Tag Archives: apps

New Chat Usage Analytics Updates for Admins and Developers

What’s changing 

In December 2024, we introduced new, detailed usage reports for Google Chat. These reports help admins better understand how their teams are using Chat, allowing them to analyze engagement, drive adoption, configure safety features, and more. These reports aggregate data at the group and organization level, to provide relevant insights for Workspace admins while protecting individual privacy. 

Starting today, customerUsageReports.get and userUsageReports.get for Google Chat are available via the Admin SDK Reports API for customers to use in their own customized dashboards and reporting tools. This gives admins more ways to analyze Chat usage data.


Please refer to the table below to learn about the metrics available to you:

Category

Variations

# of messages sent by users of the organization

Total number of messages

Messages sent by conversation type (direct message, group chat, space)

Messages sent by type (regular, voice, video, huddle)

Messages sent with or without attachment

Messages sent to conversations that contain or do not contain external users.

# of spaces owned by organization

Number of active spaces

Number of spaces created

# of active users in your organization by level of activity

Number of engaged users (read at least one conversation or sent messages or reactions)


Number of communicator users (sent at least one message or reaction)

# of actions by specific users*

Number of messages and reactions sent


Number of attachments uploaded


Number of spaces created


Number of conversations read

Most metrics are available for periods of 1, 7, and 28 days.
*Available for 28 days only

Additional details

We’ve also added four new fields and one additional event available in Chat Audit Logs and surfaced in the Security Investigation Tool. In addition to providing even more context on Chat usage, admins can leverage these additional data points in their own custom reporting.


The fields are:
Conversation ownership indicates whether the conversation, where a specific Chat event occurs, is owned by the organization or by an external entity. These possible values include:
  • Internally owned: conversation is owned by the admin’s organization
  • Externally owned: conversation is owned by an external entity

Conversation type indicates the type of conversation where the event occurs:
  • User-to-user direct message
  • User-to-app direct message
  • Group chat
  • Space

Message type indicates type of the message in Message sent and Message edited events:
  • Regular message
  • Voice message
  • Video message
  • Huddle

Attachment status indicates whether the message was sent with an attachment (image or file):
  • Has attachment
  • No attachment

Additionally, we’ve added a new event, “Conversation Read”. Every time a user opens a conversation and reads one or more unread messages, an event will be logged.

Getting started



Rollout pace


Availability

  • New Chat usage metrics in Report API  are available for all Google Workspace customers.
  • The security investigation tool is available for Google Workspace
    • Enterprise Standard and Plus
    • Education Standard and Plus
    • Enterprise Essentials Plus
    • Frontline Standard
    • And Cloud Identity Premium customers

Gemini Deep Research and most experimental models now available to Google Workspace users in Gemini Advanced

What’s changing 

We’re pleased to announce the launch of Deep Research and most experimental models to Google Workspace users with access to Gemini Advanced. Deep Research explores complex topics on your behalf and presents its findings in a comprehensive, easy-to-read report. Deep Research brings hours of research to your fingertips in mere minutes – some examples of how you can use Deep Research for your business or education institution include: 
  • Industry research: Deep Research can help you understand emerging trends in industries, such as sustainable battery technology, to inform your clean tech market analysis. 
  • Competitive research: Deep Research can quickly gather analyses of local competitors and recommend a suitable location for where to set up your small business. 
  • Customer research: Deep Research can help a salesperson prepare to meet a prospective client by creating a report on their products or services, management team and competitive environment. 
  • Educational research: Deep Research can help educators with grant writing, lesson planning, class projects, or presentations by creating a report on just about any topic based on analyzing hundreds of relevant articles and websites.
Using Deep Research to catch up on the latest industry trends before a meeting with a prospective customer




After you enter your prompt, you can review the proposed multi-step research plan and revise it as needed. Deep Research will then begin analyzing relevant information from across the web on your behalf, continuously refining its analysis as it learns. Once complete, a comprehensive report of the key findings is generated, which you can export to Google Docs and share with your colleagues. It’s neatly organized with links to the original sources, connecting you to relevant websites and organizations you might not have found otherwise so you can easily dive deeper to learn more. You can also ask follow up questions or refine the report further. 


Who’s impacted

End users


Why you’d use it

Thorough research can take a lot of time between planning, searching, browsing, analyzing, and reporting. It can be tedious work and often difficult to even know where to start. Deep Research can save hours of work by browsing the web on your behalf, analyzing information in real-time, and developing comprehensive research reports in minutes to get you up to speed on just about anything.


