Tag Archives: Gmail

Indicate whether you’ll join a meeting virtually or in person, now on Gmail

Quick launch summary

In July of this year, we introduced new RSVP options for Calendar invitations to make Google Calendar more flexible in the hybrid workplace. We’re now adding this same functionality to RSVPs in Gmail.

Dropdown menu showing new RSVP methods in Gmail
New RSVP options in Gmail



With these RSVP options, you can indicate how you plan to join a meeting—in the meeting room, or virtually. Then, both the organizer and guests will be able to see how attendees are planning to attend the meeting in the event detail. This will help meeting attendees know what to expect when joining a meeting, and prepare accordingly.

Note that if you select the new RSVP options, the join method details (e.g. “joining virtually”) are not shared with contacts on other platforms, such as Microsoft Outlook.

Getting started


Rollout pace


Availability

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

Resources

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – October 29, 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. 


Updating Gmail "Compose" button for Chat in Gmail users on the web 
Earlier this year, we updated the "Compose" button to a smaller, icon-only button for all users of Chat in Gmail on the web. We've heard from you that the original, larger version of the button is more intuitive and will be going back to that option starting November 3, 2021. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.




New navigation menus in Google Sites
Site editors can now organize page and external links under new navigation menus. Simply select "New Menu" and add or move pages to allow more flexibility in structuring navigation within your sites. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.


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.


Enhanced menus in Google Sheets improves findability of key features
We’re updating the menus in Google Sheets to make it easier to locate the most commonly-used features. | Learn more.


Manage and share private iOS apps through Google Endpoint Management
Admins can now upload, manage, and distribute private iOS applications to advanced managed devices. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.


VirusTotal integration with the security investigation tool provides deeper insight into Gmail events
Admins can use the Security  Investigation tool to view VirusTotal reports to gain richer information regarding Gmail event logs and use that information to make more informed decisions on protecting their users and data. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more.


Improved and updated security menu in the Admin Console
We have updated the “Security” category within the left-hand navigation of the Admin console by adding navigation access to security features previously only accessible from the security settings page, introducing subcategories, and more. | Learn more.


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

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – October 29, 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. 


Updating Gmail "Compose" button for Chat in Gmail users on the web 
Earlier this year, we updated the "Compose" button to a smaller, icon-only button for all users of Chat in Gmail on the web. We've heard from you that the original, larger version of the button is more intuitive and will be going back to that option starting November 3, 2021. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.




New navigation menus in Google Sites
Site editors can now organize page and external links under new navigation menus. Simply select "New Menu" and add or move pages to allow more flexibility in structuring navigation within your sites. | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google accounts.


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.


Enhanced menus in Google Sheets improves findability of key features
We’re updating the menus in Google Sheets to make it easier to locate the most commonly-used features. | Learn more.


Manage and share private iOS apps through Google Endpoint Management
Admins can now upload, manage, and distribute private iOS applications to advanced managed devices. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, Education Plus, and Cloud Identity Premium customers. | Learn more.


VirusTotal integration with the security investigation tool provides deeper insight into Gmail events
Admins can use the Security  Investigation tool to view VirusTotal reports to gain richer information regarding Gmail event logs and use that information to make more informed decisions on protecting their users and data. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more.


Improved and updated security menu in the Admin Console
We have updated the “Security” category within the left-hand navigation of the Admin console by adding navigation access to security features previously only accessible from the security settings page, introducing subcategories, and more. | Learn more.


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

Email is 50 years old, and still where it’s @

50 years ago this month, Ray Tomlinson sent the very first email. He was a programmer working on ARPANET, the system that laid the groundwork for what would become the internet as we know it today. He tested the messaging system by sending emails to himself, and later said that the first note was probably something like “QWERTYUIOP.”

More than 30 years after this breakthrough, a Google engineer named Paul Buchheit conducted his own email experiments. In a 2005 blog post, Paul described the problem he was trying to solve:

“My email was a mess. Important messages were hopelessly buried, and conversations were a jumble…I couldn't always get to my email because it was stuck on one computer, and web interfaces were unbearably clunky. And I had spam. A lot of it.” These pain points are part of what motivated Paul to come up with a better system — Gmail.

Buchheit created Gmail as a browser-based email program that allowed users to easily search their own messages. “With Gmail, I got the opportunity to change email — to build something that would work for me, not against me.” He wasn’t sure what the reception would be like, but when he released a beta to fellow Googlers, they wanted more.

