Tag Archives: Editors

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 

Create and import documents that contain images above or behind text in Google Docs

Quick launch summary 

You can now position an image in front of or behind text in Google Docs. Additionally, this formatting will be preserved when importing or exporting documents from Microsoft Word. We hope this feature helps you better customize your documents and share them with confidence, no matter the application you use. 


You’ll see the new option for positioning an image above or below text within the image options sidebar and in the image toolbar when clicking directly on an image. New options for positioning images in front of and behind text in Google Docs. 

New options for positioning images in front of and behind text in Google Docs

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about inserting and deleting images in Docs. 

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 
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

New iOS Data Protection setting protects data sharing between Google Workspace and personal Google accounts

What’s changing 

We’re adding a new admin setting which restricts data and content sharing between Google Workspace accounts and personal Google accounts in Gmail, Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides on iOS. 

When the data protection setting is enabled, users can only share or save content–such as files, emails, or copied & pasted content—within Workspace accounts. This will protect users from sharing a file with their personal Google accounts or saving a file to their personal Google Drive. 



Who’s impacted 

Admins and end users 


Why it’s important 

Google applications on iOS support multi-user logins, allowing users to access Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides with their personal and Google Workspace accounts. Giving admins the ability to control how data is shared across user accounts helps minimize accidental data sharing. Together with the previously released copy and paste and drag and drop restrictions, these security measures help increase the security of your corporate data on iOS. 


Getting started 

  • Admins: This feature will be OFF by default and can be enabled at the OU and domain level. Visit the Help Center to learn more about applying settings for iOS devices. 

  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. When enabled by your admin, you will be able to securely share enterprise Google Workspace content between your Google Workspace apps. 

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release and Scheduled Release domains: This feature is available now for all users. 

Availability 

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

Resources 

Present from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly to Google Meet

What’s changing 

As part of our mission to build the future of work, today we announced smart canvas — a new product experience that will make it easier for people to stay connected, focus their time and attention, and transform their ideas into impact. 


In the coming months, we’ll be announcing new features that will make collaboration a more flexible, interactive, and intelligent experience. Specifically for more collaboration flexibility, you can now present content from Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides directly to an active Google Meet call. 


As a result, you can present with fewer clicks, and then once you’re presenting, you can see your audience and your content at the same time back in the Meet tab. 



Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why it’s important 

We hope this feature makes collaboration easier by bringing your team together in the places you’re already working, eliminating the need to switch between apps. By helping the conversation stay on track, people can more easily pull content into conversations, share ideas and solve problems together. 

Getting started 


Rollout pace 

Availability 

  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers
  • Available to users with personal Google Accounts 

Resources 

Insert smart chips for files and meetings, create checklists in Google Docs

What’s changing 

As part of our mission to build the future of work, today we announced smart canvas — a new product experience that will make it easier for people to stay connected, focus their time and attention, and transform their ideas into impact. 


In the coming months, we’ll be announcing new features and functionality to products like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. These new features will create a more flexible, interactive, and intelligent experience, enhancing the content and connections that fuel collaboration across Google Workspace. 


Beginning today, in Google Docs you can: 
  • Insert smart chips for Google Docs, Sheets, Slides files, other Google Drive files, and Calendar events 
  • Create checklists 
  • Insert links more easily with intelligent suggestions in the insert link dialog 

See below for more information. 

Who’s impacted 

End users 

Why it’s important 

In Google Docs, we’re adding new interactive building blocks to connect people, content, and events into one seamless experience: 


Smart chips are already available when you mention a person in a document, displaying additional information such as the person’s location, job title, and contact information. We’ve expanded this functionality to include the ability to insert smart chips for files and events. This makes it easy for your collaborators to quickly scan associated meetings and people, and preview linked documents all without context switching. 



Additionally, we’ve improved the insert link experience. You’ll now see intelligent suggestions for Drive files or headings and bookmarks within your document based on your highlighted text. 



You can also create checklists in Docs, making it easier to keep projects moving forward and track progress. 




Smart chips and Checklists are currently rolling out. Table templates, topic-voting tables, and the additional Checklist capabilities are coming soon.


Coming soon, you’ll be able to assign checklist action items to other people. Additionally, these checklists will appear in Google Tasks, making it easier for everyone to manage their part on a project’s To-Do list. We’ll provide an update on the Workspace Updates Blog when this becomes available. 

Additional details 

In the coming months, we plan to introduce more features like: 
  • Table templates to quickly insert various tables in Docs, such as topic-voting tables, where feedback can be seamlessly gathered in one place. 
  • Meeting note templates which will automatically import any relevant information from a Calendar meeting invite, including smart chips for attendees and files. 
  • Pageless format in Docs will allow you to remove the boundaries of a page to create an infinite surface to work on. 
  • Timeline view in Sheets that makes it easier and faster to track tasks by allowing you to organize your data by owner, category, campaign, or whichever attribute fits best. 

You can read more about these features on the Google Cloud Blog. Stay tuned to the Workspace Updates Blog, as we’ll provide updates here when these features become available. 

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin action required. 
  • End users: This feature will be available for all users. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using smart chips and checklists in Google Docs. 

Rollout pace 


Availability 

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

Resources 

Google Docs will now use canvas based rendering: this may impact some Chrome extensions

What’s changing 

We’re updating the way Google Docs renders documents. Over the course of the next several months, we’ll be migrating the underlying technical implementation of Docs from the current HTML-based rendering approach to a canvas-based approach to improve performance and improve consistency in how content appears across different platforms. 


We don’t expect this change to impact the functionality of the features in Docs. However, this may impact some Chrome extensions, where they may no longer work as intended. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins and developers 


Why it’s important 

Some Chrome extensions rely on the way the backend of a Google Doc is structured or specific bits of HTML to function properly. By moving away from HTML-based rendering to a canvas-based rendering, some Chrome extensions may not function as intended on docs.google.com and may need to be updated. 


Admins should review the current extensions deployed in their organization. See this file for an example of a Google Doc using canvas-based rendering and to test out your extensions.


If you are building your own integrations with Google Docs, we recommend using Google Workspace Add-ons framework, which uses the supported Workspace APIs and integration points. This will help ensure there will be less work in the future to support periodic UI implementation changes to Docs. 


If your company has developed a private Chrome Extension that you believe will be impacted and you are unable to migrate to the Google Workspace Add-ons framework, you can submit this form to provide feedback and notify our team. 


Getting started 

  • Admins and developers: 
    • To see an example of a Google Doc using canvas-based rendering, please see this example file. We strongly recommend reviewing the current extensions used in Google Docs that are deployed within your organization.
    • To ensure any Chrome extensions you build in-house continue to work as intended, we recommend migrating them to the Google Workspace Add-ons framework. 
  • End users: No action required. 


Rollout pace 

  • Google Docs will be migrating slowly from HTML to canvas based rendering over the course of the next several months. 


Resources