Additional details

  • Currently, Deep Research is available in Gemini Advanced on the web, starting in English. Support for Deep Research in the Gemini mobile app will come at a later date. We’ll share more information via the Workspace Updates blog when available. 
  • Along with this update, you can now choose from several models depending on what version of the Gemini app you have:
ModelGemini AdvancedGemini AppBest for
2.0 Flash (previously available) ✓✓Everyday tasks, like brainstorming and copy writing.
2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental✓✓
Multi-step reasoning, like project planning.
Note: this is an experimental model
2.0 Pro Experimental✓

Complex tasks. 

Note: this is an experimental model

1.5 Pro with Deep Research✓
Get in-depth answers for questions like industry research, competitive research, customer research, and educational research.

Note: The 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental with apps model is not currently available in Gemini when using a work or school Google account.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: To get started, toggle the model drop-down to “1.5 Pro with Deep Research” and enter your research question. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using the Gemini web app for in-depth research.
Click on the toggle to open the model drop-down menu


Rollout pace


Availability

Access to 1.5 Pro with Deep Research and 2.0 Pro Experimental is available for Google Workspace:
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on
  • Customers who previously purchased a Gemini Business* and Gemini Enterprise* add-on

Access to 2.0 Flash Thinking Experimental is available to the Google Workspace editions and add-ons listed above as well as:
  • Business Starter
  • Enterprise Starter
  • Frontline Starter and Standard
  • Essentials, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus
  • Google Workspace for Nonprofits
  • Education Standard and Plus

*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.




“Take notes for me” in Google Meet now captures citations to transcripts

What’s changing

Recently, we announced that next steps will automatically be captured when using “take notes for me” in Google Meet. Building upon that momentum, your meeting notes document will now include citations, or timestamps, which correlate to the exact point in the meeting transcript that references the summarized notes. 

For example, you’ll see something like: “Sophie discussed the updated marketing plan (00:08:32)”. When you click on the timestamp, the meeting transcription tab in the document will open and take you to  the moment that the discussion occurred. From here, you can drill into the details of the discussion for even more context.

When you click on a timestamp, the transcription tab will open automatically to the specific point in the conversation


Getting started

Rollout pace

  • Rapid Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 20, 2025

This feature will be rolling out at a much slower pace than usual as we carefully monitor performance and quality. We will update this post when rollout for Rapid Release domains is complete and Scheduled Rollout is expected to begin.

Availability

Available to Google Workspace
  • Business Standard, and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard, and Plus
  • Also available with the Gemini Education Premium add-on

Anyone who previously purchased these add-ons will also receive this feature:
  • Gemini Enterprise*
  • AI Meetings & Messaging*

*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

The Policy API is now generally available with support for auditing more security features

What’s changing 

We recently introduced the Policy API in open beta, letting super admins programmatically access information regarding how their Google Workspace environment service level settings and rules are configured. Beginning today, the Policy API is now generally available with more functionality: 

Admins can now use the API to audit more settings, specifically: 
  • Calendar 
  • Gmail 
  • Multi-factor authentication settings (2-Step Verification) 

Refer to our developer documentation for a full list of settings that can be audited by the API. 


Who’s impacted 

Super admins 


Why it’s important 

Simplifying the management of Workspace settings continues to be a priority for us. The Policy API is an important new tool that helps streamline the process by providing a comprehensive view of security settings as needed, eliminating the need to navigate to numerous pages in the Admin console. In forthcoming releases, the Policy API will also include the ability to configure settings. 


Due to the increasing sophistication and scale of cyber threats, the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency’s Secure Cloud Business Applications (SCuBA) project provides guidance to help agencies secure their cloud business application environments. The general availability of Google’s Workspace Policy API marks a significant milestone, enabling CISA to expand Scuba Goggles’ capabilities in assessing Google Workspace environments against CISA’s SCuBA secure configuration baselines. This advancement helps organizations better align with industry-leading security practices while maintaining operational efficiency. 


ScuBA has published a new release to leverage the GWS Policy API with ScubaGoggles, an automated assessment tool that compares tenant configurations with CISA’s Google Workspace Secure Configuration Baselines.

Getting started

  • Admins: 
    • You must be a super admin to use the Policy API. Use our developer documentation to learn more about the Policy API.
    • You can also use GAM, an open source tool for managing Workspace, which now supports the Policy API.
  • End users: There is no end user impact or action required.

Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers.

Resources


Migrate data from Microsoft Teams channels to Google Chat spaces using CloudM

What’s changing

Building on last year’s announcement of the general availability for Chat APIs to import data from messaging platforms to Google Chat, we’re excited to introduce a new migration solution from a Workspace partner, CloudM. 


