pleased to introduce two significant updates for Google Voice: support for three way calling and an overall enhanced, redesigned in-call user interface:

Three way calling makes it easier to connect callers onward with more relevant parties or loop in additional parties to keep the conversation moving. This includes situations such as:

  • Bringing in a translator for multilingual conversations
  • Including legal counsel directly to advise on relevant discussions
  • Facilitating smoother call transfers by introducing the receiving party

To host a call with three participants by merging two calls together - Select “Add”  to lookup the contact you wish to add to the call and then “Merge” to bring the calls together.




You’ll notice that the “Add” and “Merge” options are prominent and easily accessible, which is a key theme across the refreshed in-call user interface. The update brings a consistent look and feel for Voice across all of your devices, an intuitive call layout, similar to Google Meet, and improved placement of key call controls.




Starting from the top, you'll find notifications, such as a call participant on hold. Moving down to call controls, your primary actions like the keypad and mute button, are prominently highlighted, while secondary actions like transfer, hold, and merge, are easily accessible.



Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin impact or controls for these features.
  • End users: Visit the Help Center to learn more about hosting a Three way call.

Rollout pace


We will provide an update on rollout for iOS as soon as possible.

Availability

  • Three way calling is available for Google Workspace customers with a Voice Starter, Voice Standard, Voice Premier subscription, as well as customers with SIP Link Standard and SIP Link Premier.

  • The user interface updates are available for all users.

Resources


Express yourself and quickly respond to emails with emojis reactions in Gmail

What’s changing

We’re excited to introduce the ability for users to react to emails in Gmail with emojis. This new feature allows users to quickly respond, acknowledge receipt of an email, and express themselves more authentically. 


Whether you’re using a gratitude emoji to thank a teammate, voting for a team dinner with a food emoji, or congratulating your client for reaching a milestone with a celebratory emoji, emoji reactions provide an expressive and personalized way of responding to emails. 

emoji reactions in gmail


Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Feature visibility: 

Admin setting: 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Express yourself and quickly respond to emails with emojis reactions in Gmail

What’s changing

We’re excited to introduce the ability for users to react to emails in Gmail with emojis. This new feature allows users to quickly respond, acknowledge receipt of an email, and express themselves more authentically. 


Whether you’re using a gratitude emoji to thank a teammate, voting for a team dinner with a food emoji, or congratulating your client for reaching a milestone with a celebratory emoji, emoji reactions provide an expressive and personalized way of responding to emails. 

emoji reactions in gmail


Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Feature visibility: 

Admin setting: 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Expanding Google Vids to Business Starter, Enterprise Starter and Nonprofit customers

What’s changing 

Last year, we announced the general availability of Google Vids, our AI-powered video creation app for work to help tell stories across your organization for select Workspace editions. 


Vids helps novice video creators easily build videos with a host of Gemini features that get them to a first draft faster using a set of generative AI capabilities. Help me create can generate a fully editable initial storyboard using a prompt and a doc from your Google Drive. After choosing a style, Gemini pieces together your video draft with suggested scenes, including recommended stock media, scripts, AI voiceovers, background music and more. Recently announced at Next, users will soon be able to generate custom video clips directly in Vids with Veo 2, enabling them to spend less time searching for assets to tell their story. 


Today, we’re excited to expand Google Vids to Business Starter, Enterprise Starter, and Nonprofit customers, giving them full access to Vids, and access to Vids AI features for a limited time (see below for more details). 


Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

We know that creating and editing video feels challenging because it previously required special skills or licensing, but with Google Vids, anyone can be a great storyteller. Now teams can build and tell more compelling stories at work that break through the noise to engage their coworkers and colleagues.


Additional details 

For a period of 12 months after the rollout, Business Starter, Enterprise Starter, and Nonprofit customers can create a video with AI in Google Vids (using the “Help me create” feature) and use other AI features, to produce engaging videos that help scale your message, build connections and break through the noise across your organization. 

Full access to Vids (non-AI features) will be available to Business Starter, Enterprise Starter, and Nonprofit customers, allowing users to create, write, produce, edit, collaborate, and share videos.


