Tag Archives: apps

Office editing mode is now the default editing mode for Office files in Drive on the web

What’s changing 

We’re changing the default editing mode for Microsoft Office files in Google Drive on the web. Now, when you double-click on an Office file, it will open directly in Office editing mode. 

Previously, double clicking would open a preview of the document, from which users could choose whether to open in Office editing mode or download the file. You can still use the preview mode by right clicking the file and clicking "Preview,” or by pressing ‘P’ on the keyboard while double clicking the file. 



Who’s impacted 

End users 


Why it’s important 

This change makes it quicker to open and start editing documents. Users can directly edit, comment, and collaborate on Office files using the familiar interface of Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides, with changes automatically saved to the file in its existing Office format. 


Additional details 

Note that: 
  • This change will apply to all compatible Office file types, including .docx, .doc, .ppt, .pptx, .xls, .xlsx, .xlsm 
  • Password protected Office files will not open directly in Office editing mode. These files will continue to open in Preview mode. 
  • If the “Office Editing for Docs, Sheets & Slides” Chrome extension is installed, we will redirect to the extension and not to Docs, Sheets, or Slides. This is the same as if you select “Open with” today. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: This feature will be ON by default. There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This change will take place by default when opening compatible Office files in Drive on the web. You can still use the preview mode by right clicking the file and clicking "Preview," or by pressing ‘P’ on the keyboard while double clicking the file. Visit the Help Center to learn more about working with Office files in Drive. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Enhanced Support for Google Workspace now available

What’s changing 

We recently announced that G Suite is now Google Workspace: everything you need to get anything done, all in one place. 


As part of our effort to tailor offerings to meet distinct customer needs, we’re expanding our Customer Care portfolio to include a new level of service: Enhanced Support. Designed for customers who need fast, advanced, and complete support, it offers accelerated response times, advanced product knowledge and Third-Party Technology Support. Enhanced Support is included with Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus editions. 


Customers can contact their sales representative or customer support for more details on purchasing Enhanced Support separately. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why you’d use it 

Enhanced Support offers: 
  • An accelerated Support experience, available 24/7. For Priority 1 cases, customers can expect a first meaningful response within one hour; for Priority 2 cases, they can expect a response in four hours. 
  • Intelligent triaging. This ensures that cases are routed directly to technical experts who have advanced product knowledge and training, as well as additional tools to provide complete support. 
  • Third-Party Technology Support: Enhanced Support can help customers leverage the many third-party integrations available on Google Workspace. This includes, assistance with application set-up, configuration, and troubleshooting. 


Additional details 

There are now three levels of service available to customers. Each has a different combination of speed and services based on business needs: 
  • Standard Support: Included with Business Starter, Business Standard, and Business Plus editions, Standard Support offers 24/7 technical support, with a four-hour response time for the highest priority cases. 
  • Enhanced Support: Our new offering, Enhanced Support comes with faster support (a one-hour response time), intelligent triaging, and Third-Party Technology Support. 
  • Premium Support: Launched earlier this year, Premium Support offers the fastest response time, 15 minutes for P1 cases, a named Technical Account Manager, and additional support functions. 
To learn more about our Support offerings, see our Customer Care portfolio. 

Coming in 2021, a support API will be available for Enhanced and Premium Support customers. With the API, you’ll be able to create and manage support cases on a single platform. Stay tuned to the Google Workspace Updates blog for information when this launches.


Getting started 


Availability 

  • Included with Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus editions 
  • Available as an upgrade for Business Standard and Business Plus editions. 


 Resources 

New events in Google Chat audit logs

Quick launch summary

We’ve added audit logging for several new user events in Google Chat. Detailed audit logging is a critical component in effectively managing secure chat usage within your domain.