Working with CloudM, you can move your Microsoft Teams channels into Chat spaces. This includes public and private channel messages, public channel attachments, reactions, and channel members mapped to the corresponding space. CloudM also migrates the data while maintaining historical timestamps to ensure users can continue conversations right where they left off.

Migrate data from Microsoft Teams channels to Google Chat spaces using CloudM

Who’s impacted 

Admins 


Why you’d use it 

This CloudM solution imports your team collaboration data and knowledge repository from Microsoft Teams channels into Google Chat spaces. 


Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers. Note that a separate CloudM license is required to enable data migrations. 

Resources 

Updated design for Google Meet meeting controls on Android and iOS

What’s changing

We are updating the location of some Google Meet meeting controls on Android and iOS devices, which are intended to organize features in a more intuitive way. This will help you to navigate the Meet layout faster and more intuitively. These are strictly design updates with no changes in functionality. 

1. Emoji reactions are moving from the triple-dot overflow menu to the bottom bar. Simply tap the Emoji toggle to access or hide the reaction picker.

Before

After





2. The hand raise feature is moving from the bottom bar to the triple-dot overflow menu. This change applies to mobile devices only - if you’re using a larger screen device, such as a tablet, you’ll continue to see the Hand Raise icon in the main call controls menu.

Before

After



3. Host management controls will move from the overflow menu to the settings menu, under the “General” section.

Before

After



4. The option to report a problem is now in one location, in the Settings menu.

Before

After




Finally, there is an additional change for iOS only: The end call button is moving from the left side to the right side of the primary controls, bringing the experience inline with Android.

Before

After



Additional details

The minimum build required for these updates are:
Android:
  • Meet: 291.0.722438190.duo.android_20250202.14
  • Gmail: 2025.02.02.722438226
iOS:
  • Meet: 294.0
  • Gmail: 6.0.250209

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin impact or action required.
  • End users: You’ll notice these improvements automatically. 

Rollout pace

These updates will rollout to Android devices first, followed by iOS. We will update this post as the respective rollouts complete.

Android:

iOS:

Availability

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

Resources







Use Gemini in the side panel of Workspace apps in seventeen more languages

What’s changing 

Beginning today, Gemini in the side panel of Google Docs, Google Sheets, Google Drive, and Gmail can be used in seventeen additional languages: 
  • Arabic
  • Chinese
  • Czech
  • Danish
  • Dutch
  • Finnish
  • Hebrew
  • Hungarian
  • Norwegian
  • Polish
  • Romanian
  • Russian
  • Swedish
  • Thai
  • Turkish
  • Ukrainian
  • Vietnamese
With Gemini in the side panel of your Workspace apps, you can get help summarizing, brainstorming, and generating content by utilizing insights gathered from your emails, documents, and more—all without switching applications or tabs. Check out our original announcements for Gemini in the side panel of Docs, Sheets, and Drive, and Gmail for even more information. Image generation is supported in these languages as well. 


Additional details

  • While Gemini in the side panel of Docs, Sheets, Drive, and Gmail, is generally available in these additional languages - as we keep rolling out more Gemini alpha features in the side panel, end users with Gemini alpha features turned on may continue to see the “Alpha” badge. 
  • Gemini in the side panel of Slides and Chat is only available in English at this time.
  • Image generation of people is not supported in these additional languages at this time.

Getting started

Rollout pace

Availability

Available to Google Workspace:
  • Business Standard and Plus
  • Enterprise Standard and Plus
  • Customers with the Gemini Education or Gemini Education Premium add-on 
  • Customers with the Gemini Business or Gemini Enterprise add-on*

Available for Gemini in the side panel of Gmail for:
  • Business Starter
  • Enterprise Starter
*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


Expanding data regions coverage to Google Classroom

What’s changing 

Data regions for Google Workspace allows customers to choose a specific geographic location—in the U.S., in Europe, or globally distributed—for their covered data at rest to help meet organizational or compliance needs. 


We previously added data regions coverage to Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides, and today, we’re extending data region coverage to primary user data for Google Classroom for the U.S. and E.U. data regions. 


By expanding data regions coverage to Google Classroom user indices, we hope to better support our customers’ data location preferences and give them greater control.


Getting started

Rollout pace 

Availability

Available for Google Workspace: 
  • Education Standard and Plus 

Resources

Updating the access experience in Google Drive

What’s changing

Last year, we introduced a beta that allows shared drive managers and My Drive owners to restrict folders to specific users. Today, we’re excited to announce the general availability of this feature in shared drives and My Drive, which means that users can restrict access to their My Drive folders using the two options outlined below, and by 2026, we will simplify and align the restricted access principles for My Drive and shared drives.