Getting started

  • Admins: Vids will be ON by default. Visit the Help Center to learn more about turning Vids on or off for users. 
  • End users:
    • To start, open Google Vids and choose an option to create a new video. You can create a new video or make a copy of an existing video for editing. Visit the Help Center to learn more about getting started with Google Vids. 
    • You can use Vids on your computer with the two most recent versions of these browsers: 
    • You can access our always-on resources in the Google Workspace Learning Center to learn what you can do with Google Vids. 
    • Currently, Vids is available in the user’s local language, but the AI features (e.g. Help me create, read-along teleprompter) are only available in English at this time. 
    • Note: View and collaborate access is available to anyone with a Google Workspace account, while create and copy access is available for select editions of Google Workspace and Gemini with Google Workspace customers. 

Rollout pace

Availability 

This update impacts Google Workspace: 
  • Business Starter 
  • Enterprise Starter 
  • Nonprofits 

Resources 

Use NotebookLM to generate Audio Overviews more than 50 languages

What’s changing

Since bringing NotebookLM to Google Workspace customers earlier this year, and most recently to Google Workspace for Education, many have utilized the Audio Overviews feature. 


Audio Overviews are lively “deep dive” discussions between two AI hosts who summarize key topics in your sources. These turn documents, slides, charts and more into engaging discussions with one click and are especially useful for learning on-the-go. Today, we’re excited to expand Audio Overviews to over 50 languages in Beta. 


Additional details

For Audio Overviews, you can upload sources from all supported languages, including a combination of different languages in the same notebook, and then generate audio in any of the languages outlined above. 


Audio Overviews are not meant to be a subjective view of a topic by the AI hosts, but simply a reflection of the source content that you have uploaded. Interactive mode, when a user is able to join the hosts’ conversation and ask questions, will remain in beta and is only available in English at this time. 


Please note that this is an early look at what's possible with this feature in non-English languages — we plan to keep building and refining it based on your feedback. 


Getting started 

Google Workspace: 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: You can select the output language for Audio Overviews by going to Settings > Output Language in the top right menu of NotebookLM. Visit the Help Center to learn more about Audio Overviews, NotebookLM and NotebookLM Plus. 
Workspace for Education: 

Rollout pace 

Availability

Audio Overviews in additional languages is available to NotebookLM users with the following Workspace editions: 
  • Business Starter 
  • Frontline Starter and Standard 
  • Essentials Starter, Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus 
  • Nonprofits 
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard and Plus 

Audio Overviews in additional languages is available to NotebookLM Plus users with the following Workspace editions: 
  • Business Standard and Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus 
  • Customers with a Gemini Business*, Gemini Enterprise*, Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on *
*As of January 15, 2025, we’re no longer offering the Gemini Business and Gemini Enterprise add-ons for sale. Please refer to this announcement for more details.

Resources 

Enhance Your Organization’s Security with Out-of-Domain File Warnings in Google Workspace

What’s changing

Today we’re launching Out-of-Domain file-level warnings, now publicly available to all Google Workspace users. Specifically, a badge will be displayed on Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides files when the file is owned by or shared with someone outside of your domain. You'll also see a pop-up with more details and the option to report the externally owned file for abuse. 

An image showing a Google Doc with the word "External" displayed in a small yellow badge next to the document title. The badge has been clicked, and a pop-up window appears with more information stating that “This document is owned by someone outside your organization. Be cautious about sharing sensitive information
Image of "External" badge displayed in Google Docs


This feature helps users identify potentially risky files and avoid phishing scams when working with files shared from outside your organization.


Additional details

  • Known Limitations:
    • For externally shared content, the badge will not be displayed if any internal Google Groups have access to the document, even if these groups have external members.
    • If any service accounts have access to the document, the External badge will be displayed, even if the service account is owned internally.