Eventually, Gmail launched to the public on April 1, 2004. Its search function was lightning fast and it came with 1 GB of storage — 500 times more than prevailing inboxes of the time. But that wasn’t enough to convince people it wasn’t a joke. (The date — April Fool’s Day — likely had something to do with it.)

Despite the launch day hijinks, Gmail won consumers over, and became a central part of the work we do at Google. But we never could have done it if Ray Tomlinson hadn’t hit that @ sign and started it all 50 years ago. To celebrate, we asked a few Googlers to share their favorite Gmail hacks.

Laura Mae Martin, Executive Productivity Advisor

“It's hard to answer old emails when there are shiny new ones coming in. Use features like Snooze and Starred emails and different inbox setups to make it easier to stay on task.”

John Shriver-Blake, Senior Product Manager, Gmail Enterprise

“I’m a fan of confidential mode in Gmail. It lets you protect sensitive information in messages and attachments and ensures that whoever receives the confidential email can’t forward, copy or print it.”

Neena Kamath, Product Lead, Gmail

"What I love about Gmail is how it's evolved over the years. Fifteen years ago, I was obsessed with Conversation View! Back then, having all your emails about a single topic in one place hadn't been done before, and it saved me so much time. Now, I'm obsessed with Smart Reply. It not only saves me time, but also makes me more polite : )!"

Bao Lam, Head of Marketing, Gmail & Chat

“Schedule send in Gmail means that I don’t clutter up people’s inboxes if I’m catching up on emails at odd moments — which is especially helpful when so many of us are working across different time zones.”

You can learn more about the history of email, Gmail and the power of the @ sign over on the Cloud blog.

Visual updates and improvements for the To, Cc, and Bcc fields in Gmail

What’s changing 

We’re making several improvements in Gmail to help users compose email more efficiently and confidently. When interacting with the “To”, “Cc”, and “Bcc” fields, some improvements you’ll notice are: 
  • A new right-click menu to easily view a recipient's full name and email, edit contact names, copy email addresses, open a recipient's information card
  • Avatar chips for recipients 
  • Better indicators when adding a user outside your organization and contacts 
  • Visual indicators when you’ve already added a user as a recipient, and more 

Additionally, these updates may impact some Chrome extensions. See the “Additional details” section below for more information. 


Who’s impacted 

Admins, developers, and end users
 

Why it’s important 

We hope these improvements will help users connect with their colleagues and stakeholders quickly and with confidence. The improvements will mean you can more easily: 
  • View a recipients entire email address, and edit if needed
  • Copy an email address 
  • Access a user’s information card. Note that information cards can also be accessed by hovering over recipient chips, or selecting and using the keyboard shortcut Alt/Option + → 

See below for more details and information. 


Additional details 


New options to control what contact name is displayed to email recipients 
Additionally, you can use this menu to change how a recipient's name is displayed. For example, if you have a contact saved as “Sales Manager”, you can change what contact name will be displayed to others receiving the email. Note: this will not change the saved name in Contacts, only how the name appears to others included in the email. 

You can now change how a recipient's name is displayed in an email.



Visual indicators when composing emails 
We’ve added better visual indicators to help guide users when composing emails. Each recipient will now have an avatar chip, which is helpful for identifying who’s been added to the email. 

Avatar chips will be displayed for each recipient.



Highlighting external recipients 
We’ve also made it more obvious when users outside of your enterprise have been added to your recipient list: 
  • External contacts that you’ve interacted with before will be highlighted in a deep, yellow color. 
  • External contacts that you have not interacted with before will also be highlighted along with an out of organization avatar and warning banner. 
Improved visual indicators for recipients outside of your enterprise



Changing display for domains within your organization 
Additionally, different domain names within the same organization will no longer be marked as “external”. For example: users from @google.com will not appear as out of organization if added to an email from an @youtube.com user. This will help eliminate unnecessary warnings and confusions for users communicating across different brands under the same umbrellas or during the process of one company acquiring another. 


Improved interface for duplicate recipients 
We’ve also added a checkmark to better indicate a recipient who has already been included on the email. Also, when hovering over or scrolling through contacts within the dropdown menu, you’ll notice a grey tone to better indicate where your mouse or keyboard is. Additionally, Gmail will automatically remove duplicate entries within the same fields, when dragging and dropping between the To, Cc, and Bcc fields. 

If you've already included a recipient on the email, you'll see a checkmark indicator.  



Improving email and formatting validation 
To prevent errors, Gmail will now validate email addresses as they are typed, and will prevent any strings from becoming recipient chips that are not formatted correctly. Previously, users had to double click to correct an error. Further, if you do maintain an invalid email address in the address bars, you’ll see an error message prompting you to fix the error before sending. 


Impact to Chrome extensions using the current compose interface 
This update changes the underlying structure of the addressing fields in Gmail Compose. Therefore, admins that maintain Chrome extensions that depend on the current Gmail UI, around recipient search, selection or authoring, should check their integrations against the updated UI. Be sure to change your release track on a test account to Rapid release to get access to the new UI so that you can test your integration before it is made more broadly available (see below). 


Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. If your organization maintains Chrome extensions that depend on the current Gmail UI for recipient search, selection or authoring, check your integrations against the updated UI. 

  • Developers: Developers that maintain Chrome extensions that depend on the current Gmail UI, around recipient search, selection or authoring, should check their integrations against the updated UI. 

  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. Visit the Help Center to learn more about sending an email in Gmail. 

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) starting on October 20, 2021. 
  • Scheduled Release domains: Extended rollout (potentially longer than 15 days for feature visibility) beginning no earlier than November 8, 2021.

We anticipate rollout to be complete by the end of year, and will complete rollout to Rapid Release domains at least two weeks before beginning rollout to Scheduled Release domains. We will provide updates here when rollout for Rapid and Scheduled release domains is complete.

Availability 

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

Resources 

Integrating AppSheet into Gmail

What’s changing

We're bringing more flexibility into Google Workspace by integrating AppSheet into Gmail through dynamic email support. This integration lets anyone—including non-technical users—build dynamic emails using AppSheet.

Google Workspace Enterprise Plus users and AppSheet users can now:
  • Create AppSheet apps that can be rendered in Gmail
  • Easily send AppSheet forms and views to Gmail users with embedded, editable data fields
  • Trigger additional workflows—such as vacation or budget approvals—using AppSheet automation
Example using AppSheet in dynamic emails for a budget approval
Example of using AppSheet to approve an inventory request in Gmail


This feature was announced as a part of Google Cloud Next ‘21.

Who’s impacted

Admins, end users, and developers

Why you’d use it

AppSheet enables anyone, regardless of their coding experience, to quickly build and deploy applications and automation. By bringing AppSheet into Gmail using dynamic email, Google Workspace users can now interact with these apps without having to leave their inbox, saving them time, and helping them be more productive and efficient.

Google Workspace customers are already using this feature in exciting ways, such as for budget, inventory, and vacation approvals; commenting on requests and projects; assigning support tickets; and updating customer info in their CRM, among many other scenarios.

Getting started


Rollout pace

  • This feature is available now.

Availability

  • Available to all AppSheet customers and Google Workspace Enterprise Plus customers.
  • AppSheet Starter and Core are available as an add-on paid subscription to all Google Workspace editions; AppSheet Core licenses are included at no cost in Google Workspace Enterprise Plus.

Resources

Get creative with Google Illustrations

A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes. And that’s definitely true online, where often we choose a single picture to represent our digital identities. On Google, a single image acts as a reflection of you across a variety of products, like when you send an email, write a comment on a document  or share your location with your family on Maps. 

Of course, people have different preferences of how they want to be represented digitally. Some prefer a photo of themselves, others might select a pet, and there are those who choose an object that might show a hobby or causes they support. But for some people, there isn’t an option that’s a good fit for them. Access to technology, social context or privacy concerns might prevent them from using an actual photo as a profile picture.

To give everyone more safe, creative and personalized options for profile pictures, we are introducing new Google Illustrations. Google Illustrations are a collection of customizable images that anyone can use to design the image of their choice to represent them across most Google products.

Collection of illustrations you can select from: historical places, animals, food or hobbies.

Inclusive and versatile

We all have different tastes and preferences. Whether you are a cat person, a foodie or an avid traveler, we’ve got you covered. Try searching for a place in your home country, a hobby you share with your friends, an animal or mythical creature that you like. Our collection of illustrations is inclusive of various cultures, interests and backgrounds. 


Customized to be truly yours

You can adjust illustrations’ colors and focus to your own taste, whether you want to use the whole object or only a portion of it. Try focusing on individual elements of the images. The result might be a completely unique and different profile picture!


Changing colors of image elements.

How to get an Illustration 

You can see the new Google illustrations when you set your profile picture in Google Workspace and Contacts on Android. Access them easily via the Profile picture in the top right corner of the app. Browse the collection or search for a specific image to find options.

Access illustrations from the disk in top right corner of the app.

Quick entry point to set your profile picture

As soon as you create and save your profile picture, your friends, family and people you connect with will be able to see it across many Google products.

We’re working on bringing Google Illustrations to more Google products and platforms like iOS and Web. We are also expanding the collection, so stay tuned for more updates. 

Google Workspace Updates Weekly Recap – September 21, 2021

New updates 


New look and feel for Workspace Updates email subscriptions 
Starting September 29, we're going to be improving the look and feel of the emails you receive when you subscribe to Workspace Updates. 
  • The emails themselves will be sent from [email protected], so be sure to update any inbox filters or labels you may have and check your spam folders if you don't immediately see them. 
  • Emails for the Workspace Updates Blog in non-English markets will update to this new format in the coming weeks. 
  • If you have any feedback about these emails after September 29th, please feel back to let us know in the linked form. 
Full rollout (1-3 days for availability). | Available to all Google Workspace customers and users with personal Google Accounts. | Workspace Updates Blog Email Subscription Feedback



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.

Upgrade to the newest version of the Google Chat app
We’ve recently released a new version of this app. Users who are still on the older Chat PWA version and will see an in-app banner nudging them to upgrade by visiting chat.google.com. | Learn more.



Improved visibility in Google Meet on web
Google Meet on the web now automatically detects when a user appears underexposed and enhances the brightness to improve their visibility. | Learn more.



Control the ability to present to Google Meet from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides with a new Admin setting
Admins can turn the ability to present from Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides directly to Google Meet on or off for their organization with a new setting. | Learn more.



One-click recommended actions in the Alert Center
In the Alert Center, Admins will see new one-click recommended actions for various alerts, which they can implement without leaving the Alert Center. | Available to Google Workspace Enterprise Plus, Education Standard, and Education Plus customers. | Learn more.



Improved Search In Gmail on Android
You can now quickly and easily filter email and search results on Android mobile devices to find the one specific email or information you’re looking for with new search filters. | Learn more.



New graphs for metrics over time in Meet Quality Tool
We’ve added detailed metrics over time for endpoints in Meet Quality Tool, which will help admins perform more advanced troubleshooting. | Learn more.



Perform refined email searches with new rich filters in Gmail on web
When searching in Gmail on web, enhanced search chips will provide richer drop-down lists with more options that help you apply additional filters. | Learn more.



Easily chat with meeting participants from a Google Calendar event
Within the Calendar event on web or mobile, you’ll see a Chat icon next to the guest list — simply select this icon to create a group chat containing all event participants. | Learn more.



Ability to mute all Google Meet participants at once rolling out to mobile platforms
Earlier this year, we announced the ability for meeting hosts to mute everyone all at once in Google Meet on desktops/laptop devices. This feature has begun rolling out to iOS devices, with Android availability coming later this year. | Learn more.



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

Perform refined email searches with new rich filters in Gmail on web

Quick launch summary 

When searching in Gmail on web, enhanced search chips will provide richer drop-down lists with more options that help you apply additional filters. For example, when you click on the “From” chip, you’ll now be able to quickly type a name, choose from a list of suggested senders, or search for emails from multiple senders. Available now for all users, search chips make it quicker and easier to find the specific email or information you’re looking for. 


A richer drop down list in search

Getting started 

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature, chips will appear automatically when you perform a search in Gmail on the web. Use the Help Center to learn more about search in Gmail. 

Rollout pace 

  • This feature is available now for all users. 

Availability 

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

Improved Search In Gmail on Android

 

Quick Summary 
You can now quickly and easily filter email and search results on Android mobile devices to find the one specific email or information you’re looking for. Search filters can be used independently or post-search, helping you choose filtering options from rich drop-down lists. For example, you can type a query and further narrow results by selecting search filters like from: colleague’s name, or a specific timeframe. When searching for emails by sender, users can choose from a list of suggested senders or search for emails from multiple senders. 

Filtering email and search results 

Getting started 
  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: There is no end user setting for this feature. When searching in Gmail on Android, you can use the search filters below the search box. 
Rollout pace 
Availability 
  • Available to all Google Workspace customers, as well as G Suite Basic and Business customers 
Resources