The new events include: 
  • Invite sent
  • Message edited
  • Attachment uploaded
  • Attachment downloaded
  • Room member added
  • Room member removed
We’ve also expanded the information included with each audit log. The following additional fields are now populated for all events if they are available for that event:
  • Message ID
  • Room ID
  • Room name
  • Attachment name
  • Attachment hash
  • External room
  • Room history setting
  • Recipient
  • Attachment URL

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

  • Available to Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus customers
  • Not available to Essentials, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers

Resources

Further tales from the leading edge and beyond: more Apps, Games, & Insights podcast episodes

Posted by Lily Sheringham, Global Marketing, Platforms & Ecosystems

Google Play image

We are launching the second series of the Apps, Games, & Insights podcast.

Over the summer, we teamed up with a new group of leading industry insiders and experts to bring you 8 new podcast episodes over the next couple of months. We are bringing you their exceptional business stories, experiences and discussion on some of the latest big questions in the apps and games industry.

We are joined again by your hosts—Tamzin Taylor, who heads up Apps & Games Business Development for Google Play in Western Europe, and Dirk Primbs, who leads the Ecosystem Developer Relations team in Europe— and you can find out who they have been cajoling and corralling in the new series, below.

In the first series, the guests covered topics ranging from responsible growth and building for the long term, through advice from mergers and acquisitions and venture capital experts, to hot topics such as privacy and accessibility.

Apps, Games, & Insights podcast series 2 brings you a similarly diverse range of insights, stories, and learnings, and without further ado, get a sneak peek as to what we have lined up...

We kickoff with Elliott Rayner, Head Of Product Marketing, and John Quintana, Head of Guided Learning Experiences, from Babbel the online language learning company. Here in episode 9 we talk about how the new normal is disrupting the delivery of all types of education. Elliott and John discuss how Babbel is transforming and adapting and has been "thinking big" about the future of education: ultimately can apps take the place of traditional classroom education?

Most of us are very aware how critical environmental change is, but how do we raise awareness to fight climate change through our businesses? In episode 10 we are joined by Jennifer Estaris, Games Director at SYBO Games and Deborah Mensah-Bonsu, Founder of Games for Good and formerly at Space Ape Games, to learn how others are changing the game. In the recent Green Game Jam, 11 game studios came together to find innovative and engaging ways to educate and empower players about climate change through games. Jennifer and Deborah discuss how they ensured that the ideas were more than just another collection of tips for better recycling, and then pulled together a jam to bring great minds together and actualise change.

We also explore how to be successful with 4x strategy games—turn-based and real-time strategy games where you build an empire—in episode 11. We’re joined by David Eckleberry, General Manager and Vice President at Scopely, and Howard Chen, Google Play Growth Consultant. We hear how Star Trek Fleet Command has successfully built it’s loyal player base and the stories that bring to life the learnings about player affinity, KPI growth, comparative analysis with other game genres, and more.

With literally thousands of languages to choose from, language learning apps are in a unique position to reflect humanity’s diversity. The team at Drops have taken this opportunity by incorporating several indigenous languages into their app portfolio. So, while supporting the usual suspects of popular languages, users of Drops can also learn Hawaiian, Maori (from New Zealand), and Innu (from Japan) among others. In episode 12, we talk with Drops CEO and Co-Founder, Daniel Farkas and Chief Customer Officer, Drew Banks about how they actively foster diversity and inclusion in their product and company.

Have you ever wondered what goes behind the scenes to help you order your favourite foods from delivery apps? Delivering a quality app is essential to the success of your business, in both acquiring and retaining users. In episode 13, we’re joined by Maria Neumayer, Staff Software Engineer, at food delivery service Deliveroo and Shobhit Chugh, Product Manager, Firebase to talk about the practical steps you can take to design quality into an app or game. Discover and rectify quality problems in testing and production and hear Maria’s insights into how Deliveroo has adapted to the new normal.

Mobile gaming offers developers of PC and console games a significant opportunity. By going mobile, game developers can expand their player base and drive retention by providing a platform for players to stay engaged while they’re on the move. Jen Donahoe, Marketing and Growth lead for TeamFight Tactics at Riot Games joins us in episode 14 to discuss the challenges and opportunities they had in taking their games mobile.