Getting started

Screenshot of the Google Workspace Admin console, navigated to Sharing settings. At the bottom of the page, a new section labeled "Highlight external files" is highlighted. The checkbox is checked, and the description reads: "Mark external files shared or owned externally as “external” to flag that content may be viewable outside your organization.
 Image of the Google Workspace Admin console, Sharing settings, showing the "Highlight external files" option enabled


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available for all Google Workspace customers, as well as Cloud Identity customers

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – April 25, 2025

5 New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are available to all Google Workspace customers, and are fully launched or in the process of rolling out. Rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete if launching to both Rapid and Scheduled Release at the same time. If not, each stage of rollout should take no more than 15 business days to complete.


New look for the Gmail mobile app on iOS devices 
Starting this week, you’ll notice a refreshed look and feel for the Gmail mobile app on iOS devices that is in line with Google Material Design 3. This matches the experience on web and Android devices. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to Google Workspace customers, Google Workspace Individual subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about the Gmail app.


Introducing easier editing for objects and audio tracks in Google Vids
Following the recently introduced looping animations feature in Google Vids, we’re excited to announce an additional update that improves the editing experience in Vids. Users can now control the height of the timeline, which helps a user easily view more objects when working on timing for individual scenes. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to Business Standard and Plus; Enterprise Standard and Plus; Essentials, Enterprise Essentials and Enterprise Essentials Plus; Education Plus; customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on, and anyone who previously purchased a Gemini Business or Gemini Enterprise add-on. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about controlling audio timing & transitions with audio tracks.

editing for objects and audio tracks in Google Vids

Create birthdays in Google Calendar using iOS devices 
Last year, we introduced the ability to create and modify birthday events in Google Calendar on Android devices. This week, we’re excited to announce these capabilities are now available on iOS devices as well. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing birthdays on your calendar. 

Create birthdays in Google Calendar using iOS devices

Generate and use images with Gemini in the side panel of Gmail on Android and iOS devices
Building upon the ability to generate images using Gemini in the side panel of Workspace apps on web, we’re excited to announce you can now generate images in Gmail on your mobile device. Once you select the image, you can then save it, copy it, or insert it into a compose draft. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains on Android and iOS devices. | Available to Business Starter, Standard and Plus; Enterprise Starter, Standard and Plus; Google One AI Premium; customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on, and anyone who previously purchased a Gemini Business or Gemini Enterprise add-on. | Visit the Help Center to learn more about Gemini in Gmail.


Introducing draggable dividers on large screen Android devices
When using the Gmail or Google Chat app on your large screen Android device, such as a tablet or foldable, you can now drag the divider that divides the list view and conversation view in the existing two pane layout. Draggable dividers enable you to pick between a one pane or two pane experience and allow you to control the width of each pane when in two pane mode. | Rollout to Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts.

draggable dividers on large screen Android devices

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.


Adding new capabilities to student groups in Google Classroom 
We’ve introduced improvements to student groups that enable teachers to email groups, sort by groups when grading on the Student work page and edit student groups when creating an assignment. | Learn more about student groups in Classroom. 

Introducing even more high-quality Google Slides templates to elevate your presentations 
We’ve introduced a second wave of templates that cater to a wide range of use cases such as business proposals, product pitches, marketing plans, quarterly reviews, team intros or celebrations, and more. | Learn more about templates in Slides. 

Data classifications labels for Gmail are now generally available 
Data classification labels are generally available, giving admins yet another way to enhance their security posture. | Learn more about Data classifications labels. 

Introducing Frontline Plus: Enhanced Security and AI features for Frontline Workers
We’re expanding Google Workspace Frontline to include a new edition: Frontline Plus. | Learn more about Frontline Plus.


Completed rollouts

The features below completed their rollouts to Rapid Release domains, Scheduled Release domains, or both. Please refer to the original blog posts for additional details.


Scheduled Release Domains: 
Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 


Rollout updates 

We have changed the rollout timelines for this feature. Please refer to the original blog post for complete details.

For a recap of announcements in the past six months, check out What’s new in Google Workspace (recent releases).