Current experience for My Drive folders & files (until February 2026): 
Users have two options to restrict access to files or folders in their My Drive: 


1. Update item only: Go to your My Drive > choose a file or folder you want to limit access to for a specific user > Change the role of the specific user (e.g. from Commenter to Viewer) > click on "Update item only"

updating role on a parent folder in drive

2. Limit folder access: Go to your My Drive > choose the folder you want to limit access > click the overflow menu > share > select share settings in the top right corner > click limit access to “Folder Name”.

limiting access to a folder in drive

For My Drive folders & files after February 2026:
By February 2026, we will stop allowing restricted access on specific files and folders as outlined in option 1 above (update item only), and limited access will be done consistently via the limited access folder setting as outlined in option 2 above (limit folder access). In the future, we will identify all the files and folders that are shared less broadly than their containing folder and enable limited access on them. This will not immediately change who has access to those items, but it will make it so that if someone were to share or unshare the item’s parent later, those changes will not apply to the item with limited access. We will provide an update in early 2026 before this process takes place.


For shared drives:
Only shared drive managers and content managers with sharing access can specify who can open a folder and see what's inside. Everyone else with regular access to the shared drive folder will be able to see that a "sensitive" file or folder exists, and can request access to it. This provides shared drive managers with greater flexibility to keep restricted and unrestricted content within a single shared drive, instead of having multiple folders for different access levels.


Who’s impacted 

Admins, end users and developers 


Why it’s important 

For My Drive, folders with limited access allow users to control the information viewed by others in their organization. For shared drives, folders with limited access allow users to organize files by project, in a single shared drive or shared folder, while ensuring that sensitive information is only accessible to the right team members. 


Additional details 

Drive’s public API 
We’re adding improvements to Drive’s public API that make it easier for developers to adopt the expansive access changes outlined above. Given these updates better align the behavior for items in My Drive and in shared drives, we recommend developers opt in to the expansive access API behavior in My Drive ahead of 2026. Visit this developer guide for more information on managing folders with limited and expansive access.

“Editors can change permissions and share” setting 
As a result of this update, the “Editors can change permissions and share” setting will change by August 2025. 
  • Turning the setting off will still prevent users with Editor access from sharing the item directly, but if the owner places the item into a shared folder, any changes to the containing folder’s access will be applied on the item. Previously, those changes were only applied if the item’s owner was the one making the folder access change. 
  • By August 2025, we will apply limited access to items that have this setting turned off. Due to the limited access, the owner will still be the only person who can share those pre-existing items. Limited access will not be applied to items that have the setting turned off after August 2025.

Getting started 

  • Admins: Admins need to set up shared drives for their organization in order for end users to access this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about folders with limited access.
  • End users: 
    • As a shared drive manager or My Drive folder owner, go to your shared drive or My Drive folder > choose the folder you want to limit access > click the overflow menu > share > select share settings in the top right corner > click limited access to “Folder Name”. 
    • Folders with limited access can only be opened by people who have been added to it directly. People with general access to the shared drive or shared folder can see the restricted folder in Drive, but will not be able to open it. 
    • Folders with limited access are available in both shared drives and My Drive: 
      • Shared drive managers can always access folders with limited-access 
      • Folder owners can always access limited-access folders in their My Drive 
    • For users whose access has been limited, you will see the folder name, but the folder will be grayed out: For users whose access has been limited, you will see the folder name, but the folder will be grayed out
    • Visit the Help Center to learn more about folders with limited access. 
  • Developers: Visit the Developer Documentation to learn more about managing folders with limited and expansive access. If you decide to opt into the expansive access API early, your app's behavior will not change when Drive stops allowing restricted access in 2026. 

Rollout pace 

Folders with limited access: 
API changes for Expansive Access: 

Availability

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

Resources 

Scroll through live captions and translated captions in Google Meet

What’s changing

We’re improving the live captions and translated captions experience in Google Meet by including the ability to scroll through the text. Previously, captions were displayed in real-time, but disappeared once they were no longer relevant to the current conversation. This update makes it possible to scroll back and review the last 30 minutes of captions at your own pace. This can be particularly helpful if you’ve missed a portion of the conversation or you want to review specific details mentioned earlier in the conversation. 

Scrolling through the caption history in Google Meet
You can use “Jump to the bottom” to see the latest real-time captions


Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Available for all Google Workspace customers, as well as users with personal Google accounts

Resources