What makes retention so critical to the success of a business over other measures, and how do you optimize this strategy? We speak to Marcus Gners, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-founder at health and fitness app developer Lifesum to hear how about the models they use and how they approach habitual usage. In episode 15, alongside Marcus, we are joined by best-selling author of “Hooked” and “Indistractable,” Nir Eyal, to explore the behavior apps should foster to drive retention, and how to measure this effectively.

So as to not give the whole game away, we are keeping the details of our final episode under wraps, so keep an eye out for more details shortly.

The new episodes of the Apps, Games, & Insights podcast are sure to spark the interest of business and app or gaming enthusiasts, and developers, who want to get the inside scoop from industry experts on business strategies and their success stories, and how to create successful apps and games businesses in these rapidly changing times. We look forward to you joining us on this journey.

How to stay tuned in

To find out more about what’s coming, check out our Apps, Games, & Insights podcast homepage and find links to all the latest episodes.

Subscribe and listen to our first episode here, or on your favorite podcast platform including Google Podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Libsyn, Pocket Casts and Overcast, Deezer, and iHeartRadio.

Keep an eye out on @GooglePlayDev and @AndroidDev on Twitter where we will be announcing the launch of the new episodes each week.

How useful did you find this blog post?

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Streamlined and intuitive app management in the Admin console with new unified experience

What’s changing 

We’re creating a single place to manage web and mobile apps in the Admin console. With the new location, we’ll also be updating the management interface to be more consistent and intuitive. You’ll find this at Admin console > Apps > Web and mobile apps. There, you’ll be able to see configured apps, search apps, add apps, manage user access, adjust settings, and more for: 
You’ll no longer be able to manage apps in the previous locations. However, you’ll still manage the Android available apps and system apps settings in Admin console > Devices > Mobile settings. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it’s important 

By reducing the locations you need to use to manage different categories of apps and creating simplified and consistent workflows, it will be quicker and simpler to manage app use and deployment for your organization. 


Additional details

New location for web and mobile apps:


New and consistent experience to add web and mobile apps:


Unified settings and quick controls to view access and manage apps:


Getting started 

  • Admins: Find the new app management location at Admin console > Apps > Web and mobile apps. Visit the Help Center to learn more about managing Android and iOS apps, and SAML apps for your organization. 
  • End users: No end user impact. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

Mobile app management: 
  • Available to Business Plus; Enterprise; Education and Enterprise for Education; G Suite Basic and Business; and Nonprofits customers
  • Not available to Business Starter, Essentials, and Enterprise Essentials customers.
SAML app management: 
  • Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers

Resources 

Introducing data protection insights reports

What’s changing 

We’re creating reports with recommendations that will help customers proactively understand and protect sensitive content. The reports will show: 
  • How many files in your organization contain sensitive information. 
  • How many sensitive files in your organization have been shared externally. 
  • Insights into the type of sensitive information (e.g. credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc.) in those files. 
Note that a report will be proactively generated for Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus customers on a periodic basis. They do not require any Data Loss Prevention (DLP) rules to be set up in the Admin console. You can turn off the report by going to Admin console > Data Protection > Data protection insights. 

An example of a Data Protection insight report 

Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why it matters 

Protecting your company’s confidential data is critical. DLP supports this by giving you control over what users can share, and helps prevent the unintended exposure of sensitive information. 

These new reports will help you understand what sensitive information is stored in your organization, and can help you make more informed decisions to protect it. For customers new to DLP, a report can help you identify the types of sensitive content, such as credit card numbers and tax IDs, that you might want to prioritize establishing DLP policies for. For customers already using DLP, a report can help you identify data types that you may not have authored DLP policies for. 

Enterprise Standard and Enterprise Plus customers also have access to Google Workspace’s DLP systems, which can make it easier to implement chosen DLP policies and create alerts for ongoing monitoring of issues identified in the report. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: 
    • Reports will be produced periodically. When they’re created, links to the report will be sent by email, and an alert will be shown in the Admin console. You can also find the report in the Admin console at Security > Data protection. 
    • Reports will only be accessible by super admins and other admins with the View DLP rule privilege. 
    • You can turn off the report by going to Admin console > Data Protection > Data protection insights. 
    • Visit our Help Center to learn more about managing DLP insights reports.  
  • End users: No end user impact. 
An email which helps admins find and use the report 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Available to Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials (domain verified), Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus customers 
  • Not available Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources 

Roadmap 

Google Workspace Add-ons now generally available in Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides

Quick Summary 

Google Workplace Add-ons are now available for Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Google Workspace Add-ons are already available for Calendar, Gmail, and Google Drive.