Introducing Frontline Plus: Enhanced Security and AI features for Frontline Workers

What’s changing

We’re expanding Google Workspace Frontline to include a new edition: Frontline Plus. Building on the core Frontline offering, Frontline Plus includes our most advanced data protection and compliance controls, inline with features available in our Enterprise Plus plan. Further, Frontline Plus users will gain access to helpful Google AI capabilities including Gemini in Gmail, Google Chat, and Google Meet, AI classification in Drive, the Gemini app, and NotebookLM. 


Keep reading for more information on specific features. To learn more about Google Workspace Frontline, visit the Help Center or contact our Sales team. In line with the other Frontline editions, Frontline Plus is not available for self-service purchase. 


Who’s impacted

Admins and end users 


Why it matters 

Today, our Frontline offerings open up communication and collaboration channels between frontline workers and corporate teams in a way that’s safe and secure. Frontline Plus layers on our comprehensive suite of security and admin controls, as well as providing frontline workers with useful AI features, including:

Security

AI classification in Drive

IT teams can automatically and continuously identify, classify, and label sensitive files according to the specific needs of your organization. Classified files can then be protected with existing data loss prevention (DLP) controls. 

Hosted S/MIME

Enable the S/MIME standard to encrypt incoming and outgoing mail messages.

Work insights

Get access to detailed metrics on your organization's Google Workspace usage.

Enterprise data regions

You can choose to store your covered data in a specific geographic location (the United States or Europe). Data regions cover data at rest (including backups) and data processing for customer-supplied data in several Google Workspace core services.

Client-side encryption

Client-side encryption adds another layer to the default encryption that Google Workspace provides. CSE helps to keep your organization's data private with end-to-end encryption that Google servers and third parties can't decrypt, giving your organization greater control over access to its data. 

Security Sandbox

You can use Gmail Security Sandbox to protect your organization against malware. It works by scanning incoming email attachments in a secure, isolated environment called a “Security Sandbox” to identify malware in the attachments without risking any harm to your organization.

Access Transparency

You can use Access Transparency to review logs of actions taken by Google staff when accessing user content.

Gmail

Help me write

Effortlessly write and improve your new emails and replies – from polishing your tone with a single click to generating new drafts from scratch.

Side panel

Draft email responses, query your emails (“Catch me up on Project Clover emails”), and summarize emails and email threads.

Contextual smart replies

Gemini can analyze the context of an email and suggest relevant responses with Contextual Smart Reply.

Meet

Take notes for me

Automatically capture meeting notes, organize them in Google Docs, and share them with your team. Those joining late can catch up during the meeting with “Summary so far”.

Adaptive audio

Adaptive audio lets teams join meetings from multiple nearby laptops without echo or feedback, which is useful when conference rooms or meeting equipment is scarce.

Studio sound, studio look, and studio lighting

Studio look uses artificial intelligence to fix issues caused by low light or low quality webcams, while Studio lighting can be used to simulate studio-quality lighting. Studio sound will automatically improve poor audio quality from typical bluetooth headsets and dial-in participants by using AI to recreate higher audio frequencies.

Translated captions

Meet will automatically detect and translate over 65 languages to a user’s preferred language.

Generate a background

With Gemini in Meet, you can generate unique and bespoke meeting backgrounds. Meeting backgrounds can help obscure your surroundings during a meeting or they can enhance the meeting itself.

Chat

Side panel

Summarize a space or conversation (“What are the key takeaways in this conversation?”), generate a list of action items (“Are there any action items for me in this conversation?”), or ask specific questions (“What is the decision on the project discussed in this conversation?”).

Automatic translation

Chat will automatically detect and translate over 120 languages to a user’s preferred language while keeping the original message available for review.

As well as access to:

Gemini app

Kickstart learning, creating, and planning. Or use Gems to build a team of AI experts to tackle complex projects, including coding, research, and data analysis.

NotebookLM

Accelerate team knowledge sharing by uploading your sources to get instant insights and podcast-like Audio Overviews. 

*Visit the Help Center to learn more about specific feature availability.



Getting started

  • Admins: 
  • End users: 
    • To get the most out of the AI features included with your Frontline Plus license: 

Availability

Resources


Data classifications labels for Gmail are now generally available

What’s changing 

In 2024 we introduced data classification labels for email in open beta, and since then we’ve introduced several feature enhancements including: 

Beginning today, we are pleased to announce that data classification labels are generally available, giving admins yet another way to enhance their security posture.



