Tag Archives: API

Additional admin space management capabilities in Google Chat API are now available

What’s changing 

We recently announced several new features for the Google Chat API that enable admins to manage spaces at scale. These features include the ability to audit spaces, delete inactive spaces in bulk, and more. 

Today, we’re pleased to announce more space management capabilities, which include the ability to: 
  • Look up details about specific space.
  • Update space details, including the name of a space, space description, and space guidelines. 
  • Verify user’s membership status in a specific space. 
  • Upgrade a role from space member to space manager. 



These features are available now through our Developer Preview Program — see here for more information on how to enroll in the Developer Preview program. 


Getting started 

  • Admins and developers: 
    • If you are part of the Google Workspace Developer Preview, you will get these features by default. Otherwise, you must apply for access using this form. 
    • Use our Developer Documentation to learn how to authenticate and authorize using administrator privilege. 
  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required. 

Rollout pace 

Availability

  • New features for the Google Chat API scoped to admin users are available to participants of Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. 

Resources 

Grading periods API for Google Classroom is now available in Developer Preview

What’s changing

Last year, we introduced grading periods, an option that allows administrators and teachers to define and apply grading periods segmented from the entire school year to their Google Classroom assignments. 

Today, we’re excited to announce grading period endpoints and capabilities in the Classroom API, available through the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. Specifically, developers can now: 

  • Create, modify, and delete grading periods on courses 
  • Read grading periods on courses 
  • Reference and set/read grading periods on CourseWork resources
  • Apply grading period settings to existing coursework items

Who’s impacted 

Developers 


Why you’d use it 

The new grading periods endpoints allows developers to create, modify, and read grading periods in Classroom on behalf of administrators and teachers. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: The Classroom API provides a RESTful interface for you to manage courses and rosters in Google Classroom. Learn more about the Classroom API overview. 
  • Developers: 
    • To use the grading periods API, developers can apply for access through our Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. 
    • Application developers can use the Classroom API to integrate their apps with Classroom. These apps need to use OAuth 2.0 to request permission to view classes and rosters from teachers. Admins can restrict whether teachers and students in their domain can authorize apps to access their Google Classroom data. 
    • All API and Classroom share button integrations should follow the Classroom brand guidelines. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Education Plus 

Resources 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – June 21, 2024

3 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.


Now generally available: Build AppSheet automations using Google Forms 
AppSheet helps users automate manual workflows by integrating with data sources like Google Drive, Chat and Sheets, and earlier this year we announced its integration with Google Forms in beta. This week, we’re excited to announce this is now generally available. | Roll out to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains is complete. | Available to Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus and the Teaching & Learning Upgrade, Frontline Starter, Frontline Standard, AppSheet Starter, AppSheet Core, AppSheet Enterprise Standard, and AppSheet Enterprise Plus customers only. | Learn more about AppSheet's integration with Google Forms and building your first app and automation using Google Forms. 


The ability to add and remove Google Groups as space members using the Google Chat API is now generally available 
Last year, we announced the ability to create spaces, memberships, group chats, and more using the Google Chat API. This week, we’re excited to introduce the option for developers to add and remove Google Groups as space members using the Google Chat API. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains. | Available to all Google Workspace customers. | Learn more about accessing Chat APIs through the Google Chat API. 


Comments and action items in client-side encrypted Google Docs is now generally available 
You can now collaborate with others on client-side encrypted Google Docs to add, edit, reply, filter, or delete comments. You can also assign action items to yourself or others. This functionality was previously available in open beta — see our original announcement for complete details. | Rolling out to Rapid Release domains now; launch to Scheduled Release domains planned for July 2, 2024. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard and Education Plus customers. | Learn more about working with encrypted files in Drive, Docs, Sheets & 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.


Insert images into practice sets in Google Classroom 
Teachers can now import images, like graphs, charts or photos, into practice sets using files from Google Drive or directly from their computer. | Learn more about inserting images into practice sets. 

Help your students learn to read with Read Along in Classroom 
We’re introducing Read Along in Google Classroom, a new feature that helps students build their independent reading skills by enabling teachers to assign differentiated reading activities, based on Lexile® measure, grade level, or phonics skills. | Learn more about Read Along in Google Classroom. 

External users can now securely collaborate on client-side encrypted files 
We’re expanding visitor sharing, a feature that provides secure, pincode-based collaboration over sensitive data with people, to include client-side encrypted files. This allows users to securely collaborate with external partners on sensitive Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides files, while maintaining the confidentiality of the information with the granular control of encryption keys, identity verification and user permissions. | Learn more about visitor sharing. 

Create interactive YouTube assignments in Google Classroom more quickly and efficiently, with the help of AI 
We’re introducing AI-suggested questions that educators can easily attach to a video based on its content when creating interactive YouTube assignments in Google Classroom. | Learn more about YouTube assignments in Classroom.