Google Workspace Add-ons allow you to use third-party applications within Google Workspace, helping you get work done faster without switching from one app to another. 

Organizations can also create add-ons using Apps Script or alternative runtimes — use the Google Workspace Developer guide for add-ons to learn more about building add-ons. 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers and users with personal accounts.  

Resources 

Grant access to Drive files directly from Gmail

Quick launch summary 


We’re making it easier to manage access requests to Drive files by sending dynamic emails which allow you to respond to the request without leaving Gmail. 

When someone requests access to a Drive file, you’ll receive an email with the access request. Now, Gmail users will be able to manage that request directly from that email, without leaving the message. Specifically, you’ll receive a dynamic email that lets you review the request, choose the access level (e.g. edit, comment, or view), and grant access directly from the email. 

Previously, you had to open the document in a new tab or app to manage the access request. The dynamic email will make it quicker and simpler to manage these requests and control access to your files. It will work for Gmail users on the web, on Android, and on iOS. 

Note that the 'from' address for access request emails is changing with this launch. They will now come from [email protected]. 



Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers, and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Grant access to Drive files directly from Gmail

Quick launch summary 


We’re making it easier to manage access requests to Drive files by sending dynamic emails which allow you to respond to the request without leaving Gmail. 

When someone requests access to a Drive file, you’ll receive an email with the access request. Now, Gmail users will be able to manage that request directly from that email, without leaving the message. Specifically, you’ll receive a dynamic email that lets you review the request, choose the access level (e.g. edit, comment, or view), and grant access directly from the email. 

Previously, you had to open the document in a new tab or app to manage the access request. The dynamic email will make it quicker and simpler to manage these requests and control access to your files. It will work for Gmail users on the web, on Android, and on iOS. 

Note that the 'from' address for access request emails is changing with this launch. They will now come from [email protected]. 



Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers, and users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Google Play Points: a rewards program for the ways you Play


Since 2012, Google Play has been your place to find and enjoy apps, games, movies, TV shows, and books. More than 2 billion people in 190 countries use Google Play to discover blockbuster movies, apps that help you be more productive, and books that inspire imagination. 
To show our appreciation, we created a new rewards program called Google Play Points that lets you earn points and rewards for the ways you already use Google Play. Over the two years, millions of people in Japan, South Korea, the US, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have joined the program. Starting this week, Google Play Points is launching in Australia, as well as UK, France and Germany. 

It’s free to join, and you can earn Play Points to use for special items and discounts in top games like Candy Crush Saga and Pokémon GO, or for Google Play Credit to use on movies, books, games, and apps. 


Play your way and earn points 
With Google Play Points, you’ll earn points on everything you buy with Google Play, including in-app items, movies, books, subscriptions and more. You can also earn Play Points by downloading featured free apps and games. Weekly points events can boost your earning rate on movies, books, and select games. 

Google Play Points has four levels, from Bronze to Platinum. Your level depends on how many points you’ve collected, and higher levels have perks like weekly prizes. 


Redeem your Play Points how you’d like 
We’re partnering with developers of some of the top apps and games on Google Play so that you can redeem points for special in-app items like characters, gems and more. You can also use Play Points for Google Play Credit and rent an award-winning movie or buy a best-selling audiobook. 


Join for free 
Google Play Points will be available over the next week. It’s free to join, there is no recurring or monthly fee, and you’ll earn three times the Play Points on everything you buy your first week. To get started, visit Google Play. Tap menu, then Play Points. Learn more about Play Points--and get ready to earn points and rewards. 

Posted by Winston Mok, Product Manager, Google Play