Tag Archives: Contacts

A new Google Contacts experience provides richer information about your colleagues and stakeholders

What’s changing 

We’re introducing a new experience for Google Contacts which will help Google Workspace users learn more about their colleagues. Within Contacts (contacts.google.com) or the Contacts sidebar, you can view more detailed information about others, including: 
  • Their management chain, department, and title, 
  • A history of your Workspace relationship, including email conversations and meetings. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why it’s important 

More than ever, our work requires a higher level of collaboration, connection and interaction. To collaborate effectively with those in our wider network, it’s helpful to learn more about them, what they work on, who they work with, and what’s important to them. The redesigned Google Contacts experience gives you the ability to easily learn more about your colleagues and stakeholders, making it easier to collaborate and turn ideas into impact. 

Additional details 

To maximize this feature’s value, it’s helpful to have user data fully populated across Google Workspace apps. Workspace admins can populate this data in a few locations: 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers  

Resources 

Increasing shared external contact limit to 200,000 contacts

Quick launch summary 

Shared external contacts are users outside of your domain who you add to your company directory. Previously, there was a limit of 50,000 external contacts. Now that limit is 200,000. Additionally, the total storage limit has been increased from 20MB to 40MB. 

Shared external contacts help enable collaboration between users in your organization and any external users who they may need to communicate with frequently, such as consultants and partners. When a user is added as a shared external contact, users in your organization can find the profile information for them in many Google services, such as when they enter addresses in Gmail. 


Getting started 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits customers 

Resources Google Workspace 

View richer information about coworkers directly within the Gmail side panel

What’s changing 

You can now find additional information about people within your organization, your Contacts, people who email you in the Gmail side panel. This includes: 
  • Contact information, such as phone number and email address, 
  • Team and manager, 
  • Office and desk location, 
  • Whether you’ve received email from them before, and more. 
Additional information will appear in the Gmail side panel.



You can also add people to your contacts and send them an email or message. 

Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 

Why you’d use it 

This feature expands upon information you can already view when hovering over a person’s name in Gmail. In the side panel, you can learn more about who the person you’re collaborating with is, what team they’re on, and whether you’ve interacted with them before. We hope this feature makes collaboration and connecting with key stakeholders easier. 

Additional details 

To maximize this feature, it’s helpful to have user data fully populated across Google Workspace apps. Workspace admins can populate this data in a few locations: 

Getting started 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, and Enterprise Plus, as well as G Suite Basic, Business, Education, Enterprise for Education, and Nonprofits
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts

Resources 

New Trash feature in Google Contacts

Quick launch summary 

We’re adding Trash to Google Contacts. Now, when you delete a contact, it will go into Trash, where it will stay for 30 days before being permanently deleted. In that time, you can view, restore, or permanently delete the contact. Trash will contain contacts deleted on any device—web, Android, iOS, and more—but you can only view and manage Trash on the web. Trash makes it much easier for users to recover contacts they've accidentally deleted. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: This feature will be ON by default. Find it in the left-hand menu when you go to Google Contacts on the web (contacts.google.com). The Trash view is not available yet in the Google Contacts apps for mobile devices. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using Google Contacts. 

Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all G Suite customers and users with personal accounts. 

Resources 

Learn more about Google Groups with Contacts hovercards

Contacts hovercards provide lots of useful information about the people within your organization. We’ve heard from you that you’d like better visibility into Google Groups across G Suite, so we’re adding more information to these hovercards when the contact itself is a group.




When you mouse over the name of a group in Gmail, you’ll now be able to see essential information, like group members, as well as take some actions, such as:

  • Schedule an event with the group
  • Email the group
  • See more members
You can also select “More info,” which will take you to the Groups membership details page on groups.google.com. The group members will only appear on the hovercard if the user has permission to view them. This functionality will be added to other G Suite apps in the future.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Change management suggested/FYI

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Timeline to move users to new Google Contacts and shut down old Contacts

Over the next few months, we’ll completely replace old Google Contacts with new Google Contacts (also known as Contacts preview).

We launched new Contacts in 2015 to provide a modern, smart, and quick contact management experience. We’ve added many features since then and, with the recent launch of contacts delegation, new Contacts now has many comparable features from old Contacts, and more.

As a result, new Contacts will replace the older version, and it will be the only Google Contacts version after February 12, 2019. The replacement process will take place in three stages:

Stage 1: New admin-controlled defaults and user options

On November 28, 2018, we’ll change the Admin console setting that controls new Contacts. Currently, there’s a checkbox to enable new Contacts for your users. If you enable it, your users are moved to new Contacts but can opt out. On November 28, this setting will change to formally define a default version of Contacts for your organization. Your current setting will determine the impact of this change:

  • If you currently have new Contacts preview enabled, new Contacts will be the default and there will be no change for your users. Your users will stay using new Contacts with the option to revert back to old Contacts. If they previously opted out of new Contacts preview, they’ll remain opted out until stage 2 (see below).
  • If you don’t currently have new Contacts preview enabled, old Contacts will be the default but users will get a new option to try new Contacts. None of your users will be automatically upgraded to new Contacts, but all users will be able to opt in to new Contacts individually if they choose.
You can find and change the setting in the Admin console at Apps > G Suite > Directory > Sharing settings > Contacts Preview.

The setting to control new Contacts preview in the Admin console

Stage 2: All users upgraded to new Contacts, with the option to opt out

On January 15, 2019, new Contacts will automatically become the default version in your domain and we will remove the Admin console setting. When this happens, all users still using old Contacts will be moved to new Contacts. You won’t be able to change this for your organization, but individual users will still be able to revert back to old Contacts if they want until stage 3 (see below).

Stage 3: All users upgraded to new Contacts, old Contacts turned off

On February 12, 2019, old Contacts will be turned off completely, and any remaining users will be moved to new Contacts. There will be no option to use the old version.

Launch Details
Release track:
All stages launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility) for all stages

Impact:
Admins and end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI


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Delegate contact management in the new Google Contacts preview

We’re adding the ability to delegate contact management to someone else in new Google Contacts (aka Contacts preview). When you delegate contact management, you give someone else the ability to edit or delete information in your personal contacts folder on your behalf. Any changes they make to those contacts will update in your Contacts. Customers will often use delegated contacts so administrative assistants can manage contacts for executives.

This feature was previously available in old Contacts, but not in new Contacts (see below for more). If you use delegation in old Contacts, the delegation will still be active if you move to new Contacts. Contacts and contact delegation are no longer available through Gmail.

Delegate access to your contacts 

You can invite someone else within your organization to manage your contacts through the new Contacts website at contacts.google.com. Once you’ve delegated access, the person you delegated to will be notified by email and will be able to add, edit, and delete contacts on your behalf.

To see and change delegate access to your contacts, click on the Delegate access button in the product’s main navigation menu. See our Help Center to learn more about how to delegate your contacts.



Accept delegation invitation and manage someone else’s contacts

When someone delegates their contacts to you, you’ll get an email asking if you want to accept the request. If you accept, the contacts will appear in a new “Delegated contacts” section of the Contacts menu. You can add, edit, and delete someone else’s contacts the same way you can with your other contacts. If you want to stop managing these contacts, click Remove delegated contacts at the top of the page.

See our Help Center to learn more about managing delegated contacts.

Delegated contacts appear in a separate section of Contacts 


Use the new Google Contacts 

If you haven’t already, you can launch new Contacts for your users. New Contacts (aka Contacts preview) was launched in 2015 and has many comparable features from old Contacts, with an updated interface and additional features that increase efficiency. If you’ve previously enabled new Contacts and a user has opted out, they can opt back in by looking for the link to “Try Contacts preview” in the left hand menu at contacts.google.com.

A comparison of the old and new Google Contacts interface


Launch Details 
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release 

Editions: 
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace: 
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact: 
All end users

Action: 
Change management suggested/FYI

More Information 
Help Center: Delegate contacts to an assistant 


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Ensuring your users can access Google Contacts

To create a more consistent, streamlined Google Contacts experience, we’re removing the embedded contacts feature in Gmail, which gives users access to their contacts from the top left corner of the UI. This feature doesn’t appear in the new version of Gmail that recently launched, and it will soon be removed from the old UI as well.


We’re removing the embedded contacts feature in Gmail. 

Going forward, G Suite users can access Contacts via their web browser at contacts.google.com or the app launcher. This will direct them to the new Contacts (a.k.a. Contacts preview) or the classic Contacts Manager, depending on which is enabled for their domain.

You can access Contacts at contacts.google.com or via the app launcher (pictured).

Unfortunately, many customers are unaware that they previously disabled access to the classic Contacts Manager, because their users can still access the contacts feature embedded in the old Gmail UI (as it isn’t controlled by the Contacts on / off switch). In response to feedback from these customers, and so that their users can continue to access their contacts, we’ve now enabled access to the classic Contacts Manager for all G Suite domains.

Note that this change doesn’t impact domains with Contacts preview enabled; users in such domains will continue to see the Contacts preview UI when they navigate to contacts.google.com or select Contacts from the app launcher.

Since launching Contacts preview in 2016, we’ve made steady improvements to the product. We’re continuing to work toward feature parity with the classic Contacts Manager, with delegation functionality planned for later this year. We highly recommend that all G Suite customers migrate their users to the Contacts preview, provided it meets their needs.

If Contacts preview doesn’t yet meet your needs and you’re required to disable access to the classic Contacts Manager, please fill out this form and we’ll do our best to accommodate this need. Please note that this means your users will lose access to Contacts via their browser.


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See people’s profile information in new cards in G Suite apps

Whether your users are scheduling a meeting or catching up on Google+ posts, it’s important that they can easily see who they’re interacting with. That’s why we’ve added new person information cards that appear inside your G Suite apps on the web, like Google+ and Calendar, when relevant.

These cards surface profile information when a user hovers over another user’s name or profile picture with their cursor. The information can include data points such as:


  • Job title
  • Desk location
  • Department
  • Contact information (email, phone number, etc.)
  • Call-to-action links to internal directories, social media profiles, and more


To get the full value of these cards, you, as a G Suite admin, can populate this data for users in your organization in a few locations:

You can also delegate editing rights for some profile fields to end users in the Admin console at Apps > G Suite > Directory. Users can then edit their profile at aboutme.google.com. Additionally, in the future we’ll be providing support for you to delegate editing of other fields, such as Manager and Job Title.

Other Benefits to Populating Profile Data

We recommend populating user profiles to unlock additional benefits for your users. For example, in the near future, Calendar will start using work location to intelligently suggest meeting rooms for guests.



You can see these cards now in Google Calendar and Google+ on the web. They’ll start to appear in other G Suite products over the course of the coming months.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launched in Google Calendar and Google+ to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Update a user profile
Help Center: Set up your sync with Configuration Manager
G Suite Admin SDK: Directory API


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Group users into multiple directories in G Suite

The G Suite Directory surfaces profile information to users in your organization, allowing them to easily find and learn about one another while they work in G Suite apps. For instance, autocomplete in Gmail makes it easy for users to find their coworkers’ email addresses and quickly send them a message.

Previously, we allowed one directory per domain, which meant G Suite admins could only enable or disable contact visibility for their entire domain and couldn’t specify who saw what information. We’re now making it possible for G Suite admins to cluster users in separate directories with custom visibility rules for each organizational unit (OU). For example, a company might give full-time employees access to a global directory, because they want them to be able to find other full-time employees and temps. At the same time, they might not want temps to be able to find full-time employees, so they’ll limit them to a custom directory with restrictions applied.



Admins can configure these visibility rules in the Admin console under Apps > G Suite > Settings for Directory.




For more information on configuring Directory settings, check out this Help Center article.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Full rollout (1–3 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
Admins only

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Create custom directories

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