Who’s impacted

Admins and end users

Why it matters 

Data breaches are increasingly common and costly across all organizations, including enterprises, public sectors, and government institutions. By extending data classification labels to Gmail, Google Workspace offers admins a more comprehensive and integrated system for protecting sensitive information. 


Admins can create custom labels or leverage existing Drive labels within Gmail, enabling classification of emails based on department, document type, sensitivity, and more. This allows for the creation of targeted data protection rules, such as blocking the sending of internal-labeled emails to external recipients or automatically applying a confidential label to messages containing sensitive financial data. 


The instant application of auto-classification and DLP rules in Gmail provides immediate feedback to users, educating them on data protection policies and allowing them to rectify issues before emails are sent, ultimately minimizing data breaches and improving overall data security. 


Finally,availability on mobile devices provides a comprehensive experience, ensuring data is protected and labeled across all user devices, whether users are sharing and accessing information from desktop devices or from mobile devices on-the-go.


Additional details

To further enhance the data classification labels experience, instant application of DLP rules and actions triggered by classification labels will soon be generally available on mobile devices. We anticipate that this functionality will be available in May – we’ll share an update once we have more information.


Getting started

  • Admins: 
    • If you've been using classification labels since the open beta period, there are no changes to your experience.
    • If you’re new to Gmail classification labels, they can be enabled at the domain, group level, or individual user level. You also have the option to enable existing classification labels used in Drive for use in Gmail. The Label Manager tool can be accessed by going to Security > Access and data control or admin.google.com/ac/dc/labels in the Admin console.  Visit the Help Center to learn more about getting started with classification labels, Gmail DLP & automatic classification labels, and preventing data leaks in email and attachments.

The Label Manager tool can be accessed in the Admin console  by going to Security > Access and data control



  • End users: Depending on the data loss prevention rules configured by your admin, you may see a dialog letting you know that your message cannot be shared and how to fix your message so it can safely be shared. Visit the Help Center to learn more about classification labels in Gmail.



Users can apply classification labels to a message, according to the organization’s data governance policies


Classification labels on mobile when composing a message and reading a message



Rollout pace


Availability

The Label Manager and manual classification is available to Google Workspace:
  • Frontline Starter and Standard
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education Standard and Education Plus
  • Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials Plus


Data loss prevention rules with labels as a condition or labels as an action are available to:
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade
  • Frontline Standard
  • Cloud Identity Premium (in combination with a Workspace Edition that includes Gmail)

Resources


Introducing even more high-quality Google Slides templates to elevate your presentations

What’s changing 

Last year, we released a collection of modern, professionally designed templates in Google Slides to help make it easier for users to build presentations. Today, we’re excited to introduce a second wave of templates that cater to a wide range of use cases such as business proposals, product pitches, marketing plans, quarterly reviews, team intros or celebrations, and more. These make it easier for you to get started building impactful presentations for collaborative teams, businesses, educational users, and more. 
high-quality Google Slides templates to elevate your presentations



Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why you’d use it 

Slides templates enable users to jumpstart their presentation creation, maintain a consistent look and feel, and focus on what matters most—your content. More specifically, they help users overcome the blank canvas and spend less time on design and instead, dive straight into crafting a compelling narrative that is visually cohesive and professional. 


Getting started

  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default for domains that do not have default templates & themes turned ON. Domains that have default templates & themes turned ON, will continue to see their company specific template. Visit the Help Center to learn more about default templates & themes. 
  • End users: 
    • You can access templates via the new sidebar or by going to Insert > Templates. Once clicked, you can browse the collection, select a template that aligns with your vision and style, and choose to insert all slides or just the ones you need before personalizing the template with your own content. 
    • Note: This feature is only available for users using the "English (United States)" language setting. Visit the Help Center to learn more about updating your language. 
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about templates in Google Slides. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, Workspace Individual Subscribers, and users with personal Google accounts (using the "English (United States)" language setting) 

Resources