Google Meet adds 52 new languages to translated captions and 11 more languages for closed captions 
For all Google Workspace customers and users with personal accounts, we’ve expanded support for closed captioning. In addition, for Gemini for Google Workspace customers, we are adding 52 languages to translated captions with full language support. | Learn more about translated captions and closed captions. 

Improved syncing experience between Google Calendar and third-party calendars 
We’re pleased to introduce an improved email notification experience for those who are using third-party calendar services—like Outlook—to collaborate with Google Calendar users. | Learn more about the improved syncing experience on Calendar.

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.


Rapid Release Domains: 
Scheduled Release Domains: 
Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 

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

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – June 14, 2024

1 New update

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.


Make a space discoverable to a target audience using the Google Chat API 
Earlier this year, we introduced the option to create discoverable spaces using the Google Chat API through the Google Workspace Developer Preview Program. We’re excited to announce this is now generally available for Google Workspace developers. | Rolling out now to Rapid Release domains and Scheduled Release domains | Available to all Google Workspace customers. | Learn more about discoverable spaces.

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.


Stay on top of shared Drive files with automatic digest emails 
If you haven’t been active on Drive for 7 days and have multiple shared files that are unviewed, we’ll send you a reminder email that summarizes the files. | Learn more about automatic digest emails for Drive files. 

Adding audit logs for Gemini for Google Workspace activity 
We’re introducing the ability for admins to see new audit logs in Google Drive for activity triggered by Gemini for Google Workspace. | Learn more about audit logs for Gemini. 

Google Meet add-ons are now available on Android devices 
We’re expanding access to Google Meet add-ons, now to Android devices, so you can find, install, and use third and first-party applications right from within the Meet app. | Learn more about Meet add-ons. 

Updated design for meeting controls in Google Meet 
Google Meet is gradually improving and modernizing the in-call experience with the Material 3 Design System. This week, we are announced the first update, which is specific to the lower bar of in-call controls in Meet. | Learn more about updated designs for meeting controls in Google Meet.

Google Classroom now supports grade category and co-teacher imports from SIS partners
Starting this week, teachers can now import their grade categories and co-teachers from their linked SIS. | Learn more about import grading categories or co-teachers. 

Google Meet now supports high definition video for meeting recording and devices 
Full HD video content is now available for recorded meetings and sending full HD video is now available on all computers with 1080p cameras. Learn more about new video support in Meet.


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.


Rapid Release Domains: 
Scheduled Release Domains: 
Rapid and Scheduled Release Domains: 

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


The Calendar API now distinguishes events created from Gmail

What’s changing

Starting May 30, 2024, the Calendar API will distinguish events created from Gmail. New and existing events from Gmail that are scheduled for a future date will:

In Google Calendar clients events from email may be rendered slightly differently to regular events and show a link back to the original email:



Google Calendar limits edits for events from email:



Additional details

If you’re using the Calendar API, we recommend the following to help avoid any disruptions in your applications:
  • Ensure that your code does not apply restricted updates to events with the type “fromGmail”.
    • Temporarily, updates on events with the type “fromGmail” are restricted to the properties reminders, colorId, visibility, status, and extendedProperties. Stay tuned to the Workspace updates blog for more information.
    • Review your code if it filters by eventType for Events.list or Events.watch. Filtering by eventType “default” will no longer return events extracted from emails.

Getting started


Rollout pace

Personal information cards and Contacts sidebar will now display the organization name

What’s changing

Starting May 28, 2024, the organization name and department will be displayed on personal information cards and in the Contacts sidebar. This information provides helpful context about the people you’re interacting with and displaying this additional information will help you learn more about who you’re collaborating with, and more.



Getting started

  • Admins: 
    • Admins can populate user data via the Admin console or via the Admin SDK API with the list and update commands. You can also visit the Help Center to learn more about adding information to a user’s Directory profile. 
    • Important note: Some customers may have set both organization name and organization department for their users, where department includes the organization name. We have notified impacted customers via email, but we recommend that you check your settings and update your users’ organization department to prevent duplicate organization names from showing. You can do this via the Admin console or via the Admin SDK API with the list and update commands.

  • End users: End users: You can view this information within Google Contacts (contacts.google.com), while hovering over a user, or from the Contacts sidebar.

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available for all Google Workspace customers

Resources

Introducing audit logs for these API-based actions

What’s changing

Drive log events provide admins with visibility into their organization’s user activity in Drive. Previously, download activity for files triggered by the use of Google Workspace APIs was not visible to admins as a Drive log event. 

Today, we’re adding audit logs for these API-based actions to the security investigation tool and the audit and investigation tool to expand upon an admin’s ability to identify, triage, and take action on security and privacy issues in their domain. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace

  • This feature is now available 


Availability

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Business Starter, Standard, Plus 
  • Enterprise Standard, Plus 
  • Essentials Starter, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus 
  • Education Fundamentals, Standard, Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade 

Resources 

Manage spaces at scale with new Chat API functionality

What’s changing

We are pleased to announce the  launch for additional features of Chat API via the Developer Preview Program, enabling space management at scale on behalf of admin users. These new features, which you can read more about down below, are available to all users currently enrolled in the Developer Preview Program. See here for more information on how to enroll in the Developer Preview program.

Who’s impacted

Admins and developers

Why you’d use it

In 2023, we launched the Space Management tool, which allowed admins to view all the spaces within their organization, understand the activity within those spaces, and perform essential  actions like deleting a space or assigning space managers. While finding the tool helpful, admins expressed a desire for more robust tools to perform these tasks faster and at scale, for example, with the help of APIs. Admins can now use the Chat API to find information and manage their spaces in bulk— specifically they’ll be able to:

  • Audit spaces: Admins can pull a list of all spaces in their organization, which includes detailed information about space settings and metadata like member counts, history setting status, the ability to invite external guests, and more. The list will be exported to a CSV file for further analysis and audit.

  • Delete inactive spaces in bulk: It’s common to create spaces for projects and initiatives that are only relevant for a specific period of time. As these projects move toward completion, activity in these spaces become inactive or abandoned altogether without deletion. This can result in a huge amount of clutter, making it for end users to navigate and search for relevant spaces, and for admins, making it difficult to audit and take action when managing your spaces. You can now easily detect and delete  all inactive or unused spaces, or create an automated cleanup task with the help of Chat API. 

However, there are some cases where less active spaces should not be deleted, such as spaces dedicated to quarterly or annual events. In these situations, admins can use the new API functionality to identify space managers so they can reach out and confirm whether a space should be deleted.

  • User onboarding and offboarding: When a new user joins an organization, it’s important that they’re connected to all relevant spaces, including organization wide spaces or spaces based on specific departments or job roles. Admins can use this functionality to automatically add users to relevant spaces based on specific attributes like their department, role, location, and more.
Conversely, it’s also important to ensure users are removed from spaces when they leave an organization or change roles. Admins can quickly identify all spaces where an outgoing user is a member of and remove them from spaces that are no longer relevant to them. 
  • Audit external members: To monitor and control access to organizations' data, admins can conduct an audit of membership for a specific user or group of users. Admins can use the Google Chat API to generate a list of all space members — this information, combined with a query to the People API, can assist in identifying a space’s external members. As a result, admins may choose to remove specific users from organization's conversations. This can be done on a space-by-space basis using the API directly or with the help of  your own scripts, adjusted to the unique process in your organization.

We plan to introduce more functionality for managing spaces in the future — stay tuned to the Workspace Updates blog for more information.


Getting started

  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.


Rollout pace


Google Chat apps can now subscribe to event notifications

This announcement was part of Google Cloud Next ‘24. Visit the Workspace Blog to learn more about the next wave of innovations in Workspace, including enhancements to Gemini for Google Workspace.


What’s changing

Google Workspace developers registered in our Developer Preview Program have been able to build Chat apps that can subscribe to Chat events using the Google Workspace Events API. We’re pleased to announce that as of today, this functionality is now available to all Workspace developers.


Chat apps can receive events about the following types of changes in Google Chat:

  • New memberships
  • New or removed reactions to a message
  • New, updated, or removed members in a space
  • Changes to a space, such as the space name or description

Subscribing to these notifications allows Chat apps to respond to important actions in real-time. For details, see subscribe to Google Chat events in the Google Workspace Events API documentation.


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability


Import data from other messaging platforms using the Google Chat API is now generally available

What’s changing 

Google Workspace developers registered in our Workspace Developer Preview program have been able to import user data from other messaging platforms into Google Chat using the Google Chat APIs. This functionality is now generally available to all Workspace developers and admins. 


Who’s impacted

Admins and developers 


Why it’s important

In order to import data, you can create a Chat app and “import mode” Chat space. Within an import mode space, Chat apps can import the following data as equivalent REST resources:
  • Messages
  • Attachments
  • Reactions
  • Memberships with the following considerations:
    • Historical memberships must be imported when a space is in import mode. You can't import historical memberships after the space completes import mode.
    • Other existing memberships from the source messaging platform must be created after a space completes import mode.
    • Members must be users within the same domain.
  • Spaces: only SpaceType.SPACE is supported.
This is a helpful workflow for those who are transitioning from other messaging platforms to Google Chat. Rather than copying source data into regular spaces, import mode has the following advantages:
  • Preservation of resource creation timestamps: You can set a historical time for the creation times of space and message resources, letting Chat apps retain historical context during user adoption of Google Chat.

  • End users can't view or access spaces in import mode: To prevent user interference with a space undergoing data import, or to avoid possible user confusion as a result of viewing an in-progress data import, spaces in import mode are hidden from end users. After a space has completed import mode, you can add users to the space.

  • Chat turns off notifications during import mode: This helps users to avoid unnecessary alerts about the migration.

Getting started


Rollout pace

  • Available now.

Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers