Tag Archives: Editors

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 23, 2021

New updates

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), 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), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.

Gmail now displays the latest emojis
Now you can see all the latest emojis in Gmail, with emojis now rendered in the latest Unicode standard 13.1.

Improved Tabular Data Handling for Gmail DLP
We are improving the way we handle Tabular data files like .csv or .xlsx to best account for the structure of these files. This will result in more accurate content scans. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise, Education Fundamentals, Standard, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Plus customers. | Learn more.


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.

Updates to Google Workspace Public Status Dashboard and service status alerts
We're introducing a new Public Status Dashboard experience for Google Workspace. As part of this update, we’re enhancing the functionality of the existing Apps outage alert system-defined rule, which provides email notifications regarding service disruptions or outages via the Public Status Dashboard. | Learn more.


Hangouts to Google Chat upgrade beginning August 16th, with option to opt-out
Beginning August 16, 2021, we will start upgrading users who have the “Chat and classic Hangouts” setting selected to “Chat preferred,” unless you explicitly opt out. Additionally, the “Chat and classic Hangouts'' setting will also be removed for all users in your domain unless you opt out of the upgrade. | Learn more.


Fundamental data regions now available to more Google Workspace customers
Data regions give you the ability to choose where covered data for select Google Workspace apps is stored at rest. We’re introducing a more limited version of data regions, known as Fundamental data regions, which will be available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Business Plus, Business Standard and Frontline customers. | Learn more.


Bulk convert Classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager
Beginning today, you can now bulk convert Classic Sites to new Sites using the Classic Sites Manager. | Learn more.


Block shares from another user in Google Drive
We’re adding the ability to block another user in Google Drive. If blocked, the user will not be able to share any Drive items with you, and items owned by the user will not be able to be shared with you or be shown when you’re browsing Google Drive. In addition, your files will not be available to the user you’ve blocked, even if you’ve previously shared items with them.  | Learn more.



Select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection
Now you can select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection (such as moving the tabs together, deleting, duplicating, copying, coloring, or hiding). | Learn more.



Image placeholders make it easy to work as a team with images in Slides themes and layouts
Now when you create a theme in Slides, you can add image placeholders to your layouts. | Learn more. 



Easily collaborate and share Slide presentations with side-by-side viewing in Google Chat
In Google Chat, you can now open and edit a Slide presentation in a side-by-side view. | Learn more. 



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

Easily collaborate and share Slide presentations with side-by-side viewing in Google Chat

Quick launch summary

In Google Chat, you can now open and edit a Slide presentation in a side-by-side view. By enabling you and your collaborators to directly edit presentations without leaving Chat, we hope to make it easier to transform your ideas into impact.


Image of how Chat users can open a Slide presentation by clicking on the preview thumbnail image in the chat stream.

Chat users can open a Slide presentation by clicking on the preview thumbnail image in the chat stream.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: Use this feature by clicking on the document preview thumbnail image in the chat stream. To open the presentation directly in Google Slides, click on the blue link in the chat conversation. Visit the Help Center to learn more about how to Manage your files in Gmail rooms.

Rollout pace


Availability


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

Resources

Image placeholders make it easy to work as a team with images in Slides themes and layouts

Quick launch summary

Now when you create a theme in Slides, you can add image placeholders to your layouts. Slides editors can then easily replace these image placeholders with the desired images. This new feature should improve your team’s workflow efficiency, design quality, and ease of formatting.


Gif if how a user creates a slide from a layout that uses image placeholders, they can click directly on the placeholder, select a source for the upload, select the file, and the image is inserted.


When a user creates a slide from a layout that uses image placeholders, they can click directly on the placeholder, select a source for the upload, select the file, and the image is inserted.




Getting started


Image placeholders can be inserted from the Theme Builder View through the Insert menu.

Image placeholders can be inserted from the Theme Builder View through the Insert menu.

Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources





Select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection

Quick launch summary

Now you can select multiple tabs in Google Sheets and perform basic actions on the selection (such as moving the tabs together, deleting, duplicating, copying, coloring, or hiding). Work in Google Sheets with confidence and make workflows faster as you perform basic actions on more than one sheet at a time.


GIF show how multiple tabs are selected in Sheets to be deleted together.



Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

  • Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Frontline, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Nonprofits, Cloud Identity Free, Cloud Identity Premium 

Resources

Google Workspace Business Starter and Frontline customers can now collaborate with people who are not using a Google account in Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites

Quick launch summary 

We’re making visitor sharing available to Google Workspace Business Starter and Frontline customers, with a limit of five visitor shares per month, per user. 

With visitor sharing, you can share items with non-Google accounts, enabling them to view, comment on, or edit content in Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and Sites using a secure pincode. 



Getting started 

  • Admins: 
    • Sharing outside of your organization to users with non-Google accounts will be ON by default if you currently allow users in your organization to send sharing invitations to people outside your organization who are not using a Google account. 
    • Sharing outside of your organization to users with non-Google accounts will be OFF by default if you currently do not allow sharing outside your organization. Use our Help Center to learn more about sharing to non-Google accounts. 
    • Visitor sharing will be controlled by new settings at Admin console > Apps > G Suite > Drive and Docs > Sharing Settings (pictured below). These settings can be controlled at the domain or OU level. 



Rollout pace 


Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Business customers 
  • Not available to G Suite Basic, Cloud Identity customers, or users with personal accounts 

Resources 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 9, 2021

New updates 

Unless otherwise indicated, the features below are fully launched or in the process of rolling out (rollouts should take no more than 15 business days to complete), 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), and available to all Google Workspace and G Suite customers.

Add a background image to Google Keep notes on mobile
You can now customize your Google Keep notes on Android and iOS by choosing a background from a set of designer-created images — simply open a note, select the palette icon, and select a background. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Learn more.

Allow Users to receive shared calendars on mobile
Users can now share their calendar with another user on their mobile device without fear of spam attacks. Once a user shares a calendar with a recipient, the recipient receives an email notification with a link “Add this calendar.” The recipient must explicitly click on the link to add the calendar to their account. 


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.

Indicate whether you’ll join a meeting virtually or in person on Google Calendar
To make Google Calendar more flexible in the hybrid workplace, we're introducing new RSVP options for Calendar invitations. With this update, you can indicate how you plan to join a meeting - in the meeting room, or virtually. | Learn more.


Scheduled refresh improvements for Connected Sheets now generally available
Today, several improvements for scheduled refresh are now available: hourly refreshes, specific start dates, and frequency options such as every five days, every two months, etc. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Plus, and Education Standard customers. | Learn more.


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


Scheduled refresh improvements for Connected Sheets now generally available

Quick launch summary

Earlier this year, we announced several new features that give you more ways to work with, display, and organize BigQuery data using Connected Sheets. 

Today, several improvements for scheduled refresh are now available:

  • Hourly refreshes 
  • Specific start dates 
  • Frequency options such as every five days, every two months, etc.

We hope these additional options make it easier to automate data refreshing at a specified frequency with more granular scheduling options, giving you more flexibility when working with your data.

Getting started


Rollout pace

  • This feature is available now.

Availability

  • Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus customers 
  • Not available to Google Workspace Essentials, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Fundamentals, Frontline, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers

Resources


Roadmap

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – July 2, 2021

New updates 

Spelling autocorrect is now available when you write comments in Sheets, Slides, and Drawings 
Autocorrect helps you compose documents quickly and with confidence. Misspelled words will automatically be corrected while typing and denoted with a grey dashed underline. This feature is already available in Docs.


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. 


Google Chat will automatically suggest group chats based on your Google Calendar 
We previously announced that Google Chat will automatically suggest 1:1 chats based on your meetings in Google Calendar. Now, you’ll also get suggestions for group chats when you’re meeting with multiple people. | Learn more. 



Expanding Google Meet visual refresh to Meet hardware portfolio 
We’re expanding the rollout of the refreshed Google Meet web experience to Meet hardware devices. Users joining Meet calls with a Chromebase for meetings all-in-one touchscreen device will notice improvements for video feeds, the viewing and presenting experience, and the bottom bar. | Learn more. 



Admins can view more information about apps in the Google Workspace Marketplace before deploying to their users 
In the Google Workspace Marketplace, you’ll now see more information about apps available in the Marketplace. Specifically, you’ll see the following information regarding the app developer, their privacy policy, terms of service, app permissions, and more. | Available to Google Workspace Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Plus, and Nonprofits, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers only. | Learn more. 



Enhancing live streams in Google Meet with captions and cross-domain live streams 
We’re improving live streams for Google Meet with two new features: cross-domain livestreams and captions in live streams.| Available to Google Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Teaching and Learning Upgrade, and Education Plus customers only. | Learn more.



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

New ways to discover and navigate comments in Google Sheets

What’s changing

Now in Google Sheets, you can:
  • Review comments and conversation threads in a sidebar.
  • Apply filters to find the most relevant comments for getting your work done when a document is highly collaborative.
  • Page through comment threads in a document in the comment overlay.


Use the new comments sidebar to see all the conversations happening in a spreadsheet. Quickly reply, resolve, or create new conversations in collaboration with your colleagues.



In highly collaborative spreadsheets, apply filters in the sidebar to find the most relevant feedback (for example, comment threads that need your response).


Take action directly in the sidebar when tasks are complete, or conversations have been resolved.


Use the new navigator to progress through comments in the spreadsheet.



Who’s impacted

End users


Why you’d use it

Collaborating with teammates is more important than ever, and comments are a powerful way to discuss and collaborate wherever you and your colleagues are, and whenever you’re working. By making it easier to review, respond to, and resolve comments in Sheets, it’s easier to collaborate to create more impactful data and analysis.


Additional details

With these new changes, you now have easy ways to see and navigate all comments in a spreadsheet by clicking:
  • The comment icon in the Appbar.
  • The "open all comments" item in the sheet tab.
  • The "open" from any comment anchored to a cell.
  • A new button in the comment overlay that allows you to page between comment threads in a document.

Getting started

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature.
  • End users: This feature will be ON for everyone.

Rollout pace

  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on June 16, 2021

Availability

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

Resources

“Master” view in Google Slides renamed to “Theme Builder”

Quick summary 

We’re renaming the “Master” view in Google Slides to “Theme Builder”. This change better communicates the benefits: to help users quickly customize the font, color, and layout customization for their current theme, ensuring a consistent experience throughout the presentation. 



Getting started 


Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources